Friday 14th May, El Molino and I'd rather be in Roquetas.

OK, OK, I've already been complaining about being up here, but for God's sake I'm wearing slippers again and the electric fire is on most of the time. It may be that we've grown soft but it's bloody freezing here. I guess 600 miles and 1,000 ft will tend to make a slight difference but paying an extra €120/month for the privilege is hard to bear. We've also found out why nothing is open at present, no restaurant, bar etc. Because nothing is open wrt camp sites in this part of Spain until July, so moving doesn't really help at all. Luckily we are using the ACSI card so it's €15/night inc. 10A electric but not having easy access to the internet is a pain.



Worst news of all I have yet to find either an ALDI or a LIDL! (may God bless and keep it) An Euroski just doesn't cut it I'm afraid, don't like the beer and the milk comes in bags.



Did a tour of Mendigorria (see pics) and found the grocery store, bought a packet of fags and they were €3.80 instead of €3.15, only to find it had 24 in the packet? Must admit there are some great views from here and when the weather picks up, 9° C today although sunny, it will be a lot better.



I have included a picture of a neighbour we had for a couple of nights, looked like a pair of teachers, don't know why. The van turned up with what we thought was a standard Thule roof rack, no, it was actually their bedroom, talk about budget camping.



Went on the “river walk” which lasted about half a mile and then back on to a road on the way to Andelos where there is some Roman ruins, basically a pile of rocks, that are reputedly the oldest Roman remains in the World/Europe or Spain, depending what you read.



Skyped Derek L. the other day and filled him in wrt the weather, lack of a local on site bar, things like that. “Oh well, should we be better off in southern Spain, then?” Growl, growl.



We are also back to the regime of washing up as we do not have easy access to either a waste drain or fresh water, fountain off until July (shocker) and there is hot water in the toilet block. Because there is hardly anyone on site, there is no PWC running and anyway we now tend to share. (only seasoned blog readers will understand the last bit)



I'm sitting here writing this stuff at 8:30 am, electric fire on level two with SWMBO gently snoring in the background and it's getting so dark out there I may have to put a light on! The grass cutting man has just passed, hope we haven't got to move today, and will soon begin his incessant cutting. The large site means he is like the man painting the Forth road bridge, when gets to the end he has to start again. I know I need a shower but I just don't want to freeze to death this morning and judging by the leaden sky we will not be walking or cycling, any time soon, today.



Just been to the loo and it's so cold out there that I didn't even bother to take my book. I almost feel sorry for the poor mossie we obviously transported up here because he bit me the first night. Next morning flying out of the MS to rest up on a hot beach with a belly full of my blood, out the door and his last thought “WTF!” and promptly froze to death, teach the bastid.



Well the light is now on as I can't see the keyboard and no shower for me today, I think we will just poodle around in the car and find a Lidl (may God bless and keep it).



SWMBO leaves tomorrow for her short trip to Dudley, West Midlands for her brother's 50th birthday, flying from Biarritz, just over the border in France 70 miles away, to Stansted airport where she picks up a hire car for the week end. Back on the 17th May, our anniversary. I will be able to check out a couple of other camp sites on the way to see if they are an improvement on this one, i.e. they have a bar that opens. So I'm on my Jack Jones for a few days, might just stay in bed.



Well there's a surprise! It's 9:47 am and SWMBO is still in bed knocking out the Zs, I go and put some corn flakes in a bowl and she's up like a shot, sleep and food are very close cousins as far as she is concerned, food usually wins out. Sleep, however is important and if it must be interrupted by the need for a pee it can really piss her off, no pun intended, in fact her idea of heaven is having a colostomy bag fitted and being feed intravenously.



Just went on a quick but brutal, up hill and down dale, bike ride to Andelos, a Roman ruin and of course it was shut, the museum that is, the piles of rubble were all too open, rivetting I don't think. About 7 miles all in and I was, can't feel my legs anymore.



Tonight it's liver and fried potato along with the usual vino and the odd beer or three, then The Sopranos and beddy byes. We are watching series 6 after watching series 5 of The Sopranos and everything has changed and it seems to have moved on years, can't figure it out?



Sunday 16th May.



