Day 82 – 25th July – Saturday, Manses near Mirepoix

Now staying a third night, this place is awesome. Went into the medieval town of Mirepoix and found a mad doctor who removed Ant’s staples before taking €30 off us, telling us about his youthful antics with the ladies in Eastern Spain and then pinching me on the dimples!... I don’t think anyone’s done that since I was about 9 years old.

Day 81 – 24th July – Friday

Went into town with Erik (Danish) for some supplies as we had been invited to join the English, German and Danish for a group BBQ in the evening.
Perry’s family used to be part of a travelling circus, as clowns, magicians and general entertainers. Perry’s son, Correo, has rigged up a tight rope on the lawn which I have become worryingly addicted to. So it’s only a matter of time before I will be writing about some injury or other.
We are so impressed with the kids here; Lukas from Denmark is only 11 and can speak at least 3 languages, the Belgian boys also speak 3 or 4! Puts us to shame it really does.
The BBQ was good fun, Correo entertained us with his impressive table magic and we followed it with a few drinks in the Apollo Lounge bar (which is a converted Airstream trailer inside a tent; pictured – very funky). Perry span some old records and Correo again amazed us with his juggling skills using glow in the dark sticks and spinners.

Day 80 – 23rd July – Thursday, Back in Southern France

Retro Airstream park near Mirepoix (http://www.airstreameurope.com/). What a find this place is. Only classic vehicles over 25 years old are allowed in – everything here is retro, chilled and very cool. It’s in the middle of nowhere on the Midi Pyrenees, run by an English guy, Perry, and his family of entertainers. The air is clear, the people are fantastic and atmosphere is perfect. We are staying two nights for sure.

Day 79 – 22nd July – Wednesday, Andorra

We spent most of the afternoon driving, heading north and away from the hoards of Brits abroad. We passed through some beautiful small Spanish villages before reaching the Andorran border about tea time….rush hour as it turned out!
We drove the 20kms or so to the capital and continued straight through. The city was full of car showrooms, perfumeries and duty free shops. We climbed right to the top of the Pyrenees and passed ski resorts, hotels and restaurants before settling at a place on the Andorra – France border called Pas de la Casa. We parked in a car park with about 30 other mobile homes and walked into town for a beer before dinner. Nothing too special, very pricey, (unless you want to buy cigarettes, alcohol, knives or a stun gun!) we had to be out of the car park by 8am, so we attempted an early night, but by 3am mobile homes were moving to shelter from the high winds that battered the car park.

Day 78 – 21st July – Tuesday. Montblanc.

We had parked Bee at the edge of the beach under some trees, so the mosquitoes and wasps were in abundance again. I woke with another 2 bites to add to my very itchy collection and only clocked up about 5 hours sleep. Decided to get on the road to Andorra and find a campsite on the way.
We travelled past the Delta de Ebro and crossed the Ebro River before getting stuck in traffic in L’Aldea. We then stopped at a Bonsai place just outside town and saw some awesome trees that were more than 120 years old. We eventually found a campsite on the hill outside the Medieval town of Montblanc. Reasonably priced (for Spain) and with good facilities. We have been here all afternoon hogging the washing machine. Everything in the van was covered in red dust from the hurricane, so we have washed the back curtains, the bed sheets, cushion covers and clothes etc. Hopefully clean sheets, an open tailgate and mosquito nets will bring a decent nights sleep.
Ant’s managed to scrape his head again down the washing line; I suspect by the time 8 days are up there won’t be any staples left to take out!

Day 77 – 20th July – Monday. Torre de Sal.

http://www.benicassimfestival.com/content/benicassim-burns Decided to leave today and started to pack and clean everything as best we could. Another night with barely 3 hours sleep and too much beer. Much as I have loved this festival… a week is too long to burn the candle at both ends. I must have gotten old!
We spent the afternoon on a beach at Torre de Sal, north of Orapesa. Ant slept and I walked the beach – still not able to sleep in the heat.
Phil and Lee arrived in their van about 7pm and we all went out for a lovely Paella meal along the beach. Gonna miss those two, I haven’t laughed so hard and so often in ages.

