Well we are back on the road again and this time we are bound
for the UK.
After all of the excitement of Valentine’s weekend we had a fairly
quiet time back at the house. We had a few stormy days with rain and some
chilly windy ones too. We just pottered around enjoying the pace of Spanish
life. On our last weekend at the house we had a Sunday trip to Cehegin about
40k from us. There is an old city called Begastri on the outskirts and it is
only open weekends. We have walked and cycled past it quite a few times but not
when it was either open or we had time to visit. Luckily there are huge story boards
in the visitor centre that explain the history in English as our tour was in
Spanish. The initial video presentation was a real challenge; the presenter was
not very clear and very fast!! The guide at least was there to answer
questions. It was a fascinating place and not very well known and there was an
amazing story of the Begastri cross which was found by a worker when the
railway was being built. He took it home and his wife decided to sell it for
2,000 pesetas, a considerable sum. The person who bought it put it on their
chimney breast where it hung for years until a friend, who was a historian, came
to visit. He was intrigued by it and took it away to be checked out and it is
the oldest example of a cross in Europe and is now locked in a bank vault in
Murcia, a copy is in the local museum.
After our culture we went into town for the monthly artisan
market, pretty disappointing not many stalls and no entertainment. We then went
to the old casino building, which is fabulous, for tapas. The tapa route had
just been launched; this is where a group of bars and restaurants serve a drink
and tapa for 2 Euros. Each tapa is different and usually a bit more arty farty
than the usual selection. I had a square of flaky pastry with smoked tuna and
Chris had a piece of bread with a small croquetas and piece of squid on a
cocktail stick. Our second stop was ojos Del mar, eyes of the sea. Two small
round fish croquetas with a small squirt of mayo and fish eggs to make it look
like and eye, very effective and very tasty.
We then did two days of sorting the house, and a thorough
spring clean, and the same with the van, inside and out. The latter takes about
an hour tops for the inside , a bit longer for outside, including taking out
all of the carpets etc but the house
takes two half days with two of us
cleaning. We work pretty well together,
with the van Chris is responsible for outside and anything mechanical and mine
is inside, including food etc. I managed to run down the house supplies to
waste very little. On our last night I cooked pork chops, bought in the
village, and we washed it down with a bottle of our favourite wine. Juan Gil is
a vineyard in Jumilla, Murcia and the silver label; aged for 12 months is a
wonderful red wine. We got our friends in the village to get us six bottles to
bring home, it is expensive by Spanish standards, 10.80 Euros a bottle (exactly
£8), but it is very good.
We set off from the house about 11am, with the usual routine,
clean and tidy, bin empty, power off, water off and heading for Santander. I
won’t be back till November which is a long time for me but Chris has a week in
June with Adam and should be back sometime in October.
My long gap is due to the Rugby World Cup, which only comes
around every four years and this year is in England, and Wales. I have applied
to be a volunteer, but am unimpressed by the process, still haven’t heard and
they don’t even know when the training events will be, clearly people with no
concept that we have lives to organise and things to do. If I am unsuccessful I
have a ticket for Tonga versus the mighty All Blacks at St James Park Newcastle
and possibly another ticket there.
On one of our recent rainy days I was
looking out for competitions to win tickets for the final, God loves a trier!!
There wasn’t much about so I looked at the cost of packages and tickets,
tickets only available on stubhub etc. Not cheap, and I was talking about how
much I wanted to go and also that the 2019 tournament will be in Japan. One of
Chris’ great strengths is his ability to see through things and cut to the
chase. So
He said: “How much do you want to go?”
Me: “As much, if not more than seeing the Lions in Australia”
Him:”Is it more or less than the costs of that trip”
Me: “Less, but the tickets are crazy prices”
Him: “Forget that, what is your money for”
Me: “To do the things I want to do, see places I want to go”
Him: “Exactly, get it booked!!”
So about two hours later, after a quick check with Imogen
that she still wanted to come( daft question really) I had booked two tickets for
the final and two return flights Newcastle to Heathrow. When we applied for
tickets for the final, last September, I had the foresight to book a room then
so that was us sorted.
