Sailing Booked

Due to the scare stories circulating the British press re Calais migrants, striking seamen and farmer 's protests , have decide to try and sneak under the radar by booking a trip from Newhaven to Dieppe on 1st September

2nd July 2014

Monday 30th June

Left quite early to travel to Dieppe. Good roads and only one minor problem with the sat nav.  On arrival at Dieppe we decided to have lunch first and went to a Buffalo Grill in the commercial area. Have always enjoyed their version of French fast  food  and had been looking forward to sampling at least one during our stay in France. The choice of supermarkets for last minute shopping was nowhere near as good as in Calais or Dunkirk but adequate enough. Filled up with fuel which is about 20% cheaper than in the UK and went into Dieppe town which was surprisingly pretty ( much prettier than any of the other channel ports we have visited). We parked in the port area and walked through the town and along the sea front. There are some nice historical buildings but we only managed to look around a church and take a few photos. We went round to the ferry terminal at around 10am to park up and try to get some sleep before the ferry docked and in any case we had to book in by 5.30am so it was easier to be on the spot. 

Tuesday 1st July

The ferry left at 7am and we headed straight for the cafeteria for a full “English” breakfast. Although it looked good the mushrooms were cooked with garlic butter (not sure it really worked for breakfast) and the toast was soggy. It was a smooth crossing although a bit slow and unfortunately the wifi was not working so Ken had nothing to occupy him have taken his laptop on board rather than his Kindle! Arrived in Newhaven and because it was the only ferry operating from there we had a very swift disembarkation and passage through customs and immigration. We might well consider using this route again but next time we will use the M25 / M40 to and from Newhaven rather than the option we did take which was to travel via Southampton and Salisbury and up the Fosse Way which took us much longer than we had anticipated.

We have enjoyed our travels in Spain , Portugal and France  try but think we should should somewhere different next year , possibly the Romantic route in Germany or the Italian Dolomites.   Watch this space!!!

29th June 2014

Wednesday 25th June

After such a long drive yesterday decided to stay at Parc Verger for another day. We had a lazy start to the day and eventually set off on the bike to the nearby town of Chalus forgetting that we were now on French time not Spanish and that all the shops and bars closed at 12pm! In any event Chalus was a big disappointment with very few amenities. The local chateau was only open to the public on Sundays and there was nowhere close enough to ride to so we decide to return to the site and to go into the little village close by to eat in the restaurant bar which we visited last year and which is owned by english speaking couple and also frequented by a  number of Brits living locally. It wasn’t to be our day as when we arrived we discovered that the bar closes one day per week  - on Wednesday! at least the weather was in our favour and the promised showers didn’t materialise so we sat outside until early evening .

Thursday 26th June

SAS graves at Rom

Set off towards Poitiers on the first leg of our planned trip north to the Normandy beaches. En route we planned to visit Rom a small village where 35 SAS soldiers  who were massacred by German troops in July 1944 are buried in the local cemetery . They had been working as saboteurs to disrupt the German reinforcements following the Normandy landings. They were betrayed and executed by Germans on Hitler’s instructions contrary to the rules of war. The graves were in a corner of the public cemetery but are maintained by Commonwealth War Graves commission. It was quite a moving experience reading the inscriptions on each headstone as they were all so very young when they died.

We continued on our planned route via Poitiers but as happened yesterday the sat nav took us off the main roads and our journey ended up taking much longer than planned. Eventually we decide to use a map and ignore the sat nav to get ourselves back onto the main route. As it was clear we would not reach Le Mans by nightfall we followed directions to a campsite and motorhome aire in Bauge which turned out to be exceptionally good. The aire is free and is situated next to the small and modern municipal campsite  and a tennis club. 

Friday 27th June

No water available on this aire so we headed towards Caen using old fashioned maps and ignoring the sat nav where it didn't agree with us! Stopped several times at pretty places en route for refreshments including frites at an Aire de repos. There were several heavy rain showers interspersed with sunny spells and our route took us from Bauge to Laval then to Mayennne and finally we bypassed Caen and Bayeux to end up on an aire close to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. We popped along to the cemetery in time for the evening flag lowering ceremony which was a little disappointing as it was performed by civilian staff instead of the ultra smart American servicemen we had expected. 