Day 76 – 19th July – Sunday – The Killers

Went to the beach in Benicassim with Phil and Lee and caught up on some sleep before heading back to camp in preparation for the last night of live music. We decided that because The Killers weren’t on until 1am, we wouldn’t go in until a bit later and drink at the van instead (the beer is €7.50 per litre once inside!). So after a few sangrias we made it inside with Liam and Carly and some more Aussies from a few vans up (pictured completing some bizarre ritual involving tying your T Shirt round your head!?). Excellent night and loved The Killers. Joined Gary and Leslie at their van for a nightcap before crashing about 5am.

Day 75 – 18th July – Saturday

We woke to a complete bomb site. The campsite now looks (and feels) like a refugee camp – it’s carnage. The ground is covered in clothes, shoes, food and drink, tent poles, tents and deflated lilos of every colour and gaps have appeared where tents used to be. Whilst they were rebuilding the bar, they gave out free bottles of water, one per person. The railway line was covered in broken tents and so no trains came past and the showers no longer had a barrier enclosing them! People were wandering either on phones calling home, or kicking through the debris in search of their bags. Others were still drunk and sleeping it off!
But the show must go on….. we ventured inside with Phil and Lee (pictured) in time to catch the last 30mins of Bell X1 on the second stage. We also saw Elbow (unfortunately the sound was incredibly poor) and Franz Ferdinand, who were excellent, as well as some other Spanish dudes I can’t remember the name of. (lots of beer on board!).

Day 74 – 17th July – Friday

Managed to get some sleep before the cokeheads returned at 8am and woke us up again. I cut the knicker elastic off the fibre-glass filled pants and repaired my sandals. Happy again. (Although Ant did say I could get a new pair - Yipeee!!!!)
The day then turned into the most surreal day ever – First Ant split his head open and had to have it stapled together by the first aid team, then we ventured into the festival to see Weller and the Kings of Leon, but Weller was delayed starting due to a fire in what we think was the VIP area, then after a fantastic start (45 minutes into Wellers set) it was stopped altogether due to high winds. The stage lights were swinging wildly, the big screens came down and the electricity temporarily died. We waited about 3 hours to see if things would start up again, but every announcement said the same… ‘ we are doing all we can, we will keep you informed’. When the wind reached ridiculous speeds, we headed back to the camping area amongst total chaos; tents and belongings flying in all directions. Dirt, sand and grit encrusted in our faces, we got back to the van and found the awning on the ground in a crumpled heap, but the van was ok. The wind got worse and we disappeared into Phil and Lees van to watch from there as people were being evacuated from the site, some of them with only the clothes they were wearing. Things quietened down about 3am and we tried to sleep.

Day 73 – 16th July – Thursday – Festival Opening night

Woken by a load of English cokeheads returning to their van opposite – Sometimes I am so embarrassed to be British. The abuse they hurled at everyone and the unnecessary volume with which they did it was shameful.
Spent the evening in the festival with Carly and Liam. Saw The View (excellent), Mystery Jets (not so good), Oasis (shite) – we left half way through and thankfully missed the Gallagher doing his usual strop on and off stage a few times. We went over to the ‘Pista Pop’ tent and boogied till it got too hot – moved to the FiberFib stage and watched the end of ‘Gang of Four’ when the drummer smashed a microwave to smitherines before heading back to the van. Rock n Roll Man.
The strap on my beloved African rafter sandals that I have had for over ten years finally snapped on the way home. Not happy.

Day 71 – 14th July – Tuesday

Slept a little and woke because of the heat. Spent the evening with Carly and Liam, Hanne and Crispijn at the back of our van and were later joined by Gary and Leslie, Phil and Lee. Much laughter, much beer and even more sangria.

Day 72 – 15th July – Wednesday

Went into town for supplies, then after an aborted BBQ, we again spent the evening drinking and chatting with our neighbours Carly and Liam.

Day 70 – 13th July – Monday –FIB Heineken, Benicassim - Music Festival.

Arrived early enough to be the 3rd van there. First were Gary and Leslie from Scotland, then Crispijn and Hanne from Belgian. After us came Liam and Carly from Australia and then Phil(lippa) and Lee from Hertfordshire. All of us managed to chain 4-way cables to get some electricity, but our fridge is still not performing. After helping Phil and Lee erect their Gazebo in high winds, we spent the evening (until dawn) drinking with them; a hilarious, down-to-earth couple with our sense of humour.

