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4 days in Benidorm

On Wednesday (1st February) we left Cullera and the lovely Santa Marta site. We only had about 60 miles to go but we knew Benidorm was going to be busier and we might have to visit a few sites to get a pitch. However we knew where we wanted to go, Arena Blanca, and duly input co-ordinates into the SatNav.

We stuck to the main road, as opposed to toll road, and it was absolutely fine, plus we got to drive along the coast for some of the time. We also found a couple of supermarkets en-route. We went into ‘Family Cash’ as we could see it had parking that we could use. It was a bit like Home Bargains AND they had PG tips! But no fresh milk. They also had mini Maxi-Bons, which I didn’t see myself but Calv found and, knowing my obsession with Maxi-Bons, he hid them in the trolley for me to find at the checkout – it’s the little things 🙂

While I was putting the shopping away he decided to head into Lidl’s to see if they had fresh milk. They did! But he didn’t buy any (even though he’d had his pocket money – I keep saying anyone who tries to pick his pocket is going to be really disappointed as he never takes a wallet out – I’m in charge of the money apparently). Anyway the point is he wanted me to come in and see just how NICE the store was!

Okay I concede – I liked Lidl. There I said it! We bought fresh beefburgers, fillet steak and diced steak. And chocolate (no Cadburys though…)

We arrived in Benidorm about 2.30pm. At our chosen site the lady on reception was making noises about us ‘being too too big’ and I swear she didn’t believe me when I said we were 8.5m! Anyway there were just 2 pitches available, and, apart from a car parked badly right opposite our chosen pitch, it was fine. What was quite amusing though was all our new neighbours clearly believing Calv needed loads of helps getting onto the pitch, so there were lots of encouraging ‘keep coming’, ‘bit more’ etc. When he got into place within a couple of minutes they wandered around muttering about what a tight lock this van had (it really hasn’t!!)

This is a small site, at 150 pitches. There’s 1 over the road with aobut 2500, and another behind us with 5000 pitches. And they’re all busy! There’re so many people who spend months here, and, as far as we can tell, many of them don’t leave the site. That’s not something we can understand at all.

We’ve got free Wifi and TV (there’s an aerial point on each pitch). Which is nice 🙂

So. Benidorm. It’s everything you’d expect. We’ve been here 2 full days now and have cycled down to the seafront and then walked, and walked, both days. There’s a lovely cycle path right outside the campsite; unfortunately it stops at the part of the road where it starts getting busy! Anyway it’s not a problem; I’m getting more and more confident on my bike. The drivers here though are somewhat more impatient than those we’ve encountered so far. Never mind eh?!

The promenade is really busy, even now. So there’s people wandering in the road (it’s not busy and is 1 way – cyclists, including us, were cycling both ways along it) plus, of course, the mobility scooters! We like the ‘limos’ best 🙂

We struggled to find somewhere to park our bikes and in the end had to jump into the scooter parking.

On the 1st day we walked all the way along the Levante Beach and up the hill to the viewpoint (not the best area – wouldn’t recommend it). The lifeguards were stationed on the beach even though there was no-one in the water, and they stayed there when it rained! There’s also a good police presence.

On the 2nd day (today) we went the other way into the old town and found Placa de Castella and the other 2 beaches. There’s a definite different feel along the seafront here and it feels busier. Although we think this is because there is just the promenade and not a handy road to walk in! It also feels a little more Spanish, in that there are more Spanish people wandering on this side. Must admit we preferred Levante Beach.

Both days we popped into The Bulldog, a nice, small relaxed bar towards the top end (Old Town) of Levante Beach.

We were originally going to stay 4 nights, but extended this to 5 so that we could go to see The Rat Pack at the Benidorm Palace. We booked the tickets today 🙂 It’s about 1/2 mile up the road from where we are.

We also did a bit of shopping in Iceland (very useful, and they have Cadbury chocolate).

