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Friday, 31st March 2017
Despite the weather forecast suggesting another sunny day, we wake up to find it is cloudy and positively cool. This is just not good enough! Fortunately by 14:00, normal service is resumed and we have blue sky, sun, and 21C.
Since the weather is not being too kind, it is decided we will go to the market at Grau Castellon (Castellon Port), about seven miles away, on the scooter.
The market at Grau Castellon is much larger than the one at Benicassim, and, the whole place is busy. We initially have difficulty finding somewhere to park. Our first attempt turns out to be reserved for Police Vehicles only. There are no signs that I can see, but, the clue is in the large, more or less empty, space, with a single Police car and two Police Motorcycles parked in it. Fortunately, a kindly Spanish Policeman comes across and moves us on, nicely, rather than give us a ticket.
There are several things I do not understand about Markets, particularly Spanish Markets:
a) why are women fascinated by them?
b) given that most items seems to cost just a few Euros, and hardly anyone seems to be actually buying anything, how do they make any money?
Later in the day, when the sun puts in an appearance, we do some more cycling, to keep up with the Runkeeper challenge.
Finally, it is "hair care day". Hair care usually a major pre-occupation of Kathleen, but, this trip, it has been almost "no problem", while this makes for less stress, it also means one of my regular subjects has been virtually eliminated.
This appears to be all down to a combination of the hair care products purchased as advanced Mothers Day presents, plus, the hair cutting skills of the Romanian hairdresser, Anca.
Saturday, 1st April 2017
Blue sky, just few clouds, sunshine and 20C, back to normal.
First priority is to ensure we cycle enough miles to reach our 80 miles, Runkeeper target, we have 12 miles to do today, and this we achieve with a cycle ride to Orpesa, before lunch.
Weekends are busy times, it appears that the locals all go out en-masse, walking, jogging, cycling, children included.
For lunch, I have bought a pack of Lamb Chops, as I prepare to cook them, it becomes apparent that my rudimentary Spanish has failed me, clearly, the pack is meant for four people, not two.
Fortunately, the error is spotted before I had cooked them all, and, half are packed away in the fridge for tomorrow or Monday.
To smooth things over, I open the wine early, amazing how a couple of glasses of Vino Rosado, or Vino Tinto improves a tricky situation.
Sunday, 2nd April 2017
Oh dear, it looks as if the weather has become, what we would call in the UK, "unsettled". Bright, sunny and warm this morning, but blowing a gale. Does not look like I planned cycle ride or scooter ride is going to happen today.
Kathleen decides it is "a good drying day", which means she decides to wash every thing in sight, clothes, bedding, you name it, it will be washed.
Eventually, both the wind and the washing fever calm down.
We are able to have a peaceful lunch, and a stroll along the coast (the demon Runkeeper must be fed). It turns out there is a cycle race on at the coast, so every bar, cafe and bar is full, so we end up in town, to get a cooling beer.
Back to the van and Kathleen embarks on a second washing marathon.
Now, here is a mystery:
I am, peacefully, reading my book, just at an exciting bit of the plot comes up, I am disturbed, to remove my shirt, so it can washed.
I get back to my book, wearing another shirt.
Another exciting bit, bingo, disturbed again to help wring water out of a pair of jeans.
My question is "how do they (women) do it", I mean, there are 24 hours in the day, in which to disturb your reading, how do they manage to pick the two crucial times? It is undoubtedly a skill.
Monday, 3rd April 2017
Blue sky, 22C.
A few chores, ie Food shopping.
A cycle ride to Castellon de la Plana, and return via the coastal route (24 miles in total).
Castellon, like most European Cities we have visited, is very pleasant.
Beautiful Parks.
Little squares, with pavement bars and cafes.
There are a lot of new housing developments on the edge of the city.
Most, seem very smart, with open spaces landscaped with seating areas etc.
But, to be fair, we do pass a couple of graffiti covered high rise developments.
There is one development, we have not seen anywhere else, they have areas within there towns, parks, which I could only describe as "Dog Play Grounds".
There is one in Benicassim, and, we come across another at this park in Castellon.
Typically, they have a fenced off area, with "toys" for the dogs (ie hoops to jump through, small fences to jump over etc), and of course, the base is gravelled, so they can do their crapping without unpleasantness or danger to anyone else).
Seems like an excellent idea to me. True to form of course, not all dog walkers take advantage of the facilities provided.
The park in central Castellon de la Plana is particularly pretty and well kept.
We stroll into one of the small squares to find somewhere to have a little lunch, and a drink of course!
We come across this place, serving up portions of Pizza, with a very novel cutting tool.
