Alhama de Granada, Spain - the end our European tour

6th-12th November

The end of the road - our van gets a well needed rest

This is the van's resting place for the winter whilst we head for hotter climes and a different continent. Thanks to my Dad and Kate for putting us up in Spain. 


What's next?
We fly to Australia on 1st December from Heathrow via Singapore to Melbourne. Planning to visit SE Australia in a hired camper from Melbourne to Brisbane, then up to Cairns across to Darwin and down through the Red Center back to Melbourne with backpacks for 8th Feb 2010. We finish off with a campervan tour around New Zealand before flying back to the UK in mid-March ready for Paul's 30th Birthday.

The Lake of Bermajales, Spain

5th November

Wild camping at the (low) Lake - 

5years ago and we would have been underwater on this spot

We headed inland from Calahonda up over the Sierra Nevada foothills and to the lake not far from our final destination. It was deserted, a lot cooler than the coast and the air was a lot cleaner but thinner given our altitude. The lake was very tranquil - the way the light reflected meant that the colours changed constantly. It was so quiet you could hear the birds wading!

The lake at night - 

our final destination is just beyond those hills in the background

Paul went out to take some night shots and we settled in for the night - we slept so well as it was so quiet. However at 6.450am we were woken by small earthquake. The van shook and the earth made a noise like the whoosh of a bus going past you at high speed. It didn't last very long, 2-3seconds - but was a little eerie given how it was the first night we had parked anywhere so quiet and so deserted in a whole trip!

Lake overflow - not used for many years

We spent the day in the nearby town of Alhama de Granada and went for a 6km walk (not far really) along the gorge. The minute the sun started to go it got colder, so we headed to spend our last nights in the van at Paul's Dads house nearby.

Walking near Alhama De Granada

Canada de Calnegre, Spain

3rd November


From La Marina we headed further south to Canada de Gallego, nestled on the coast in amongst large tomato plantations. We were low on supplies and needed to press on in to our flights for the 12th November, so we only stayed one night. This was a lovely spot for wild camping with water available from the nearest petrol station and a small Spar shop in the town. A short walk along the sea front was a beach suitable for swimming and a very popular mountain bike track. We also saw a German guy with an aussie accent selling tin can sculptures.

Another night shot

the Moon sets as the Sun rises

The best mountain bike track so far!

Drink beer, make art from can, sell art, buy & drink more beer. Simples.

La Marina, Spain

26th October - 2nd November

We  had a slight delay in setting off from St Carles when we ran out of gas and tried to change bottles only to discover that that valve was faulty - after discussion with some adjacent Dutch van owners they helped us to seal the bottle using a skeleton gun and some silicon in return for Paul scaling their roof to check their solar panel was charging properly.

We got on the road about midday and our destination was a town called Denia - when we arrived there were no vans but we had been driving for ages - we were gutted as the site was beautiful but no longer an accepted stopping place for campervans.

We headed back through the orange groves to the motorway and drove on another 150km heading for La Marina. We arrived just as the sun was setting. We were off the motorway, driving on precarious roads with drops off either side of the carriageway into the salt lakes.The sun turned bright red and purple and we saw this reflected in the water - it was gorgeous.

We parked in a lay by on the edge of the town with several other vans. When we woke in the morning we were on a part built housing estate that was adjacent to the slat marshes and a nature reserve - which would have looked stunning if it had been finished and wasn't plagued by mosquitoes.

...and they wonder why no one buys them?

As it was early we thought we would carry on driving. As luck would have it we came across a small industrial estate about 3 miles down the road. We saw lots of motorhome owners doing their weekly massive shop so asked them where we could stay nearby. Fortunately, we were in a town where many vans congregated and there was a beautiful spot right next to the sandy beaches.

It was so convenient that we stayed for a whole week, soaking up the winter sun and befriending our new neighbours.

(yet another) night shot at La Marina

Paul, Nora, Suzy, Berol & Ron...
...we spent many a day putting wrongs to right

St Carles de la Rapita, Spain

22^nd - 25^th October 

Nearly washed away by the barrage of rain overnight we got up early and got on the road finding a quaint tourist town called St Carles de la Rapita.

We drove through lots of rice fields, on our way off the main road, housed on a former river estuary and at the foot of some pretty large mountains capped with very stormy clouds.

There was a small collection of motor homes parked up right near the sea front adjacent to a storm drain and a family of at least ten cats.

parking at St Carles de la Rapita

We embarked on a meander towards the beach - which was flooded and we could see that the storm surge had come right up to where the vans were parked.

a flooded beach after the heavier storms 

We slept so well that we decided to stay for the weekend, going for some long walks along the coast and exploring the tourist town. The sea had washed up lots of sea urchins and molluscs on to the beach to we went for a bit of a scavenge.

Looking back from the end of the harbour

Paul got up very early to take pictures of the sunrise, but got distracted by the local fishermen; vaguely recalling something about what they were catching and how busy the port was at weekends.

before sunrise on the docks

Fisherman at sun rise

Sitges, Spain

21^st October

We had intended to head for a town along the coast near to Barcelona but discovered no other motor homes or any where suitable to stay without paying a 25 Euro premium. Paul drove for the most part of the day looking for somewhere and narrowly missed hitting a black cat that shot out across a very busy highway.

We were exhausted and it was starting to get dark so we got on the motorway to skirt under Barcelona headed for a town we knew of beyond Barcelona – Sitges.
We drove around the town and eventually parked on a side street. We ate tapas at ten o-clock at night – living the Spanish way! Washed down with a few glassed of vino tinto.

Leucate, France

20^th October

We travelled from Toulouse to Leucate back towards the southern coast.

On the way we stopped for lunch (cup-a-soup) at Carcassonne, a walled fairy tale city, listed as a World Heritage Site - it was lovely but rammed full of coach-loads of tourists. I think we would go again but stay for several nights so we could could see the city lit up at night.

By the time we got back on the road the rain had started again so we didn't get a chance to go out to see the sunset or take many more pictures of the stars!

We paid 6 euros for night as we needed to use the service point and take on some water.

Paul went for a quick walk whilst I got tea on. It was very windy, and Paul returned to say that there was nothing open, and even the local police were bored - deciding to send him on a wild goose chase looking for a shop that was shut for the winter!

Carcassonne