Saturday 28th June

Left the Aire at around 9.30am and headed back to the American cemetery in the motorhome with the intention of looking around the modern museum which was completed in 2007. The museum was absolutely enthralling with a lot of filmed sequences and interactive exhibits and depicts the significance and meaning of Operation Overlord and honours the sacrifice of the WW2 generation .The Garden of the missing features engraved tablets which commemorate 1557 names of soldiers missing in action including two brothers from one family and bronze rosettes beside some of the names show that the remains were later recovered , identified and buried.. The memorial features a 22ft statue “The spirit of American youth rising from the waves” facing west toward the row upon row of precisely aligned headstones of white Lasa marble crosses and Stars of David set in ten grave plots. All of this overlooks the beach of Omaha. The sheer scale of the place is overwhelming and extremely moving. we were lucky enough to be able to take an English speaking  guided tour of the cemetery. Only four of us turned up for the tour and the other two who were Americans had to leave after 20 minutes as they were part of a tour excursion which was leaving so we had the english guide all to ourselves for 45 minutes! we learned a lot which we would have missed had we been wandering on our own.

Sunset on the beach

Continued from the cemetery along the coast to Grand Camp Maisie where we found a campsite and parked right next to the beach.  Walked along the beach to the harbour in the evening . Very quiet but found a little bar on the sea front for a drink and a meal. returned to watch the tide coming in right up to the sea wall beside our motorhome (there are evacuation plans in the case of high seas) and watched a beautiful sunset.

Sunday 29th June

Peace sculpture

We have reasonable wifi at a price so decide to book our ferry from a port as close as possible to our current location. Caen and Le Havre were pretty expensive but found a good deal sailing from Dieppe to Newhaven on Tuesday morning so decide to stay here at Grand Camp Maisie until tomorrow when we will drive along the coast to Dieppe ready for our early morning sailing on Tuesday. 

Took a long walk up to Point Du Hoc where the German batteries overlooked Omaha beach and Chinese sculptor donated to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the invasion.

25th June 2014

Sunday 22nd June

Decided to eat in the site restaurant last night as it was a fiesta weekend and there was a disco/karaoke in the bar which we might have avoided had we known previously! It also meant that Ken could have a beer or two without the worry of having to drive back to the site. There was set menu which neither of us fancied so we selected from the very restricted a la carte menu. Ken had hoped for sardines but there were none on the menu that night and so reluctantly opted for chicken with baked potatoes and courgettes and mushrooms( can’t remember the fancy name) together with a mixed salad. Looked delicious when it arrived but the chicken had not been cooked through and so Ken left most of it. I elected to have a pizza which seemed innocuous enough but was so well cooked that it was almost impossible to cut. The waiter saw me struggling and provided me with a steak knife! All in all a bit of a disaster . The festivities on site continued until well after midnight and the young Spanish who had crowded onto the site over the weekend seemed to enjoy themselves.

Awoke late and spent the day on site lazing in the sun. Went into Sitges at around 6.30pm and the town was absolute sky heaving as it was the Corpus Christi celebration, with people and stalls along the promenade and flower displays  of carnations actually laid out as carpets on the streets. Apparently there is a competition for the best decorated street. There was a procession with huge puppet like figures  parading along the streets accompanied by musicians and “minders”. We do seem to have been lucky in that each time we have visited Sitges it had coincided with a festival.

Monday 23rd June

Left Sitges and headed for a motorhome dealership in Vic which also has an Aire close by in the hope of getting someone to look at our fridge which once again has stopped working using the electric hook up! After driving in completely the wrong direction for almost an hour on a new motorway which did not feature on either of our sat navs or in our map book and also worrying that we might run out of fuel with no petrol station in sight  we realised our error and had to back track along the same road to Manressa and from there to Vic. We arrived at Vic on the new road which ran parallel to the road we needed and had great difficulty in  finding access to it only to find that the dealer and the wire were both closed for the holiday! 

