Today I set myself the task of sorting out our spare tyre. Fortunately there is a tyre and wheel outlet not far from the vet. I took the tyre in and it seems that the alloy rim had been damaged so I asked for them to repair this and fit a new tyre. They explained that they would try and get the rim repaired during the remaining part of the week as they were on holiday next week. It seems that it is school holidays locally and people go skiing for the week. I left the tyre with them and asked that they would contact the site when it was ready. We also took the opportunity to go and find a Carrefour Hypermarket. We wanted to find some bits that we thought would be available there which included a Torque wrench I wanted when I get to refit the wheel. As it turned out we bought a few things but nothing that we had set out for. Watch a few more movies in the afternoon and evening before we retired for bed.
As arranged yesterday I was up at the reception at 9am to book an appointment at the vet in town. The staff in the office speak perfect English which really helps. We soon had an appointment for 10:30am. After breakfast we drove to the address and found the vet. The Injections were administered and the passports were updated and she confirmed that we could travel home on our rearranged date. We made an appointment for Monday 18th March for her to administer the worming tablet. Travel can then only take place between 24 to 120 hours from the time of this treatment. I was expecting that we would be fleeced but we paid for both treatments and it was €108 which I was pleasantly surprised. On leaving the vet we did some shopping at the Aldi which was just up the road. We needed everything as we had been expecting an Asda delivery which we had to cancel. We also had a number of hospital, doctor, treatments and other appointments we also had to postpone. We had accumulated lots of washing as we expected to do this when back in the UK so we had to use the on site facilities. No problems as the weather was fine and sunny and our clothes would dry on the line. Later we used the free site internet to stream some Netflix movies. Our next problem is what to do about the disintegrated tyre….problem to be solved tomorrow I think.
We rose early and hitched up and on our way before 7am. It was about a 30mins journey to the Pet reception to get the pet passports checked before checking in ourselves. The receptionist took an age and then decided that we could not take the dogs with us. The rabies injections expired in November and we would need a vet to administer the injection to each of the dogs and then wait 3 weeks before we could bring them home. We would have to repeat the Tape worm treatment as well. We were given a choice of leaving them in a “Pet Hotel” (just a fancy term for kennels) whilst we go home and return in 3 weeks or we stay in Europe and sit it out here. Our dogs have never been in a kennel and left us for that length of time so there was no decision to make …we would sit it out here in Europe and visit a vet as soon as possible. We were devastated as we would not be able to travel home. We sat out in the car park and looked for an ACSI site nearby. The nearest was in Belgium and about 50 miles away. We informed Euro tunnel of our decision and they made a change to our booking at no extra cost. I was in trouble now with Tina. We travelled to the site and booked in for 24 nights….we come home on the 20th March. We needed to leave sufficient time to visit a vet and organise the Rabies jab and the worming treatment. We found a corner sight right next to the Shower block. It has free wifi and seems to be very fast allowing us to stream movies from Netflix. I organised that tomorrow morning (Monday) I would get them to call the local vet for an appointment to get the dogs treatment underway. We set up and started to relax and analyse why I had missed the expiration of the rabies entry in the passports. Fortunately, we were still talking !!!! Tomorrow is another day ...
Made the decision to not go anywhere near Paris today so we made our way west of Paris using mainly the N roads which are free i.e. not toll roads. There is a length of motorway close to Calais that is worth taking the toll road and we did so as to save going down through the valleys and up the other side which would significantly affect out fuel consumption.
On the way to the site I asked Tina to get out the directions printed on our paperwork. It mentioned that we should approach the site from the A26 as from the other directions there is an arched gate which some caravans might have issues with. It is 3.1m high with a width of 2.7m. Our caravan is 2.64m high so no problem there. How about the width .. 2.3m. Somewhat tight as we found it i.e. 20cm (approx 8in) each side. Fortunately we got through with no issues. I made a mental note to leave in the other direction in the morning.
I wanted to get to the site before the Bournemouth match started to transmit and we just made it. The site did not have any free WIFI other than in the bar. AFCB v Wolves ended as a draw 1-1 which was not a bad result except we missed a second penalty.
Went and found a Fuel station and filled after the end of the match. The price is very similar to the UK but filling when solo is so much easier than when the caravan is attached.