Dropped SWMBO of at Biarritz airport yesterday, after an 80 mile drive via Pamplona and the A121A and then the twisty A121B into France. She arrived OK in Dudley where she was in a tea shirt at 8.00 in the evening! On my way back finally found the Pamplona branch of Lidl (may God bless and keep it) at last and of course went in for the ritual look round and beer buying. Then found Aldi!



Raining when I arrived back at El Molino and today is a bit better but not by much. Was invited to watch Mark Webber win the Grand Prix in Monaco in a guys caravan which passed away a few hours and now making another batch of my famed “Cook House Chilli”, which turned out to be a corker. I wouldn't say it's hot but the wooden spoon I stir it with has gone missing and some of the paint on the ceiling, above the cooker, has peeled off. I'm putting the toilet paper in the fridge as a precaution.



Although Adam didn't make it to Dudley Heather did and presented Uncle Gerald with their present, an HP, all in one, printer, he was very pleased with it.



Due to the volcanic dust cloud RyanAir have been cancelling flights and SWMBO may be stuck in Dudley until Tuesday. The plan is to drive the 140 miles back to Stansted and if the flight is a no no, drop the hire car and get Derek L., whose is 25 miles away, to pick her up. He then can generate the new boarding pass, as it can only be done on line, not at the airport, so she can get the next available flight. I will have to wait and see what transpires, another trip to the beer factory may be needed.



Not allowed to watch The Sopranos so watched “Fallen” with Denzel Washington, no silly, not with him, with him in it! Tonight it's going to be Christian Bale's rendition of “The Dark Knight”, the Batman film which was Heath Ledger's (the Joker) last before he died.



Tuesday 18th May and SWMBO is back, I think I actually missed her this time. After a barrage of phone calls and showing wonderful project management skills, Derek L. took great care that SWMBO and I were kept up to date on the RyanAir situation and she got her flight OK.



So up to Biarritz again, by a slightly different route via Saint Jean de Luz on the coast and when I got to the airport there's this French girl in a tiny car, 25'ish, parked in front of the barrier for the car park. Hazards flashing and she's having a chat on the phone to her boyfriend! Asked her to move so I could get in and all I get is a lot of French thrown back at me. However as I started to manoeuvre the much larger Navara around her and she thought I was simply going to drive over her, she got the message and moved. You have 30 minutes free parking at Biarritz airport, better than most, so you have to time everything right, Parked and in and her plane had landed and 15 minutes later there she was.



Now on 17th May, 35 years ago a curse was placed on me and when I asked a local witch, which is basically any widowed woman over 50 years old and bearing a grudge, to remove it she said she could only do it if I remembered the exact words. I told her, “You are now man and wife”.



So it's a special day for SWMBO and I had not got her either a card or flowers and no way was I going to take out a small mortgage to pay for an evening meal in Biarritz. So when we got in the car I told her that her present was in the glove box. “Can I eat it?” Well, actually she could. “It” was two meat pies that I had picked up from Euroski supermarket that morning. They lived a very short life and I was being asked to drop in the the Euroski on the way back.



Finally sorted the Soprano saga, there are TWO series 6's a FINAL one and an ordinary one, guess which one we were watching?



So it's 9:20 am and all is back to normal, I've been up for a couple of hours and she is pushing out the Zs and sleeping like a corpse, nothing really changes, I'll just reach for the corn flakes.



Pics at end, for some reason when I place them in the text they manage to overlap each other, go figure. Note the pic of the woman who saved the Gurkhas.
 

Friday 7th May 2010, Roquetas and Sunday we leave.

Day started out not good. Chuck died during the night. We had seen it coming, he had been struggling a bit lately and the relatively cold nights were just too much for him. So he joins his other two brothers, Not Going to Make It and Haven't a Chance, in the rubbish bin. I blame SWMBO myself, when we planted the three Chili seeds I knew that somehow or other she'd kill them. Her fingers aren't green at all, probably purple for all the good it does any plants or flowers she gets involved with. So we won't be getting fresh chilies plucked from our own little chili tree, never mind.

As you can see from the pictures, it's pretty quiet round here, quiet is not the word actually, bloody deserted is more like it! Mind the weather is fine, mid 20's and hardly any wind. As the weather at El Molino is down in the teens I don't know why we are going. Well as SWMBO is already booked on a Ryan-air flight out of Barritz to join her brother for his 50th birthday in Dudley on Saturday 15th May, we have to be somewhere closer by then. Changing the flight and the car rental so we can stay here and she can fly from Almeria is almost the same as buying new tickets, so we go.

