2013 - 2014 Blog

Week 21. Trying to settle for Christmas.

Well after our long stay in Javea and a week in Isla Plana we seem to have spent this week moving. We left Los Madriles to go to the park natural Cabo de Gata where we set up at Camping Los Esculos. That sounds as if it was easy doesn’t it? When we arrived we were given a map of the site with the vacant sites marked. We examined every pitch and picked one that was huge, till we tried to get into it. The trees around it prevented us getting in. With help from a Swedish couple we moved to another pitch not wide enough or deep enough but we got across it on the diagonal - just.

The site was in the back of beyond and frankly had little going for it although the facilities were reasonable the hot water was a bit hit or miss. I have written in my short site report that “. . .All the pitches had close weave plastic sun shading over them essential in this area in summer I would imagine but in winter made the pitches feel dingy and slightly depressing. The only other twin axle van on site was in a pitch just long enough to get the van on and and wide enough for a full awning but it was so dark they had to use lights all day long. . .”

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After setting up camp we set off to walk the kilometre to the beach, the terrain resembled my idea of the moon surface. Brown. Boring. Dead. When we got to the coast the village comprised around six houses, a cafe/hotel, a cafe/disco, and a castle. Access to the beach (if it could be called a beach) was by climbing down sharp volcanic rocks, EU disability access requirements obviously exclude this village. We won’t be back.

We decided to give the site, or rather the surrounding area, a another chance and today went into Almeria for a look see. We found the weekly market where two enterprising guys seemed to have “adopted” a car park concession in the large car park fronting the market. As you drove in they indicated where you should park and then held their hand out. Sue thinking it was a genuine attendant asks how much? “Whatever” was his reply - he got a Euro. To their credit the two guys were doing the same to everyone locals and foreigners alike and everyone paid something. This parking wheeze (well it’s not exactly a scam as you do always get a parking space) is becoming quite common in Spain particularly in areas of high tourism and low space.

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After getting our shopping in the market we went to have a look at Almeria Castle as always at the highest point in the town and in this case also the most congested with very narrow roads. Fortunately for us there was a chap up there operating “The Parking Wheeze” who took us to a nearby parking space, unfortunately for him we had spent all our change in the market and we only managed to rake up 60 cents between us.

Entering the castle we went to the pay kiosk, the attendant asked us our nationality then gave us a guide written in English and said there was no charge. The castle was very interesting, well laid out with lots of interesting displays and a lecture hall where what appeared to be a large number of school children were being taught with even more groups of school children out and about in the monument. Part of the grounds had in past centuries been laid out in homage to The Alhambra and these areas were particularly beautiful. We found out later that only non-EU residents are charged entry.

Moving on today.

The site hasn’t mellowed with time. It’s still horrible. One long term resident seeing up parked outside reception to pay our dues asked “Oh you’re going already, don’t you like it here?”. A usually tactful Sue simply said “No, not much.” exposing us to a half hour lecture as to why it was in fact a good site.

Eventually we got away, travelling 300km west to the town of Humilladero and Camping La Sierrecilla. Sadly this site was on a hiding to nothing as even before we arrived a short way away I spied a pack of around four or five dogs and although in the moving car with the engine running and windows shut we could hear nothing we could see the mouths all making barking movements. When we opened the car door we were intently aware the moving mouths were also making loud barking sounds that continued without pause until darkness fell and then continued from first light and was still going strong when we left.

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Our final site of the week, where we will spend Christmas is one we have visited before, Camping La Aldea at El Rocio. We arrived in rain that could only be described as “monsoon style” we were fortunate in that we were able to get a pitch that we could drive straight onto so positioned the van without getting out of the car then jumped out wound the legs down and jumped in the van. In the few minutes it took we were soaked to the skin and chilled to the marrow. Fortunately within the hour the rain stopped and the ground, which throughout this area is sand that, when wet, turns into quagmire soup had started to dry out.

This morning has dawned bright sunny and warm, the soup had disappeared and the site is dry and pleasant again. We decide to sort the van position out. At the moment it is positioned with the door facing north about a metre and a half from a tall hedge, it must be turned through 180 degrees so that we get sunshine all day and the awning put up so we can spread ourselves out for Christmas and the new year.

Turning the van through 180 degrees went surprisingly well we towed in into the next pitch the turned it on the mover which pushing the wheels round on the soft sand seemed to suit it well. It was when we tried to put up the awning that the problems started. We could not get the awning cord through the channel on the caravan as during the manufacturing process some heavy handed twerp with a silicon gun managed to fill the whole channel with silicone. Irritating beyond belief but in reality five minutes with a small sharp penknife and all was well.

We have just learned that the forecast for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is rain. Thats not what we came here for we would have stayed in UK if we wanted rain. Still to be fair except on our day of arrival here the last time we saw rain was around 17th November.

Week 20 - Moving on.