We’ve got an indoor swimming pool onsite and it was really nice to get in for a swim yesterday. We didn’t go in today because I was busy making a gourmet meal – Beef Wellington 🙂 See below for my makeshift rolling pin (a bottle of Nip from the Hip flavoured rum). It worked a treat! (And dinner was lovely – even if I do say so myself!)

Tomorrow we’re hoping for some sun (we had a little bit today) and then I’m looking forward to popping down to one of the nearby bars (there’s plenty of choice and we’re a couple of miles inland) to watch the rugby. Not sure Calv’s looking forward to it quite so much, but I’ll feed him some San Miguel and he’ll be fine 🙂

We’ll be moving on on Monday, just as far as Alicante though. I’ve been there before and really liked it. That’s my next job – to investigate sites close by.

Will post again in a few days. See you then xx

Tuesday 31st January – a bonus day in Cullera

We had originally intended to move on today, but are so comfortable and relaxed here that we decided to stay an extra day. Also we hadn’t yet managed to do the walk up the mountain or see the castle yet.

So we started the morning with the walk up to the Ermista Santa Marta. My heel was still hurting but I figured it would get better if I exercised it a bit. I’m glad I put my walking shoes on as the terrain was quite challenging in places – I nearly slipped over at one point. Not the best thing to be doing when you’re on the side of the mountain…! Anyway it was 226 steps up (I counted them on the way back down) together with rocky terrain and normal walking. There’s a sort of cactus grove on the way up, and, to be honest, not much to see when you get up there! And what there is is locked and you can’t get in.

So Calv decided that, as there was no roof, if he went up the side he’d be able to look down into it. Now. If you were an experienced rock climber this would be a good idea perhaps, but I had to beg him not to do it as I imagined him losing his footing, which wouldn’t have been so bad if we’d been on level ground… You get the picture. For once he listened to me! Only to try to scramble up a different way, only to abort that when I heard him mumbling that there were definitely snakes living in there…!

After a rest we set out on our bikes for the castle, which is signposted form the main road, but not at the road you need to turn off to get to it. So we spent 5 minutes cycling up and up, only to find a dead end! So glad of our electric bikes on this trip – we’d never have made it to the top of some of these hills without them. Calv videoed the trip back down from the castle (1 hand on the brake, the other holding his phone – luckily there were no cars coming when he got to the bottom and had to turn left, as it was the steepest bit and he couldn’t stop…)

We finally made it to the castle. Again worth seeing at 3 euros apiece. However it was lunchtime so, naturally, the café was just closing and so was the church, so we missed out on the church. Which did look pretty impressive, so we were a bit disappointed.

We needed some fruit and veg so stopped on the way home and loaded up the bikes. Then Calv decided to buy a 6 pack of 1ltr bottles of water. He secured them onto the back of his bike with one of our locks, and then forgot they were there and mounted his bike, knocking them sideways. I know, it was one of those ‘you had to be there’ moments, but it made me laugh!

I’ve finally done my ironing (outside though J ) and we’re now ready to look for our next site (Benidorm remember?!)

Will be sad to leave this site – even though I dreamt last night that we were overrun with some ‘battle re-enacters’ who wouldn’t let us leave…. Not sure what that was all about, I’m obviously getting too much sleep (averaging 8 ½ hours!!)

See you in Benidorm J xx

Sunday 29th / Monday 30th January – Condensed version

This is specifically for my boys (and Angela) who complain that I write too much (I’m sorry L )

So here goes.

On Sunday we went for a bike ride along the promenade (10 miles to be exact), saw all the wild campers and some of their wild vans, and had pizza and ice cream for lunch (well Calv had sorbet and we swapped halfway through, but let’s not be picky).

On the seafront at Cullera

We then had a drink with some of our camping neighbours, all of whom have been doing this a lot longer than us.

I think I drank a little bit too much and too quickly and it took me ages to get to sleep.