Day 69 – 12th July – Sunday

What a fantastic night! (http://www.kecofontana.com/) Wesley’s ‘friend’ turned out to be the lead singer, guitarist and Wesley’s ‘husband’. We arrived shortly before 11pm and ordered a couple of beers, the place was cosy, modern and thankfully void of English. The 4-piece band came out and sat on stools in the window… the drummer, Keco the lead, a male singer/clapper and a female clapper/dancer, who was amazing. She got up to perform for a few of the pieces and each and every time the crowd went mad, the floor vibrated and the goosebumps rose. Fantastic.
Wesley joined our table about half twelve and introduced us to various friends, his mother-in-law (an English teacher) and to Keco himself. We finally got back to the campsite about 3am still marvelling at their tribute flamenco version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’!!!! Awesome.
We had unbroken sleep until about 8am which was a huge improvement on the last few nights, and have spent the day doing all the menial stuff in preparation for the festival… clothes washing, cupboard rearrangements (think we bought too much beer) and stowing of valuables etc. The festival campsite opens at 9am in the morning.

Day 68 – 11th July – Saturday

First realisation of the day; Nobody picks up their dogs poo in Spain, because they have an army of dung beetles who gladly do it for them. When we woke, Bee was surrounded by beetles either rolling poo, fighting over it or fighting each other to get near it. Weirdly fascinating to watch.
We drove through the centre of Valencia (beautiful city) and found a supermarket near Benicassim. Bought bed sheets, new saucepan and supplies for the festival, before continuing on to the town and the campsite Alhazar…. where we were booked in by Wesley from San Francisco. Wesley invited us to join him at a bar, La Nomade, on the beach at 11pm for a Flamenco show that his friend is a band member in. He also kindly agreed to print our camping ticket for the festival on his home computer for us and bring it along tonight, we are still concerned that the faxed copy won’t scan very well.
We spent the afternoon wandering through town and back along the beach – still not found the venue for Monday, but we at least now have a map.

Day 67 – 10th July – Friday. Benidorm – L’Albufera.

Left Benidorm around lunchtime and drove through the Parc L’Albufera south of Valencia which was gorgeous, vast lush wetlands with herons and egrets all over the place. We found a large open beach just north of El Perello and wild camped. We spent the afternoon on the beach – the sea was the warmest yet and the waves the most powerful. It also had beach showers and so we were able to freshen up before our pasta dinner on the sand watching the fisherman (glass of vino in hand of course). Unfortunately sleep wasn’t easy; the car park we had chosen (farthest away from the road and quiet) seemed to be a favourite after dark – particularly for a couple of guys who parked right next door to us and began dancing for each other right outside the van! As fears grew that we’d picked a local dogging spot, we realised the pair were actually doing us a favour…. each car that pulled in shone their lights at the half-clothed guys and drove straight out again, best security guards in the world!
Next to disrupt were the mosquitoes …in full force – we sat up in bed at dawn and killed a dozen or so before finally we could hear them no more.

Day 67 – 10th July – Friday. Benidorm – L’Albufera.

Left Benidorm around lunchtime and drove through the Parc L’Albufera south of Valencia which was gorgeous, vast lush wetlands with herons and egrets all over the place. We found a large open beach just north of El Perello and wild camped. We spent the afternoon on the beach – the sea was the warmest yet and the waves the most powerful. It also had beach showers and so we were able to freshen up before our pasta dinner on the sand watching the fisherman (glass of vino in hand of course). Unfortunately sleep wasn’t easy; the car park we had chosen (farthest away from the road and quiet) seemed to be a favourite after dark – particularly for a couple of guys who parked right next door to us and began dancing for each other right outside the van! As fears grew that we’d picked a local dogging spot, we realised the pair were actually doing us a favour…. each car that pulled in shone their lights at the half-clothed guys and drove straight out again, best security guards in the world!
Next to disrupt were the mosquitoes …in full force – we sat up in bed at dawn and killed a dozen or so before finally we could hear them no more.

Day 66 – 9th July – Thursday. Benidorm still.

