May 11th 2010

Sant Pere Pescador – Aquarius – ASCI 2010-1660 Continued

It is washing machine day, so everything which can be washed is consigned to the washing machine. As usual, I am up first, but I do not even manage to finish my shower, before the towel is being snatched away to join the washing. The shrinking of my polo shirts by the tumble drier is avoided this time, by the simple expedient of reading the instructions.

We set off for the Bodega, on our bicycles. It is not far away (less than a mile) along a traffic free cycle track, just as well perhaps, in the event.

They have all kinds of drinks, including some expensive wines. The expensive stuff is not on free tasting.

They do have a "wall" of barrels, of perfectly nice, cheaper stuff which you can taste for free. There is a notice warning you that there is CCTV in operation, I can only assume this is so they can come and remove the bodies periodically.

There are all kinds, several Red wines, several Roses, several whites, and even a few Port (including some unusual white Port) and Sherry.

Naturally we have a taste of everything. The glasses are small, but there is nothing to stop you having more than one glass of each, just to be sure you have the taste right.

 As we wobbled back to the van, I understand why our German neighbours were a bit wobbly on their return yesterday.

Once you have decided what you want to buy, you fill your container from the barrel, and attach a label, so they know what it is, then go to a checkout to pay.

We are expecting to meet up with the Cricks in the next few days, so it is necessary to stock up, that Joan knows how to drink.

We eventually leave, with 5 litres of red, 5 litres of rose, 1 litre of dry sherry, 2 litres of Gin, it is not easy to carry all of that on a bicycle. 

The afternoon is spent, drinking the Sherry, and listening to Kathleen singing. 

09th May 2010 - 10th May 2010

Sant Pere Pescador – Aquarius – ASCI 2010-1660 Continued

It is Sunday, so that is Kathleen's morning planned, no matter where we are she must go to church. We cycle into Sant Pere Pescador for 11:00.

Usually I would find a newsagent selling English newspapers, and a bar, but Sant Pere Pescador is not upto the task, I cannot even find a newsagent, let alone one selling English newspapers. I find the main square, it has two bars, but both are devoid of any sign of life, apart from (in one of them), a dog lying asleep.

I search some more, and find a likely spot for coffee when Kathleen emerges from church.

After church, we retire to the cafe I have found, where we have coffee, plus a sandwich (for me). I mention that I running low on Euros, and will need to draw more. Needless to say, Kathleen has more Euros left than I do. Several days ago she counted how much she had in 20 Euro notes, the answer was 100 Euro, today she still has 100 Euro in 20's, this according to her, after buying numerous items (all of which I have apparently eaten or drank, but which I have neglected to pay for). There is only one plausible explanation, the 20 Euro notes are having sex in her purse and producing offspring.

We return to the campsite, book ourselves a table for dinner this evening, then retire to the van for lunch. Kathleen has a heavy schedule of lying on her sun bed, it is very arduous, she must turn over every 30 minutes, to ensure she is evenly done. She breaks off briefly from this tiring schedule to talk to (quiz), the new Englsih neighbours, she establishes that:

• they have been to Costa del Sol for the winter
• they are heading for Royan in France for the summer
• they have rented out their house in England, whilst they roam Europe
• they return to Uk, for only one day per yer, to get the car MOT'd (they are towing a caravan).
• they have two children (one daughter, not married, one son, married, no children, and currently touring the world, (presently in India), on motor cycles with his wife)

Isn't it amazing what one woman will tell another (a total stranger) in the space of ten minutes, plus isn't it amazing what one woman has the nerve to ask another (a total stranger).

We eat in the campsite restaurant, which is remarkably good, and then we are able to catch some of the family on skype, including reassuring ourselves that all is going well with Gary and Susana and the expected new arrival in Houston.  

Monday, and one set of English neighbours depart, heading for Narbonne, the sun is shining, perhaps the weather system which brought us all of the rain has moved on.

We cycle to the BonPreu supermarket in San Pere Pescadore, to purchase some supplies. Shortly after our return, our German neighbours arrive back on their bicycles, a little wobbly. They have been to the Bottega along the road, sampling wine, and buying several 5 litre containers of the stuff. I think that will be our destination tomorrow.

In the interests of keeping our figures, we indulge in a short cycle ride after lunch, we find a new route along the river beside San Pere Pescadore, and then explore the cycle track again, to see if it has dried up yet. As you can see it hasn't.  We are only able to do ten miles there and back, since Kathleen draws the line at riding through water, no sense of adventure! 

One of the other attraction here is the beach, it is wide and long, all good sand.

It is very popular with kite surfers, which of course tells you there is usually a good steady breeze blowing. This is fine when the sun is shining and it is hot, a nice breeze keeps things bearable, but when it is cloudy and cool, the wind is not so welcome!

In the afternoon, we undo the exercise regime with fresh strawberries.

    

08th May 2010

Sant Pere Pescador – Aquarius – ASCI 2010-1660 Continued

The start of the day is depressingly familiar, the sound of rain on the roof!

But good news, by the time we have had breakfast, the rain has stopped, and the sky has cleared, lots and lots of blue sky.

We set off to cycle to Castello Dempuires, there is a cycle track route, but my exploring of yesterday told us that it is flooded. So we cycle along a small and fairly quiet road. It is 8km (5 miles) from San Pere Pescadore, so that makes it approximately 7 miles from the campsite.

Almost immediately, we find the supermarket which eluded me yesterday, it is set back from the road out from San Pere Pescadore, just beside the petrol station.

It is easy going cycling to Castello Dempuires, the road is fairly flat, and cuts across a nature reserve (Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de l’Emporda), the sun continues to shine.

Castello Dempuires is a quaint and well kept little place with an impressive church, dating back to 1060, where we do the tourist thing, then we retire to a bar to quench our thirst from the cycle ride.

