Take 2, we’re off this time !

Getting close Paddy, we're "sited" for a week and lazing about taking in the sunshine, very relaxed.
We will tour the area for a few weeks and stay in different areas once we leave Beni, so much around the area to visit and see.

Today's Sermon.....

Dogs:
As some of you already know we have toured with our JR for a few years... she's an old hand now and knows the routine well. Well this year we decided we would go for it again, have another one so to speak !... so enter JR #2 !... a rescue dog from a centre in Cork ( that tells you something, a Donegal man goes to Cork for a dog !)
Now, the relationship between both are at best... tolerable and a grudging acceptance of each others 'space'..
ironically they both only want to travel together in the one crate, about 3 foot by 2 foot, JR #1 always travels sitting on her butt looking around while JR #2 lies out like a busted sack... all was well until south of Bordeaux and an almighty wailing, growling and the crate was taking a walk all by itself around the motorhome while 2x JR's fought it out within the confined space ! .... a stop ensued. They both got a swift dressing down, a kick up the butts and all has been sweetness and light since.
Its unbelievable that 2 animals can have such differing personalities .... chalk and cheese.



JR #1 on the left has the personality of Dame Helen Mirran... dependable, discreet and trustworthy.
JR #2 on the right has the personality of Basil Faulty, mad as a broom, craps in the middle of the road, and if human would be a punk.
We can open the door of the motorhome and the old lady (not the wife now) will gently meander outside, have a smell around, discreetly wee in a non descript place, doesn't cause a scene and we can trust her to always do the same.
Jr #2 on the other hand..... God, where do I begin...! If we opened the door and she isn't on a lease then she would be at least 2 parishes away before being caught, being pursued by 2 middle aged idiots with their tongues out to their knees uttering expletives that 'Jack the Rev' couldn't even forgive.
And her toilet habits......<groan>... takes a crap in front of the neighbors, grinning from ear to ear and when finished does a Michael Jackson Moonwalk while grit, grass goes 10 foot in the air...... O boy !
JR #1 goes to bed in her usual place, covered by her blanket... she may go for a drink through the night but will be in her bed in the morning.
JR #2 goes to her bed.... might be there in an hour....but more than likely we will find her staring into your face at 3am like Hannibal Lectre and scare the bajesus out of us.

But such is life, wouldn't be without either of them now and one thing for sure is they get us out walking.
So on that note, its 20deg again today so on with their leads and off for a good dander around and stop off for a coffee while lots of people stop and talk to us.......... about the dogs!

Either.
On La-Toretta it was the standard Eire/UK type lead, here it is the Sattelite type.
We have a sattelite lead, fitting little converters for UK type when needed..... all the shops sell them here.

Another day, another day in paradise...
Well, almost.
Still have the Casette to empty, water to fill and things to do.
Nothing much to report, up early as usual.... can’t sleep past about 7am.
Hit 23deg today and a day relaxing ensued.
We took a walk down round the old town tonight and in for a curry in one of the many curry houses in the old town. We went to the Clay Oven and had a really nice meal.
Our site is about a 20 minute walk into the old town so we walked in with the intention of getting a taxi back..... but it was such a nice night we decided that the walk back was in order. Got this picture from the lower entrance to our site, the Benidorm skyline is quite impressive at nighttime.


Tomorrow, we’re off for a dander around the Sunday flea market thanks Paddy (nilrac) for the suggestion and Sunday lunch at the site restaurant afterwards.
All is good, relaxed and enjoying the sunshine, so nothing startling to report.

Wednesday morning and we’re all packed away by 10:30am and intend to trek up the coast a few kilometers and visit some of the spots north of Benidorm. One thing for sure is that this part of the world is really busy with motorhomers here to overwinter as most of the sites are full to capacity, amazing in January.
We stopped in Altea as planned and made a couple of calls to local stops and all were full. Spain, unlike France, does not have an extensive aire system and there is many sites here that are no more than Aires that squeeze as many units into as small a space as possible with in some cases extortionate fees. Altea sites were full, many Wildcamp in industrial estates, along laybays, in waste ground but we feel uncomfortable doing so and tend to stay in an Aire or site to keep legal. Anyway, with Altea being pretty full which was a pity as the town is lovely and a night or 2 there to explore would have been nice we proceeded on up the coast to Calpe. Again, very busy and 2 so called “sites” right in town were jammed, one had a space if we wanted but asking €35 per night, no electric and dogs extra and to boot there was literally enough room to open your door beside the next van.... we said no thanks and proceeded out of town a little to a new site called Camping Estrella Polar on the outskirts of town, and very nice it was too. It was quite busy but had a few spaces in nice big plots and at €10.50 a night it was excellent. Their website is Camping Estrella Polar if you want a look. Lovely bar area and a few local restaurants and lovely walks along the seafront which we did with the dogs.