As a final treat we decided to have a meal in the restaurant. It was very tasty if not a little expensive.
Going home tomorrow but we do need to leave the site before 7am so we retired early tonight.
For a change we had no issues today ..
We left the site at around 10am and used the toll road for most of the 200 miles we needed to travel.
After around 2 hours we took a break in an Aire and bought a coffee & filled chicken baguette. What little cash we had has now all but gone. The rest of the journey was unadventurous and so we arrived at our overnight stop around 2:30pm. There was no-one to be seen at the reception but after around 20 minutes we did see a girl who basically told us the gate code and said go find a pitch.
We parked really close to the toilet block. None of the taps around the site were running so we had to improvise and find water in the shower cubicles.
Later in the afternoon the receptionist came and said that they had not received our booking from the club. This has happened over the last two stops. She asked us to visit the reception so we could formally get booked in. At this point she asked fo a further €2 for the second dog….this could be embarrassing but luckily I did have it in coins. I then carried on and filled with fuel at the Super U supermarket.
There is free WIFI here but only for 2 hours every day for any device so we decided to watch a film on the laptop from Netflix.
Our last big push tomorrow to get back within striking distance of Euro tunnel. Our big decision is do we go west around Paris and avoid the tolls but it will take much longer, go through the centre of Paris incurring substantial tolls or go east of Paris with tolls but skirting the dreaded ring road. Decision for the morning.
Well we had some good news and some bad news today …
We rose earlier than normal as we had an appointment at the Vet in Leucate at 10:30am. I suggested to Tina that we buy a couple of things for lunch and try and arrive a little earlier hoping that we can get away sooner. It worked as we were out the door before 10:30am and she only charged us €13 for both dogs … a result. We now took the 20 minutes drive back to the campsite and prepared the van for departure.
On getting the van off the pitch I used the motor movers probably a little too sharply. As we approached the Toll booth we were flagged down and it seems we had picked up a puncture. Getting out of the vehicle it was much worse. The tyre had numerous holes. We proceeded to put on our florescent coats and put out a warning triangle. I grabbed the socket set but the wheel nuts needed some persuasion with the lump hammer. We jacked the side up using the Hydraulic levelling, got the tyre off, released the spare from underneath and refitted the spare …all in around 30 minutes. We did see the Gendarme drive past and I was expecting an issue but nothing transpired. Note to self: I should buy a torque wrench and a wheel bar with the correct socket size. I did stop up the road and rechecked the wheel nuts …everything was good.
We stopped at the Millau bridge for some lunch and then pushed on up the A75 … a free motorway and arrived at our overnight stop around 4:30pm. I was driving on fumes but did manage to go and find a Hypermarket and refilled…must had only a few drops left.
After manoevering the van onto the pitch I placed the remote into the door pocket where it is normally kept….my surprise was that the Levelling remote control was there. Not sure how that happened as neither of us had found it and placed it there. Oh well that has saved us £200 on our return.
More episodes tonight and early to bed as we have 200 miles to travel tomorrow. We really are getting closer to the UK.
As we were packing up our neighbours that had arrived after us started to talk to me. It seems that they were at the last site when we left there. How strange people leave it to the last minute to start talking.
We drove around the narrow roads on the site with some trepidation but I shouldn’t have been worried. I was worried about something that was said to me and I read in the ‘Winter Sun’ brochure. It seems that any unit, which includes the vehicle and caravan, over 12m in length should be displaying the yellow with red edging reflector plates. Not doing so in Spain can be an instant €1000 fine. I am worried even though we only have 160 miles to travel before we are in France and they are a little more tolerant.
I decided that I wanted to fill with fuel in the large truck town called La Jonquera as it is cheaper in Spain than France. As it turns out it was but not as cheap as Benidorm. I pulled off the Toll motorway and followed the road past the spot where we saw “The Lady of the Night” some weeks ago on our way down. However, she was not in her normal spot but there was one young lady plying for trade a little before this spot. I can only tell you it would be easier to tell you what she didn’t have on….if you get my drift! I am hoping I can pull a photo from the dash cam.
After filling with fuel we proceeded into France and you can immediately tell the difference. It wasn’t long before we arrived at our overnight stop. The pitch was at the very far end but it had a newly refurbished personal bathroom / shower room with hot / cold running water.