When we called into the site on the way back from Alan's 60th thing, it was great there, but as it is 600 miles north of here and 1,000 feet up in the air, weather can be a little unpredictable.

I'm glad I didn't accept SWMBO's order the clean the car the other day as it rained that “brown” rain last night and the car's a complete mesh, so wash it tomorrow night. Went for a long'ish walk to Roquetas and back via the coast, bloody knackered!



So we pack up again tomorrow, green up and bikes on the back of the MS take up the most time but hey ho. Plan is to hook up Saturday evening then first thing Sunday, slide out in and gone.



Saturday and I've just paid the bill, €1,003 for 95 days which works out to just over €11/day including wi-fi and electric at 10A. Not bad as I budget at €15/day. Still handing over that much, all at once in cash, is soul destroying.



Next blog will be from El Molino on the 11th May, hopefully.
Well that post did not happen did not quite happen. Today is, 10th May. They (Roquetas camping) managed to screw up the internet for the last two days we were there and when we arrived at El Molino Wi-Fi is only available (free though) at the coffee area around reception 400 yards from our new site.



The 620 mile, two day, journey:- left at 9am promptly after some pretty smart maneuvering by yours truly, involving reversing, in more or less a straight line all along our calle and out. Managed to get through the “muy perigrosa” roundabout near Roquetas which involves a blind entrance to a roundabout everyone takes a maximum speed. As this was Sunday and early, less traffic and OK.



Tricia started eating, no comment.

A7 and then A23 and tried a Spanish type Aire just off the motorway but it we did not feel secure there. Mind at the time the weather was looking ominous and the wind was really picking up so a stop now might be a good idea, pressed on though. Then a stopover at the very large forecourt of a Repsol Garage near Sarrion in Arragon. A few lorries there at first but they left and they we were, in a space for about a hundred lorries, just us. The service had a shop with a bakery and coffee machines and showers, so kitted out well for the drivers. Reason for the scarcity of drivers? No HGV's on the roads in Spain on Sundays, so that's the day to travel.

Although we were not exactly scared staying overnight there, we took precautions, next to SWMBO's bed was her BB gun, a baseball bat, mace and the bar that holds the slideout, out, as a cudgel. God help anyone whole actually got past all the alarms and extra locks on the doors and windows.

Because we were out in the boonies with no lights the Moon was a bright silver crescent and the stars were like diamonds scattered on a black felt cloth and filled the night sky, beautiful.



Next morning, a fantastic dawn and no trouble except a few people from the gas station who were curious about the rig.

So a quick breakfast and on the road at 8am. A couple or three hundred of non problematic miles and we arrive at El Molino in Mendigorria, Navarra. Drove straight on to a grass pitch in 24°C and sunny weather. We are paying €15/night with the ASCI card as there is no reduced rates for medium/long term stays, which is probably the most we have ever paid, ho hum.



It was supposed to be a “fully serviced” pitch, i.e. water, electric and waste, all we have is 10A electric. But that was the pitch we picked, there are some full service pitches but they appear smaller, crowded and full of the English, we prefer our view of the mountains and river rather than Caravans and Motorhomes. See pics at end.

Saturday 1st May 2010, Roquetas ans not long left here.

Yep, off to El Molino, as described in previous blog, leaving on Tuesday so need to do the things we haven't done yet and then cover our 44 point check list for leaving camp.
Route will be the usual “going north”, A7 to Valencia, N23 to Zaragoza, A68 then N 121 to campsite, 600 miles and don't know how many stops we will make but we will not be paying tolls or using campsites on the way up. Have a few lorry stops in mind though.