Starting a fourth week in Javea seems almost unbelievable, but we have set Monday as moving day, so just the weekend to see anything we have missed, say goodbye - again - to Dirkje and get the van ready to roll.

“Oh! You are actually going then?” said our neighbours obviously not believing that we were serious, but we were fully packed and ready to move the van off the pitch, then, before 11.00am we were on our way south.

Our destination just a few miles west of Cartagena at Isla Plana. The site is Los Madriles, and our reason for picking this site is that it has two huge swimming pools that are emptied each night and refilled with fresh sea-water. They are also heated.

We had a very pleasant drive here although it seemed a bit strange as it is one of the few caravan towing journeys we have done since 17th September when we had been on our own - weird! The countryside around here is bleak, very bleak it puts me in mind of the desert we crossed (in a bus) when we visited Petra in Jordan.

The Costa Blanca is quite a green area of Spain with huge orchards of orange and lemon trees together with large olive groves. On the way to Isla Plana we passed through a market garden area where there were miles and miles of green crops being harvested, but here, outside the towns and villages, there is virtually no green at all just a brown seemingly endless scrub with, alongside the coastal strip, hectares of a sort of grey plastic greenhouse.

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Arriving at Los Madriles we were given a map with vacant pitches marked and told to have a look around and choose a pitch we liked. We found a pitch that has a view that didn’t look hard to get into and towed slowly up the hill turning left into the little road road where the pitch was. It was then things started to go wrong. What had seemed plenty of room to swing the front of the car as I backed the caravan onto the pitch turned out to be anything but. The new van is less than a metre longer than the old but I can’t seem to adjust, oh well never mind we have a motor mover. That worked well for a few minutes and then the drive wheels started to dig themselves a hole as the un-driven wheels went up a rise and slightly lifting the driven wheels which then lost traction. This had the effect of swinging the caravan making the rise worse and eventually the van was jammed across the road and we were unable to move to the left or to the right or backwards or forwards.

Oh bugger!!

From every which way appeared helpers. Unfortunately all but one was German with lots of enthusiasm but keiner sprach Englisch all were pushing or shoving everyone cancelling everyone else out. The only Brit said “if we can get them all to push forward and move the van three or four inches we can then swing the front of the van to the left about 45 degrees and then the slope can be attempted from a shallower angle” it took a while to get them all to push in the same direction but once we did the whole thing went like a dream and five minutes later we were on the pitch.

It’s a nice bright day today so we have taken a car ride a little way (back) north to have a look at the Mar Menor, a gigantic lagoon 20km east of Cartagena. There is an almost complete land bridge running north/south with a road that runs over 17km almost but not quite connecting back to the mainland at the northern end. Sue had looked at this narrow spit on our road atlas and was staggered on arrival to see that the narrow strip of land was covered in high-rise hotels and apart-hotels. The northern end of the strip is narrow with not much more than the road and it is here we enjoyed, seeing lots of different birds, including flamingoes, on the seaward side. The lagoon side water temperature is said to be fully five degrees centigrade higher than the Mediterranean sea side.

We had read that the nearby city Lorca, is known as “The Baroque City” because of it’s many fine Baroque buildings and so decide to visit it today. As we drive towards the city we could see high on a hill a castle which was dismissed in our guide book thus “. . . its castle dates from this era, although only two of its original thirty five towers remain . . .”

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Thinking that we would have a quick look before the main event - the town centre, we followed the “castillo histórico” signs and went in. What was to be an hour at most turned into a full five hour visit. The electronic audio guide was easily the best we have come across, and we have come across more than our fair share, and there were two areas of the castle that could be accessed only when accompanied by a guide, only Spanish guides available said the lady at reception but it will still be worth going. The guide explained that he should give the talk in Spanish but as we were the only attendees and he could speak English he would do the first tour in English but if anyone else joined us for the second tour he must revert to Spanish. They didn’t and nor did he. Juan Carlos (like the king) was not really a tour guide he was an archaeologist who had worked on the castle for the last ten years and was planning to do the same for the next twenty, although in the current fiscal climate he did not know if that was possible. The first tour Juan took us on was of the castle Jewish quarter. The Jews being great merchants had thrived in the castle which separated two kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsular trading with both for two centuries until Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand gave the jews the choice of converting to Christianity or moving elsewhere. Although a few converted the majority moved elsewhere and the quarter was simply left to decay. When religious people moved into an area previously occupied by those of a different faith they often converted the religious buildings for their own use. In the jewish quarter at Lorca Castle the synagog was located very close to the christian church so, not being needed that was also left to decay and remains the only medieval synagog in Spain that had not been altered in any way. The finds dug up during its excavation, for example the glass lamps are particularly important and special.

