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!

April 29th 2010

Playa Tropicana – Alcossebre (Castellon) – ACSI2010-1559, continued

We have a gentle cycle along the coast, as far as the lighthouse north of Alcossebre, and a nose around the marina, The marina is unusual in that whilst is does have a few bars and eating places, open to the public, it is mostly closed to the public and reserved for boat users.

We stop off and have a leisurely lunch of beers and Pizza, at the beach side bar, where the waitress sang happy birthday, when I bought my giant banana split. We have more conversation with her today, in a mixture of English, Spanish and French, and learn she is in fact Romanian.

Kathleen decides to pay for the beers and Pizzas, big whow!, so sorry Bryan (Crick), but it has happened (ie Kathleen buying lunch) and you missed it!, maybe next time.

We cycle back to the site in laid back mood, amusing ourselves by seeing who can cycle up the small hills along the way in the highest gear. Kathleen is in a particularly carefree mood, not sure what has caused that, is it spending her money?, or the lunch time drinks?

April 30th 2010 – May 3rd 2010

Gava (Barcelona) – Tres Estrellas – ASCI 2010-1603


The site is surprisingly quiet, given the location. It is close to Barcelona Airport and is located between a very busy dual carriageway (C31 going into Barcelona) and a Beach. But neither road noise, nor aircraft noise appears to be a problem. The selling point is that you can get a bus (every 30 minutes) from just outside the gate into Barcelona.

After getting ourselves set up and having something to eat, we walk along to check exactly where the bus stop is, what time the buses are etc etc. It all looks to be pretty straight forward. There is a “working girl” with her plastic chair set up just a few yards from the bus stop, so that at least should provide some entertainment while we wait.

Saturday, and I need to revise my view of the aircraft noise. Presumably, the wind has changed direction, and Jumbo jets are thundering overhead as they take off and head over the sea to gain height. Fortunately we are going out for the day, so it will not bother us. Hopefully the wind will have turned by tomorrow!

We head off for the bus, there is quite a queue or people at the bus stop, mostly from the Campsite.

No sign of the “working girl”, must be too early for her, or maybe she gets weekends off. If she does, I don't suppose she spends the weekend in bed, that would be a sort of busman's holiday wouldn't it?

The bus arrives, 1.40Euro each, for what turns out to be a 45 minute bus journey, not bad compared to home. There is another English couple on board, Kathleen chats to them. Buses here work pretty much the same as at home, ie you press the bell when you get to the stop where you want to get off. This means you have to know where you are going. Aware that we have to find our way back here, I occupy myself with noting landmarks as we travel, including what turns out to be the all important kilometre number near the bus stop.

At some point on the journey a woman in a sophisticated electric wheelchair gets on the bus. This is quite an operation, since the driver has to deploy a slide out ramp, so that she can “drive” the wheelchair onto the bus. This is all done from his cab, but not without much shouting, which seems to be the Spanish way.

The wheel chair looks as if it has been in the Monte Carlo rally, with mud spattered all over the wheels. I cannot help but notice that her shoes also look very scuffed and worn. I glance at Kathleen, who I can see has noted the same thing, and I just know she is thinking the same as me, “how do you wear out your shoes if you are in a wheel chair?”

Our temporary English acquaintances are planning to take the tour bus, none of that simple stuff for us, this is an adventure, and we intend to do it from the map, using our own heads.

We take a chance and get off the bus at what looks a likely stop, Rotanda de Universidad, if that means anything to you, no, I thought not. The lady in the wheel chair also gets off here.

It turns out to be a reasonable choice, we are only a short distance from the “traditional” Gothic Cathedral, which we visit first.

As always seems to be the case when you want to take a photograph, major renovation is underway, complete with large crane.

The lady in the wheelchair is also there, she appears to be well known to the half dozen or so beggars arranged at the door.

We do the tourist thing of wandering around looking at the interior, the woman in the wheelchair is in there too, is she stalking us for having unkind thoughts?

One of the things in the Cathedral is a very ornate horsedrawn carriage. The information notice tells us it is connected to the Sagrada Family, and has something to do with a place called “El Rocio”, which we visited in Southern Spain some four years ago.