So what's been happening around here?
Well at last, after 3 months at Roquetas, the promised bus trip to Almeria eventually took place. The parking there is scarce and pricey, but the last time we were there the Castle or “Alcazaba”, a Fortress, was closed and SWMBO had it on her list so it must be visited and photographed to hell and back. Also ever since I was told that it was a €1 on the bus, I couldn't wait to use such a cheap service. That's €1 for 12 miles in a comfortable, air conditioned bus, not anything like the service you get in the UK. Getting the bus from Forest Row to East Grinstead, a distance of 3 miles is over £2! No comparison mate.
I don't like going around castles and the like, dreary, dark old rooms with bits of rusted armour lying about is not for me. This place, however, was really neat and great views. The Moors had originally built it and most of the fountains and water features have been restored to their designs, plenty of pics at the end. Anyway a good day out which actually ended with a pint of Guinness and tapas, how novel.
Back at the campsite, it is still pretty empty, we get the odd German lot who turn up and basically don't speak or communicate in any form until they leave 3 days later, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, I don't think.
SWMBO used a phrase I hadn't heard since my childhood, well I call it a childhood, I used to think knives and forks were jewelry, I had opened the window near her side of the bed and a cool'ish breeze wafted over her semi naked body lying face down in bed like a beached whale, oblivious to the world as it was not yet ten thirty, “Oh, I can't be doing with that.” I shut the window.

Weather is warm 30°C'ish by early afternoon and sometimes unbearable so moving 600 miles north will probably help. We are doing a bit of a “foreigner” in packing up over three days, some of them take a bloody week! But I guess it means we will not miss anything, like not connecting the electrics as I did last time. So green up, bikes, cleaned by Tricia, on the back and in the bike cover that I've still not figured out how it actually goes together.

Stop press! It's now Monday morning and I've just checked the weather in Mendigorria (El Molino) and the weather is shit! Temperature is 9°C-11°C midday dropping to 5°C at night! It's worse than the UK. So the, so far, two day packing is going to be unpacked and we will stay here, in 27°C thank you, for another week.

Downside is the bloody mossies are back and although I plug in, spread on, every anti mossie device known to man, I still get bitten. This particular one is a messy eater though, because there's always a couple of spots of blood on my pillow each morning, at first SWMBO accused me of “sleep nose picking”, like sleep walking, only ambulation is not involved. At least it's a noisy bugger, unlike the ones in Marjal who were quiet and hungry. I'll get the bastard before we leave.
So, as SWMBO likes it here, she has planned an extra week here, guess what, it's involves shopping. She needs another swimming costume (which always means two, one for the wash) as the one she has now is looking a little worse for wear, or that she has got more wrinkles than she lets on, or maybe the real reason is she is now a size 10 down from 12.

Funny and unusual thing happened the other morning after I made my first of the day, Columbian cappuccino coffee. As I was stirring it a hole appeared in the side of the cup. A perfect oblong at the bottom of the cup, about 1cm long, just fell out. Now this was very curious but also quite painful as the side the hole appeared was facing me. Fresh, very hot coffee flooded out all over my crotch and bare legs, thank God at least I was wearing shorts! When SWMBO arrived after the screaming had finished, she thought it quite amusing. Big Jim and the twins, however, did not. Asking for help “down there” from SWMBO was out of the question so it was off to the toilet block for a coldish shower and no coffee.

I've given up bread. I had to finally agree with SWMBO, who has been banging on about it for forever, that I may have a slight problem with wheat, I sometimes get a bit bloated.

So no bread for the last two weeks and damn it, I do feel better for it, or rather without it. Can't actually admit to it though, can I? I mean there are certain things between a man and woman, like “You were right, Pet”, never, ever, enters any conversation I can remember. Luckily SWMBO never reads the blog, as anything that does not involve maiming, killing and generally shooting people, after the first two lines, is a complete waste of time as far as she is concerned.

Of course she then jumps in with ridiculous things like, “Can't have anymore Pizza, either”. CAN'T HAVE ANYMORE PIZZA! The food of the Gods, in fact my favourite pastime is eating Pizza. Is there anything a Pizza can't do? To miss quote Homer. Anyway I know for a fact that there is no bread, wheat or whatever in a Pizza, I mean they come from Lidl (may the Load bless it and keep it), what can ever be bad for you if it comes from Lidl? And pies, surely pies are OK? Good God, pasties are not on the forbidden list? Can't be, says so in the scriptures, doesn't it? OK, OK so I've lost some weight as well, but that's all the extra walking I've being doing. I am starting to think that milk is next, I may have to start hoarding biscuits and my Mars bars asap.

