Benicassim - Bonterra Park 12/03/2020

Thursday, 12th March 2020

Another pleasant day, 21C and cloudless blue sky.

A little shopping for provisions (wine), followed by a visit to the weekly market, followed by lunch by the coast at Restaurant Torreon.

An after lunch stroll along the coast.

Rather alarming news from home, no, not "the virus", youngest grandchild, Salma, has been admitted to hospital with chest infection. Poor Salma on oxygen and intravenous fluids/antibiotics.

Friday, 13th March 2020

Sunny and warm, 21C again, but, with the occasional cloud drifting over.

Full hair care day, so, that is most of the morning occupied. Followed by a little food shopping.

There are lots of rumours circulating, both on the site and online, about the CoronaVirus. Signs of panic buying in the supermarket (Mercadona), just goes to show there are idiots in every country, I suppose.

Apparently the UK Foreign Office have advised against travel to several Spanish Provinces, we are in Valencia Province, which is not on the list, but, that does not seem to have registered with most our fellow Brits. 

It is common for many people who have been here for the winter, to leave around this time, so, it is difficult to say if the stream of people leaving is "normal", or, "panic". It does seem to be almost exclusively Brits leaving.

For now, my thinking is, we are better off somewhere warm, with CoronaVirus in circulation, than heading back home to the cold and wet, with CoronaVirus in circulation.

Saturday, 14th March 2020

Sunny and warm, 21C, yet again.

All kinds of rumours circulating, relating to the CoronaVirus. Friends John and Carol, have decided to make a dash for Calais, they were supposed to be leaving on Wednesday, but, set off this morning. Last I heard, they had made it as far as Pamplona, without incident.

Rumours say that even the beaches have been closed, not that I can really see the point in that?, surely, it is confined spaces and crowds which are to be avoided. The site has closed the swimming pool, and, the onsite bar/restaurant. In the town, all of the bars and restaurants appear to be closed, but, despite the rumour, there were people on the beach as we cycled along this afternoon.

It would appear that flights FROM UK (and probably other countries) have been halted, and, there are rumours that land border with France is to be closed too. Since John and Carol had not reached border, when last we heard from them, not sure if this is true or false.

It does appear to be only the Brits who are panicking, the Swiss, Germans, French, Dutch etc appear to be sitting tight.

We set off on the bicycles, the plan is to attempt to find the correct route, which we failed on dismally on Wednesday. Our method was to go in the opposite direction, since we remembered the point at which we had emerged onto the coastal road. We failed again, I am afraid, we managed to retrieve some of the route, but, not all! Never-the-less, another 14.5 miles of enjoyable cycling.