Friday 11th March – Monday 2nd May
Part 4 : Seville to Elne
Monday 11th April – continued
Husband and I departed Seville by taxi back to the site, leaving the Tea Girls to travel to the airport soon afterwards. On the journey …. a large, grand but abandoned building with storks nesting in all the chimneys.
We are booked into the site until the morning but when we go into reception to pay the bill and say we are leaving shortly, they very kindly did not charge for today. Thank you!
Husband has packed everything, we are ready to go and leave the site within a few minutes.
We returned to Camping La Sierrecille, Humilladero https://lasierrecilla.com/en/ for a night, this time under one of the frames that support canopies to keep the sun off you/your motorhome in the summer!
Mileage = 99 miles
Tuesday 12th April
We decided to take the same route back over the mountains – no snow and a little sunshine – what a difference; a dramatic road to be sure.
At the last minute we have arranged to meet with my nephew and his family in San Juan De Los Torres where they are staying at Lucy’s parents’ holiday apartment. We have found a wild camping zone on the edge of the town quite near to them; we’ve never done this before. On arrival its a large, attractive area on the dunes, above the sea and with a castle on the skyline. There are quite a few other motorhomes there and, surprising to me, several very expensive ones!
OK, I took my time to choose a ‘pitch’ (there are no pitches, just open land!). We are settled and the family arrive. We haven’t told anyone back home so the photo we sent on our family WhatsApp group was rather a surprise.
Evie and Finn gave us a mug and fridge magnet each as a gift.
Don’t tell anyone but the kids rode a short distance in the boot so we can all fit in the car.
First stop is Lucy & Jamie’s beach where he proposed. A beautiful spot.
And then to the apartment to see their holiday home.
Next, a trip down to the local beach and some fun and games with Grauntie Ann!
Drinks on the verandah, then we all walked down to Meson Pepa for dinner (no website that I can find).
We go our separate ways and Husband and I are walking back to the wild-camping spot. The streetlights run out and it is very dark indeed – we are on phone torches!
Mileage = 235 miles
Wednesday 13th April
So far, when we’ve stayed on an aire, Husband has managed to avoid using the motorhome loo for number twos!! This morning, not so much!
The story of the missing sandal! When I stepped out of the motorhome to take the above photo and have a little stroll around, there were two sandals near the sofa. When I stepped back in there was only one! After a major search and intense questioning of Husband, I began to think that a dog had perhaps come in and taken the sandal. There was simply no other explanation!
Late afternoon and I was moving Husband’s bedding and, what do you know?! The other sandal was wrapped up inside it.
Since sleeping among the dunes I have a new ‘thing’ …….. whenever the motorhome blinds are down at night one could simply be anywhere so, wherever I am now, I imagine I’m back wild-camping on the dunes.
We are driving on to Camping Jávea https://www.campingjavea.es/en/ in Xàbia, a site recommened by Barbara & Chris. We have a week booked.
Having checked in we made for the motorhome waste point; it was in a far corner and tricky to maneouvre around with trees, tight corners etc. Having finally emptied/filled up, we realised that, although the pitches are wide, they are not deep. Nowhere I like is deep enough for the motorhome and the bike rack. Stressed from the journey and all the manoeuvring, we parked diagonally on a pitch and ate lunch while we considered our situation. Eventually, we took the bike rack off (locking it to a small tree!) and put the rear of the motorhome almost in someone else’s caravan behind us. Sorry, it’s the best we could manage.
And relax; we are settled and more calm than we were! Time for a G&T in the friendly site bar.
Mileage = 181 miles
Thursday 14th April
Today a trip into Xàbia and a coffee and a pastry on the seafront.
In the afternoon, Husband set off on a shopping mission. Normally we both go so have three pannier bags and two rucksacks. Husband only has one pannier bag and one rucksack so had to make some adjustments to get the shopping home – kitchen roll power packs!
Friday 15th April
Husband did a massive walk, right up the hill and out to the lighthouse. I chilled. On his return we had a scrummy ‘light’ lunch at the site restaurant while the washing dried.
Later a little bit of ironing of my Seville dresses!
Saturday 16th April
Today is our wedding anniversary – we are off to the Parador de Jávea https://www.parador.es/en/paradores/parador-de-javea for drinks and, hopefully, lunch. Can’t seem to book on line for lunch, so winging it!
The Parador is in a lovely position above the beach. The terrace was very busy with people having drinks so we decided to sit inside to have coffee, open our cards and raise a glass of Cava at the appointed time.