During the morning I had received a reply to a text I had sent a few days ago to  our friends Pat and George who were having problems with their motorhome in Argeles and had since moved to Rocamodur. As we couldn't  see any point in hanging around for the dealer to be open as there was no guarantee that the fridge could be fixed swiftly we decided to press on into France. The obvious route over the Pyrenees was to cross to Aix Les Thermes where we had stayed previously. The route was very scenic , fantastic views and lots of hairpin bends and surprise, surprise when we arrived at the tunnel through the Pyrenees it was closed until November. It was turning out to be one of those days! We had to climb once again over the pass into France and lots more scary bends to contend with. Arrived at Aix without further incident although we drove through some heavy rain on the way. We drove up what seemed like a much longer route than when we last visited to arrive at the ski resort of Bonsacre which is situated high above the town Aix Les Thermes and the resort is also connected  to the town by a cable car. There is only one other motorhome here so it is very quiet and peaceful and the mists and clouds are already descending all around us this evening making for quite an eerie atmosphere.

Tuesday 24th June

Left very early as we had planned along drive up to Limoges in the hope of catching up with our friends Pat and George. The journey should have been very straightforward via a mix of motorway and major roads but we reckoned without our sat nav which decided to take us across country along some single track roads for many miles . Was terrified we would meet something coming in the opposite direction as there was absolutely nowhere to pass!

Eventually after five and a half hours of tortuous travelling we arrived at Parc Verger an English owned site used by motorhomes and caravans  where we stayed last year. The weather is warm and sunny but I think there are storms forecast over the next few days. Waiting to hear from our friends before we decide our next move.

21st June 2014

Sunday15th June

Had a very lazy day as weather very warm again. Went out for a bike ride and drink at a beachside bar late afternoon / evening then returned to site to pack away for moving on next day. Got chatting to the Italians in the next motorhome who have 3 Golden Retrievers which they were grooming each in turn outside on a table. The dogs are beautifully behaved and very affectionate. Apparently the dogs are used as search and rescue dogs for disasters such as earthquakes. They also have a cat with them . Although it is quite a large motorhome heaven knows how they all fit into it!

Monday16 th June

Left late morning and drove up the coast stopping at a motorhome site in Peniscola. Turned out to be almost next door to one where we stayed last year but is much better laid out and has a separate area designated for larger motorhomes and includes free wifi all over the site. Only problems are the road noise from passing traffic and also crowing cockerels and barking dogs! Ok for a stopover but not for any longer! Went into Peniscola in the evening where Ken had a much needed and very professional haircut  at a barbers which was handily located by our parking area and we then had a nice meal in local restaurant where we watched Germany thrash Portugal on the big screen TV!

Tuesday 17th June

Not a bad night considering the noise problems but decided we needed to find somewhere more peaceful and set off for “The Orangeraie “ campsite which we found in our site book. It is only about 15 minutes inland but a world away from the commercialism of the coastal area. It is the most beautiful campsite with a lovely pool area and bar and excellent facilities. It is owned by a French couple who speak excellent English and go out of their way to be helpful. 

By strange coincidence also staying here are a Scottish couple who were staying on our favourite site in Cordoba. Unfortunately of all the people staying there they  were the least friendly, kept themselves to themselves so we are not hopeful that things will be any different here!

Spent the afternoon sunbathing and reading. although it is warm (around 28 degrees) it is also quite windy so am not tempted to swim in the beautiful pool although it looks fabulous.

Wednesday Thursday, Friday Saturday

San Mateu

At the suggestion of the site owner we had a trip out on the bike to San Mateu a small town approx 10 miles away. We had just parked the bike when I was approached by a man in a car asking in Spanish for car parking directions. I tried to explain that I didn't speak Spanish when he asked what nationality we were. When I said English he replied so am I!! We later caught up with him at a bar in the main square where he was sat with his Spanish wife and two children - that explained the fluent Spanish!

San Mateu had some pretty historic buildings and a walking tour which we followed after which we had lunch and then returned to the site to relax before preparing to leave the following morning. On our return we discovered that our Dutch neighbours had decorated their tent with orange flags and were wearing orange hats. They had a barbecue ready and had invited all the other Dutch campers to watch the Netherlands v Australia football match! We watched the match on our TV and soon discovered that the channel we were watching was receiving the signal approx 2 to 3 seconds before the channel the Dutch were watching so we made a point of shouting out at each goal scored ! Not sure if they grasped what was happening.