You know what?? He was right, it is something I want to see,
it is only money and in 12 months I will have replaced the money in my little
kitty. I know my life is very different to most people but it is not
particularly high cost. Being without a house and a car gives me plenty of
disposable cash, thanks to the generosity of the people who share those things
with me.
Originally I had a plan which took us inland and north
towards San Sebastian but the weather has been pretty bad, it is winter, and my
itinerary changed at the last minute. One of the joys of having a camper you
can just go with the flow as at this time of year you rarely need to book. I
got a link to two Spanish sites about Aires across Spain and we decided to head
towards Valencia. Both of us had visited briefly previously. Valencia Camper
Park was a small “aire” but with power, showers, wifi and in summer a pool for
15 Euros a night. A 5 minute walk and there was a metro stop that took 20
minutes to the centre. It was brilliant for us as we would never take the van
into a city centre, way too big to get parked. The site owner had tickets, 1.50
a journey so we were set.
Our first day we headed for the old town which is very
beautiful, Valencia had a lovely feel about it. There is a central green space
that ends near the sea and helps provide life to the city. The Modernista
buildings are impressive; the post office is magnificent with its domed glass
roof. We spent quite a time in the Town hall, which also houses a museum. We
wandered up towards the central market, it seemed smaller than when I visited
previously. Then a visit to the lonja museum before it was time for lunch. So
far we had paid 1 and 2 Euros for museum entrance, when asked “pensionistas?” I
have no qualms about saying yes!! Neither of us is technically but each euro
saved is another glass of wine.........
We walked towards the main square and bought sandwiches and
sat watching the world go by as we ate. There were loads of police around and a
helicopter so I asked one of them if there was an important visitor? No a
student march!! Our last stop was to one of the towers that used to be part of
the city walls, spectacular views and only us there. It was a beautiful clear
and sunny day so we walked round the central space to get the metro back.
 |
| Don't like opera but this one is named after me!! |
Our second city day was different, a trip to the beach and
marina and the Fallas museum. It was dry but very windy as we headed for the
beach and had a coffee looking out on the med. We then walked for a good hour
through the marina, huge yachts were moored, and then on to “Cuidad des artes y
sciencias” which is a huge collection of magnificent modern buildings, interspersed
with green and water and house a whole range of things, museums, concert halls,
sea life centre etc. We had no plans to visit any of them but did have a coffee
to get a breather from the wind. Our last stop was the fallas museum, which was
fascinating and makes me want to come back next March!!
 |
| Interesting take on "Moors and Christians" in Fallas museum |
We set off north leaving the Med behind and our next expanse
of sea will be the wild Atlantico!! This last week ferries to the UK have been
delayed and cancelled due to the weather but we are hoping ours will be okay as
the weather seems to be settling. Saturday we arrived in Calatayud, in Aragon
where there is a free “aire” for campervans provided by the council. It is a
safe place to park, with drinking water and a place to empty your waste and
chemical toilet. We have gas for heating and water heating and run off the
batteries for light etc the shower is there if we need it. It is a short walk
into town so yesterday we went in to spend some money, our view is if the
council are willing to provide this then we should spend some cash locally. We
eventually meandered up to the main square which had the strangest collection
of higgledy piggledy house-see photo –not much is straight!! We had wine and
tapas and chatted to a friendly local, who turned out to be the local baker-we
went into his shop for a cake for pudding. I bought a bottle of local wine in
the wine shop too.
 |
| Not sure how any of this is still standing....... |
On our way back we spotted and Australian bar-very strange
for small town Spain. Sure enough the bar had tried to look a bit Aussie, sold
Fosters and when I asked for Australian wine the barman just laughed!! What I
did get was a lovely soft local wine in a proper huge wine glass.
 |
| Now that is what I call a wine glass.... |
Back to the
van and I cooked up a camper-type stew mince, potatoes and veggies all in one
pan and drank a bottle of wine as we watched a film. The film was Birdman, if it got the Oscar for best film I would hate to see the worst.......
That is all for now folks
Take care
Norma xx