Still alive, although Ant is a little worse for wear today – had a massive fry up and even treated ourselves to a can of Heinz baked beans to go with it.
Thankfully the sun is not out today and we woke to a bit of warm rain… perfect for a fuzzy head.
We checked the festival website on the campsite computers and realised Bee also needed a ticket for the campsite so after many complications and four random reboots by the computer, we successfully bought one, which Sarah then kindly faxed back to us as there are no printers here – fingers crossed they let us in with a faxed copy.

Day 65 – 8th July – Wednesday. Benidorm!

We arrived after lunch yesterday and booked into an extortionately priced campsite, but it does have a pool which is warm and clean.
We wandered into town after lunch looking for a dress and some new shorts. I tried on countless dresses, got very sweaty, sticky and frustrated, and was just about to give up, when we found a surf shop on the beach and found what we were looking for. A much needed beer was called for, so we headed along the beach a bit further and sat in a bar watching the brits on their mobility scooters going backwards and forwards along the beach in front of us. Before we knew it, one beer turned into five (or was it six?!?) and it was gone midnight!! Drinking in the afternoon on an empty stomach in 40 degree heat, is not a wise move.

Day 64 – 7th July – Tuesday. Vilajoyosa.

Not a good start to the day; I woke way too early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I walked the length of the main beach, stopping to watch the fisherman. Then I climbed to the top of the cliffs overlooking both beaches and took some photos, sauntered down again to get my towel and still found myself sitting on the small beach (Bol Nou) before half eight.
Ant joined me on the beach shortly after and we watched it fill up with various nationalities. We heard a scream and looked up to see two women racing to get out of the water as one of them had seen a huge jellyfish. I waited until the lifeguards had searched up and down in the water with their goggles on before having a swim myself.
We left around lunchtime and decided to travel the 15kms north to Benidorm and find a campsite. Last time I went to Benidorm I was 18 and on a girls-only, brits-behaving-badly-abroad package holiday. An eye-opener I can tell you. Ant’s only knowledge of the place is stories told him by his mate from Cyprus, and the Johnny Vegas portrayal on TV…so we decided to give it a go. I have a feeling we might live to regret it.

Day 63 – 6th July – Monday. Vilajoyosa.

Had a morning swim in the sea, followed by a quick rinse off with our solar shower and got back on the road again. We followed the coast north passing Alicante and the concrete tangle of high rise blocks and hotels and stopped at Vilajoyosa just south of Benidorm. Found another perfect beach with toilets, a bar and quiet parking area overlooking the sea. Spent the afternoon on the beach reading before a few cold ones at the bar and ‘home’ for dinner. We found another bar on the town’s main beach after dinner, where the barmaid was a total Kylie Minogue fan. I don’t think I can name a Kylie song that she didn’t play. Ant astounded me with his lightening fast ‘name that tune’ abilities as we sank a couple more beers on the beach.

Day 62 – 5th July – Sunday. Santa Polo.

Drove from lunchtime until about 3pm when we stopped at a rocky beach just outside Santa Polo. No Camping signs everywhere, so we moved a little further out of town and found a perfect beach to spend the night. Got a cold beer at the beach bar just as it was shutting and settled in to watch the sun setting and the moon rising.

Day 61 – 4th July – Saturday, Los Lobos.

Staying again – this place is great; quiet, excellent facilities and the most entertaining couple we have met so far (‘C-Thatch’ turns out to be talkative Cherry from Birmingham). Every evening we sit by the van listening to her on the phone outside her little office (garden shed) opposite us chatting to friends family and residents about anything and everything.

Day 60 – 3rd July – Friday, Los Lobos.

Due to the heat we spent all day sitting in the shade, reading, swatting flies and trying to keep cool (Ant with his feet in the washing up bowl!).
‘Horacio’ (our onboard Cactus who is being re-housed in Cyprus) has had a facelift, Ant removed his protective scaffolding made from wooden kebab skewers as it was looking a bit ropey and replaced it with a newly carved fork support which even has his initial carved into it. Despite the countless times I’ve punctured myself on him, sworn at him and cursed the decision to bring him with us… he does look quite smart now.

Day 59 – 2nd July – Thursday, Los Lobos.