On Monday we went to Valencia on the train (managed to get our own tickets and get on the train (with just seconds to spare though!) all by ourselves J )

Orange trees everywhere – so many just on the ground around the trees. First off I thought that’s bad business but I guess they use them for orange juice and stuff like that. We think they’ve gone past their best though, as when you’re in a cheaper shop the quality isn’t brilliant, so maybe they’re just letting them go to seed…?

Valencia is lovely (well the old town where we went is). Although it’s a mixture of beautiful old buildings, modern buildings, buildings falling down and graffiti!

We ate tapas and I drank Sangria for lunch J

We went up the Cathedral tower (208 steps for 2 euros) and were nearly deafened by the bell going off at 3pm! Together with a gaggle of British schoolkids.

I walked over 17000 steps! Mind you we had to walk to the train station, as we didn’t actually know if the bus was running, and it was nearly 3 miles! When we got back though there was a bus waiting so we jumped on it.

I’ve been learning my Spanish and have a few new words today:-

Sello – stamp Ficha – coin Mantequilla – butter

I’ve even remembered them! Also, did you know that the ‘v’ in Spanish is pronounced as a ‘b’? I learnt Spanish years and years ago, but never learnt that!

Sam I’m reading that book that I bought you ‘Code Name Verity’ – really enjoying it. I can’t bear the thought of leaving it behind on a bookshelf so will bring it home to share round!

Ben I hope you dried out your feet!

I’ll do condensed versions especially for you so you’d better read them!

Love you and see you soon xx

Sunday on Cullera seafront and Monday in Valencia

Sunday 29^th January

A very special day this – my brother-in-law, Paul’s, 50^th birthday!!

Happy birthday Paul – hope you enjoy cricket in the Caribbean (don’t forget to wear your new sunhat 🙂 )

We had a lovely relaxing day yesterday. Calv did go out on his bike and found a few things that he was keen to share with me today. So we set off on our bikes for the seafront promenade (empty for Calv the other day, much busier today!)

We headed off the other way first and found our way to the Lighthouse (faro), to find it was actually a lighthouse (converted into a private residence). We eventually turned back and headed down the way he’d already been. He wanted to go all the way to the end of the beach where he’d found an Aire. So what? thought I! However we then continued down the road to find dozens and dozens of vans simply parked up on wasteground. This is where we found this little beauty (and it wasn’t the only one either; there was a pretty new looking van with a mural of an alligator wrapped around it…)

We worry about parking on Aires and sometimes you do actually have to pay for them – we prefer to pay a little extra and have the extra security.

We stopped on the way back for a pizza and ended up giving in to an ice cream (why are they always so much bigger than you expect?!) We didn’t need much at teatime, put it that way! We only actually dared order an ice-cream after we saw a Spanish couple doing the same…

In the evening we sat out with a couple of other British couples (I say evening, it was about 5pm and by 6.30pm it was too cold to sit out any longer!)

Monday 30^th January

The day we went to Valencia! The bigger adventure though was getting to the train station and getting our tickets – we literally just made it onto the train. I mean we jumped on the train as it was there because we didn’t have time to check it was the right one – luckily it was J

Although it was nearly 3 miles to the station, and we needed GoogleMaps to get us there, we’re glad that we did walk as we saw much of the old town that we would never otherwise have seen. We couldn’t stop though because we were a few minutes late leaving (as Bob was trying to find a text to show us a campsite in Portugal). Anyway we made the train J

We arrived into Valencia North, a small (by city standards) but beautifully formed station at the gateway to the Old City. Also right next to the bullring (rather more impressive than that in Pamplona…)

Valencia Estacion Nord (train station)

The old city itself is a mass of small streets, squares, ancient buildings and monuments, graffiti, modern buildings and ramshackle (as in falling down) buildings. The latter are usually denoted by the netting hung in front of them (to stop the rubble falling onto the road I guess..) There are plenty more that will need the netting very soon.

We ate at a place called ‘Birra & Blues’ which, with 3 courses of tapas, cost us 10.50 euros each (plus a drink of course – I’m getting into the Sangria). I was very proud of myself ordering something that I didn’t know what to expect, and then eating it even though it was something I wouldn’t normally eat!