Extra walking? Because the bikes, and it took hours getting two bikes into a Fiamma four bike cover, loaded and alarmed onto the back of the MS, were staying where they were mate. Tricia said it also took hours to clean them. So we have taken to long walks along the beach front to either Roquetas or Aquadulce, between 8-10 miles depending on what route you take or what shops SWMBO is magnetically drawn to. Could be worse, walking along with the Mediterranean on one side, the hot sun shinning and a cool breeze in your face. Problem is that the cool breeze is sometimes 40 mph headwind which whips the sand and grit, from the not yet completed holiday hotels, right into your face, not so nice a thought.
She's on to Cotton Traders on the net and bought two pairs of bikini, mix and match, type of things so I thought I would stay in and read. Nope! “We might as well walk to the “Grand Plaza” anyway because I won't get these until Jean and Derek join us end of May”. “er. .so you want to buy another one to “tide” you over for two weeks?” “What do you want me to do, lie around naked!” Perish the thought.

I've lost my walkman, searched all over but it's gone to that mysterious place I regularly lose things to. How can anything get lost in the confines of the MS?

So anyway the days of lying in the sun, listening to Owl Eyes, Peter Gabriel and the rest are a thing of the past and I have to put up with being able to hear SWMBO griping on about no bread, no Pizza, cut down on the beer (for Christ sake!) etc, etc, world without end, heaven help my poor demented soul.

We were hoping to vote in the upcoming election but by the time the Spanish get round to delivering our postal votes, sent ONE week in advance, it would all be over and done with. I did really want to vote for the “Monster, raving, loony party”, to quote from Monty Python but, for the life of me, I can't tell which one of the parties better suits the description anymore.

The Castle bus trip!

Sunday 25th April 2010, we have been and come back.

No blog for a while because of the secret trip back to the UK for Alan Swan's “surprise” 60th birthday party. It had been planned since Christmas 2009 and was to take place in The Swan pub on Saturday 17th April in our village of Forest Row. We were originally going to fly but we were taking a lot of things back, including Alan's present from us. A Spanish BBQ Paella set. And we also had a lot of things to bring back to Roquetas, printer, door lock etc. So it was to be a 1.300 mile drive with the return, as it turned out, a little longer, depending how lost we got on the way.



Leaving very early on Monday morning as SWMBO had very IMPORTANT hair and dental appointments on the Thursday so that sorted that out, a three day trip, 2 x 500 miles and then 300 miles, guess who's going to be doing all the driving. “Well someone has to take the pictures!”

I'm not going to go through the whole thing like some blogs do. “Went A23, then N22, then 2 miles south on the A15, then a long twisty road...........etc”. Very, very, boring. I have all the routes we have traveled in the last two years safely stored on my backup drive should they be needed again.



Plan was to head for Zaragoza, booked into Zaragoza central hotel that night, then on to Tours in France and stay at the Quick Palace hotel there, then on to Dieppe for the ferry to Newhaven, arriving about 10 o'clock on Wednesday night. We used a route that we had returned from with the MS but were going to be traveling a lot faster and take in more of the countryside as we were not planning to use any toll roads.

Average mileage when towing is about 18 mpg, solo we were getting 33 mpg so big saving there, although the trip was going to cost about €800, but we were treating it as a short holiday.



Set off and got to reception just in time to remember that we had not turned off the gas, so back and say our goodbyes all over gain. Peter and Jan had already left, Mike and Bernard were leaving a few days after us. Mike, English, had been in on the subterfuge earlier when Alan was visiting and had promised to deliver his BBQ to the Swan Pub when he left for England. As he was going to spend 2 weeks in France and was actually getting the Plymouth ferry that had little chance of ever happening but Alan did not know that and “bought it”.

A7 to Valencia, then N23 to Zaragoza. SWMBO had made a salad for the journey along with fruit and crips, so she was a happy puppy. Up to 70, engage cruise, sit back and relax as the miles flow past.

Got to Zaragoza and one of the problems of city hotels is the lack of parking so ended up partially blocking the narrow street as we offloaded and then finally found the €11/night underground parking and removed the beer and wine for the night.

The Spanish don't eat until late and so most/all the restaurants did not open for business until at least 8:30pm, SWMBO was hungry therefore everyone (me) had to watch their P's and Q's (what the hell does that actually mean?) until she was fed. Ah the wonder of the Internet; “From an old printer's axiom. Back in the early days of printing presses, each line of text had to be set up one letter at a time. Since the letters in the press were reversed (so they'd print forward), the printmaker (or typographer) needed to be careful not to confuse one letter for the other. Reminding someone to "watch his p's and q's" means to pay attention to the details.”