The second tour and we are again on our own with Juan Carlos. This time we are to visit the main Keep or castle tower. There is quite a steep path to the keep, the door of which Juan opens with a very old looking key fully 12 inches long. It was 140 rough crumbly steps from the entrance via the two intermediate floors to the roof. Juan made every step interesting as he explained the history of the castle as it related to King Alphonse Xth known as “the wise one”. As we walked up Juan several times mentioned a recent earthquake which had done serious damage to the castle and town

When we reached the roof Juan explained that the earthquake that hit the town on 11th May 2011 had measured 5.1 on the Richter scale, a smaller tremor two hours earlier had sent people into the street when the main quake hit it caused extensive building damage, ten people were killed by falling masonry, and over 1000 were injured. Only one building collapsed completely during the quake but over 1000 have subsequently had to be demolished. The two main churches were both so badly damaged that they are both being rebuilt and are currently closed to visitors, as are many of the other historic buildings.

For our last day in Los Madriles we went for a drive into the Sierra Espuna National Park. It is not a drive for the faint hearted. The road was narrow, mainly single carriage width but with cars, motor bikes and suicidal mountain bikers rushing in both directions as we rose 1295 metres (4250 ft) in a very short distance - thats higher than Snowdon at 1085 m (3559 ft) but not quite so high as Ben Nevis (1344 m - 4409 ft). The views were at times frightening but at all times stunning - a must do journey.

Week 19 - Staying put.

We are starting our third week at Javea. That’s almost unheard of. We have of course rationalised it, we had to wait for Dirkje’s birthday, then of course we had to help move her into her new apartment as with her son working away we had the only available car. The weather is awful and whats the point of moving in bad weather and there is a bank holiday on Friday so the Spanish will fill the sites we fancy and spend the weekend partying, It’s all tosh of course we simply can’t be arsed.

We have nevertheless set a move date of Monday 9th December and a place to move to. Cartagena. What we have to do now is find somewhere nice to spend Christmas. It was going to be Portugal if not Vila Nova De Milfontes where we had originally intended but time has passed and we don’t want to make a mad dash over there.

There was a “concert” on site today. A French couple put them on every now and then, he plays keyboards, clarinet and piano accordion, no! not at the same time, while she sings. It was a very pleasant hour and a half. All in French of course but many songs were ones that we recognised.

We went for a walk yesterday first into the “centro histórico” high up the hill and then down to the port. It was a long trip by the time we got back but very pleasant.

Close to the entrance to the site is the favourite roost of a group of noisy quick flying birds, they are green look like small parrots but we simply can’t get a good enough view to identify them. We will take the binoculars next time we walk that way and try to identify them.

It seems very strange that we are sitting in the windless warm sunshine while East England and parts of Holland are having such a tough time of it.

Having gone on line to find out about the weather conditions in UK we have learned of the death of Nelson Mandella. Obviously at 95 years old, not totally unexpected but still very sad and quite shocking news to loose one of the worlds greatest leaders.

We didn’t go sight-seeing today. We had far more exiting things to do. Sue did the washing then we washed and polished first the car and then the caravan - how sad is that? Well a bit, but of course this is a lifestyle and not a holiday so in between the sightseeing and absorbing foreign cultures etc., we have to maintain the basics of life.

We have discovered that the little green birds are parakeets but have discovered nothing more. It seems that a breeding pair escaped from local captivity and have thrived into a noisy little group but are not native to Spain.

We had another great night out last night, Christmas late night shopping, tapas trail, entertainment etc., unfortunately we never learn and arrived a little before 8.00pm the published kick off time. When we gave up and started for home about 9.00pm the shops were still empty and the streets all but deserted but as we arrived back we could hear a band start up.

More basics today we have had to admit that Christmas is getting close and all the cards we have done (immediate family only this year so please don’t get offended when you don’t get one) had to be posted so it was a walk back up the big hill to the post office where strangely the smaller ones cost more to send than the bigger ones.

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After our card posting we went for a look at “Los Molinos de Jávea” the remains of a string of windmills high on the hills above Jávea. There is not a great deal to see from the windmill point of view, indeed some of them are in private gardens and appear to have been turned into additional accommodation but the views over Jávea are absolutely stunning, high enough to get a magical view but low enough to see interesting details not visible from the ground. The mills are described on the city web site as follows (it is a Google translation so some interpretation is required):-

“ . . . Because the port concession in the eighteenth century for export and trade in goods and fruits, along with a local economic development based on rainfed crops, makes the wheat will become the most important product, both produced by locally or imported from Sicily.

          For processing into flour mills born Javea, situated in a strategic location on the hill of Cabo San Antonio advantage of the south wind "Llebeig" blowing pretty hard all year. Construction cylindrical over 6m in diameter, and 7 high, forming inside 2 levels, the lower used for storage, and the top where the wooden mechanisms were moving heavy circular wheels to grind wheat stood , which is still observed, and the mechanism of the blades.

          There are 11 mills, with 3 being owned by the City and undergoing restoration. . ."

View from Los Molinos
Last Updated - Sunday 27th April 2014.             © Seve  Ghost 2014