Kathleen notices there is a mass in progress, in a side chapel, and she has only missed the first ten minutes. She is able to go to mass, and in a cathedral, so that is double points, she even drags me along, so that is a triple word score. It also means the problem (challenge, sorry), of finding a church, is out of the way for another week.

After mass, we settle in a café for a coffee, and use the opportunity to study our street map.

We decide to explore the area surrounding the Cathedral, which appears to be a network of narrow pedestrian streets and alleys, whilst around the outside perimeter of the Cathedral are a series of quiet cloisters.

In one of the cloisters at the side of the Cathedral, there are some fountains, and a pond with goldfish and geese. Not sure what the significance is, presumably there were a source of food for the priests and monks in past times.

Next we head toward the Port area, but enroute we encounter a very noisy but good natured demonstration.

A few hundred people are marching with placards, and accompanied by a “band”, which seems to consist almost entirely of very loud drums.

The role of the chap at the far right of the picture, with the beard, seems to be to walk backwards and pound his drum as hard as he can, whilst the women in the middle ranks do a sort of Salsa rhythm dance, and those at the back, who have even bigger drums, make a LOT of noise.

I suppose even if their protest is unsuccessful, they may be able to make a claim for industrial deafness.

There is also a chap “locked” in a sort of makeshift prison cell, made of cardboard, painted to look like iron bars, again complete with placards.

Obviously the placards are all in Spanish, but as far as I can tell:

the chap “locked” in the prison cell is a protest against the banks, bankers and third world debt,

and

the rest of it is a demonstration by the Spanish equivalent of Unison, protesting against the credit crunch, privatisation and public spending cuts.

I am not sure the protest will do them any good, but it certainly seems like good fun, and given the low profile police prescence, they are not anticipating any serious trouble.

We make our way to the former harbour area, most of which now seems to have become an upmarket marina complex, which seems to be the pattern in most cities with former dockyards, these days.

There are some very large and expensive looking boats berthed here, probably owned by Bankers, and third world leaders, maybe the protesters will come to the Marina?.

A craft market in full swing (what joy).

Fortunately it is getting near lunch time, so we do not stay too long.

Next we head for La Rambla.

Although I have heard La Rambla mentioned, by just about everyone who has been to Barcelona, I have no idea what to expect.

It is a long, tree lined, colourful, pedestrianised street, with hundreds of people strolling about.

There are stalls selling everything from live chickens to Messi football shirts, as well as pavement cafes.

The surrounding streets are narrow and quaint, with numerous bars, shops and eating places.

We choose a café for Lunch. Kathleen not being the most adventurous eater has Tortilla (ie omelette with potato in it), whilst I have Calamari, accompanied of course by the inevitable bottle of wine.

It is great fun to sit eating our lunch and watching the street scenes unfold. There are acrobats, jugglers, and people pretending to be statues.

This couple were sitting next to us, and had enormous glasses of beer. They must have been at least a litre, but perhaps more, and they appeared to be there for the duration.

The "entertainment" is totally informal. Someone just stops walking along, and begins juggling with Indian Clubs, or perhaps a little group of two or three begin doing acrobatics on the pavement.

Obviously they are doing it for money, and a collection is mounted at the end of the display, but it is all very low key, and if they begin to pester the diners and drinkers too much, the waiters shoo them away, but no one gets uptight, and it is all very jolly.

There is even a little group of hustlers with the three matchbox trick.

At one point two policemen on motor scooters arrive to arrest them. They are too quick for the police and spirit away their equipment to an accomplice, who disappears in the crowd, then the other two pretend to just be strolling along with the crowd. Their pockets are searched, but nothing is found of course. The Police depart and within ten minutes, they are back fleecing gullible passers by.

After lunch, the plan is to visit the unfinished Guidi Cathedral, via the city park.

As we stroll through the myriad of small streets, we hear violin music.

In a small courtyard off the street we are walking along a young chap is giving an informal violin recital.

In one corner of the square are steps to some civic building, and he has an audience sitting on the steps listening.

