Globetrotting Crates

 Christmas Eve we were in Antigua and we made our way to Jolly Beach.  Jolly beach is a wide and long beach with a ton of activities, restaurants and bars. The sea was quite cold, we spent a couple of relaxing hours there. Had an early night in preparation for the anticipated Christmas Day activities! Christmas Day was a fun day so many people dressing up in silly costumes. We watched the King’s speech which was televised live. We skipped lunch knowing we had a gala dinner planned in the evening.  In the afternoon we had a couple of drinks in the deck bar, before going to the quiz.  It was a formal night so we got glammed up and had a glass of champagne before dinner. Dinner was a bit disappointing, Mr C didn’t get his roast potatoes with the turkey and he said the ‘English Christmas Pudding “ wasn’t the real deal. Still we enjoyed the evening and the Christmas Show in the theatre rounded off the day nicely.

 Monday 22nd December day 6 of our Caribbean Christmas, so far we’ve visited Princess Cays, Grand Turk, St Maarten and St Kitts. Princess Cays: Princess Cruises have their own resort there and staff are on hand to provide food and drink. The beach is walkable from the ship’s berth and us OK but the sea was very cold. We were shocked to find that the charge for sun beds was 49$! However somehow the attendant overlooked us and we didn’t pay.  Grand Turk: another cheap day as there is a beach within walking distance of the ship’s berth. It’s very strange to lie on the beach so close to the moored ships, in this case there were 2, ours and a smaller vessel. The sea was lovely and warm today. There were no charges for sun beds either.  Day 4 was a sea day and unlike many ships there was no problem getting a sun bed.  St Maarten: the half Dutch and half French island. The day started off rainy but soon cleared up took a taxi to Maho beach otherwise known as the airport bea...

  Two very excited elves all packed and ready to go! They flew to Miami on 15th December with their humans and stayed in an elf friendly hotel in Fort Lauderdale for 2 nights before joining the Enchanted Princess for a 20 day cruise around the Caribbean. Once aboard they soon got settled in to their cabin (known as state rooms) and made friends with their steward called Lector. They will be playing lots of tricks on him though he doesn’t know it yet.  Later they’ll be sailing to Grand Caymen for the first port of call.

  10th November we made our way to Santander for our final night camping at Virgin del Mar. It rained all night, a dreary end to our marvellous road trip. In addition the campsite’s restaurant was closed and with no other option in the area, we sat listening to the rain, eating our scrambled eggs on toast.  The following morning after 6 weeks and 1800 miles we sadly said goodbye to Spain. The ferry left at midday on the 11th and after a fairly smooth crossing we arrived in Portsmouth the following evening at 8pm. By good fortune we were 4th off the ferry and 20 minutes later we were home!   

  7th November found us back in Toledo for another 2 night stay at Camping El Greco. We ate at the restaurant next to the campsite amazing location with a view of the city (pictured) but a rather dour experience. Jeff had Bambi in mushroom sauce. I had salmon teriyaki (served with couscous).  Glorious sunshine the following day when we  went into the city, but much cooler than the last time we were there in October and far fewer tourists too. 9th November we headed for Palencia and stayed at an Aire - Area de autocaravanas E.S Suances, where we had stayed last year. It’s free, the owner just asks you to buy fuel at his petrol station.  Later in the afternoon we had fun counting storks flying over us on their way to their nests in the city. We saw lots of them roosting on rooftops. The following morning they were back over again headed for their feeding ground. In the evening we walked into Palencia looking for a restaurant. As usual it took ages to find one with a su...

  5th November: And so we said goodbye to Bolnuevo and headed off to Granada which means pomegranate in Spanish. We hadn’t travelled far when we made a stop on the hard shoulder to make an adjustment to one of the water vents. Whoa! I thought, I recognise the Motorhome that just went past us! We gave chase until we were behind it sure enough it was Cliff! Well he must have thought we were determined stalkers and with a quick hasta la vista, swerved off at the next junction towards Murcia. That’s the last we’ve seen of them. Onwards we went, to a campsite close to Granada. The views with the Sierra Nevada in the distance are stunning, but the campsite is a bit rustic to say the least. It has a restaurant but the receptionist said “we don’t recommend it” oh well, omelette for dinner.  The next day we caught the bus to Granada which is 18km away. €3.70 for  two of us. “How much” Mr C said, thinking it was a mistake because it was too cheap! It was a lovely sunny day but so m...