Woke late after a fairly good night’s sleep (Ant only woke to kill 2 mossies) before he ventured out of the site to find some more wood for whittling. He has finished the main pieces, only the pawns to go.

Day 58 – 1st July – Wednesday, Los Lobos.

After another night spent squashing mosquitoes and melting in the heat (we don’t leave the back door open at night when wild camping for security reasons) we both woke a bit groggy and decided to find a campsite for a much needed shower (arse still itching) and some escape from the heat.
We headed north towards Cuevas del Almanzora because the map showed it to have a lake / reservoir. No lake. No reservoir. Only a dried up riverbed and a half-built, empty canal. Back to the beach at Villaricos and we found a campsite, but it wanted €29 per night… my arse wasn’t that itchy. We continued towards Los Lobos and in the middle of nowhere found this mobile home park with space for travellers. A much more respectable €17 per night with excellent showers, run by an English couple. He sounds the spit of Geoff Boycott and she sounds like Carol Thatcher, but they are most helpful and keep the place in immaculate condition. As it was lunchtime and we couldn’t actually get into the site or find anybody to help us, we went looking for somewhere to buy supplies as we intend to stay two nights. We found the Spanish equivalent of ‘Arkwrights’ in Los Lobos; there wasn’t anything this tiny store didn’t sell, from meats and cheeses, veg and salad to shower curtains and DVD players. The place was rammed from floor to ceiling with all sorts of stuff.

Day 57 – 30th June – Tuesday, Castell de Ferro.

Spent most of the night squashing mosquitoes on the ceiling.
We drove on the main coast road to Almeria passing hundreds and hundreds of these plastic pepper tents, they stretched as far as the eye could see from the coast on our right to the foot on the mountains on our left. So we continued to the natural parkland of Capo de Gata where we saw fields of flowering cactus and dry scrub. We stopped at the beach opposite ‘Las Salinas’, large salt marshes just inland from the sea, and spent a couple of hours on the deserted beach (we later discovered the desertion was probably due to the hundreds of jellyfish that lined the shore!) before getting back in the van away from the searing heat.
I spent some time cooling down in the bird hide on the marshes watching the flamingos, Avocets and Godwits wading for insects in the mud. We moved the van from the beach to the marshes car park and had a fry up as visitors and dog walkers, runners and ramblers came and went. As the sun set, we were surprised to see a wild fox only metres from the van before it ran off into the scrub.

Day 56 – 29th June – Monday, La Alpujarra.

Boiled eggs with rock solid bread meant that sadly we had to move on, if only to buy fresh bread. Spent a truly wonderful day in the Alpujarra mountains, stopped for lunch in the small town of Orgiva and had an amazing salad followed by fish Paella with an ice cold jug of Sangria. Suitably stuffed, we wound our way through the mountains towards the coast at Motril. We decided to try and find a beach to camp on, but the first couple we came to were either dodgey to park, or in the case of Chachu, made of dirt and grit and surrounded by plastic pepper greenhouses. We took the main road along the coast eastwards and found numerous picnic areas overlooking the sea and stopped at one on the outskirts of Castell de Ferro. Picnic areas seem to be regarded by the Spanish as large open air toilets, so we saw no harm in following the phrase… ‘when in Rome’. After this particular experience, I so wish I hadn’t. Being right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, the area was enclosed by concrete barriers to stop vehicles falling over the top. Knowing it wouldn’t be dark for another 5 hours or so, I was forced to use one of these barriers as cover and ventured behind it facing the sea. Pants round my ankles I leant my bare bum against the barrier to steady myself (it was a dizzy view down!) and slid down the barrier into a squatting position. Unbeknownst to me at the time that the concrete was encased in a moulded fibre glass shell. As I walked back to the van I realised how itchy my bum was and started to scratch it making it ten times worse. Ant realised what had happened and immediately told me to stop scratching else I would be pushing hundreds of microfibers of glass deeper into my skin. He helpfully suggested sticky tape to pull the fibres out, which it did. But I’m not sure what was worse; the itching, or the humiliation of being on all fours in broad daylight, pants round my ankles, whilst Ant ripped strips of Gaffa tape off my arse!

Day 55 – 28th June – Sunday, Pinos Genil.