We decided to leave the van so we had minimal work to do in the morning as we need to visit the vet for the tape worming treatment the dogs must have before re-entering into the UK.
More episodes of ‘Dirty John’ before retiring to bed.
This being our last day here we thought we would take a look at the promenade and try and give the boys a run. Whilst we are out we would try and get some items we didn’t get yesterday at Lidl so we stopped at AlCampo (sister company of Auchan in France). We had a little look around and bought items that included a flaky pastry full of cream slice that was around 15in long. We had half for tea and the other half will be for tomorrow. We made our way to the promenade only to find that the parking was all needing a ticket. Tina had used all of the loose change when she bought bread etc at the shop so we didn’t have any coins for the machine. Decided to drive through the back streets but everywhere was the same. We gave up in the end and walked the boys around the site when we returned. As we are moving off tomorrow I started to pack away a few things. After our meal I disconnected the gas bottle and fitted the towing cover. I also ensured we had enough water in the internal tank for the remaining time here so this allowed me to pack away the Aqua roll and flat water hose. I downloaded a couple of new games onto Tina's iPad which included Spider. It get her quiet for the rest of the afternoon and evening!! We watched some m ore episodes of ‘Dirty John’ on Netflix and once agin Tina is getting into this series. More tomorrow for sure. In conclusion I think the site here has so much for everyone and I am sure it is crammed in the summer but for us it is tooooo big. We are glad to be moving on tomorrow.
We started the day by going shopping at the Lidl we spotted on our trip out yesterday. We did our weekly shop but couldn’t get everything we hoped for so it might be a visit to the campsite shop this evening or maybe find another supermarket tomorrow. We made our way back to the site and decided we would have a tour around to see what other facilities there are here. We found the ‘Wellness’ centre and play park. There are literally hundreds of other pitches here including many lodges and static vans. We absolutely needed the map to stop us from getting lost. In the afternoon we took the dogs for a longer walk up around the open air swimming pool which was shut at the moment. We could image that this area would be heaving with screaming kids in the summer. Late afternoon and evening we did more relaxing and watched a new series we have found on Netflix called “Dirty John”. I can see Tina getting in to this. Our data is now running low and we need to ration it …Tina really doesn’t understand the concept of rationing. We didn’t get back to the supermarket so that is a task for tomorrow...
What a huge place…as you can see there are several areas and we are in G area where the Camping & Caravanning Rally starts on Saturday…we will be long gone back to Calais. When we arrived yesterday we were on empty in the vehicle so we needed to get some fuel and whilst we were out we needed some shopping. I looked up that there was a Carrefour down in the town with a forecourt. Sorted !! Set the sat nav on the phone and off we went. The town is only around 5 miles away so we were there in no time. Spotted the fuel station but no large Carrefour instead it was a supermarket attached to the fuel station. None of the other supermarkets were open because it is Sunday. Did spot an alternative fuel station that offered cheaper fuel at €1.13 per litre which works out at just over £1. I will need to0 remind myself to fill up before we cross the border back into France on Wednesday….the fuel in France is more expensive. Paying for the fuel initially was a challenge but a local guy helped me with my machine which we gave up and used the other. Back to the camp site and relaxed. We did watch someone arrive and set up on the adjacent pitch. He had some interesting ideas and it soon became apparent that he had been here before. He laid out and pegged down his groundsheet. Next came the awning which was an oversized porch awning but did not fully cover the groundsheet. He used an electric drill with a masonry bit to drill through the groundsheet to make a pilot hole in which he hammered in his rock pegs. Eventually all was erect including his storm guides. In the evening we finally finished watching the remaining available episodes of our series… we will have to watch the remaining episodes weekly over the coming weeks when we get home. Must remember to set the recording schedule. As we have no English TV signal and I am rationing the remaining data it was soon bed time ...