Eventually found an Italian place and had a glorious meal, massive sea food starter, me Pizza, the food of the Gods, SWMBO, fish with bones in, bottle of Chianti and well set.



We had passed Zaragoza many times on the bike tours but never “looked in”. Pretty impressive and Tricia managed to shoot 157 pictures, mostly of the Basilica, I will spare you the majority.





Next morning, gone by 9am and on into France, Diesel immediately up by 20%, coffee by 200%, food by..I guess you get the picture, I don't know how anyone survives there, honestly. Get the passports out, where is the border? we've passed it!



On the border is a small village which is dedicated to the French who obviously pop across the border and fill up with everything that's cheaper in Spain, no surprises there. So it's full of shops and SWMBO has to look into every single one.



A little aside here; SWMBO loves reading war stories, spy stuff and anything about the Special Forces, in fact anything that involves killing people, especially with guns. She reckons if she could have her life all over she would join the SAS. She liked the story in Private Eye about the SAS in Gibraltar in the 70's when they accidentally shot some IRA “suspects”, one was shot seven times. The trouper was asked why he shot the guy seven times, the reply was “I ran out of bullets”.



So I managed to wander off and walked into this shop selling BB guns, basically replicas of real ones but only firing 7mm BB pellets. In the UK they are coloured orange or yellow, here they are black and just look like and feel like, the real thing. At €22 I thought I would get one for her for a joke. “Got you this,Pet”, “Great!, I'll keep it in my bedside drawer”.



Later when we got back she asked me if I could get her some targets. “Them round ones or just some tin cans?” “No, I mean people”. I had noticed when I got the thing that the end was chrome, making it appear toy like, not for long. She bought a small tin of black metal paint, now it's all black and non trivial looking. I've been sleeping on the sofa lately and doing everything she tells me.



Back to the trip.



Arrived in Tours and found the Quick Palace on an outlet mall and next to a very nice (cheap'ish) restaurant and both had steak and chips. We used to (back in the motorcycling days) use Ibis as our main choice of hotels, average price €35-€40/night, now they are €70+ and no difference in quality. Hennti, a Dutch guy from Roquetas had told us about the Quick Palace chain, not so extensive as Ibis but OK, en suite toilet, shower and €32/night!

Now a leisurely roll on down to Dieppe thinking if we arrive 3-4'ish the shops will be shut and SWMBO can't spend anything until the ferry moves out at 6pm. Guess I forgot that this is not Spain anymore, shops don't shut 2pm until 5pm, so I'm dragged round them for 3 hours. Two coffees sitting outside a bar, €8?

SWMBO takes her sea sick tablets and it's on to the boat. Word to the wise, for some reason the people who operate the ferry, Transmarche, use a derisory rate in favour of the €, the rate being between 1.2 and 1.5, so take lots of UK pounds.

As we were on level 5 we were going to be last off and because it was not roll on roll off at Newhaven, half the HGV's had to do a lot of reversing, must remember that when taking the MS back that way. So instead of getting to UK home at about 9'ish, it was 10:30pm.



Next morning was like Christmas, all the things I had ordered on the Internet had arrived and I had a lot of playing to do. Tricia went off to her various appointments but we had to have a plan if we bumped into Alan as he would think something was up seeing us in the UK after just saying goodbye to us a week ago in Spain. The plan was to say that her auntie Joyce had had a heart attack and we had driven home the day previous including all through the night. This was harsh but necessary because he had to believe us otherwise his surprise birthday party would not be a surprise anymore, would it?



It was really great to see everyone, the Kids, (The Kids! They are 29 and 30 now), and their respective partners, Antonia and Olly.

Went round to Heather and Olly's new flat in Copthorne, very impressive. Took them out for a meal and basically catch up. Olly is now a fully certified commercial Pilot basically waiting for a job. As that may take a while he is trying to get a job for the RAC or AA, something he was pretty good at in the past. Heather is top Sales person in BMW UK, as she was also top person in BMW Mini, what's the surprise?



Adam and Antonia are just like a married couple, basically shouting at each other all the time, no that's not true they seem to be getting on great. Although Adam is getting fed up with his job and is looking for another. Antonia is working her socks off with three jobs she manages to fit around each other and allowing her a few hours sleep at night.