We then set off to see some more sights. There was an indoor market, we think, a cemetery in a building (but don’t quote me on that – there was a lack of information on most of these buildings. Well, I guess they’re two a penny in the old city!) and a Silk Merchants Hall. This last one we were able to go into for just 2 euros each. Calv refused to pay for the audioguide though because it cost more than the entrance fee (3 euros)! He’s so tight J

Next I wanted to head for the cathedral as I knew we could go up the tower from where we’d be able to see the whole city. On the way there we saw many more ancient buildings and also, one of my favourite Spanish traditions – signs made out of tiles. I love them!

Also some graffiti that was clearly somebody trying to imitate Banksy.

Not bad, but not as good as the one we saw in Arramonche last year.

(See my post on Normandy from last year) – Day 38 – The Last Post

It also cost 2 euros to go up the tower (208 steps up a spiral staircase – I’m getting better and prefer going up to down..) Once at the top we found ourselves with a party of English schoolkids. Now that’s a nice schooltrip isn’t it? Valencia! I can’t really complain as I went to Germany and had trips to Munich, Salzburg and various castle around Bavaria, including Neushwanstein (the castle that inspired that in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).

The views were pretty amazing. You just see towers and domes everywhere. We also spotted a rooftop restaurant and guessed you’d probably need to be in the know to find that one.

This bell struck 3pm while we were up there. Wish we’d realised the time as we would have recorded it! Suffice to say it was loud!

By now we were getting tired (and I’d done something to my left heel. I have no idea what but I was limping and by bedtime I was having trouble walking. I’m still aware of it, but it’s a lot better now and I was able to ‘walk through’ it today!)

Our last adventure was still to come though. We managed to get the bus when we got off the train (having managed to get on the right train again – we were concerned for a little while though)! The driver seemed to drop us off in the middle of the road when we rang the bell – he’d clearly guessed we were from the campsite though and we were pretty much as close as he could get us.

Another lovely day in Spain! See you all soon

Moving on from Pamplona Thursday 26th January

Calv managed to tear himself away from his new Bezzie mate in the next door van (he even went and sat in there for a while yesterday) long enough to get ready to move on!

First off for other travellers out there we used the N road today and it was wonderful. A little rough in places but loads of parking areas to pull off onto and have your lunch, unlike the road from Bilbao to Zarautz. We’re finding that the motorways have service areas that are often few and far between, and they’re usually not particularly good. I’m definitely learning to appreciate what we have at home in this regard!

Looking on the map we saw that Olite, as recommended to us by Jim yesterday, was just about an hour into our journey. We drove past about 3 signs for it before deciding to go and have a look. You could actually see this walled town from the main road.

We managed to drive past the Aire that was signposted (until the crucial moment when you got to it..) but, being January, there were plenty of parking spaces available for us. And also another British van parked just up from us.

Olite is a walled medieval town with a castle. It’s rather charming, but as we were on the way somewhere we decided not to go into the castle, opting to wander the streets instead. Who fancies taking their exams in this place??

We also found the main shopping street – everyday shops crammed into these medieval streets J

We got back to the van and started making some lunch when there was a knock on the door. It was the couple from the other van parked up who were going to head back down to the Aire (they’d managed to miss it too) to stay for the night. They were headed back north, going through France and via Versailles. They told us about a town about an hour further along where there were cave dwellings in the side of the hill – Aguedar. I had to see this place!

Sure enough it was about an hour further on and there was an Aire to park up in (not sure we’d have wanted to stay the night though. The dwellings were amazing; look at these pictures – there were people living in these right up to the 1960s! They weren’t small either, and you can see there are full kitchens in them, lots of rooms, doors, windows, chimneys and they were painted too! Amazing J

I will put lots more photos on the gallery later 😊

We chose not to drive round the national park that they’d also recommended, Bardenas, as it was apparently a 30km detour off route which we decided we didn’t have time for. We did have time to pull off the road again though when we saw some other cave dwellings just at the side of the road. They turned out to be more like storage units and as you entered them they were dug down into the ground. Some had a few rooms and some were just one room. There were 2 that had a thoroughly modern, locked, door as well! Obviously still in use.

