Oops Missed 9.......

Stop off number 9 in Spain was a pure gem and an unplanned destination. We were heading to Conil but were unable to fit on any of the campsites so we back tracked some 8km to a small village called Zahora. The campsite sits just outside the national park and is surrounded by pine trees, a home from home feeling.
The site is one of our top 5 sites and the area has fantastic beaches. The battle of Trafalgar took place off the headland on the 21st October 1805, though there was no obvious celebration on the 21st Oct....not surprising really.
Zahora is very Bohemian and I describe it as Croyde  in the 50s, very chilled with great beaches and unspoiled surf before the tourists found it and turned it into a commercial hot-spot.

 The beach at Cape Trafalgar 

 Cape Trafalgar Lighthouse 

 Blue sky at Cape Trafalgar

 Allen paddling into a wave at Zahora - miles of uncrowded beach breaks

 Mellow wave at Zahora

 The Spanish version of the Thatch pub at Croyde.....

 Stunning beach to El Palmar

 We love the sunshine..bring it on

Oops I forgot to pull the rip cord....

 Spain is just full of Anchors...............

Marine Pines making it feel like a home from home.

We planned on staying one or two nights and we are still here two weeks later. We have met some great people here too, Ray, Martin and Muppet the Westy, Julie and Ian with there 4 Border Terriers (crufts champions) and 1 Westy, Mark and John who owned a campsite in Devon and have planted a seed in our minds. Gary and Barbara from Bishops Waltham and Gill and Ben from Bordeaux, plus many others.

Spain Locations 6,7 8 and 9

Location number 6 was Roquetas De Mar. A very typical Spanish holiday resort for the Spanish. The campsite was located at the back of the beach which gave us two directions to walk in, East or West. Heading West along the beach took us into Roquetas, an area that has had recent development of reasonably high standard, though it was evident that areas that had been planned for development but hit the recession period and now stand empty, half finished or just waste land, a common sight. Roquetas has a small marina and a small fishing port with a scattering of fish restaurants. The Commercial centre is quite new and it also has quite a large bull ring which dominates its surroundings. To the East of the campsite was the very small Spanish resort of Aguadulce, with its plethora of small cabana styled beach bars. We headed East on the Saturday down the beach to stumbled, not literally, into a dead body on the beach covered over with a sheet, attended by a couple of police officers . Strangely no one on the beach seemed to be phased and sunbathing and beach ball games continued around the cadaver.

 Sangria

 Cana at Aguadulce

Van on pitch at Roquetas

Location number 7 was Camping Las Lomas in Guejar Sierra near Granada. This site sat high in the Sierra Nevada at 1200m which gave some nice cool nights, however the days were still very hot. The drive from the coast through to Granada was one of the most scenic drives we have done, the mountainous scenery was breath taking. On the way  we passed 'Mini Hollywood' where Sergio Leone had western film sets built as backdrops to some of his most famous films - surreal!

Mini Hollywood 

 Looking down from the campsite to the reservoir below

 A walk in the Sierra Nevada 

Location number 8 was Camping El Sur in Ronda, again the drive was stunning with fantastic mountainous views. Ronda is the home of modern Bull Fighting and the main sights are the Three bridges, Puente Romano ("Roman Bridge", also known as the Puente San Miguel), Puente Viejo ("Old Bridge", also known as the Puente Árabeor "Arab Bridge") and Puente Nuevo ("New Bridge") which span the canyon. The term "nuevo" is a bit of a misnomer, as the building of this bridge commenced in 1751 and took until 1793 to complete. The Puente Nuevo is the tallest of the bridges, towering 120 metres (390 ft) above the canyon floor, and all three serve as some of the city's most impressive features. Both Heminway and Orson Wells understandably spent time here.