So we were going to be here for five days and had to keep out of site for four of them.



As Alan worked (Hah!) in Forest Row, where we lived, we both had to keep a low profile until Saturday night, also using the Navara was going to be difficult as he would also recognise that, not many Black Navaras with a hard top cover and Reich 15K hitch in the back, in the East Grinstead area. So I went for my haircut in a hoodie and basically stayed home, mowing the lawns etc. for the next few days



Saturday came and I had to do the shopping for the big family Sunday dinner, went to Morrison's and not to Sainsburys as Alan sometimes went there. Tricia had to do some really important (makeup etc,) shopping so she pops off to the relative safety of Tunbridge Wells and Fenwicks.



Gets a phone call from her about 1 hour later saying that she'd gone to the loo on the top floor of Fenwicks and guess who she just bumped into on the way out. “Oh no!” “Yes him, Alan, but it's all right he fell for the story, I was convincing enough I think.” He had gone into Tunbridge Wells with his brother in law to change one of his birthday presents.

So I had to stay in the back garden and pretend to be asleep if he called round.



Evening came and we were at “The Swan” pub a 7pm as requested by Pat, the present Mrs Swan. Sat outside hidden, at the back and guess who chooses to roll up just where we were with his brother in law driving! “You will go to Hell!” He shouts as he points a shaking malevolent finger at Tricia, then smiles all round.

Turns out he was pleased as punch at the whole thing, about 50 or so, family and friends were there.



We went early. 11:30 pm, as SWMBO had to get up early on Sunday to go and see her non heart attacked auntie Joyce in Dudley and get back in time for Sunday dinner at 8pm. She did and I cooked my famous five hour lamb in white wine, plus masses of veg and yorkshires, great. Of course I also did all the washing up.



Monday morning swung round and we were off again for the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry leaving at 10.30 am. Plan was to again keep off toll roads and head for Quick Palace in Poitiers getting there at 9'ish pm. No restaurant there but we had a big “English breakfast” on the ferry and some nibbles on the way down (4 x S&K pies which of course I never got to see as SWMBO had “taken care” of them on the way down).

From Poitiers down to Pamplona to a hotel just south of the city, short walk and a nice meal in the hotel then conked out, 500 miles a day was starting to tell. We came this way to check out the El Molino camp site near Mendigorria 20 miles SW of Pamplona, which is where we plan to meet and stay for three weeks until the 17th of June with the Leadbetters, it was very good with toilets you could eat out of and beautiful views.



Pamplona down to Madrid next.



Then on to a four star CEG hotel just south of Madrid followed by tapas in a local pub and some take out pizza. I took a picture of the room and it's interesting that SWMBO's “wash bag” is almost as big as her week end bag with 4 days of cloths in it. SWMBO had breakfast next morning, it was €6 and she was going to get every cents worth, the picture is of her returning from her 3rd visit to the breakfast buffet, note, she always has a good appetite when traveling, and some! I had coffee.

Next morning decided to use the local roads but managed to get lost and go 20 miles in the wrong direction because I had told the GPS to go to MS Valencia! Finally on right road and what views we had, fantastic!

Checked out another campsite we were going to use as a stop over on the way to El Molino via Madrid, it was crap! We will be going back to Pamplona our “usual” N23 route.

Arrived “home” in Roquetas at 6pm and it was raining! Not for long though and for the last few days it has been constant sun and 27°C, we even had to use the air con for the first time ever!

Great news when we got back, Gerald, Tricia's soon to be a 50 year old brother, has finally after about 2 years, got a job. It's what he used to do, an Electrician working on Army tanks and other vehicles, so Tricia is thrilled.

I'm finishing this off on Tuesday 27th April at 7:34 am and it's 20°C already!

Saturday 3rd April 2010, Roquetas and they've come and gone.

The Swans that is. Our ex partners in “getting lost in Europe, tours by motorbike”. Started 10 years ago when me and SWMBO had planned a motorbike trip to Koblenz in Germany and somehow Swanny “invited” himself along! Then it was at least once a year and we covered more or less, all of western Europe. Now, of course, me and SWMBO were doing it in more style and comfort, but a little more costly.