Today we said good bye to our site in Benicarló and made our way up the coast 100 miles to Vilanova Park. This site is huge with 1400 pitches organised into areas….we are in G which is where the Club rally starts on Saturday. There are already some here in readiness for the start. We are surrounded by Brits. We followed an electric golf kart around the site roads and showed us to our pitch. We decided to go in A-frame first so that we would enjoy the sun coming in our door. However, when I parked the vehicle this cut off the sun. Will maybe need to find an alternative for parking the vehicle. We had a wander around the park and later in the afternoon we found the shop and bought one or two essentials. The shops are not open usually on Sundays in the town so thought we would have to wait until Monday before we do a ‘big’ shop. I decided that we wouldn’t buy any internet access as up to now the reception has always been poor. Instead we would rely on our own internet from Three and EE. After watching some episodes on the iPad Tina took herself off to bed.
After the trauma of the last couple of days we both felt that we needed a day of chilling and doing nothing of any consequence. Tina decided to have a sweep through and lifted the carpets outside for a shake whilst I did some work on our depleting finances. I found a review on line of some expanding waste pipes that also fit together. After discussing with Tina I went ahead and did a pre-order ready for delivery in March. Check out the review on youtube of this Colapz product After some lunch Tina took the dogs down to the beach for a run. Woody found a ball and Tina was throwing into the shallows. Woody was trying to retrieve it without getting his feet wet … most of the time.
I did suggest that we try the Fish & Chip supper at the restaurant as it was Friday. Tina decided that she would cook rather than risk getting cold in the restaurant.
I spent sometime packing away the scooter and taking a closer look at the bust headlight. It needs some major putting back together which I don’t think will last long so when back in the ‘van I searched the web and found a replacement which I can order when home for £32.99. The evening saw us streaming some episodes….need to keep an eye on how much data we have left for the remaining 8 days. We leave tomorrow for a new site to us which is 10x bigger than this site. I hope Tina doesn’t get over awed by it.
Today started much better … Whilst Tina was still sleeping I thought I would take the front of the caravan apart to look for our passports. I was hoping that they had gone down behind the cushions or the draw pack. After removing the cushions I then released the draw pack containing the top two draws and lifted it out of the way. Did find a small pack of wet wipes but no passports. Next I thought that I would take a look at the remaining 2 drawers. The bottom draw was released by taking the 2 screws out from the runner. Pulled the draw away and hooray …. Found the passports which were under the bottom draw. What a relief!! We both did try and look for the Hydraulic levelling remote control but still haven’t had any success. I made enquiries about a replacement …. £200 plus delivery sir. We will continue looking and order one if it is not found before we get home.
So glad we parked the van so the door was receiving the sun streaming in. It certainly made it warmer. We took a stroll down the lane at the rear of the site and found the beach. Woody nearly got his feet wet but not quite. I had got the scooter out and assembled it again and rode this down the lane. I broke the light on the scooter again so need to take another look at this.
Quiet evening streaming episodes of Madam Secretary trying to use the purchased internet access from the site. However, the internet keeps dropping out and was not suitable for streaming so back to using a hotspot from my phone on EE 4G. That solved the issue. So relieved that we did not have to go through the trauma of getting emergency travel documents. The site staff here were so helpful and we must give them full marks for trying to help us…. What will tomorrow bring?
Horrenda Diem (latin for Horrendous day) best describes our day… We packed up this morning with no issues and pulled down to reception where we paid our electricity bill.. €7.20 for the 4 weeks we have been at Alicante Imperium. Our heating was on LPG and we had 4KW of electric included in the price. I thought how well we had done. We made good time travelling on the toll motorway and just over half way we stopped for a break and give the ‘boys’ an opportunity to relieve themselves. I remembered that we should look out our paperwork and in particular the voucher for the next site. On closer inspection ….where are our passports!!! We looked all around the vehicle and searched in the caravan and could not find them. Conclusion is we must have left them in reception at the last site. We decided that we should press on and give the site a call when we arrive at our destination. In Benicarló the reception were able to call the Villajoyosa site and ask them to search and call us back. We arranged to go back this evening and get the verdict from the phone call. We asked to be closer to the beach which means it is closer for the dog walk. They placed us on one of the premier pitches…not sure if there is a price difference! We drove around to the pitch and disconnected and used the motor mover to place the ‘van on the pitch. Next we needed to level it…where is the remote control! No sign of it in its usual place. Once again we searched and couldn’t find it so we went to plan B. There is a wired solution we could use. We are now set up but worried insanely about our passports. The remote can be replaced but without the passports how can we get home? We gave he friends we had made a call back at the site to go and ask at reception and see if I had left the remote behind. They reported back that they had no luck. After some research it seems we can organise emergency travel documents which take about 2 working days and would need to be picked up in Barcelona. The cost £100 each. OUCH. We went up to reception and that had heard from Villajoyosa and they did not have our passports. Tina persuaded me that we should eat in the on-site restaurant. It was pie night. I had the Chicken & Mushroom whereas Tina had a steak. It was good to relax even though we are still worried. We will have to take the caravan and vehicle apart tomorrow and if not successful will have to apply on-line for the emergency documents. Back to the van and soon we had settled for the night. We will report tomorrow if we are successful in our search.