It was then time to get a move on and find our next chosen site. We arrived there, I think, just before 5pm. I’m saying nothing more about this site except that we left as soon as we could (by 8.45am the next morning in fact). If you want to know by all means read the review I’ve done – Review of Camping Savinan

The evening that we spent at Savinan was spent frantically looking for our next site as Calv decided he wanted to go a little further than we had thought up to now. We eventually settled on a site in Cullera. Our drive here was uneventful (we just stopped for brunch – our first food of the day – at about 11.15am). There was lots of snow on the way though; however we were at altitudes up to 1100m and there were signs for ski resorts…

And then all of a sudden we were in sunshine and 19 degrees!

We are at Santa Marta Camping, which has an old (I think abandoned) bullring at its entrance. Our welcome couldn’t have been more different. The guy who booked us in was covering lunch and whilst he spoke hardly any English he did speak French, so that’s how we communicated!

He was friendly and welcoming and tried to explain everything we would need to know. I later saw the fulltime staff member who was also lovely. He’s helping me with my Spanish and I’m helping him with his English!

Jo, we’ve already had a couple of robins visiting us. They really are a very pretty bird. However, we’ve also had a black cat jump to look on our table and try to get in the van – clearly looking for food.

This is a lovely little site and at just 14 euros a night half the price that we paid for the pit that we stayed at last night. We have a walk up the mountainside to do 1 day to visit Ermitas Santa Marta, a cycle ride along the beachfront (Calv is very excited as he thinks it looks very much like Benidorm and he CAN’T WAIT to get to Benidorm!) and we want to go to Valencia on the train. We’ve just got to work out how to get to the train station – which is too far to walk (unless we could walk through the mountain), we don’t really want to leave the bikes there all day and we can’t see any taxi numbers. So we’re hoping for a bus but can’t find any details on timetables! Wish us luck… (update – I think we’ve decided to walk. We’re going to go on Monday).

Tomorrow however we are going to do very little. Well, I think I’m going to make soup, do a wash, do a few chores and, you know what? I might make some cakes J (update – I did all of this!)

It’s raining now but we’re expecting sun and 17 degrees tomorrow so we’re looking forward to breaking out the flip flops! (Update – have dinner all the above and sat in the sun for a fair portion of the day too).

Tomorrow (Sunday) we’re going to walk up the hill later in the day, but in the morning go exploring on our bikes – calv’s actually been out this afternoon so he knows where to go. Wet might even eat out again!

See you soon. Take care x

Pamplona :)

2 posts in 2 days – I’m on fire! Well actually it’s because I have about another 3 hours left on Wifi and I want to make the most of it 🙂

Also I wanted to tell you how lovely the old part of Pamplona is. Yesterday afternoon we sat out by the van in the sunshine (it was only about 13 degrees but out of the wind it was lovely). We knew it was unlikely to get above about 4 degrees today so we put our base layers on and wrapped up warm ready for our cycle ride along the river (about 10km). (Btw, base layer bottoms seem to be like tights ladies – you need to get a size up for them to actually fit properly and be comfortable – just saying…!)

It was fairly straightforward – we only went wrong twice, once on the way there and once on the way back. Quite good for us, don’t you think?! Continue reading “Pamplona :)”

Welcome to Spain!

We’re coming to the end of our 1^st full week in Spain, and up until today we were staying in Basque Country. It took me a while to realise that the 1^st language on signs was actually Basque (as it bears no relation to Spanish). On reflection it’s a little like Welsh is to English.