They arrived on Wednesday 31st and were due to leave on Saturday 3rd April. So we drove to pick them up from Almeria airport at 10:30 am, and nearly missed them because I slept in and got an earful from the present wife. We had planned various things to do in the 3 days they were here but of course we need not of bothered because they had their own ideas. It all worked out OK, well all perhaps, with the exception of “crab night”, but more of that later.

First thing back at the MS and Swanny is saying “Where's the coffee and cakes, then?”

And that basically, was what their stay, as far as male Swan was concerned, was going to be all about. We skivvied and he just lay around all the time, pictures as proof. Lunch was fried bacon sandwiches.

Walked into El Parador and guess what? Found our favourite cafe and had some coffee and cake, remember the cake eating machine of Benicassim? Well it was back!



Tricia had another go at the Moroccan lamb, this time with the right amount of cumin and it went down very well with some sherbets and beer.

Thursday, after drinking my just squeezed oranges, was a day of visiting the two local ports, which is a “must do” as far as Alan is concerned, unfortunately after getting to Aquadulce, for coffee and cake, his knees gave out and I had to run back to the car, drive back and pick them up. Evening consisted of a dose of my famed chili and salad, washed down with the usual. I had bought what I thought was a good bottle of wine, i.e. more than €5, a white Rioja, which was not approved by Pat and unfortunately I had to drink it all by myself, slept well but. Of course we had given up the major bedroom to our guests but the converted dining table and “rock-un-roll” bed were fine for us.

Thursday came and went, and then came the evening of the “Mother of all Ludo, games”.

“Kids game that, not playing, mate, I'll stick to drinking your beer”. Anyway I explained the rules and the four of us slowly began hating each other with a vengeance, especially Alan with SWMBO.

“Why do you keep taking my counters and not everyone else's?” “'Cos it's there. Mate”. Pat went on to win and the three of us were making small, barely female effigies, and looking for pins.

Friday dawned and since it was Good Friday we were going to stay meat free and Alan promised to take us to a fish restaurant we had seen earlier that day, his treat, and funnily enough his greatest regret so far this year.

Morning started with finishing off my orange juice and then lunch which was either very big prawns or dwarf lobsters in garlic butter and fresh bread, went down a treat. Alan actually managed a short bike ride and still managed to knacker his knackers while Pat had buried her head so deep in a “must finish” book that she needed a snorkel.

Also, a lot of lying around took place as the sun never stopped shining. Next is typical of Alan Swan's logical brain. He was telling a story that would cause some embarrassment to somebody he knew and mentioned that everybody at his work knew the situation. “Alan, how come everybody knew about this, did you tell them?” “No”. “Well how come they knew?” “Cos, I told them.”
More lying around, reading and sleeping.

Then, the big night! I had declared that I would drive and more importantly, would not drink either.

When everybody came too, and either, asked after my general well being, whether I was feeling myself (certainly not! I employ a wife, at some cost over the years to take care of that, may I add), or rushed off to the local asylum to take a count of the numbers.

So off I drove, we stopped for a quick drink and some tapas, as the fish restaurant was not open yet. At 8;34pm precisely the night of doom began.

Went back to the same fish place (pun), as I had mentioned to everybody that I had seen crab, or rather A crab on the display counter of this particular restaurant and I quite fancied some as I used to love it when I was a nipper (another!).

So we go in and sit inside, rather than outside on the pavement as Pat tends to fell the cold even in the tropics, although an added bonus was no cigarette smoke.

Alan opened his menu, looked at the prices and hoped they had crab because he had mentioned if they didn't, I should have a lobster instead, lobster was €100 each. Gulp! Or more importantly if Alan had his way, no gulps at all and why don't we just find a fish & chip take away.



Drinks, three beers and one glass of wine, food, four starters and four mains, nothing else, no coffees, no liqueurs, da nada. Bill €150. My crab, which was terrible, by the way, was by itself €40. God knows what it would have been if I had drank anything! At least another €50 and more for two taxis rides. Saved him a fortune really.

Next morning dropped them at 9:30 am for the flight back and we have got our double bed back.

Lots of washing and then 2 glorious days of no wind, just sun. It actually got so hot on Sunday that we had to put the awning out to cool down.

Today, Easter Monday, although it's not celebrated in Spain and therefore isn't a holiday, is grey and very windy, also most of the Spanish have gone along with some more German and Dutch so the whole site is looking very empty. The remainder of April however, is predicted to be the early summer beginning.