Today was preparation day for moving sites tomorrow. We have been on this site for 4 weeks and tomorrow we will be leaving so we needed to do as much of the work we could. First job was to pack up the water supply so I disconnected the Aqua roll from the tap by winding up the water hose. Then took out the Aqua roll cut off valve and emptied the water. We will continue the rest of our time today and tomorrow morning using the water in the under bed tank.
Next I took down the Washing line and packed that away. I then packed away the dismantled mobility scooter into the back of the vehicle. The last job was to take up the awning carpet and fold it prior to stowing it away in the vehicle. We had decided to do some last minute shopping and whilst out we would get some fuel and refill the LPG gas bottle. The bottle took 10 litres since we last filled it. The diesel was €1.13 per litre which is approximately £1 a litre. We really do get ripped off in the UK by the amount of tax collected on fuel. After visiting the Expats store for the last time we returned home and had a quiet afternoon / evening. Clare & Phil dropped around to have a cuppa with us and say goodbye …. We do hope to look them up later in the year.
This morning we went up to the Norwegian Church which was mentioned on Saturday at Coffee morning by the stewards. Most people had bikes, either electric or normal, and rode these along the little lanes whereas we drove mainly because we didn’t bring the bikes with us.
The church was high up on the hill and had glorious views over the surrounding area. The church itself was lovely … Tina lit a candle in remembrance for our grandson Freddie. Each Monday they serve Coffee and Waffles for €3.50 each which of course we partook off.
The group then made there way up to the reservoir where we had been some days ago so we decided to drop the ‘boys’ back and go and do some shopping in town. Whilst we were in Mercadonna we bought yet more bottles of our favourite tipple together with a weeks shopping. We are due to move on Wednesday back up the coast on our first leg of the journey home. More episodes of our series….not many left now then we watched a film from Netflix called ‘Close’.
Quiet day today… As it was Sunday we had bacon & egg baguettes for lunch followed by the last of the rugby matches featuring England. Great result and it looks like the next round where England play Wales could be a cruncher. At 2pm the stewards hosted a ‘Calle BBQ’ where they supply he heat and you bring your own meal. Not too many attended this week. For the last 2 weeks the winds were to strong to stage it. The evening saw us streaming our series from Virgin Media….we are running out of episodes so we are likely to finish all five series by the time we get home. Tina went off to bed whilst I watch some television.
Today being Saturday is sport day however we started off by getting along to the coffee morning at 11:00am.
This will be our last here but we did hear what was planned for the coming week. We may well get along to the Norwegian Church tomorrow for a visit together with Coffee & Waffles they serve in the late morning. The Six Nations rugby matches got underway and I watched this with the sound muted whilst listening to the AFC Bournemouth commentary at Liverpool. I fully expected us to get stuffed and so it proved to be …. We lost 3-0. Its not surprising playing the top of the table team and we have some significant injuries. Later in the afternoon / evening I watched the second of the rugby games and Tina took herself off to bed early. I decided not to watch “Match of the Day” tonight as this would finish at 1am local time but instead watch it in the morning.
We thought we might take a ride out and find somewhere different for the dogs to exercise and us of course!! I had spotted an area of water on the map so I set the navigation to go around it and then we set off.
