Photo Catch Up Time!

Embalse de Negratin 13th Jan

View from Ubeda 14th Jan

Ubeda 14th Jan

Coffee stop in the olive groves

Iznajar

Iznajar 16th jan

Photos from phone

Iznajar

El Torcal

Sunrise at El Torcal

The F Plan

Yes, we had a plan A, B, C etc so we must be on about F but any similarity to a diet plan is purely coincidental.

We only had 2 or 3 hours of rain yesterday evening, but when we woke this morning to 0c, the hills around us were dusted with snow. With the increase in gas use and the English like temperatures, we decided to head for the coast via the sherry capital of the world, Jerez. It’ll come as a surprise to most that we didn’t stop to collect any, but after a brief visit to Lidl continued to, would you believe it, a PAID aire?! Beautiful blue skies again and acceptably warm enough to sit outside in the sun.

The advantage of paying 8 euros a night is that we actually get wifi for the first time since leaving home, which means you get a blog with photos! Also, we have access to washing machines and all the luxuries you people at home take for granted.

So, will the photos from the last few days upload? Here’s hoping…………. oh dear, the internet is so poor it just isn't happening but sometime in the future it will!

Aaaah Rain

There is something comforting about hearing the sound of rain on the roof of the van when you're tucked up nice and snuggly inside. It's the first time it's happened on this trip, and although it may be soothing now, we don't want to become too acquainted with it!

The forecast is good for the next week, but you know what forecasters are like, at least we're below the snow line despite still being in a hilly region. We hope to spend a few more days around here and complete the via verde we got frozen out of, but from the other end.

Our friends Neil & Kath are in their camper plotting a southwesterly course through Spain, so we expect to rendezvous at some point in the next week or so, the wine cellar is suitably stocked!

Well Would You Believe It?!

Yesterday afternoon it was sunbathing with the top off, me not Rachel, and this morning it's snowing!

Via Verde de la Sierra

It is so frustrating not being able to get photos on here for you, but they WILL eventually arrive, however it could be as long as a week!

We are at Olvera, which is at one end of the Via Verde de la Sierra, arguably Spain's best 'green lane', which is home to the country's largest colony of griffon vultures.

After a much more peaceful night, only slightly interrupted by a few distant dog barks and the occasional soloist donkey, we woke to a very cold & sunny morning.

We set off along the via verde hoping to make 10 miles but we hit our limit at 8 before the cold got the better of us. As we stopped we looked up and saw 20-30 vultures circling on the thermals, something WE were in need of. It made the trip just amazing! We returned back to base camp to thaw out (about 2 hours), and then were able to sunbathe in the afternoon would you believe?!

Another Night to Remember, or Forget!

As we arrived at El Torcal yesterday afternoon I confidently proclaimed "Well I don't think any dogs or traffic will be keeping us awake tonight" to which Rachel quickly pointed out the clang clang of cowbells, or to be more precise, goat bells! We needn't have worried because we didn't hear one clang, we had chosen the windiest night to sit on top of a 4,000 feet mountain!

Sunday and Monday

Sunday morning we spring cleaned the van, popped around to the local Repsol garage to ‘gas up’, ‘fuel up’ and 'blow up' (the tyres), and then headed 80 miles southwest through olive grove country to a small town called Priego de Cordoba. It seemed like a reasonable aire, pleasant view and everything free, as is the norm in this neck of the woods. All was not how it seemed at night time though. We mistakenly thought that the dogs had eventually stopped their constant barking at 5.30am, but they hadn’t, it was just we couldn’t hear them anymore because of the more soothing sound of the traffic humming along the nearby main road. Needless to say we decided not to stay a 2^nd night, so continued in our south-westerly direction through beautiful scenery until we arrived 70 miles later, and 4,000’ up, at El Torcal.

We are having technical problems with the blog at the moment but photos will follow as soon as we can get them on.

A Brief Résumé of the Last Few Days

Cloudless skies, warm weather, cliff top walks, cycling, sunbathing, a little beer and wine etc etc. You get the picture.

Friday 13th

We know that you are enduring harsh weather back home but it’s not all plain sailing here you know! There’s only so much warm sunny weather a person can take.

After a lovely cycle ride this morning we had decided to stay just one more night at our beach plot, which would make it 4 nights in the same place, a record for us. However, the local council decided to erect signs at the entrance to the beach stating a whole load of legal jargon (oh how I miss that!), with the upshot being a fine of 1,000 euros. My first thought was, we were here before the signs so, I’m sure we would be ok in the European Court of Human Rights (that’s if we’re still in Europe?). Then something made that incredibly short journey across my mind, ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse’, so let’s play safe and make like a tree, leave. After all it is Friday 13^th, do we really want to risk it?

So we headed west, with a hint of north, towards an embalse (reservoir), and en route stopped at a free aire to shower, take on water and do all the other unmentionables one needs to do after a few days living rough. It was still beautifully blue skies with the sun shining, but temperatures were dropping quicker than the pound.