We join the small crowd of listeners on the steps and enjoy the music for a while.

At one point a small council street sweeper / refuse van enters the square.

The driver realises he is disturbing the performance, does a U-Turn, pauses in front of the musician drives in a little wiggle, and exits the square, allowing the "concert to continue undisturbed.

The musician bows to him, and the audience applaud.

Kathleen goes across to make a request (Meditation), but he did not have it on his backing music, so could not play it. Instead he talks her into buying a CD of his Violin music. We listen to it when we get back to the van, it is very pleasant.

Eventually, we continue on our way to find the Gaudi Cathedral.

First we come to the very impressive Arc de Triomf, which is at the start of a long avenue leading into the Parc de la Ciutadella (city park).

I am not sure quite what the reason is for this beautiful arch, there is no plaque or explanation as far as I can see.

From the history I was taught at school, I do not know when the Spanish last had a victory to celebrate, it must have been before the Armada.

Unless of course you are talking about football.

Perhaps they built it just in case, but then again, given the manyana culture here it seems unlikely.

One complaint about Barcelona, there appears to be a shortage of public toilets, either that or they hide the signposts to them.

As we make our way toward the Guidi Cathedral, we pass a petrol station, with a toilet visible.

Unfortunately it is locked, but the kindly young man sweeping the forecourt takes pity on a desperate pensioner and loans Kathleen the key, without expecting her to buy a gallon of petrol.

Guidi’s Cathedral is unlike anything we have ever seen anywhere.

Unfortunately because it is not finished, there are cranes and scaffolding to spoil the view.

At one side it looks like a traditional Cathedral, but as you look at it from left to right, it becomes a sort of fantasy building of rounded towers and features which look as if they have been made of slightly molten candlewax.

Over the main door, is the story of the crucifixion starting with the last supper, then the Garden of Gethsemene and the stations of the cross in sculptures.














I don’t want to turn this into a toilet blog, but for any future deperate visitors, there is a public toilet opposite Guidi’s Cathedral.

It highlights a problem however with public toilets.

When you enter the toilet, the light comes on automatically, but it only stays on for a limited time.

If you have been waiting a long time and your need takes longer than the light timer, you are plunged into darkness.

A tip, flushing the toilet puts the light back on! Easier for a man, than a woman of course (think about it). So our new term now is “a one light wee, or a two light wee”.

All we have to do now is find the bus stop to get back to the campsite.

I manage to navigate us back to the general area where we got off the bus, but we cannot find the bus stop. Kathleen so far has been “very good”, and has shown patience in waiting for me to consult the map (she has left her glasses back at the van, so I am in charge of the map).

The concern is that after 19:00 the buses run less frequently, and it is now 18:15.

Kathleen cannot keep up the being patient, and starts marching on ahead, so we circle the bus stop several times without actually finding it. But success at last, we arrive at the bus stop, just as “our” bus pulls in.

We even manage to get off at the correct place, thanks to my noting of the kilometre number (I am just too smart).

We may not have done the standard tourist thing, and I am sure we have missed numerous famous museums and grand buildings, but we have had a wonderful day, in Barcelona. It is a great place, I would recommend a visit.

Sunday, is a lazy day, to recover from all of the walking of yesterday. The wind has not changed direction, and jumbo jets continue to thunder overhead as they climb over the sea.

The teabags, get only one mention.

Sunday overnight, the weather changes, it pours with rain all night.

Just for those of you who thought we never have a bad day, Monday is such a day. We have to pack everything up in pouring rain.

It would never have been a pleasant drive around Barcelona, but in pouring rain, with a cloud of spray thrown up by the heavy lorries, it is even more dismal.

The rain continues for the whole journey.

We arrive at our next site, still raining.

Sant Pere Pescador - Aquarius - ACSI 2010-1660

This site was recommended to us about four years ago, when we were making our first ever Campervan trip to France, by a couple called David and Kay.

So far the recommendation appears to be well founded.

But the rain has not let up for a minute, it is now 20:45 and still pouring down!

Sorry it is such a long post to read, but we have had no WiFi for several days, it is free here!