The dining room opened, it was not busy at all (as you can see) but they are saying it’s fully booked; we are thinking it’s about the number of staff they have rather than the number of tables they have. Not to worry, we have a Plan B – ‘leave and look for somewhere else’!
We cycled back to the port area and found a delightful place on the seafront Restaurante Ca`María where we had more Cava and a delicious celebratory lunch. Sadly, the restaurant seems to have closed since.
Sunday 17th April
Easter Sunday – we cycled up to the old town to the market only to find a procession going on. Very friendly, jolly with music, beer and no weird costumes this time.
This evening Gaynor & Trevor arrived and sited their caravan next to us. I can’t quite remember how it happened but we were chatting and Husband seemed to have quite a lot of food so suddenly they were sitting with us and sharing our dinner. It was a very jolly evening which went on quite late!
Monday 18th April
From the site we can see a line of windmills on top of a hill. We decided to explore up there, Husband by foot, me by bicycle. We took different turnings near the top and couldn’t find each other for some time. Needless to say we were just a few yards and a bend in the road apart!
As it would take husband longer than me to get down, I cycled out to the lighthouse where he’d been previoiusly and checked out the impressive view over Xàbia.
The route downhill was very steep and a little scary. I got off at one point and wheeled the bike down a particularly vertical bit leading into a hairpin bend!
At the bottom we chose a restaurant looking out over the bay. The restaurant was pretentious “you can only have the table for an hour”, when really only a few other people came in. The service and the food were very average – not to be recommended!
After lunch my bike stopped working – no battery power. I rang Husband and we agreed to meet at either Aldi (or maybe it was Lidl?). Needless to say, I was at one (with a non-powered bike) and he was at the other. Eventually we got it together, bought shopping and I then had a very hard pedal back with the weight of an electric bike and two panniers full of food – not good.
Much better service at tonight’s dinner:-
Just as Husband served the dinner, Gaynor & Trevor came back from the bar. They chatted to us as they were passing and then – yup, you’ve guessed it(!) – joined us for dinner again. Another jolly, long evening!
At 3.30am we were both up and outside putting the canopy away – massive wind from nowhere.
Tuesday 19th April
This morning a trip to a bike shop in Xàbia to see if they could help with the lack of power in my bike. The nice guy says he thinks the battery has no charge in it, which it has, so we are no further forward. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Very frustrating.
Just two photos taken today – the view of the windmills we visited on top of the hill and the site’s lovely, large, heated, life-guarded pool that we didn’t even venture into.
This evening, dinner at the site restaurant. Gaynor & Trevor are at the next table with a group of new friends. We ordered a starter each, which was too much so, yup, we passed the leftover starters to Gaynor & Trevor and their friends. It’s been great sharing food and so funny too.
Wednesday 20th April
Heavy rain this morning, so glad we took the groundsheet and everything else in yesterday afternoon.
We didn’t leave until about 10.30am and then the journey was probably the worst weather in which we’ve ever driven. Lashing rain, violent wind, loads of spray, poor visibility. We could only drive about 50mph. We made it back to Camping Vilanova Park https://www.vilanovapark.com/en/ at about 5.30pm. A very tough 268 miles.
We had dinner in the site restaurant, which was fine. However, the gin & tonics beforehand at €10 each seemed a little stiff for a campsite bar!
Mileage = 268 miles
Thursday 21st April
Here we go again; the weather hasn’t improved and another day of wind, torrential rain and spray. We are however back in France.
We had picked out a site at Argles-sur-Mer, arrived, paid for the night and then couldn’t find a pitch that was big enough that wasn’t flooded. No hardstanding pitches at all. They kindly gave us our money back and we left.
Our second attempt found us at Camping le Florida https://www.campingleflorida.com/en/ in Elne which, thankfully, had very large hardstanding pitches.
Mileage = 162 miles
Friday 22nd April
After the two days of wind and rain we’ve journied through, I was very happy to open the blinds this morning to this.
The site was fine (not that we engaged with much of it) but the toilet block was totally weird – it was built in the form of a castle.
Inside were various characters engaged in battle – not an entirely jolly place to visit in the dark!
To see a map showing the location of the sites we stayed at and a few words describing each one, click Menu / Maps at the top of the page or click here – https://tiddleyompompomontour.com/tiddleyompompom-motorhome-stops/
Total mileage so far – 2,762
TiddleyOmPomPom on Tour 