We listen to talk radio europe here and yesterday we are hearing that the weather over the weekend is forecast poor, in fact the forecast for the next 5 days is very poor with thunderstorms and torrential rain on the horizon. With that in mind we decided to move on, not because of any reason other than to be somewhere if the weather is bad that we would have somewhere to go, somewhere with opportunities to spend the time indoors.
I looked up ACSI and decided that the busy town of Xàbia which has a couple of ACSI sites would be a good bet, and to boot it was only 25KM’s further on.
Made a call to a site with no answer other than an answer phone in Spanish, so undeterred off we went up the coast. It really is a spectacular drive up here, smashing views and in the sunshine it was great. We arrived at Camping Jávea, see Camping Jávea. They had 3 spaces left, so had a look and picked one. Quite a big site, spotlessly clean with good pitches and plenty of room for the awning etc. Many UK people here, lots of long term clients too, very nice bar and restaurant on site. We are based here for a few days until the weather blows itself through as the town is on the doorstep with many things to do, places to go and things to see. All the main supermarkets close by, Aldi/Lidl and the big Spanish chains too. The seafront is about a 10 minute walk away, so all good.
We’re going to take a trip up to Dénia over the next few days as it looks an interesting town and should be a good day out.
Long term we’re thinking about (on route north) of spending time in inland Spain and heading back via the northern route, but our ferry isn’t for another 3 weeks so we’ve time to decide what’s next so to speak..... for now we will see the weekend through in these parts.
Will post an update over the weekend.

Thanks John & Colin.... will take a gander at those and make a call.
Best WiFi on this site we’ve come across, running a good 10MbPs continuous and 5G giving 20+..... perfect to stream IPTV via a mag256 and watched Derry Girls on C4 glitch free last night

And a few spent .223 shell casings ! ...... won’t see em for dust ....

Pi$$3d rain on and off here today, but still squeezed a nice 8KM walk in between the showers, still quite warm.
Site full to capacity as of today, many motorhomes wilding around the town.

Monday morning and a move on the cards today, but where to?.... more later.
After the weather forecast we’d listened too on the radio we were expecting heavy rain.... and right we were. It was the right call to sit it out over the weekend and understand why so many vans camped up in sheltered areas around town. Late Saturday evening and right through Sunday morning the rain was torrential and the wind was extremely strong..... I slept like a log (so the wife says)..! It was so heavy that most owners were cleaning dirt and grime off the vans as the rain striking the ground splashed grit and dirt about 2 feet up the sides.
We are enjoying the area and the walks, especially the beachfront area is really nice and the mutts are enjoying it. Lots of dog owners and the JR breed are “top dog” here !... lots of people have them and inevitably we end up having long chats with others which is lovely.



The site is great, except in one respect.... privacy. It is a big site, all pitches are the same... large enough for van and awning, separated by a single wire, but it is regimented, boringly similar and everyone in view of everyone else. Don’t get me wrong, it is by far the cleanest & best maintained site we’ve been on, shower block and facilities are amazingly clean and everything in tip top condition.... but a few days is enough for us. Lots of Dutch & Spanish vans here but the majority of “long stayers” are from the UK and we’ve met and talked to lots of them but spending weeks and months on end here on this type of site would drive us mad and definitely not for us. The location is nice, right amongst the orange groves which are heaving with fruit, and they are lovely and sweet which is unusual.



This trip (6 weeks) is sort of a precursor for us to examine the possibility of overwintering in 2018/19 in Spain, possibly from mid November to early March and examining the areas we would end up spending maybe 3 weeks at a time in, we think the area from Jávea down to Murcia is possibly the best area to ensure “middling” weather and for another reason.... family coming out as the proximity of airports is close... Alicante/Murcia/Valencia/Reus etc.

So on that note our next destination as stated at the start was decided on a phone call from home. Some of our family flying out for 5 days on Wednesday and staying in...... Benidorm !.... so our base until next Sunday is back here but we decided on trying a new site..... El Raco, up past the Benidorm palace. Again, typical Beni site with heated indoor pool and a superbly stocked supermarket, large plots and lots of long stayers but nice pitches with hedging and we’re parked in beside a lovely couple from County Offaly (near Tullamore) who are here from October to March..... so picking their brains on the whole overwintering project !... site has lots of red squirrels which is great to see but we have an absolutely bonkers JR who has become absolutely fixated by them and is determined to catch one... well she thinks so but the squirrels are simply taking the piss out of her !

Our return sailing is on 18th February and will give ourselves 5 days to get back to Cherbourg so that leaves us leaving here routing north about 12th February or so, so we’ve plenty of time to tour around in between yet...... we’re watching Jamie’s (StrandCampingDoonbeg) route north to see what the weather is like and make a call on the route.
Weather here back to more normal, sunshine yesterday and today it’s about 18 deg and just lovely. Off for the usual walk now this morning with us in tow by two dogs. On balance, not a bad way to spend a winter !