  4th November, our last day in Bolnuevo so we made the most of the fine weather before we headed back up north. We had 13 days of mainly beautiful weather a couple of windy days but luckily no rain in the daytime. We’ve loved our stay, the location is great with the backdrop of the mountains and the beach so close. It is incredibly good value at €19 per night. November 1st is another Spanish public holiday, “All Saints Day” and we didn’t dare risk taking a bus!  We had a birthday this week, Mr C on the 2nd November (birthday boy pictured) and we went for a celebratory lunch which turned out to be mediocre and expensive with surly service thrown in. Cliff and Irene left us on the 2nd too, heading for another nearby campsite. We thought that was the last we would see of them this trip, but there was another unexpected sighting however, you’ll have to read the next instalment to see what happened.

  Monday 30th October: we’ve been at Camping Playa Mazarron at Bolnuevo for a week now and we like the site so much we’re staying here until 5th November, we’ve been very lucky to keep the same pitch as the site is very busy. The campsite is right beside the beach and there are numerous restaurants and bars within walking distance. Mazarron is in the region of Murcia. We’re close to the Bolnuevo Erosions (pictured) sandstone monuments sculpted by water and wind.  The weather has been lovely we haven’t ventured far, only to the lovely port on the local bus a couple of times. We’ve got into a bit of a routine of going to the pool bar with Cliff and Irene for a couple of drinks around 5pm.  Today we joined in an international pétanque competition arranged by the campsite and I’m pleased  to say neither of us embarrassed ourselves in front of our European friends, both of us were in separate teams and we both had good wins.

Monday 23rd October: We had had the worse weather the previous day, rain and wind so our plans to travel west fell into disarray. After a lot of ruminating we decided to deploy plan B and head east.  This is where Cliff our friend came into the frame so to speak. We knew that Cliff and Irene were at a good site at Mazarron basking in sunshine with a bright outlook forecasted for the next week or so. We had emailed the site to book a pitch, but got a fairly negative response so we then emailed Cliff asking a big favour of him to speak to reception and try and book us a pitch for a week. BINGO! Cliff came up trumps. A pitch had become available opposite our friends. Now I’m not sure that they were delighted by this, however they could have told us there were no vacancies to be had. It was a long drive from Estepona to Mazarron around four and a half hours on toll roads around Granada and back down to the coast we had a couple of comfort stops on the way. When we left Estepona the tem...

  Friday 20th October a beautiful sunny, day we set off from the campsites with high hopes of a splendid day out to Marbella. As we walked to the bus stop at Hospiten to take the No 79 (take note) we just missed the bus we waited 45 mins for the next one. One hour later we reached our destination. We had a lovely wander around the old town and a nice meal before making our way back to the bus station.  This is where things took a turn for the worse. We waited around 30 minutes until the bus arrived and went to board, the Driver started shouting at us that we needed tickets. This was a first as we’ve always paid on the bus. So over to the long queue at the ticket booth. Guess what? by the time we got the ticket to Hospiten the bus had gone. Another 45 minutes went by and we were back on the bus. We were annoyed to see that people were paying as they got on at the very next stop! Anyway, the pleasure we felt that we were finally near our destination didn’t last as the driver wen...