 Scenic views on route to Ronda

 The Ronda Gorge

 One of the three bridges

 Puente Nuevo 

The campsite at Ronda

Five...Banos de Fortuna

 Banos de Fortuna is East of Murcia and in a dust bowl - why would you go here???? Well....this small village boasts some natural thermal springs which the Romans developed and the small campsite we stayed at had taken full advantage of them as had the rest of the village with its Spa centre and treatment rooms.
The campsite itself is just outside of the small village, which itself is quite remote, so the campsite felt very remote. It was desert like though just past the reception area there was a large thermal pool with hot water spouts and water jet beds.....marvellous.

 The campsite..interesting.

The van on our pitch with our very own shower and toilet block.

 The water spouts 36 degrees lovely.

Jacuzzi time

On one of our excursions, we stumbled across a German bar where they were celebrating Oktoberfest so it seemed rude not to sample the beer of the day

Four .....Guardamar del Segura

Stop number four,  Guardamar del Segura is a municipality of the province of Alicante located at the mouth of the river Segura in southern Valencia, Spain. It is a Mediterranean resort, with a large pine forest abutting an 11-km-long white sand beach. Historically an area of fishermen and farmers. This site was the first time we had encountered the over-wintering Brits in their massive rigs and their death rays.....We also met Suzie and Keith and Paul and Wendy two really nice couples. Paul and Wendy Broomfield come from Romsey and Paul went to school with one Chris Fletcher-Jones.....spooky. We all went along to the onsite bbq and had a great afternoon

The campsite was about 3km outside the resort of Guardamar which was reached on a cycle path. With our location being so far south our satellite system could not pick up any UK signals hence the size of the dish in the above picture, nothing under a 3 metre dish works this far south. So we decided to walk into town to have a look around and see if we could buy some DVD's from the local supermarket. Sitting outside a bar we got chatting to two Brits who quickly pointed us in the direction of a bar where we could buy 4 DVD's for €10, bargain....but not quite kosher. The bar was small and dedicated to Celtic Football club and owned by two Glaswegians. We explained to the bar man that we had been sent on the recommendation of a certain individual to buy some DVD's. Well it turns out that the person who recommended the bar was an ex-policeman...enough said.

Anyway....the bar was great with very friendly ex pats. One Gordon Pittendrigh would have felt very much at home here.

Three...Oliva and Kiko Park

Stop three was another coastal resort, Oliva. The resort however was shut so there was nothing to do apart from sitting on the beach. It was tough......

We met some great people form London, Steve and Jackie Chamberlaine and the found out that they own a cycle shop in London and Steve was a mechanic on the Tour de France. He even had Frome's bike in his shop the other day as they were raffling it off for charity.

 This is me reading to Harley why E=mc2, however he got lost on the gauge symmetry part....

Two to Tarragona........

Stop number two, Tarragona, was taken from the New York Times book. The location of the campsite required a small train ride into Tarragona. Tarragona is famed for its large number of Roman ruins which have meant that it has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

 The amphitheater at Tarragona 

 

A statue of the human towers that are also popular in Tarragona.

 The van on our pitch, Eucalyptus and Palm trees surrounding us.

The fantastic coast line just along from the campsite.

Down and Around We Go....Ole starting with number 1.

So we arrived in Spain on the 20th September and as you can see from our route we have made the most of our time in this country so far. As at the 19th October we have stopped in 9 different areas. So the stops from 1 to 9:

1) Sant Pere Pescador. A small town just inside the border. The main industry in this area is fruit in particular apples. Our campsite was sandwiched between the surf and Royal Gala apples. The large open beach was a mecca for kite surfers. The campsite was also near a bodega and a tapas house which was fantastic. 

A short walk along the beach and you arrive at the coastal town of L'Escala and just before lie the ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Empúries, founded in 575 BC. This is where wine was first imported from Greece into Spain. We stumbled upon a great wine shop owned by a chap from Newcastle, unfortunately he was unwilling to sell any of his Newcastle Brown, so we just got some great reds.

 L'Escala

 An Olympic statue celebrating the Olympic Games of 1992

the ancient Greek colony of Empúries