It is like a hammer, with a sharpened edge, and cuts through the Pizza by virtue of its weight.
Kathleen is so taken by it, she cuts her entire Pizza portion into bite sized pieces!
Tuesday, 4th April 2017
Blue sky, 21C.
Kathleen off to church to do the Lent thing.
If you have followed our travels, you will have realised that we do not really do the "tourist thing", at least not the visiting tourist hot spots, ancient monuments etc. The only bit of the "tourist thing" we usually follow is the excessive eating and drinking.
But, checking the map, I noticed there was a village, reasonably nearby, which is in Spain's list of most beautiful villages. Vilafames, according to Google Maps, is about 25 miles away.
This should be a plausible trip on the scooter, although, Kathleen is not exactly enthusiastic about long distances (ie over ten miles) and major roads (ie major dual carriageways, with lots of large wagons, on the scooter.
The approach is simple, just leave out the unsavoury bits, I suggest we visit Vilafames, saying, "it about 20 miles", and, "we do not have to go on the N340, in fact, about half the distance is on the CV-149, which we have travelled along several times".
It is not so much what you say, it is the bits you leave out that matter.
Agreement is reached.
Off we go, on the CV-149, to the Castellon ring road, we have travelled this way several times.
Once on the Castelon ring road north, it is all new stuff.
No problems, traffic is light, and signposting is good, soon, we are joining the CV-10 heading towards Boriol.
The CV-10 turns out be NOT a minor road, but, two-lane dual carriageway, with lots of Articulated Wagons thundering along it.
Fortunately, the wind noise prevents me from hearing Kathleen's comments on the bluetooth helmet inter-com.
Not to worry, it is only about 6 miles until we reach the exit for Vilafames, and join a smaller, quieter, single carriageway road, through the hills.
The remaining five miles is more to Kathleen's liking as we wend our way through scenic hills.
Eventually, we reach Vilafames.
Thankfully, it is a beautiful little place, but, not spoiled by tacky tourist shops.
Kathleen concedes, it was ALMOST worth
being scared out her wits on the way here, in order to see Vilafames.
Fortunately, there is a Church open, so, Kathleen can light some candles for our safe journey back to Benicassim.
Full marks to her, she most definitely has her "NVQ Biker Chic" badge now, or, she will have, after we have eaten lunch and made the return journey.
Wednesday, 5th April 2017
Dull, cloudy and blowing a gale. By 11:00, the wind drops, but, that just means it rains.
Our very jovial German neighbours leave, they have spent the winter at La Manga, and are now heading home to Dusseldorf.
They are replaced, by lunch time, by two Rosie and Jeff, from Chester.
Eventually (14:00) the sun puts in an appearance, still windy however, and we manage only a 10 mile cycle ride, so, Kathleen's Runkeeper Challenge is looking a bit sick, we should be on approximately 48 miles by now, but, we have only 44 miles done.
Thursday, 6th April 2017
Back to blue sky, sunshine and 21C, thank goodness.
Kathleen off to church. I do a (very) few chores, to make it look like I have done something, then, read my book (in peace).
We cycle along the coast, to keep the Runkeeper Demon under control, we are now ahead of the game at 63 miles, so far this week.
Lunch by the coast, with copious amounts of wine, followed by falling asleep.
Our very pleasant neighbour, Rosie, gives us some strawberries, she bought on the market this morning. She was only able to buy in quantities of 2Kg (for 3Euro), I can assure you, 2Kg of strawberries is a hell of a lot of strawberries!
We do our bit and scoff Strawberries and icecream for most of the evening They are delicious!
Friday, 24th March 2017
The weather forecast says cloudy, followed by rain in the afternoon. But, it says nothing about the distinctly chilly 9C at 09:00 this morning!
The sun manages to make a brief appearance, mid-morning, so, we are able to have a short (11 miles) cycle ride, to ensure we achieve our 80 miles of walking/cycling for this week.
To explain, Kathleen has become a big fan of the Smart Phone App "Runkeeper". In our first week here, the "plan" was to achieve 60 miles of walking/cycling. In practice, we over-shot slightly, and, the target was revised to 80 miles per week. This was just a target, but, once Kathleen has the "bit between the teeth.......".
So, here we are, with one day of the week left, and, we have done 80 miles. I can see what is going to happen here, the target is going to be revised upwards, again!
Saturday, 25th March 2017
Sun with blue sky, but, a cool wind. Just nice for sitting in the sun, in a sheltered spot, hence, we settle for "only" 80 miles this week!
Sunday, 26th March 2017
Sun, blue sky, 21C.
