Monday 24th Sept: Another day in this paradise, we have made a decision to move on Wednesday or we may not move at all - hopefully the tax disc will have arrived by then but if not it can be forwarded to our next site. Great weather lots of sun and 29C so more beach walks and explorations, Linda even waggled her toes in the Mediterranean whilst Daisy ran her self ragged.
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| '2 beach bums' |
Tuesday 25th Sept: On the pretence of waiting for the tax disc for the Jazz we decided to have another lazy day on site just watching the world go by - lots of things need doing but they will not run away and we need to take advantage of the weather. Lots of different nationalities (mainly tuggers and euro box owners) here and all very friendly, of course Daisy still seems to be the ice breaker as they all talk to her. Some of the people with vans on the site full time are Brits and they tend to just fly out and spend as much time here as possible when they can, not bad really only €3000 for a year's site fees. We feel that whilst very idyllic here, having the freedom to move on when you want is better - variety is the spice of life and all that. Boring I know but a sunny day with 29C - tomorrow looks not too good though, hope it is at least dry to do the move preparations.
Wednesday 26th Sept: Well last full day in Cala d'Oques campsite, unfortunately the postman was not kind to us so we will delay our departure until after 1030am tomorrow and keep our fingers crossed. Seems the weather has turned a bit and we had sun, overcast, rain and strong winds during the day with 20C - cold!. Fortunately we managed to get the pack-up done before the small rain showers and all that needs doing tomorrow is car loading, trailer hook-up and move off the pitch - must remember to sell tickets. Route plan done and we plan to use the toll roads (also advised by locals), try for a one day move but if necessary stop overnight at a truck stop. It is about a 300 mile journey but we are in no rush so will see how it turns out.
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Waves all day on the beach
Cala d'Oques |
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Windy day on the beach
Cala d'Oques |
Thursday 27th Sept: Needless to say our final preparations and eventual move off the pitch was observed by most of the rest of the site and fortunately everything went perfect, however we did not get a round of applause we thought we deserved and were ready for move off by 10am so just had to wait for the postman and then we could hit the road. We used the time to settle the bill and as expected it was quite expensive, €35.40 a night, if it had not been for the location and general site ambiance we would not have stayed so long. Unfortunately no post for us so we briefed the site staff what to do if it arrived (call us) and set off for the motorway - decided to use the toll roads so we could make good time/distance and possible get to the next site in one day. We had a good drive down the east coast of Spain skirting past Valencia, Benidorm (concrete jungle) and Alicante during a dull, sunny, rainy and 22C day, but it looked like we would not make it to the site at a decent time so stopped at a truck stop near to Elche. Due to the very reasonable site fees, nothing, we treated ourselves to some traditional Spanish grub at the service station restaurant - lovely
Friday 28th Sept: A nice slow start to the day and we took the opportunity to fill up the beast - a quick 201 ltrs for€ 293 then set off for the Marjal Costa Blanca site on the outskirts of Catral near Murcia. Found the site easily and booked in at 9.45am, very large, new and well presented site with ALL the facilities one would need for full time on the site. Moved onto our pitch (assisted by the site staff) and set up - very easy when the pitches are fully set up for occupancy, including water/drainage/electric/TV connection and were having a coffee by 11.30am when Neil's phone rang! Yes, the tax disc had arrived at our last site, typical, so arranged for it to be couriered down to this site and we will wait for it to arrive - quote was Monday by 1.00pm so not too bad.
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Our pitch Marjal campsite
Catral |
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Entrance to Marjal campsite
Catral |
Just to fully welcome us to the site the heavens opened up and we had our first rain for weeks, and boy did it rain! Monsoon type downpour for almost an hour which result in localised flooding, a bit frightening what with the thunder and lightening but the drainage just about managed to cope - eventually. We decided to put the site orientation on hold and spend the rest of the day mooching.
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| Water levels a bit high |
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| Just a bit of rain |
Saturday 29th Sept: Awoke to a dry sunny start to the day but to the awful news that just a bit further south they have had massive flooding which has claim 8 lives and caused devastation - puts our slight discomfort in to perspective. We had a walk round the sight and found out 'what was what' - really nice sight, a bit big and we would not really like to be here at peak period (crowds etc) but it has all the resort type facilities that families could ever want. The pitches are hard standing and each has its own water, drainage, electric point and TV connection point - facilities include medical centre, vets, hairdressers, supermarket, 3 pools, restaurant, Tapas, 2 bars, Gym etc etc. The site is mainly caravaners but there is a lot of 5 ers and RV's here - we had good chat with a Brit couple, Dennis and Flo who were in a Coachman Mirada, full timing and on site for the winter. The sun and and 25C quickly dried everything up, reassuring that the drainage worked, just in case. Linda tentatively tried the hair dressers (male stylist and he did not speak English) and was well pleased with the results.
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| Who's a pretty girl then |
Sunday 30th Sept: Weather seems to be back to normal with a nice sunny 27C day so we explored the local area, best done on Sundays as the shops are closed. Very nice area with lots going on, including hot air balloon rides (we passed on a trip). We took in Crevillent, Elche and the outskirts of Alicante but decided not to go south due to the flooding and road damage. A nice slow day finished off with a BBQ - classic.
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| Up, up and away. |
Monday 1st Oct: Unfortunately last day in Marjal, we are enjoying this site and would stay longer but for our hopes of getting to Albufeira in Portugal to link up with our friends Mark, Sue and Charlotte, who are on a quick sun break before the UK weather turns. As promised the courier delivered the letter/tax disc on time and we could breath again - legal again, just in time. We manged to fit in a visit to the village, Catral, very nice, interesting, small typical Spanish village with normal Spanish style living - 'manana' being the order of the day.
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| Catral town square Spain |
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| Catral Spain |
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Catral Church
Spain |
Daisy was keeping a low profile as she was hopefully of not visiting the pet bathroom before we left, fortunately for her due to wanting an early start tomorrow the move prep took priority. We got ready for moving, less trailer coupling, completed the route plan (which for a change did not include any toll roads) and just ran out of time to give Daisy a bath - not that she needs one we just wanted to use the bathroom.
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| THE bathroom |
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| Will they, won't they bath me? |
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