They are so sweet and fresh John, remember once before picking an orange and it was as sour as a lime. These are lovely, just perfect.
Yes, Reus is more of a package destination and little or no flights off peak.
Our kids (god sake they’re 26 & 25) still love to visit and no doubt they will visit us, particularly Christmas/New year...... we’re only away less than a month and have a visit today (it’s nice to see her really).......
I think she sussing out how much of their inheritance we’re spending !

Couple of videos & a photo,
El-Raco site in Benidorm and our resident squirrels !

Let it snow, let it Snow, let it Snow !!

Right lads, which one of you buggers sent the Irish weather after me, come on now ...... step forward, own up ! ..... or did that daughter of ours bring it in her hand luggage....?

Weather was lovely up until late Thursday evening and it turned decidedly cool, we had light rain through Thursday night/Friday morning and when we woke up the MH was decidedly cold, so on with the heating for a while......
there is snow on the hills off to the south, and today has been cold and dry. Forecast for tomorrow is sunshine all day and in fact the late afternoon here has been nice and sunny.



After breakfast we took a 5K stroll with the mutts and had a light lunch and set off ourselves then for a good dander that ended up being a 20K walk.
Off down through Lavente, across Poniente and right through to the hills behind and back by the storr behind the town, quite a dander that took all of 4 1/2 hours. We were lucky not taking the dogs as the weather has been mild and warm and the processionary caterpillars are making an early appearance, we saw them on two occasions on this treck, not near the populated areas as it has been sprayed with insecticide to kill them but the wooded areas to the south have not been. For those that don’t know those caterpillars are lethal to dogs, with only slight contact the dogs tongues swell up to 6 times it’s size and in a lot of cases it is terminal..... they are also dangerous to humans...... google “processionary caterpillars” to find out more about them and be aware of them if you’re bringing your dogs abroad, France too has them but not as prolific as Spain. Some info HERE



Tonight we’re off with a gang from the site to a local hotel that does the obligatory “Friday night feast” that is open to non residents. One thing about Beni sites is that there is a great network of people who look out for each other and help anyone that is open to be part of it. Some lovely folk here, from all over the UK and indeed Ireland that we’ve met and enjoying the craic with them.... trying to get em over to Ireland for the craic..... but it’s cheaper to get the ferry here !

Tomorrow we’re off to Jalon, a small Spanish town about 20km away that runs a big Saturday market and intend coming back via Alfas that has the typical Spanish church up in the hills that overlooks the entire bay. Our Daughter has a hire car from the Airport so we’re making use of it ! ... then we’ll join a gang for the Ireland - France 6 nations game... I’ve a bet on with my rugby mad French vet in St-Lo, texted him for the craic so it’s a free dog sign off for the ferry crossing if Ireland wins or I’m down €50 on a French win !.... say a prayer for me ‘JackThe Rev’

So, that’s us up till Sunday and we’re due out of here Monday..... where next?....

Well, bringing the thread back up to date. Monday 5th saw us moving once more and down the coast for a couple of hours to San Javier to meet up with a friend of ours who lives there now. He actually lives a bit inward near the town of Sucina and that was our base until Thursday. One thing to note is that it is quite a bit cooler inland than on the coast and the snow is visible on the Sierra Nevada mountains. The weather has been cooler anyway of late but yesterday and today has seen the temperatures rise once again. Nice drive down the coast and we noted a couple of places we would like to spend a few days in and that was the plan until we made our way back up the coast on Thursday. San Javier is quite a nice town although much quieter than other parts of this coast.



So, Thursday dawned bright and warm and we said farewell and moved north again about 25km to Torrevieja and did a Grocery shop and parked up with 8 other vans, a mix of Spanish, Dutch and English on a MH stop on the park4night night app, no services but all was fine, the town is not as busy as the other places we’ve been but a nice area for walks along the promenade.

Friday morning was a late start and after a light lunch we travelled on up towards Benidorm to the town of Villajoyosa and stopped off at Camping Alicante Imperium
This is a pretty new site which is spotlessly clean and about 15 minute walk into town. Very busy with only 4 pitches available at 4pm when we arrived. We will stay here until Sunday when we will start making a quicker March northwards towards Cherbourg for our sailing on Sunday week (18th Feb).
Plan is to make our way back through central Spain via Valencia/Teruel/Zaragoza/Pamplona/San Sebastian and across the French/Spanish border and onwards via Bordeaux and northwards taking the full week to get back in time for the ferry...... playing it by ear and watching the weather.

So that is where it’s at at the moment, this trip has reinforced our belief that we would like to spend the winter in warmer climates and have made our minds to do so in 2018/19, so if health holds good and things go to plan we will be on our one way ticket from Cork to San Sebastián on the 31st October, where we will end up when we get here is anyone’s guess !