Susie's Report No 37

Hello to All,

 Bom dia from Portugal and Spain.

This little blog seems to be about a lot of happenings and not history so here we go……….

NOW!! Why does it seem to be only ME that has so much hilarious fun (NOT) in the campsite shower blocks.  First of all, I pick what seems to be a nice looking shower, clean, almost dry, SO! I undress, shoes and bag out of the way, press the button in and stand back to adjust the water temperature and  pressure. But NO! All of a sudden the shower rose just flies off ( I could of had shrapnel wounds from dodging flying parts), water is spraying out in all directions, the top part has become a fountain spraying everything in sight, the bottom section is just gushing and the best part is you CANNOT TURN IT OFF! You have to wait for its timing to finish.

 Now my clothes, shoes, bag and towel are thoroughly wet. Finally, it stops and there are spare parts lying over the floor.  So with wet towel covering the body, shower cap still in place, I go to find another non suspect shower. This time all went well except this one wouldn’t turn OFF! So I washed myself 3 times waiting, gave up and had to towel off with a wet towel whilst the shower was still running at full speed. Finally I get back to H.H. for a laugh and a well earned drink!

Still on shower blocks, smoking was allowed in the shower and toilet area at Bella Vista. this would drive me insane (it doesn’t take much). Every toilet had a ashtray beside the seat. Sometimes you would come for a shower early morning or late arvo and the whole area would smell of stale, smouldering or burning cigarettes (they never emptied these).  One unfortunate French woman just about had the door ripped out of her hands by “moi”. We had a standup altercation - she insisted we keep the door closed  and I insisted we open it to let the smell of  smoke out and also the condensation out of the showers, and by the way Terry tells me there is no ashtrays in the Mens block only outside.  I had to battle every day for 3 weeks. I bet these women do not smoke in their own bathrooms at home, even for an ex smoker it was extremely difficult.

ALMERIMAR: A very pretty stop at the Marina.

I decide to go walkabout and come across a shop called “Everything British Store”, foodstuffs/wares. I just thought I would pop into this store and have a look, one never knows what one will find.  Terry and I were just commenting this morning that our jar of Marmite is nearly kaput - well lo and behold what do I spy but a jar of VEGEMITE! Over I go, I look at the price, nearly faint, 3.95 euro for a 200g jar = $6.00 Oz. I’m just about to put it back I notice the jar behind it has a sticker on it for 1 euro …. WHOA this is interesting - SO!!! I place said jar on the counter and rummage for my little purse. HE (man behind the counter), picks the jar up and nearly faints!!! Puts said jar under the counter and with one fingernail tries to lift price sticker off, then he tries to rub it off, I find my 1 euro and place it gently on the counter & wait!!!!!!! He looks at me and painfully says  "1 euro” (not happy) someones head will roll !!!!!! Anyway he’s lucky to have one less jar of this delectable spread, no other person in their right mind other than an Australian who had this on their daily bread for breakfast since birth would even touch the stuff. He’s very lucky to shift it and get 1 euro. (you had to be there to see his face) I had a good giggle walking back with said jar safely in my back pack.

Driving through a town called LEPE we came across a farmer/shepherd taking his goats out for an afternoon stroll or lunch on the side of the road.

it was a great site, also the streets were lined with Orange and Lemon trees with their fruit falling everywhere.

I wish we could of stopped to pick some up.  It’s also Strawberry time here and they are so big and so sweat, fantastic.  And it’s Stork nesting time too.

PORTUGAL:  Alvor - Algarve Coast.  We returned to a campsite we liked, and stayed 6 days. Its an old seaside village with traditional shops, restaurants and with tiled frontages (still reminds me of kitchen tiles on the outside of the houses). We meet up again with Claudia a Swiss lady travelling on her own. The campsite put on a band one Saturday afternoon. The three of us went up to the pool area with a carrot each as entry fee. This may sound strange but there are three donkeys here at the campsite and every year they “celebrate” their birthdays.

 We drank beer and listened to 2 bands and bopped away the afternoon to some great cover band music.

 Bike rides and beach walks also on the agenda, worth a return again. The beaches here are stunning, almost if not as good as at home! And that’s saying something.

We are making our way across to SAGRES: It’s the bottom tip of Portugal. We park at and old fort built in the 13th Century and walk the old grounds.Hhigh up on the cliffs, to our amazement we find the place is filled with rock fishermen. It’s a150ft drop with their long rods and dangerous work for a few fish on a blustery day (mad I say).