La Buena Vista!!!

Left on Thursday morning as the weather was overcast and set out for Sitges where we planned to stay over the weekend at a site we have enjoyed for the past 2 years. The site was surprisingly empty when we arrived but started to fill up yesterday. We found a lovely quiet spot on the site and have enjoyed sitting around and reading in the sun until this morning when a Spanish couple arrived with a tatty caravan and parked right next to us although there are endless spaces available not next to anyone. It’s a real touch of the car park syndrome!

Have been into Sitges each evening and patronised the most amazing traditional style tapas bar which had huge amounts of cold and hot tapas being refreshed constantly. It is very popular with both locals and tourists alike. Sitges is still a beautiful town although it has grown enormously over the years and is full of young and beautiful people which is a bit depressing!!

14th June 2014

Monday 9th June

Africa from Tarifa

Decided to move along the coast to visit some Roman ruins at  Bolonia  near to Tarifa but forgot it was Monday and typically everything is shut on Mondays! Instead we found a nice campsite midway between Bolonia and Tarifa. Whilst I sat in the sunshine and read my book Ken went on the bike to explore access and parking for the motorhome should we decide to visit the ruins en route to a new destination the next day.

He was able to see sufficient from the road and beach to determine that it would be a worthwhile visit when open and that we could easily park the motorhome in the large car park.

Late afternoon we went on the bike into Tarifa. It was a very windy and somewhat uncomfortable journey but the sun was shining and it was very warm wandering around the port and the old part of the town. Tarifa is quite pretty if a little run down and tatty in places but we had some good views of Africa from the walls above the port area.

Tuesday 11th June

Remains of aqueduct

Baelo Claudia

Visited Baelo Claudia as planned. The wind had died down from yesterday and it made for a much more pleasant visit. The ruins of the Roman town which had been a major fish processing plant are quite substantial with large parts of an aqueduct; entrance gates; temple; theatre and shops having been uncovered and restored plus an interesting museum showing the history of the town complete with English translations!

Followed the coast road out of Tarifa and through areas we haven't visited for many years. A lot of new motorway has ben built some of which do not appear on our current sat nav maps . It appeared we were travelling cross country with constant reminders to go to the nearest road! From Estepona to Almunecar was one concrete jungle after another. Salobrena was the first attractive looking town we might have considered visiting had we had time. 

En route to our destination at Almerimar we drove past huge expanses of plastic covered areas where peppers; tomatoes aubergines etc are grown in abundance. The aire we are staying on is in the harbour area and overlooks a marina where local “plasticultura billionaires” park their floating assets alongside craft from the four corners of the Mediterranean!  The immediate area around the marina is pretty with lots of bars and restaurants but there are huge residential developments behind. A lot of the retail units and apartments stand empty still waiting for owners. All rather depressing! Spent a very pleasant evening sat outside a bar overlooking the marina which offered a free tapas with every drink!

Wednesday 12th June and Thursday 13th June

Amerimar Aire

Cowboy Mini Hollywood

Had a really peaceful night’s sleep and woke early to set off for “Mini Hollywood” one of the spaghetti western sets near Tabernas in the Almeria desert. We arrived at around 11.30 which was perfect timing for the first of the two daily shows  reacting the capture of the James brothers and performed by actors at 12pm. Not up to Disney standards but quite entertaining. Following the show everyone decamped from the scorching heat into the “saloon “ bar where we were treated to some can can dancers who performed a very modern ballet style piece before the traditional dance.

We wandered around the town set and left at about 3pm heading for Mazarron. Unfortunately our sat nav took us a ridiculously long way round and then onto a toll motorway. In trying to correct ourselves we made things worse and ended up driving for hours longer then intended without reaching our intended destination. However this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as following a coast road from Aguilas we came upon a camper already parked up on a small beach. We stopped and asked if overnight camping was allowed and the German owners told us they had been there for 2 nights so we decided to join them. The location is absolutely idyllic we are approximately 5 metres from the sea which is a vivid blue and the gentle sound of the waves is really soporific. A local beach restaurant provide us with a pleasant evening meal though inevitably Ken wished he had ordered what I had chosen!