Daylight saving time arrived, overnight, ie, the clocks moved forward one hour, so, lighter evenings from now, until Autumn.
Today is also Mothers Day, even more time to be spent pampering Kathleen, on behalf of the children.
Dana and Phillippa are on the ball, cards and presents bought in advance and hidden in the van, to be brought out on Mothers day.
Claire steals the day, with the smell of fresh grass cuttings from 1000 miles away, and flowers from our house, with these photographs, as she cuts the lawns at our house, on Mothers Day.
The day cannot be allowed to pass, without clocking up some miles on the Runkeeper App, so, a pleasant little ten mile cycle along the coast, in the evening.
Monday, 27th March 2017
A wet start, raining, but, by 10:00, skies cleared, sun out and 20C.
Our very pleasant neighbours, Graeme and Barbara leave, early this morning, heading home after spending a couple of months here.
We do 5.5 miles walking along the coast, to keep the Runkeeper miles up, or, to top up Kathleen's alcohol levels, depending on your point of view.
After last nights rain, "green" Spain is on view, flowering shrubs, wild flowers etc, all looking fresh and colourful, before the heat of summer comes.
But, still, no crowds.
We have been here four weeks, and, it is necessary to make an "interim payment" of our bill. When we checked in, we were told we could have either the ACSI rate (19Euro/night, including Electricity) or the "long stay" rate (17Euro/night plus Electricity as used). The deal is, they work our you bill, using both rates, and charge you the lesser amount, which I think is jolly decent. In our case, the "long stay" rate is cheapest, but, only by two Euro!
Our electricity cost (59Euro) is our downfall, other people we have spoken to had Electricity bills of only 20-25Euro. I blame Kathleen and that hairdryer / straighteners!
Tuesday, 28th March 2017
Blue sky, sun, 22C.
After Kathleen has done her duty for Lent, and been to church, we have a cycle ride (15 miles) and Lunch at "Pinguin".
This puts us "on target" (35 miles) for our "Runkeeper challenge".
I never cease to be amazed at the people we meet on these trips. Today, got chatting to an elderly English couple (75), who are on their first ever trip to Spain, and loving it.
Fancy doing a first trip, at 75! good on them!
The lady of the pair is just about immobile, and uses a mobility scooter to get around. They have a little dog with them (OK, not my thing, I know), but, it injured it's leg and had to have an operation, which cost them 1200Euro, and, still they are smiling!
I suppose they did "cheat" a little bit, took the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry, thus, shaving a couple of hundred miles off the journey, so, "only" 800 miles to drive, including crossing the Pyrenees, in January, (-11C overnight).
Kathleen has a frenzy of washing and cleaning (why?), naturally, this means I am in the firing line, for sitting in the sun drinking beer.
I redeem myself by cooking the evening meal (chicken curry).
Wednesday, 29th March 2017
Blue sky, sunshine, 23C.
The Runkeeper addiction starts the day, with a 13 mile cycle ride, along the coast to Orpesa.
I excel myself with an excellent lunch, what I think are fillet steaks (sollo mio, the Spanish label says), mushrooms, potatoes and salad, not, the "excellent" tag is not mine, but Kathleen's verdict as she sips her Rose wine.
Thursday, 30th March 2017
Sun, blue sky and even hotter at 25C.
A lazy morning, followed by an excellent lunch at "Torre St Vincente", followed by more dozing in the sun.
Five o'clock, and the 80 mile/week Runkeeper obsession kicks in. Kathleen decides we must do more miles, to be sure of making the weekly target.
So, just under 11 miles, in the evening, not easy when you are still full of lunch and wine.
We now have approximately 60 miles for this week, 15 more to go.
Friday, 17 March 2017
Sunny, blue sky, a warm 20C.
Kathleen is up early, to carry out the "pre-hairdresser" routine.
Fortunately, Anca turns out to be a great success, Larry does not appreciate how lucky he has been, I shall have to tell him.
As it turns out, Kathleen has a mornings entertainment, as well as a hair-cut.
Anca (we are assuming that is the name of the young Romanian lady), does not operate on appointments, you turn up and wait if necessary.
Kathleen plans to arrive for doors opening (09:00, she does not do waiting), but, she is delayed and when she arrives, there is one man having his hair cut and two men waiting. Anca operates at top speed, each hair-cut is despatched in less than ten minutes, including wielding a cut-throat razor.
Kathleen is dealt with at top speed, perhaps 15 minutes, but, an excellent job done, even Kathleen, who is fanatical about her hair is pleased with the outcome, and all for just 12Euro.
Kathleen is so pleased with the outcome she treats me to beer and tapas at Casa Vicente.