Yes, I did leave my tablet on the ferry and, having found it in our cabin, the ferry company sent it straight back to Portsmouth! Anyway, all’s well that ends well, and, with the help of Calv’s daughter (thanks again Lisa) I now have my precious tablet back and can properly update the blog. We did have a few problems on delivery day as DHL, Spain seemed to have issues with the address of our campsite, but it eventually turned up about 4.30 (meaning we could finally go out J ) Also thanks to Brittany Ferries for dealing with the issue so quickly.

On arriving in Bilbao we knew where we were heading and had programmed our new SatNav (an Aguri and a vast improvement on the one we bought last year for France). We’d decided to go with the main road instead of the motorway (we were only going about 60 miles after all), because we’re worried we’ll miss out on some worthwhile sights on the motorway. It was the wrong call this time unfortunately – until we got to the coast road at Deba (only about 10 miles from our destination at Zarautz). The N-634 wound its way through several towns, all very industrialised and with nowhere to pull off the road at all. We’d paid 1.22Euro for the short bit of motorway we did have to use, but later found out it would only have cost just over 8 to go the whole way. You live and learn.

We finally climbed a steep hill to our site, where we received a warm welcome. Our ACSI card gave us a rate of 17Euros per night (we thought we’d probably stay 4 nights, but hadn’t discovered that I’d left my tablet behind at that point..) Our pitch overlooked the sea, and we had dozens of birds around the van. A couple of robins were so tame that they fed from Calv’s hand and settled on our knees – 1 even kept going into the van (and left a present for us…!)

view-from-zaurutz — On the walk down to Zarautz

You can find more info about the site here – Gran Camping Zarautz review.

We could see a ruin far below us and after dinner we headed down to check it out. It was an old mineral loading facility called Malla Harria. I was very pleased with myself making it back up the steep hill from the ruin – see the photo below. A couple of days later we decided to avoid this climb when we found a shortcut through the undergrowth that took us straight to the campsite – of course it was steeper than what we were trying to avoid!

Marra Harria (Zarautz)

We could also see the beach from our pitch and knew it was accessible with a 10-15 min walk down the hill. The next day we headed out to explore Zarautz via this walk – the steps, when we got to them, were relentless. Then there was a boardwalk over the dunes and then the promenade along the beach. It was pretty busy for a cold Friday in January, and busier still when we rode our bikes into town on Saturday. On Saturday there were loads of people on the beach and in the water surfing. We even saw a couple of lads in swimming in just normal swimming trunks!

From one end of the beach to the other at Zarautz

On Sunday we headed the other way towards the village of Orio. We were stopped from going the wrong way by a young guy with a dog, who then came back to help us with the right way (the younger generation are very friendly and go out of their way to help. The older generation of men, much like we found in France, don’t tend to be so welcoming (obviously there are exceptions)).

Orio is a pretty little village in parts with a medieval street full of old houses – Kale Nagusia. It’s a real mix of ancient and modern, and because of the steepness of some of the streets you suddenly come across a lift to a higher level!

Like France we have noticed several old, abandoned, dilapidated buildings. Unlike France we haven’t seen so many churches.

On Monday we were a bit stuck due to the problems with receiving delivery of my tablet, but once it arrived we were able to escape the confines of the van (we’d done ironing, hoovering, cleaning and polishing…) and we headed off down the hill again for a walk ‘round the block’. It was harder work this time though where we’d been stuck in all day.

So after 5 nights we could move on and tonight we’re near Pamplona. We came along the Autovia de Montana and there were some stunning views along the way. It turns out we see better views from the motorway than on the main roads (and it only cost a total of just over 4 euros).

We’re now at Camping Ezcaba which is open all year. However, it’s not all open, and we’re the only ones here. We’re struggling to understand the 19Euro ACSI charge (the highest possible). On top of that we paid 10Euros for 2 days of WiFi (which gives us 2 codes) only to find that each code only gives access to 1 device! We also put a wash on having purchased a token – at 4.75Euros I, naively, thought that this would be for a wash and dry – no this would have cost 9.50Euros! So the washing is currently hanging outside – could be a problem as we’re expecting temperatures below zero tonight (even though we were sat out in the sun this afternoon!)