 

H.H. had to have a new leisure battery fitted the other day, he just wasn’t performing his duties that well, so off to the battery doctor we went. $270.00 later we emerged ready to resume his role once again. He had been loosing strength and stamina for a while. He’d also blown a rather large and useful fuse but now, he’s cured, (my seat has to be taken out totally to get to the battery). It’s heavy, I thought T.Lee was going to bust his boiler lifting this out of the way. 

Driving through this part of Portugal, the countryside reminds us of home, a vast difference from dusty Spain.

 

The coast line here is really superb and we free camp at some lovely spots.

CAPARICA: Lisbon this is the area where H.H. lost his steps on the bollards over a year ago! As we drove past we reminisce on that event. They have replaced the bollard but not the chain between them. We still only have one step instead of two, what a lesson that was! Leaving LISBON we get caught in peak hour traffic, over the bridge we go and trundling along we end up missing the correct toll booth, (NO TICKET). We pull up to the next toll booth and can’t get through (NO TICKET) Terry presses the help/assistance button and on the outside screen a figure of 85.50 euro comes up as our payment, to be payable by credit card. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! The voice behind the machine will not accept that we had made a mistake. That does not compute in PORTUGUESE  !!! He is not interested in listening to our excuse, JUST PAY THE MONEY!!!! He intimated a few other things that I was not happy about SO I called the voice behind the machine A MORON !!! And told him he was extremely un helpful to Tourists and he should be more understanding as we don’t speak or understand the written language.  Anyway…. we had to pay or otherwise stay at the toll booth forever…..not a good idea….

So, that incident sorted, off we go again and onto some fabulous country roads (rural day out) Nigel the G.P.S. takes us down a road by a house that is so tiny we have to pull our side mirrors in to get past. It was so tight we scraped something as usual but finally got out to the amusement of a couple of old blokes sitting on chairs across the road (the B.P.tablets are still working). We pull into the local church grounds to re set the Tom Tom.

That done, Terry decides to get out and stretch his legs, puts the one remaining step down and nearly breaks his neck as it gives way on him. The only arm left came apart. Scary!! So, out with the tool box and remove the whole step!

While he is on the ground, we notice there are some old ladies delivering flowers to the church. We find out later that he’s lying out the front of the cemetery, located behind the wall of the church. They stop and ask him if he needs any (Agua) water,  H.H. is actually parked in their way, he smiles and tries to explain that he’s o.k. and we show them the broken step (hinges dangling). They chat away in Portuguese and off they go.  H.H. has now - NO steps, other than a small plastic box to step on (I wish I had longer legs). It’s a bit of a stretch up and all I can say is, "think of the exercise"  It’s not Friday the13th, its Thursday the19th but boy...what a day!!!!!!  Please also make note….  We will never be going back to LISBOA again… steps broken twice and a hefty fine!

SAN PEDRO de MOEL:  This campsite is situated in a lovely seaside village, so down come the bikes and off we go, it was a 18klm ride to the next town, peddling through some of the backstreets we come across  racks with drying fish in the sunshine, we stopped to take a photo but the best we missed.  There was a big ginger cat and it had his jaws clamped around a piece of fish on the rack and was trying to pull it off, unfortunately we disturbed him in the act and he let go, I’m sure after we peddled of he got his lunch.

We stopped for a coffee at the beach, it was perfect and so was the scenery. One euro each for a fabulous coffee,(why is it so expensive at home).

It was a long ride about 35klms with sore bums but a good one, this was on a designated bike track, they do it well.  We also met another H.H. at the campsite his name was Humphrey Hymer he is also a B584 series and he lives in the U.K.  

Also there is an Air force base near here we had a couple of Typhoons fly over us and out along the beach and out of sight.

Back in SPAIN again, its Sunday 22nd, March. Five and a half hours later we arrive at MUROS, a beautiful spot on the coast. Very similar to the east coast of Tasmania.

H.H. is parked with a stunning view looking out at the ocean, and I’m about to cook a roast chicken dinner watching the last of the sunset. We have a hour time changeover from Portugal. We stay a couple of days, I can get some washing done and explore a little.

We end up having lunch today compliments of the Nth Atlantic Ocean - wandering along the beach we see Mussels, its low tide so we forage under the rocks and I find a plastic bag in my backpack - perfect - we end up with about 1 kilo, that’s all we need. Previously to this we were walking into the township to try find our daily bread. It was “O PAO” in Portugal now it’s back to “PAN” in Spanish.  A lady is delivering bread to a Restaurant in her van, we ask can we buy from her, so mussels in a white wine, garlic and tomato base with fresh bread, what more could you want ? (a few rock lobsters perhaps). Very nice indeed.