  Monday 16th October we left Manilva and headed for our next campsite about 20 mins away near Estepona, Camping Parque Tropical. Our home for a week is smaller more relaxed (and cheaper €21 per nt) not far from the beach, with a swimming pool and a good restaurant on site. Much more European in flavour if you know what I mean. Had a wander along the seafront and a Cava sangria at a local beach bar. Another mishap occurred. Somehow the blind over the driver cab got broken and is now permanently open which will result in another expensive trip to Marquise. I can hear them at the service desk now “you’ll never guess what the Crates have done this time, ha ha” I’m not claiming responsibility for this breakage. Just saying. On Wednesday we caught the bus into Estepona and had a seafood paella at a beach restaurant. After over 2 weeks of glorious weather, it started to change and was very windy. The beach was deserted.  Thursday was the first miserable day since we arrived on 1st O...

  Sunday 15th October: we took the long, slow, scenic  winding road from Ronda to Manilva which took about one and half hours, planning to stay at our next site Camping Belle Vista for 5 nights. To our dismay there was a sign at the entrance saying it was full! However we managed to get a booking for one night.  In actual fact that was a good result for I didn’t like the site at all. Mr C didn’t mind it, but it was full of long stayers with large vehicles, a lot of Brits with live musical entertainment designed to please them. It went on all afternoon and early evening, blaring out over the campsite.  The one good thing about the camp site is that it has a lovely beach location, downside apart from the aforementioned it’s very close to a busy road.  We went for a walk to the beach resort  and stopped for a Tintoretto de Verano a drink similar to Sangria. We sipped our drinks whilst watching fellow Brits eating their Sunday roast. Mr C was tempted but I said...

  Friday 13th October. We drove from Cordoba to Ronda, about two and a half hours. Stunning scenery. We stayed at Camping El Sur a beautiful location just outside Ronda. The campsite itself has a lovely swimming pool which was very welcome in the 32C heat. Nice restaurant on site which we took advantage of.  On Saturday we walked into Ronda about one and a half kilometres downhill. Ronda is known to be one of the oldest towns in Spain it is set atop a deep gorge and spanned by a stone bridge.  We wandered around the old city and took photos of the famous old bridge Puerto Viejo. Then we took a look at the bull ring from the outside, it’s one of the oldest stone constructed bull rings in Spain. Finally we headed back up the steep hill to the campsite and flopped out with a cold beer! Now we’re all citied out so we’re looking forward to  a few days R&R by the Mediterranean coast.

  Wednesday 11th October: we averted a bit of a disaster on leaving the campsite, Bev our new BF was running after us gesticulating wildly, we thought she was waving us off, however Mr C had left the electric hook up plugged in to the mains so there we were with lead trailing behind us. Luckily we were stopping to empty the grey water so we would have spotted it. Camping La Albolafia the next site is quite a distance from Cordoba but there is an infrequent bus service running from nearby Villafranca. So far so good. . . . , Thursday 12th October: We got up early to catch the 9am bus to Cordoba which takes 45 minutes, perfectly on time . We wandered around the old narrow streets and had intended to visit the Mezquita des Cordoba the Mosque Cathedral but it was closed for a service. We had lunch then took a slow walk back to the bus station.  This is when we found out that today was Spains National Day or Dia de La Hispanidad or Fiesta Nacional de Espana whatever you want to cal...

 Sunday 8th October: glad to leave the hustle and bustle of Camping Osuna, after circumnavigating the outskirts of Madrid,  we had a fairly short uneventful  journey to Toledo. El Greco campsite at Toledo is delightful and very peaceful just a short bus ride from the city. Toledo is an old walled city situated on a hill and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It  is famous for sword making and there are many shops selling swords and other ornamental metallic souvenirs. Monday 9th October we went to Toledo and took the hop on hop off tourist bus which was a chaotic experience! (More like the hop off, hop off again bus) At stop 2 we were told to get off the bus and herded on to another bus which Mr C spotted was having it’s engine looked at. Never mind, we still alighted and at stop 4 we had to get off as the bus had broken down. Finally another bus came along by this time the poor driver was getting harangued by angry passengers. We next visited the Cathedral, massive in...