It turned out to be a reservoir with a dam. We parked up and took a lovely walk taking in the views. On the way we passed the Rugby stadium I watched the local rugby team a couple of weeks ago. Doing some research later it seems that they don’t play again until the 17th when we will already have left here. We then decided to try and explore the local mountain. I followed a single track road up the side of the mountain which Tina did not enjoy….as she has problems with heights and falling of cliffs. We have some neighbours who have exactly the same make, model and year as our caravan who also were the people showing everyone how to do the stone painting. It was interesting talking to them about their full time experience in their ‘van. It seems they have removed the shower and replaced it with a wardrobe. They are settled here for 6 months and have a Spanish awning with some and chairs etc. Not sure what they are going to do when they decide to leave. We watched some more of our series using up the last of the remaining data on my phone. Then some television before retiring to bed after the news.
We last filled our refillable LPG bottle on Sunday - 4 days ago so I thought that we had better check how much was left in the bottle. This proved to be unpredictable so I thought it was best that we refill the gas bottle this morning. Down to the garage and we established that we had used 12 litres of LPG over the last 4 nights. Next Tina wanted to visit the beach with the cats. She is a sucker for animals and always wants to do whatever she can to help. If I had let her she would have all the cats spade at a cost of €80 each. No can do !! We didn't stay long as Tina wanted to get back for the stone painting this afternoon.
There were a number of ladies gathered in the restaurant area being taught how to paint stones that can be left outside which could have your names on. Tina decided to paint something with a cat theme so she can give it to the cat charity lady…. More to follow. Later in the afternoon we watched yet more of our series and some television in the afternoon. Tried streaming Netflix over the site WIFI as well as our Three mobile network but neither had enough speed to be successful. So television it was …. And early to bed.
We had nothing planned today other than finishing off the washing of the caravan. You really don’t realise how badly it needed a wash until you start to get on with it. Once finished we tried to put things into the sunlight to try and get them dry as you can see from the photo….we ended up with a "brush tree" and can you spot the other items we used !! Watched more of our series and whilst keeping an eye on how much data we have left. Later I get a text from EE stating that I cannot go over my allowance as its capped. Only a short while before we get it refreshed. In the evening I watch the FA cup match that was being screened on BBC1. A very quiet day today….let's see what tomorrow brings ...
Nothing planned for today or so I thought when we woke up…. I went around the back of the van to empty the toilet and thought how dirty the van was so it was about time I gave it a wash. I had brought from home the brushes, washing mitt and Fenwicks caravan cleaner. After breakfast I gathered the items together and set to on the back of the van which was by far the dirtiest. Using the caravan step as a small ladder I was just able to reach the top of the van. I have to admit that Fenwicks does the business. In the past I always used to much and it was very concentrated….not that this is a problem as in that form it gets off stubborn marks. Next came the near side (door side). Tina was able to help with using the large brush whilst I used the mitt and then a microfibre cloth to dry it off. Needed to do small sections at a time as it was drying quickly now and if not careful would end up with streaks. We both thought that we would leave the other side and front until tomorrow. In the afternoon we watched 3 more episodes of our series. This has left us about 25% left of our data allowance on my phone which gives us the best streaming opportunity. Fortunately we only need to wait 4 days now before we get a refresh and 20GB of data for the remaining part of the holiday. Tina took her self off to bed whilst I watched a little telly…mainly the final episode of the current series of ‘Silent Witness’ which I really enjoy.
Leisurely morning today just chilling. We then decided to go back to the Pet store to buy a bigger bag of the small biscuits that the ‘boys’ loved when we bought them a few days ago. We also took the opportunity to visit Lidl and buy a few things that we needed. We soon left Benidorm to revisit the beach next to Camping El Torres where we met the couple who were looking after the wild cats. When we arrived they had obviously been and gone as there was no sign of them. Tina took the ‘boys’ for a walk along the promenade making sure not to let them on the beach….we had been told that it was €1000 fine if you are caught allowing the dogs on the beach.
We did spy some people from the campsite playing Boules just outside on the open area. We also took note of the Meal deal that the campsite restaurant had available….maybe try it before we leave.
Took a drive through the local town and found another beach and promenade. There was quite a lot of shops and businesses further west in the town. When we got back to the van we watched a couple of episodes of the serial we are following. Our data allowances on both Three and EE are running low and are due for a refresh in 6 and 5 days respectively so we need to monitor our usage carefully until the weekend. In the early evening Tina felt unwell and took herself off to bed. Let's hope she is better in the morning.