After lunch we noticed several ladies collecting large bags of “embryo mussels” and carting them off. After some vigorous sign language we learnt that they were taking them to be placed in aqua culture pens in the bay to grow and be harvested.

ORTIGUERA: After a two and a half hour drive we decided to take the Tollway even though we are a little gun shy of these automated machines, and now H.H. is parked on a hilltop looking out to sea.

'This is a free o/nite stay (what a bonus). No one else here. We are moving North East and the forecast is windy, rainy and a bit chilly. We have to now find some warmer clothes again. Its Easter in a week..  (what happened to Christmas) long gone, time is flying.

 I made my first cake in H.H. the other day (space oven). I bought some bananas (grown in columbia) but they were bruised on the inside, so I scrounged in the cupboards found most of the ingredients and “Presto” a lovely edible cake - so I have now made the decision that I should be able to make our own Christmas cake for this year,  I had severe withdrawal symptoms thinking of you all with Cake & Puddings, custard & brandy sauce, say no more……….but who knows were we will be in 8 months time.????????

We disobeyed Nigel (g.p.s.) this morning and passed through a town called LUARCA. Mind you we did end up in some skinny streets again and making turns that were a bit tight, but Hey!!!! This is how you get to see things and also make a few people in the street laugh ( thinking…." look at these idiots") but we popped back out onto the motorway unscathed, and now heading across the top of Spain to the East (France).  We saw a lot of signage for the Santiago Camino trail on the roads. The trail really is a “trail”. One minute on the freeway and the next into tiny laneways and  paddocks .  Oh……to be a Pilgram……it would be an amazing challenge, I think we’ll just stick to the roads with H.H.  Anyway we’ll let you go, and say ADIOS….till next time..

Love to All,  Susie, Terry & H.H.  x x x 

 

 

Susie's Report No 36

Hola to one and All,

Still in Spain of course and heading west. I forgot to mention we had a really nice Australia Day. It was celebrated with a group of U.K people over quite a few drinks and good laughs and talking about laughs, (groan!!) Terry decided to ring around and try to get some quotes for H.H’s insurance what do you think of these original names... Down Under Insurance, Walkabout Insurance, Go Skippy Insurance, how corny are all these, but unfortunately that’s all we’ve got. It doesn’t instil a lot of confidence, our premiums are really high because we are aliens (non residence). I must also mention with great pride (ha ha). Terry and I were asked to join in on a game of “Boules/Patonque” with 2 other British couples, we had only played once before and WE WON!!  Go the Aussies!!!  Yeah…. A bit of luck always helps.

 

"While in Aguilas it was decided we all should do some sightseeing, Pete & Marcia had hired a car, and along with others we headed off to see the guns of Mazarron, affectionately named the  Guns of Navarone". This was a series of shore guns set up to protect the port of Cartagena. These guys were big boomers - massive with a range of 24 miles. Sitting atop a cliff side overlooking the ocean just awaiting there next target. There is a rail line underneath which delivered 12 inch shells to each cannon that sat on a huge swivel base. There were 44 of these Vickers guns in total, protecting Cartagena. I think only one got to fire a shot in anger in the Spanish Civil War in 1937/39.

“Cher”…eat ya heart out!"

As a lead up to the Carnivale at Aguilas, the campsite threw a fancy dress competition along with a few drinks and loud Spanish music.

 

“Carnivale”  has finally started - how exotic the costumes, feathers, feathers everywhere. Flamboyancy abound, the floats creative, the people & music loud and full of fun.

The extravaganza is over a 2 week period, alternating some days and nights. The theatrical makeup was simply stunning, boys and girls as young as 3-5  and upwards with eyes glittering, hair, makeup, costumes impeccable.

 The Women & Men, breathtaking. We were standing on the footpath and you could see every minute detail.  I was pulled into the crowd to have a dance with one of the Aliens (how appropriate) that in itself was scary but good, we were also given samples of the festive drink Cuerva to try.

 

 Unfortunately not being able to speak or read Spanish we had no idea what each float represented and each float had there own booming music (massive speakers towed by cars), sometimes it was deafening.

They danced & walked the length of the parade in some very high heeled shoes (just watching was making my legs ache).  Most of the men’s costumes were hilarious and outrageous, no inhibitions there.

 

There were thousands of people in the parade and watching.

Colourful costumes everywhere.

 The logistics of it all was mind boggling, but it is held every year. The celebration goes back as far as Roman times in honour of the God MoMo, also Saturn, Jano and the rites of Pan.This celebrates the New Year & Spring. People collect egg shells and fill them with confetti, seal them with silk paper & flour/water paste.These are thrown at everyone, covering the fiesta with colour. The weather was great, their average air temp is 25 degs with winter 15-17 degs, so all was good.