Tuesday 3rd October we drove from Burgos to Riaza to our overnight stay at Camping Riaza. A quiet site with very clean facilities, good for just one overnight stay.  The Restaurant and shop were both closed, but we had enough provisions to see us through, we always carry emergency rations of wine! The only downside were the bothersome flies preventing us from sitting outside for too long in the evening. On Wednesday we set off for Madrid a short one hours drive and found Camping Osuna on the outskirts of Madrid easily. It is in a great location for visiting the city. The metro is 10 mins walk and 20 mins gets you right in the heart of Madrid. It is more expensive at £33 per night, due to its proximity to the city. The other downside is the noise being close to the airport and near a road and railway. Thursday we went to Madrid and took the hop on hop off bus and did the 2 full circles to see the major sites, it cost 11 euros each (concession for over 65s). We found a good tapas bar...

  We left home on 29th September to begin our 7 week road trip to Spain. A smooth 2 night crossing from Portsmouth saw us arrive in Santander early am on 1st October. We are heading firstly for Madrid, but stopping a few nights en route. There was little traffic on the road, so an easy 2 hour drive to our first campsite stop - Fuentes Blancas close to Burgos, which is a world heritage site in the Parque Natural de Fuentes Blancas. Soon after arrival we set off to walk to Burgos it takes about 50 mins from the campsite a very pleasant flat walk but was very hot,  so when we reached Burgos we flopped into the nearest bar for a blissful cold beer. The Camino de Santiago runs through Burgos and we saw quite a few pilgrims on our walk.  How did we know they were pilgrims? They wear scallop shells as a badge of honour for visiting Santiago de Compestela. So the greeting to them is buen Camino! We went in search of a tapas bar of which there are many, however as it was Sunday th...

 On the last leg of our Spanish/French road trip we stayed at Vendome for 2 nights. A nice relaxed riverside campsite a short walk to the town centre.  Vendome is a lovely town and  is one of the main towns along the river Loire . The river divides itself at the entrance of Vendôme, intersecting it into numerous different arms. The town has a rich medieval  history and many historical monuments. We were very impressed with the beautiful spring flower beds we saw in the parks. Next stop was Camping du Chateau at Falaise in Normandy. A small well kept municipal campsite overlooked by the Château where William the Conqueror was born. Falaise is a good place to stop en route to Caen, a cheap campsite at £13.50 per night including electricity good Wi-Fi and very clean modern facilities.  Easy walk into the interesting town with quite a few bars and restaurants. We felt quite at home with both the above campsites as we had stayed at both 3 years ago. And so on Thursda...

 We arrived at Camping Huttopia close to Sarlat on Saturday 9th April, it’s quite a large site with some lodges. Once again shared facilities and no Wi-Fi on pitches. The site is situated on a hill and an easy 10 minute walk into Sarlat, walking back up the steep hill is another matter! Sarlat is a beautiful medieval town in the Dordogne, with a big indoor market in the Sainte-Marie church with it’s massive door (see photo).  We were too late for lunch, as we arrived just as the restaurants finished serving and after walking back later in the evening we were also too late for dinner forgetting that the French eat earlier than the Spanish ( in Spain we were always too early!). Mr C wasn’t in a particularly good mood!  On Sunday we ensured we were on time for lunch and sat outside in the sun enjoying a three course lunch and rose wine. Monday was a similar kind of day. The weather has been fairly good with sunny days but colder at night.  On Tuesday we set off again bu...

 On Tuesday we left Spain for Argeles sur Mer ( near Perpignan) and skirted around Barcelona in fairly heavy traffic, there were many lorries on the road to the French border, speaking of which we drove through without any checks whatsoever.  Argeles sur Mer is at the foot of the Pyrenees and you can see the snow on the mountains, it has a lovely sandy beach and lots of campsites in the area. We arrived at our chosen Camping Le Dauphin near Argeles sur Mer only to find it is not open until Thursday! (someone hadn’t checked opening dates). Out came the ACSI book to try and find another site. In the event this worked out better as we found a nice little site a stones throw away from the seafront with its many bars and restaurants. The site has the unimaginative name of Camping Europe. Although the facilities are very clean they are shared, not a fan of this set up but it is still often seen in France. No loo roll and no toilet seats either.  We settled in then went in searc...