There is supposed to a market on here, but we cannot find it (what a shame). Kathleen finds a tourist information office, and is informed, the market is in Empuriabrava, about 5km away on the coast. The helpful young man in the Tourist office gives her instructions on how to get there (on a bicycle), and how to find the market.

The cycle route to Empuriabrava is very pleasant, taking us along the river Muga, the coast. Here we find the market, and buy some fruit, vegetables, and a belt for me (I have lost so much weight, because of my healthy lifestyle, my trousers will not stay up). Being a man, I buy the first belt I see, at the first stall we come to, selling belts. It costs me 7 Euro. Kathleen is highly amused to find the same thing, several stalls along for 5 Euro.

According to the young man in Tourist Information, there is a cycle track back towards San Pere Pescadore, but it is flooded because of the recent heavy rain, so we must retrace our route to Castello Dempuires, and then return along the road we came on.

The total journey turns out to be 22 miles.

We get back at about 14:30, the site seems to have filled up somewhat, partly because it is the weekend I think, there appears to be an increased number of Spanish families, and we have new Belgian neighbours, in addition to the English who arrived yesterday.

After lunch the rest of the afternoon is spent reading and lying about in the sun.

I see our friends Bryan and Joan are steadily making their way south (see http://www.bryanandjoan.blogspot.com/ ).

06 May 2010 – 07th May 2010

Sant Pere Pescador – Aquarius – ASCI 2010-1660 Continued

Weather is not a lot better, overcast and not terribly warm, but at least it is not actually raining.

We got a cycle route map from reception, and despite our previous experience of Spanish Cycle routes, we decided to go out cycling.

The plan was to cycle south to Sant Marti d’Empuries, then to L’Escala, then to L’Armentera and back to the Campsite.

The first problem was, after about two miles, the cycle track south was flooded, from all of the rain we have had over the past few days, so we had to cycle back to Sant Pere Pescador, and then go along a minor road to Sant Marti d’Empuries, which is a tiny place, perched on a small hill, with just a church and at least four restaurants, it is obviously a popular place to visit and eat.

Next we were able to cycle along an excellent promenade, past some Roman (?) ruins, to L’Escala, where we had our lunch. L’Escala is a sort of Spanish Whitby I suppose, a quaint (ex) fishing village, which is not quite a resort, more a sort of day trip place.

Then along a signposted cycle track to L’Armentera, this was a challenge, much of the track was very wet and muddy, not to Kathleen’s liking at all, but she rose to the challenge with hardly a word of complaint. L’Armentera, was asleep, no sign of life at all.

Finally, back to Sant Pere Pescador. Eighteen miles in total.

We spend the evening drinking a litre carton of red wine, which we paid only 1.05Euro for, pretty good, considering the price.

Friday, wake up to the sound of rain pattering on the roof, I thought the rain in Spain was supposed to fall mainly on the plain, not on our roof.

Their weather forecasts are about as much good as ours.

Check the news from the UK, only to find it looks as if we are going to have a hung parliament, with Labour and Lib-Dems, a deep depression sets in.

Kathleen returns from buying the bread, with two rather large cakes to cheer us up. Then she starts to ponder, keeping half of hers for tomorrow. Only she could think like that instead of just getting stuck into it. In the event, she weakens and we scoff the lot.

Around lunch time, we get English neighbours, they have come from Benicassim, trying to escape the rain, and are heading for France, for the first time since Wednesday, the sun breaks through the cloud.

I go out on my bike, initially to scout out a cycle track north, towards Roses, but I give up when the flood water is almost half way up my wheels. I end up searching for a decent supermarket, in San Pere Pescador, which I fail to find.

Kathleen predictably opts to sit / lie in the sun. By 16:00, she is sitting in the sun playing her guitar, and attracts more English people. One of them is a Lidl fan, and tells her about wine for 0.65Euro a bottle, from Lidl, the hunt for a Lidl takes on a new urgency.

Sorry for the lack of pictures over the past few days, but the weather has been too miserable for photographs.

May 4th 2010 - May 5th 2010

Sant Pere Pescador – Aquarius – ASCI 2010-1660 Continued


Last night, the weather got worse and worse, in addition to the rain, by 22:00 the wind was strong enough for us to decide we had to take the awning in, to prevent it from blowing itself to pieces.

I have often watched yacht racing, or indeed plain simple sailing on TV and thought “that looks like fun”. Well after taking an awning down, in pouring rain and with a howling wind, but with at least the ground underneath me staying still, I have changed my mind, there is no way I would want to do that with a boat moving about under my feet. So, scratch sailing as a future hobby.

The rain continued, along with the wind, all night, by (Tuesday) morning the rain had stopped, but the wind had got stronger.

Our groundsheet (from the awning), which was pegged down, had blown away, fortunately it was wrapped around a palm tree a few hundred yards away and I was able to retrieve it.

Around the site there are satellite dishes, branches etc scattered about.

The good news is that by 17:00 the wind has dropped, the bad news is, it is raining rather heavily.

Things are getting desperate, we are down to our last bottle of wine!

It continued to pour with rain all evening and most of the night. The noise of the rain on the roof was so loud we could not hear the sound track of the film we were trying watch, so we just had to drink the wine.

Wednesday dawned, dry, calm but overcaste.

Not much will be happening today, it is a full hair dressing day, plus using washing machine to wash clothes etc.

Oops!, not sure how I have just managed that, but I made posts out of order, 29th April seems to have been missplaced, sorry!

Starting around lunch time, the sun came out, nice and warm, everything looks so much better when the sun is shining.

Cycled into San Pere Pescador, to buy vegetables, on return put awning up, dried ground sheet etc etc.

19:30 now and it is raining again!