We said our good byes to all the people and animals we had met at the campsite and trundled off down the road.

After 24 days in the one spot (unheard of for us), we arrive at our next destination. We finally arrive to see a guy locking the door to the reception/check in area, its 1pm. He comes to his car via us and says “We fit you in at 5’oclock” and drove off.  We make the executive decision that we are NOT going to sit in a carpark for 4 hrs until he has his lunch break - this can be a problem in Spain. It is how some business’s are run and it adds to why Spain is struggling. The tourist’s go to where the shops are open (you cannot change old die hard habits). So we leave, re programme Nigel and off we go. This next campsite is run by a German fellow (say no more!!) In we go and stay 2 days at a place called VERA. We have had high winds lately so the beach was thundering with surf, we had a great bike ride around the township. The coastal strips are full of thousands of unoccupied units and failed real estate developments. Amazing.

 

While driving through the countryside in Spain you can understand why Clint Eastwood shot a lot of his “Spaghetti Westerns” here.  The landscape is vast with rolling plains, lots of rocks/boulders, cacti  . and very dry looking soils, the colour of dust. Perfect location you might say.

 

We are now in Roquetas De Mar in the Andalucia playa region.

 On yer bike I told/persuaded T.Lee and off we peddled down to the Marina and what do we spy but a “Moody Eclipse 43”, the same as “Spirit Chaser”, looking good!!!! - We reminisce, feel slightly homesick for a minute or two, and while doing so two couples walked by and commented on the same boat.

 

So with our story told and theirs in return, they invited us to stay at their property in France when we are next that way. A delightful English couple with a house on 10 acres.They said we must do it! Some people are just so incredibly generous with their time, information and obviously their property. The other couple with them have sailed to Australia, then Indonesia, Thailand, Yemen, Suez Canal e then back to the U.K. all in a 34ft yacht!  I was having nightmares just listening to their travels, lovely brave people. They both own motorhomes and are travelling accordingly.  Next day we ride 25 kms in the other direction along the boardwalk.

Palm trees growing tall in the middle of the beaches looking like an Oasis and lots of what I call “Norfolk Island Pines” which remind me of home and the East Coast. There are families everywhere, the warmer weather bringing people out & about and it was a Sunday, just gorgeous.  Prior to getting to this campsite “Nigel” the G.P.S. voice took us down an incredibly narrow road and therefore we ended up with trailing bits of greenery hanging off our awning enclosure and a few more scratches, needless to say we exited via another road.

Moving 30 kms down the road (another big day out) past all the agricultural plastic scenery (white hot houses everywhere) to of course, the ocean. Down to the Almerimar Marina we go and for 9 euros a night without power (as there was none available to us) we park happily.

 We have 360 degs views encompassing the Marina, boats, shops, restaurants and bars. There was lots of Kite & Wind surfers (it was actually blowing dogs off chains), also snow capped mountains which is an extraordinary sight in itself and it’s 19 degs today. We manage 3 days without power, could have done 4 at a pinch, solar panels would be an advantage, one day!!!!!.

 

Off again and we have just seen a farmer with his horse pulling a plough through his fields, this would of been a great Kodak moment but we couldn’t stop this was real back to basic farming. The Almond trees are in full blossoms looking very much like Spring.

Next we pass through MARBELLA.This is a tourists playground, very much alive and just waiting for the summer onslaught, actually everywhere is slowly coming back to life, people will be returning soon to opening of shutters, painting and repairing and cleaning up gardens that have been put to sleep for winter.

It can get a little cramped at times. But we wedge in between a couple of “big boys”!

 

 It’s March and there a lot of UK, German, Dutch and French people on the roads again returning home from their winter sojourn in Spain.  We have just passed the “Rock Of Gibraltar” on our left and Algeciras where you catch the “wave piercer" to Morocco.

Today we are settled in ZAHORA  and we stay 4 nights. I set off for my walk ( I’m the forward scout ), down to the beach and on my return I meet a cross eyed cat. I said hello to her, she had this beautiful big boofy head. She looked at me with most amazing blue eyes, but they where going in the wrong direction, or maybe she just couldn’t understand the Aussie accent. Head held high she strolled off and that was that. And that’s it from us also, can’t bore you forever, we will stay in touch…... but wait ….. also on our bike ride the next day, we end up at Cape Trafalgar which, just a few miles off the coast, is where Nelson handed out a thrashing to the French and Spanish fleets. I think the score was 23 to Nil!

 

So it’s adios from us all for now. Next report will be from sunny Portugal (we hope).

XXXX S and T and HH.