Tomorrow we’re going to cycle into Pamplona (10km along the river) before moving on again on Thursday. The rest of this evening will be spent investigating our options on where to go next J

See you next time we have free (or cheap) WiFi!

Gran camping zarautz review

We are currently at this site having chosen it before we left home. We didn’t book as the site advised it wasn’t necessary. We felt welcome immediately on arrival and the site has…

Source: Gran camping zarautz review

Today’s the Day! :)

The final run-up to the off 🙂

20170116_072839 Countdown to the Off!!

And we’re off! (Literally, right now, as this posts…) Okay, so I’ve cheated with this particular blog (in that I’m actually writing it a week before we leave and updating whenever I have a few minutes!)

I’m finding that I have some wonderful ideas for what to write – just as I’m falling asleep each night..!

To be honest we are almost ready now. The house is almost completely packed up ready for moving into storage at the weekend, we have piles put aside to move into the van, 1 last wash to do and 2 loads of ironing (I know, this is almost too much excitement for you all – me too).

Had a little panic yesterday when I found out that I was meant to have got an independent valuation on the property (even though it’s sold through the proper channels). I managed to get this organised quickly though (thank goodness for the January lull), the visit has been made and we’re just waiting for the report. Phew

I’ve just got a few more letters to write to leave for Sam to fill in the completion date and pop in the post and then we’re good to go.

We’re even doing well with running down the fridge/freezer and cupboards contents 🙂

So I’ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions so far this year. You know that feeling you had through most of your teenage years (I know some of you are still there; lucky you! but for many of us this is 30+ years ago!). Continue reading “Today’s the Day! :)”

Happy New Year! 2017 has finally arrived :)

Update on our final preparations for leaving our house and spending a year in the van 🙂

The 1st day of 2017 finds us doing very little, after putting the house back to normal that is… As anybody who has ever hosted a New Year party knows this is a pretty monumental task, and even though we sent bottles away with as many people as we could, we still ended up with more alcohol than we started with! Well it feels like that anyway.

I’m starting to feel pretty emotional now – the house is sold, my car has gone, we’ve had our last Christmas and new year in the house….. you get the picture.

And I really miss my car. I know it’s pathetic. But now I have to get used to driving the tow car (the most basic Citroen C1 model) all the time. At the moment I’m still comparing it, you know, the fact that I have to use a key to get in and start the car (I don’t just put my keys in my pocket and press a button), I have to wind the windows down, there’s no heated seat to help when I’ve got a slightly aching back, no rear camera, no steering wheel controls and no sat nav and so on and so on……

So the other day I was trying to think of all the positives of the Citroen:-

It’s easy to park (being so short – I noticed the other day that it fills about a half of a parking space)
Really good fuel consumption
£0 car tax
We can tow it behind the van
We have a towbar on it (yes, we really do) which means we can tow a trailer and also carry the bikes on a towbar bike rack.
It’s petrol so it’s cheaper to run (my car was a diesel)
We really don’t mind it getting dirty!

I’m almost over it now 🙂

So tomorrow the hard work starts. We have already started packing up the house (regardless of when completion is we will be leaving by Monday 16th at the latest), we’ve sorted storage and a van. Now I’ve got to sort through my worldly goods and then Calv will go round after me packing it all up – an easy job for him as he used to be a removal man 🙂

The other part of the hard work is to get back to the gym and stop eating! It would be good to have lost the excess Christmas poundage before we leave – I’ll do my very best. Although this will be made more difficult by some more goodbye nights out! Although I am looking forward to them all of course!

I think I will definitely be in Spain by the time I get another opportunity to post, although I have no idea of where we will actually be pitched! We have organised though to meet friends in March and walk the Camanito del Rey near Marbella, which looks absolutely spectacular. Can’t wait Elaine & Chris 🙂

So that’s the first actual plans we’ve made for our year!

We hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that 2017 is good for you 🙂