Hello to All, “HOLA” and welcome to the next part of our Journey? That is if you choose to take this mission on and have nothing better to read. We welcome 2015 with more adventures, hopefully not to many mis adventures, but Hey!!!! It’s character building. (isn’t it???????)
I thought I’d better keep the ball rolling, as I write this, it is our 12 month anniversary of the day we left home, January 16th.
We spent Christmas time in Spain on a camping site on the outskirts of Barcelona, Villanova I' la Geltru, It’s extremely large and as we arrived I was looking around, there were lots of people playing “Boules” and just sitting and shuffling around. I thought this must be a retirement village next door but alas it was just part of the campsite with lots of oldies trying to find a patch of warm sunshine.
We caught the bus into Barcelona, 1hr 20mins away, via the aeroporto, (the scenic trip), this is a huge city. We wandered down to the harbour where there were yachts parked along the sea wall waiting to leave on 31st Dec on a double handed non stop around the world race, open 60’s monohulls = 24,000 miles = very impressive,
The Food markets were incredible, Terry’s photo’s tell the story, the Christmas Hams were 250.00 euros each, so we gave those a miss and the Seafood if you can work out what some things are…. Is also expensive, the displays of all this, sensational.
And guess what? Along comes another stray cat looking for a little kindness and food. The weather was a little chilly and windy so he ended up with his own personal wind break much to the disdain of the other strays!
The Spanish celebration time is really Jan 1-6th. Presents and gifts are given on the night of the 5th. The children have to polish their shoes and leave them outside. If they’ve been good they are given gifts, if they have been bad they get a lump of coal in their shoes (hopefully this is correct info). A lot of Spanish are doing Dec 25th also as it is difficult for the children as they start back at school on the 6th.
It has been chilly here and the rest of Europe has had rain and snow, we have to keep heading South for warmer climes. Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was probably the quietest we have ever had!!!!. We got together with Marcia, Pete and LuLu the dog for a late lunch. We cooked 2 chooks in our space oven with lots of yummy veggies ( there is no such thing as Christmas fruit cake & pudding here) so I had to dream of Josie B’s delicious creations, we ended up with Tirimisu “Panetone” (we’ll have to plan ahead for this year as it’s just not the same without our Pud & Cake). We still managed to have a great time.
Next town was BENICARLO and then onto PENISCOLA. Interesting name, but pronounced a whole lot differently both are beautiful coastal towns.
Our New Years eve was very quiet also, Terry cooked a fabulous Paella, and we were in bed by 9.30pm ready to face the next New Year. Terry had his Birthday lunch here at a lovely “Tapas” restaurant. We sat outside and was able to sneak our small fish tails to the stray cats under the table.
Actually New Years eve in Rome would of been very interesting 83% of the Police Force rostered on for duty rang in sick for the night, there must of been some good parties organised. Apparently investigations were underway, Rome’s security would of been shot to pieces (scary thought)!!!
BENICASSIM We have been here before and just loved returning again, and as you have noticed we are drawn to water, the ocean is two streets away. We rode 20 kms today, Terry’s bike is behaving itself but I always carry precautions in my back pack (one never knows).
We had to take our lives into our own hands and battle the freeway on our bikes the other day, luckily the road was in good condition with a reasonable edge and we didn’t have to dodge parked cars and the reason is……….the mixer tap in the kitchen decided to keep leaking and after much swearing and mopping up of puddles, we decided to try and fix it. So off we go and buy a pair of multi grips to do the job. BUT... the tap is not chrome IT”S very cleverly disguised plastic. So one graunch too many and it splits and cracks. H.H. is dripping & so are our floor mats. So on our bikes to the caravan spare parts place 10 ks away and (guess what) NO LUCK they are out of stock of that particular one, (of course). Part 2: The little freezer door in the fridge decided it should fall off also (the spring loaded hinges broke due to over use of ice making duties) I don’t think it has ever had so much usage SO!! More ordering of spare parts again from the U.K. This is getting rather expensive and also trying to determine where we’ll be for delivery which can take 7 - 10 days.
We decide to head to JAVEA this is a very pretty town with an amazing amount of U.K residents. You hardly hear any Spanish spoken, just all these mixed accents. Great for rides and walking with so many restaurants catering for all tastes even fish & chip shops, and stores selling all English products & papers, mags etc.
We leave for CALPE to await delivery of our goods, and we are still waiting…... Its a nice place to be, this also has a huge U.K population. I don’t think there is anyone left over there. They are all here avoiding the cold weather, lots of Germans on the road also.
Well I’ll sign off now, the next instalment will be on how did Terry go fitting the new tap mixer, if it ever arrives.???? May 2015 be all that you would like it to be….
XXXXX
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