We woke to find the ‘van had cooled off during the night…the stand by Calor bottle had also run out so we had no gas at all. A trip to the nearby Fuel station that sells Autogas was called for. If they don’t allow us to fill our bottle then we will have to buy a Spanish Cepsa bottle. Just after 9am I jumped into the vehicle, whilst Tina was still in bed, and drove around to the garage. There was no-one on the forecourt except a lady cleaning up around the pumps. I found the LPG pump and connected our bottle. The lady did help me with the payment and so I took it that she was happy with me refilling with gas. It took 18 lites costing around €12….somewhat cheaper than Calor I noted. I made a mental not to top up the gas bottle before leaving the area in 10 days time. As it was Sunday I suggested that we have Bacon & Egg in a baguette for breakfast. What a great decision. Relaxed the rest of the morning and then took the boys for a walk in the early afternoon stopping of at Phil & Clare for a cuppa. They made us most welcome.
Whilst on our walk around the site we did spot some different types of accommodations… different types of hut / chalet. We made a comment that if Brexit were to affect the Brits ability to come to Spain then this site with around 70% Brits would be majorly affected. I am sure that this will not happen.
Starting to closely monitor our data usage now as we are nearing the end of our allowances . We did watch a Netflix film which should be part of ‘Go Binge’ and therefore not use up any of our allowances. Will need to check if this is the case...
Saturday in our household is sport day much to Tina’s frustration. Whilst I am watching sport Tina was reading her book on the kindle app. The day started with me watching the second of the 6 nations rugby tournament matches where Scotland defeated Italy. I then had the England v Ireland match which started at 4:45pm. England where the underdogs but they came out on top. Wonder if they might get the grand slam this year!! Saw the first half and then muted the sound whilst I watched AFC Bournemouth play at Cardiff on BT Sport on my iPad. I used up an awful lot of data!! What a disappointment. I felt sure we had a chance but we have 2 critical injuries which showed and we didn’t perform like we have done in the past. We lost 2-0. This was a 5:30pm kick off and so finished around 8:30pm local time. Tina took herself off to bed. Watched a little television before retiring myself. The wind here had picked up and continued throughout the night …. So glad we made the decision some days ago to take the awning down. We could hear the flutter of canvas and wondered how we might find the site in the morning. It was late before we finally drifted off to sleep. Our refillable LPG bottle ran out whilst cooking our evening meal. I switched over to the standby Calor bottle but wonder how long this might last. Time will tell…will have to try taking the bottle to the garage and see if they will allow me to fill it. Let you know tomorrow.
Back in the summer was I was trying to find out why the newly fitted radio in the caravan would not connect to DAB. I spoke to the dealer and he suggested the manufacturer as they had no idea. I gave up in the end. However yesterday I had a notification from someone I follow on YouTube saying that they were getting DAB to work on their radio. After watching this video I now realise why it didn’t work ….it needs a splitter so that there is input to the DAB connector on the back of the radio. Decided to visit Norauto, which is like Halfords, but is a French company with branches here in Spain. We needed to get some supplies at Lidl as well so a trip to both was in order. I purchased the cable required and we bought our bits in Lidl. On the way back we gave the ‘boys’ a run at the beach we visited 2 days back and the couple were once again feeding the wild cats. It seems that one of the cats that was poorly last time had subsequently died and they buries it. There were still some cats suffering with suspected cat flu. Let's hope they all survive. We noticed that there were some brave souls surfing in the rolling waves. I took the opportunity to go into the reception of the campsite next to this beach .. El Torres camping. It is a ACSI site but only operate with ACSI in April and September. They are already taking bookings for January / February 2020 and were currently completed booked. I can see why it is so popular. It would be very suitable for us although a little more expensive. When we arrived back at the ‘van I tried to get the radio out of the casing but it went in even further…the keys didn’t seem to want to work. No choice now but to dismantle the wooden surround which gradually meant even more screws to remove. At last I had the radio out and tried the newly acquired cable. No good as it was supposed to be a splitter and this cable wasn’t. Decision made that I would buy the cable from Amazon on our return and try again. Now to put it all back. The rest of the day was relaxing, our series and some television. The temperature was a pleasant 18°C and at night it goes down to around 12°C. Nothing like the temperatures at home and the road conditions….thinking about you all.