The approach to the reservoir was stunning, by now the sun was very low and the mountains were looking so defined with the strong black shadows against the red rock, photos can never do justice to the occasion.

The aire itself wasn’t right for us, so we scratted about for somewhere handy and safe. We stopped at the top of the dam and Rachel pointed out some waste ground several hundred feet below, so we took the precarious winding road down and found, to no surprise, that we had no phone signal (should we get mugged in the night). So, back up the precarious road and continue north with the light fading. To cut a very long story short, 56 miles further on we arrive at a place called Ubeda, still in Andalucia (surprisingly), but about 60 miles north of Granada and 160 from the beach! I had no desire to drive over here in the dark but needs must. The downside was we missed the stunning scenery, the upside being we couldn’t see the drop on the dodgy mountain road. Time to take stock, open a bottle of wine, rustle up a spag bol, and plan ahead.

Saturday 14^th - Ubeda

It’s decidedly cooler up here despite cloudless skies but we are so glad we came. It wasn’t until daylight that we could really get a grip of our surroundings and see that we are perched at the top of a 2,500’ hill/mountain which explains the cool breeze we are experiencing. Having said that, the old town is quite a size with several plazas, and the views across the olive groves to the surrounding mountains was well worth the drive up last night. The aire is immaculate, looks new and of course free. 

Having Said That........

Having said that you can't expect as many blog entries, there's none then all of a sudden 2 come at once!

Whilst Rachel was sunbathing outside the van Bri went for a stroll along the beach. Us campervanners get up to all sorts, there's a guy out with his metal detector, another one doing yoga, somebody running and then of course 2 Germans emerge from the sea completely au naturelle (think that's French actually). Now just to put things into perspective, so to speak, they were big blokes in their 50/60s who were not particularly athletic! Not that I was 'particularly' looking you understand?

On a lighter note here are some photos from this evening before the sun set.

Andalucia

Welcome to the Andalusian coast, a place where you no longer need the central heating on at night, the Silverscreens can stay safely tucked away in the garage and condensation on the windows is a thing of the past. Checking the ‘aire’ temperature at 9am (that’s 8am in old money), it showed 14c! Not 4 or 1 or minus 6c like we’ve experienced over the last 2 weeks, but a balmy PLUS FOURTEEN!

I'm not in the habit of taking photographs in the bedroom,
but thought this morning's view was worth it.

We are at a small sandy cove just south of Aguilas, having just crossed the border from Murcia. This whole area is very popular with us ‘vanners, so we were fortunate to get pole position and have an uninterrupted view of the beach and Med. We are sharing it with another 20 ‘wild campers’, although most of them look very ‘unwild’ to us, some must even be in their 60s!

Not everybody's cup of tea but it is ours.

Some blog followers are missing their daily dose of Kinsella Krack, but as it is being run entirely from data it needs to be managed a little more efficiently. This means that unless we stumble across wifi, entries maybe a little more sporadic. On the plus side, the quality might improve!

Last Day in the Ricote Valley

Tonight will be our last night at Archenas so we made the most of the continuing good weather and walked, cycled then walked again! We’re not touching a drop of the hard stuff today so all in all a good day for the body!

Rachel and 'Beaky', I mean BK, taking the e-bikes for a spin

Tomorrow we’re off to the Costa Calida for a bit of ‘off piste’ camping on one of the many beaches down there. It’s about 80 miles southwest of here and en route we will do doubt be replenishing stocks from our favourite shop, Lidl.

Photos From Today

Story of the day.

The 3 young athletic road cyclists made the basic error of overtaking the old soak on his e-mountain bike just prior to a hill climb - adios amigos! Although I did have the good grace to point to the battery as I overtook them 😀. To be fair, they did eventually pass me when the road leveled out, and shouted something in Spanish, which I assumed was complimentary 😉

Photos from this morning's walk

Where's Wally? Taking the photo, but Where's Harry?

And this afternoon's bike ride

The Ricote Valley

Travelling south on the A30 motorway from Albacete towards Murcia, we turned off at Abaran and as we continued south it was like we had stepped into another world, the transformation in scenery was dramatic! The barren mountainous open spaces and sweeping motorway gave way to an oasis of palm trees, orange and lemon groves, small rocky outcrops, rivers and tight, twisty roads. In just a few miles it was as if we had been transported into another country. The Ricote Valley is a must visit place for anybody travelling through this region, we stumbled across it by chance, and are so glad we did!

Campervanners are well catered for here with none of the usual restriction notices displayed, so we took the opportunity to give Harry his first wash in 1,800 miles and he now looks like somebody owns him! Other than no electricity, everything at the aires is free, no charges for water or disposal of stuff.

Aire at Ricote (town) the open door and fly net across gives an idea of the climate!

Harry, mid wash.

If the weather holds (it’s much warmer here than 3,000 feet further up) then we are looking forward to spending a few days in the area and finally getting the bikes out. We will hopefully bring you some decent photos soon.