Wild camping Los Cloques beach

Undecided whether to move on or spend a further day by the sea. Walked up the beach to the nearby village where we found several beachside bars (EU funding doesn't appear to have reached this part of Spain yet as the sports facilities consisted of 2 goal posts on a scrap of waste ground unlike the multi million euro all weather pitches and swimming pools found in even the smallest villages around most of Spain). Had lunch and when we got back to our motorhome Colin and Maureen from Whitby in their Esterel motorhome had joined us and the Germans on our unofficial campsite. By the time we left the next day others had followed suit and there was a total of  7 motorhomes parked on the little stretch of beach. Spent a pleasant evening sitting outside drinking red wine with Colin and Maureen watching the sun set and exchanging experiences and information.

Friday 13th June

Left mid morning to call in at Puerto de Mazarron which had changed out of all recognition from when we last visited many years ago. still very attractive but we decided not to stop and drove on towards Pilar de Horidada where we had stayed in a friends apartment over 16 years ago. Unfortunately another mix up with the sat nav took us onto the AP7 motorway so we decided to head straight for Denia to a site we stayed on last year as we needed water and proper facilities. Came off the motorway just after Alicante and drove along the coast road through Benidorm  narrowly avoiding a 2.5 metre high underpass which would have taken 18inches off the top of our roof! Drove through the Altea hills , past Calpe and through Denia to Oliva where the site is located right next to the beach.

We had a choice of vacant pitches but all were difficult to manoeuvre into. Only one turned out to be  long enough to accommodate our van after trying all 3  and providing  the afternoon’s entertainment for the rest of the campers!

The temperature on arrival was 37 degrees and didn't drop much during the evening so we found it really difficult to keep cool and to sleep. Also very noisy as there were a number of Dutch campers who were throughly enjoying the football match. We knew when Holland had scored as there were shouts of glee. each time. Unfortunately we couldn’t watch it ourselves as our satellite reception was blocked by trees.

Saturday 14th June

Went on the bike into Denia. stopped on the way at Els Poblets as a friend has a villa there up for sale. The beach was lovely and we sat for a long time in the shade of  beachside bar as it was too hot to move. Drove into the centre of Denia to find a bank and to have lunch. The commercial/ shopping area was semi pedestrianised and tree lined and very cool - extremely pretty. Eventually had to face the fierce heat to drive back to the site. Stopped at reception to enquire about possible connection to the satellite dishes on site and a very kind man sorted it out for us so tonight we can watch England v Italy. Tomorrow could be very embarrassing as the people in the next camper are Italian!

Monday 9th June

Sunday 8th June

Yesterday evening chatted with a  lovely English couple from Worcester who were parked close to us on the site and who also have a Bessacar motorhome although theirs is brand new and so far trouble free! They visited Cadiz yesterday and very kindly gave us the use of the remainder of their 2 day passes for the open top bus tour of Cadiz. Took the ferry at 1.40 pm across the bay . A bit choppy and very windy on the upper deck but only took approx 20 minutes. Cadiz is a very pretty city with some beautiful old buildings and lovely parks . The beaches were very busy - unsurprisingly as it was the weekend. The bus tour was really great as it meant we could get on and off at different locations around the city and then resume the tour as we pleased although one miserable bus driver failed to pick us up at what we thought was the designated spot so we had a bit of a rush to catch the return ferry. We visited a fort which protected the western side of the city and was very reminiscent of the Alamo. The cathedral looked very impressive but we didn’t go in as time was a bit limited. The city has a system of different coloured lines painted on the sidewalks which are guided tours to follow depending upon your personal interests. One area of the city seems to attract a lot of landscape painters and another area was dedicated to flamenco with statues of famous dancers and a school of flamenco dancing.Returned to Puerto de Santa Maria and visited a local bar where we watched the end of the French Open Men’s final. No prizes for guessing who all the locals were supporting!