Another day lazing around in the shade, eating far too much and generally being very lethargic. We have decided to stay another night here to take advantage of the ‘en-suite’ facilities by washing clothes and Ants seat cover which was dripping with sweat yesterday after only 20 minutes in the sun!

Day 54 – 27th June – Saturday, Pinos Genil. Spain.

After a fantastic nights sleep we didn’t surface till gone 11am and have spent the day carving, playing guitar and taking photos. The place is so quiet and remote it’s perfect. The temperature sores during the day but thankfully cools at night. We were visited last night by a dog/jackal/wild boar/bear shaped mammal (according to Ant!) so must remember to remove the rubbish bags tonight.
Ant hasn’t lost his fears of bugs yet though…. Lol… yesterday one landed on him whilst he was carving and as he tried to ‘casually flick it off’, as he put it, he managed to hurl his penknife straight past my face and into Bees side! Of course we looked through the book and discovered it must have been a flesh-eating, blood-sucking, poisonous bug of the rarest kind since it did not feature anywhere.

Day 53 – 26th June – Friday, Pinos Genil, Near Granada. The Sierra Nevada.

We set off earlyish (after a gorgeous cup of tea watching the sunflowers raise their heads to the sky) and continued east towards Granada and the Sierra Nevada. The Chris Stewart territory that we have both been looking forward to. We needed supplies so decided to stop at Estepa, a small town just off the main road, tiny cobbled streets and a one-way maze. We successfully found a museum-come-tourist office and got the necessary maps before searching for a supermarket when the news came in from home; my childhood idol is dead! After a few more tight turns and some VERY steep and narrow lanes we gave up and got back on the main road – food would have to wait.
We finally came to rest on a tiny mountainside campsite in Pinos Genil on the Genil River. We chose it because its name, ‘Aguas Blancas’, suggested views of rushing rapids and mountain waterfalls, it turned out to be another small river that crossed the road in front of us… as we pulled in there was thankfully a wooden bridge crossing the water albeit a bit rickety.. I got out to have a look just as a man came out and told us we ought not to take the bridge, but that it would be safer to drive through the water, Bee cruised casually through and we found a lovely spot with our own bathroom; Camping en suite. We love it. By 3pm we were sat in the shade with wine, olives, cheese and fresh bread listening to the river below.

Day 52 – 25th June – Thursday, On the road again!! Yeeha.

Had a fantastic day today. Left Portugal, crossed the border into Spain and finally filled up the van with reasonably priced fuel. The roads became noticeably better and the TomTom and I are now friends again. We decided to head along the coast to the Donana national park and then inland to join the main east-west road across southern Spain. The Donana park was a little disappointing to start with, miles and miles of identical trees and dead straight road. But we stopped for lunch overlooking the beach at Matalascanas (photo) and am so pleased we persevered, because further north we found the tiny town of El Rocio, where everyone either rode a horse, or drove a 4x4. The roads had no tarmac and every bar and café had a spaghetti-western style wooden rail outside to tether your horse. Fantastic. It looks as if it may well be a place that floods in the winter and certainly turns to mud when any rain falls. The flat marshlands were home to one of the few truly wild Greater Flamingo colonies in Europe – so we pulled over, I jumped out with the camera, and Ant checked the driveshaft bolts were all still doing their job. We continued north to join the main road east and had to take a bit of a detour due to a road closure (common occurrence as we have discovered in these parts). It felt good to be back in Spain, people were waving and honking their horns at us again (we think the Spanish like the bull on the front), but one guy chose to pick a particularly busy and hard-to-navigate 4-lane junction in the middle of Sevilla to honk his horn and frighten the life out of us, just to give us the thumbs up! Thanks mate. We passed Sevilla and drove through fields and fields of sunflowers, olive groves and orange trees before reaching La Puebla de Cazalla, we pulled off hoping to find a picnic area on the river to camp. We followed the river out of town, until it actually crossed the road making it impassable for us, so we figured it would be a quiet and beautiful spot to camp for the night; which it was. The morning however was a different story. The river may have stopped us, but it didn’t stop the quarry trucks which started ferrying rocks backwards and forwards at dawn… Or the tractors pulling huge metal ploughs … or the singing farmer (or was it happy howling?) on his motorbike with 7 greyhounds tied to the back!