OLA to All,
Benicassim - We are still here, so off to the local markets we go. What do I spy with my little eye - a likely new pair of sleeping boxer shorts for Terry, we chose a colour and asked advice on the size - the answer was OOOOH!!! No, he needs “El Grande’s” their size 4XL is like a medium - no good - so I pop into the local Asian Bazaar (they actually do sell everything bar the kitchen sink) and I buy exactly the same pair for 50c dearer = 5XL. I get back to H.H. Terry tries them on, these are TOOOOO BIGGGGG!!!! Dilemma ! So I run across to the local Supermercado (no such thing as Elastic) so off I go back down again to the Asian shop, I wasn’t game enough to try and change these for a smaller pair, they sell Elastic (no problem) success!!! A bit of a nip & tuck and a new pair to fit…. Shoes are always a problem here also (Spain), anything over a size 12 ….TOUGH LUCK.
Scurvy will definitely be off the list of diseases as we passed through Valencia. There are Orange trees as far as the eye can see also Lemons and Mandarins. You can buy 3 Kilo’s for 1 euro and less everywhere.These are seriously so juicey and they last forever. You also see the rest of the local produce (Prostitutes) on the side of the road with their plastic chairs, they sit, so their legs don’t get tired standing (waiting) for their next customer) victim!!!
Next stop, 36 kms down the road (big day out) to JAVEA (drop the J to a H), another large coastal town with a HUGE!!! U.K. influence - basically thats all the accents you hear.
There’s a British Shop selling all the required bits and pieces people crave for…. Mags, Papers, food stuffs, bottles of this & that, even Fish & Chip shops and many more, we even found an English female Barber shop. In goes T.Lee and has a great hair cut for a senior’s price of 7 euro’s (cause he is one). It’s a very picturesque town. We stayed about 3 days. This seems to be our limit.
Off again to CALPE about 100ks plus, basically south along the coastline, there are so many motorhomes about, they have all run away from their Winter months. We are at Calpe Mar campsite and have been here for 1 week waiting delivery of the Tap Mixer!!
We had pre ordered this when at Benicassim, we think they have sent it via Australia on a slow boat to China & then onto Spain. It was ordered two weeks ago to be sent to this address. Its strange not being able to use the kitchen sink, funny what you miss!!! So!!! Off to the local Flea Market we go, I’m sure we could have found a tap mixer amongst all the junk there, but in all the organised chaos there was some interesting stuff.
Lots of Tools, Ski gear, tons of second hand clothes, Fur coats, nick- knacks of every description, good quality Puffa jackets for 3 euro etc and of course lots of fruit and veg. I even bought some Persimon fruit, unbelievable taste, no seed, definitely buy those again.
We’ve had a couple of blustery wind swept days with a little rain, lots of white caps and tiny sail boats dotting the horizen. A bit of a cold snap, 9 degs, people whingeing of course but Hey!!!! it’s Winter here, we can put on some of our stowed away jackets for warmth, H.H. is so cosy and with our NEW little heater. We had to buy a new one as you might remember the last one caught fire in H.H. and me having to do the “highland fling’ on the carpet to put the flames out. Hopefully there will not be another occurrence of that !!!
Finally the Tap Mixer arrived, next comes the fitting, have I mentioned that Terry is not a plumber/sparky …Oh…..well! Anyway he did a fabulous job, squeezing himself under & into a tiny cupboard with a small amount of swearing and a severe lack of the right tools. I thought I’d just duck down the road and buy him a new packet of electrical spades... (sparky lingo) and a long handled screw driver, but alas it was 2.30pm and all the BLOODY SHOPS ARE SHUT!!!! So he had to splice the old ones back on. I just hate this 4 hr shop shut time, who wants to go out at 5pm to get supplies, especially winter time, even the owner of the Asian Bazaar said and I quote “These Europian people they do not work”. The Asian shops do not shut for lunch, they work long hours and there's always people in them (like me), anyway no leaks so we can leave the next day……..,
Moving along to CARTAGENA we drive through and everywhere there are large Salt Lakes and huge salt mounds.
This is where we had 3 rejections in one day, campsites full, mind you it was also the weekend. Its high season in Spain and I think we have worked out also the French are not going to Morocco for their winter because of the Terrorist incidents in France etc…plus Morocco was in the hands of the French and there is still bad blood there, so the story goes……! We also have decided not to go for various reasons.
Well!!!! It’s nearly February and we are NOW well & truly ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. The Schengen agreement allows us 90 days in any 180 day period in Europe. We have now been here for about 180 Days!! I don’t think (hopefully) that anyone really cares about a couple of OLD Australians on the road pottering around….you’ll hear all about it if we are apprehended somewhere, I think (hope) there are so many really, really (thousands) of illegals in Europe for US not to be a problem…..
We are now in AGUILAS - lovely drive inland getting here.
Costa Calida, and this is a first - We have caught up again with Marcia, Pete and Lu Lu the dog at Bella Vista campsite on the coast of course and its CARNIVALE time - Huge Festival to take place so we have booked in for 3 weeks (Terry will go stir crazy) The Aguilas Carnivale is said to be second only to Rio, so we will have to get used to some late nights! I’ll write all about it, it’s over a 2 week period, that’s if we end up staying that long ….
Wandered down to the local marina and saw this ol’ girl.. “Penelope” and thought we might make an offer and refurbish her!
She’s seen better days no doubt.
The coastline here is dotted with abandoned and bulldozed former mansions, very strange.
Apparently they were built without building permissions and the owners were forced out by the local council! They would have been magnificent in their day.
Interesting thoughts, after reading an English newspaper distributed here.They are running ads for Pet Sitters for frequent travellers, we have followed this up. It’s amazing the Countries & people wanting this service - for a small fee you register and then take it from there……we thought we might do this next year, do what we need to do this year, then probably get involved…..could be very interesting, also rewarding for us, we get to look after people’s Animals & Houses…. Yah Hooooo…..
The 25th of January was HH’s “birthday” (sort of). We have owned him one year and have done about 25,000 kms around Europe. Here’s a snail trail of our second trip to Europe this year.
So it’s adios from both of us, talk to you all again soon.
T and S and HH….
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