Another town - another car park.
Archena aire where we are hoping to stay for a bit.

A Question of Degrees

Yesterday morning was the first morning we woke to no condensation on the windows and today was the same, except this morning it was ice, yes on the inside! We were only expecting -1 but we actually woke to -6, still I suppose being over 3,000 feet in January it’s all that can be expected. Note to self, turn the heating up at night.

We had an easier drive than expected, 150 miles south (and slightly west) to Chinchilla (de Montearagón) which is inland southwest of Valencia. We arrived at the huge (and empty) car park and after lunch headed up into the town, where the first significant thing we came across was what appeared to be statues of a Ku Klux Klan and apprentice! Obviously it has nothing whatsoever to do with that as, since as early as the 15^th century the costume has been traditionally used in Spain during Holy Week to symbolise the act of penance. The Ku Klux Klan wasn’t formed until the end of the 1800s but that’s another story.

Not the sinister welcome it may first seem

Anyway, back to the chase. We continued up to the castle where we enjoyed the excellent panoramic view.

Rachel taking in the view over the town

Only a small part of the view south

Just the one campervan :-)

Update:

A couple of photos from this evening. I'm glad our first viewing of Señor Psycho and Son wasn't at night!

Today's Route to Teruel

Apologies for it being a photo but having technical problems embedding it!

Teruel is renowned for its classic Mudéjar architecture, a style combining Gothic and Islamic elements, but unfortunately the only decent photo we got was of the Escalinata.

As you can see the weather is continuing to be kind to us, although it's still a bit cool out of the sun. Tonight we will discuss whether we head for the coast or stay in the hillier region, but either way it will be south.

Coffee stop with the Sierra del Moncayo as the backdrop

La Escalinata, Teruel

‘In the Aire Tonight’

The van is full of water, fuel and gas which always brings a sense of comfort to its occupants.

We continued south for another 30 miles to our next free aire (of course) at ‘The Cave of Wonders’ or to be more precise, the caves of wonder, at Arguedas, “Only the worthy shall enter”. These caves aren’t as old as they first appear and were lived in until as recent as the 1960s. We even get a free light show at night!

http://www.turismo.navarra.es/eng/organice-viaje/recurso/Patrimonio/6590/Cuevas-de-Arguedas.htm

On our afternoon walk we may have seen our first vultures, distinguished by the lack of a long tail.

The weather is now officially rated as ‘decent’, signified by Brian’s change of attire from jeans and jumper to t shirt and shorts, and even Rachel has shed her thermals so it must be warm!

 Today seems to be fiesta day in Arguedas, with much drinking, barbequing and merriment in the town centre, but even the tourists got in on the act as a group of the local youfs came past the aire dancing and playing crazy Spanish music. Holding their plastic cups of some kind of intoxicant they were obviously attracted to this rather strange Englishman in his t shirt and shorts! I only wanted a photo of them, but the next thing is they’ve grabbed me and we’re all dancing to the music…well sort of! Sort of dancing, and sort of music.

You Get The Picture

Make no mistake, it is no warmer here than back in England. This morning the water supply at the aire was frozen, but thankfully thawed out after lunch so we could refill a rather empty tank. That should do us now until we get to warmer climes.

The sun eventually won the battle with the mist so we could make the most of our royal palace viewing.

We will stay here again tonight before making the 30 mile trip south to Arguedas.

Pamplona to Olite

What is it with old people, well this old person anyway? Yesterday I left the squeegee on the bonnet, today I left the garage door unlocked and it flew open as we drove around a roundabout. Tomorrow we stay put!

Part of the 97 arch Noain Aqueduct between Pamplona and Olite.

http://www.minube.co.uk/place/noain-aqueduct-a24176#modal-37754

We really have got into this trip now, helped by driving just 30 miles instead of 300! We are at the lovely medieval village of Olite, one of the ancient royal seats of the Kings of Navarre. In addition to the amazing architecture is the amazing agriculture, more specifically the vineyards. Apparently the Mediterranean climate (it’s zero today!) lends itself to making this an important wine producing area. The £1 bottle was pleasant enough to wash the bread, cheese and paté down for lunch.

Olite's free aire

To give you some idea of how cold it’s been we’ve just gone through an 11kg bottle of LPG in 5 days! On a positive note the sun is due to appear tomorrow for a few days 

Viva España

We made it, and without incident, well, apart from recovering the squeegee from the first lane of the motorway when it flew over the top of the van! Some idiot had left it on the bonnet after ‘squeegeeing’(?) the frost off the Silverscreens, it was quite happy sitting there until we reached 50mph! Old people, they’re just not safe let out alone! Anyway, 320 miles and 26 euros of tolls later got us to Pamplona, honest, no bull.
https://www.pamplonabullruntickets.com/the-bullrun/

'Little' and 'Large' near Bordeaux

 Once we got near the Spanish border that big yellow thing in the sky appeared, and we even got a photo to prove it!

Descending to Pamplona

From now on we’re going to take it easy, I sense a mañana approach to things …….