Mid afternoon, we cycle along the coast to an Argentinian Restaurant, "Baires by Divino", which I had noticed on previous visits to Benicassim, but, not got around to trying.
This turns out to be a huge success.
We have the "Argentinian set meal for two", three courses for 19Euro each, and, of course, a bottle of house red wine.
For the first course we get Empanadas, (sort of pasty), filled with ham and cheese and tomato and cheese. then, Argentinian Potato bread, in melted cheese.
This is followed by a second course consisting of an enormous amount of meat (steak, beef, pork, sausage, black pudding), all cooked just as we asked for it, and roast potatoes.
Finally we have a chocolate filled crepe with icecream.
Kathleen is a star and has a go at everything!
To round off, the good news, it turns out, in the "small print" on the menu, the wine is included!
Excellent!
Saturday, 18th March 2017
Blue sky, sunshine, 25C.
A ride into Castellon, on the scooter, to visit the large Carrefour Hypermarket.
Afternoon of Gin and Tonic in the sun, and reading.
A stroll in the evening.
Our activity level has fallen this week, only 65 miles or walking and cycling against 80 miles last week, must try harder!
Sunday, 19th March 2017
Blue sky, sunshine, 23C.
Kathleen does church, first thing (09:00).
Next, a cycle ride.
We have been meticulously recording our walking/cycling activity on "Runkeeper", the week before last, we did approximately 90 miles, last week, we achieved only 65 miles.
Kathleen is a "counter", although she denies being obsessed with numbers, she is!
The 15 mile "shortfall" last week has not gone un-noticed!
The "recording week" begins on a Sunday, and, today, we get in a head start on a "good" weekly figure, 19 miles along the coast, taking in the Cycle track to Orpesa, and then beyond through the partly finished and partly abandoned resort development to the north of there.
A not very successful stop for lunch, Kathleen orders what she expects to be a ham toastie, but, it turns out to be Parma type ham, which is in the long list of things Kathleen does not like. My Choritso Bocadillo is perfectly edible however, which only serves to annoy Kathleen even more.
As is usual, in Spain, we are given a small snack (free) when our drinks arrive, and before our sandwiches. You are never sure what you will get, this time, it is two slices of bread, spread with mayonnaise, and topped with "something". The something look like small grey and white worms (Kathleen's description).
Needless to say, Kathleen is not up for "having a go", so, I try one. Even after eating the "worms", I am not sure if it is animal or vegetable and/or seafood, so, I eat the other one. The texture of the "worms", is, I would say, like mushrooms, but, I don't see how it would be possible to slice mushrooms into this shape?
Monday, 20th March 2017
Blue sky and sunshine with a very pleasant 21C, until mid afternoon that is, when a fog bank rolled in from the sea! No more sunshine and 15C.
A day to catch up on the chores, clothes washing, food (and alcohol) shopping, followed by a little cycling.
Incidentally, Sunday's "problem" of the grey and white "worms" is solved, we spot them for sale, in the Supermarket, still do not know what they are, but, they are some form of sea food.
Tuesday, 21st March 2017
Don't know what is happening to the weather. The forecast says, blue sky, sunshine 22C, but, the reality is cloudy start and a cool 16C, by 10:30, blue sky, sunny, 20C, by 14:30, back comes the sea fret from yesterday! This is not good enough!
Kathleen does church, it is Lent.
Giving the cycling a rest today, we take advantage of the few hours of sunshine to walk along the coast, five miles.
As you can see, the place is deserted, at 11:00 in the morning.
It is a holiday here, so, do not know where everyone is, perhaps they partied too much last night?
Wednesday, 22nd March 2017
Sun, a little light cloud, 20C.
A cycle ride along the coast to Grau Castellon (Castellon Port), the plan is 15-16 miles, but, Kathleen is foolish enough to allow me to be in the lead, so, I work it up to 20 miles.
Beer and chips at Pinguin, on the way back, followed by more beer when we get back to the van, ensures we fall asleep in the sun.
We round the day off with an evening stroll along the promenade.
Thursday, 23rd March 2017
A very doubtful start to the day, a chill wind and lots of cloud, but, by 09:00, all gone, blue sky and sunshine back, 23C.
Passing the time of day with our English neighbours again shows that even the very elderly and those with various health problems, still make the journey here to enjoy the sun and relaxation.
There are a fair sprinkling of mobility scooters and electric bicycles here!
Thursday is market day in Benicassim.
For the last two weeks, Kathleen has been buying up all of the available sports socks, this week, she has switched to slippers, two pairs she has bought now at 5Euro a pair.
After the market, a stroll along the coast, to check out possible eating places.
We have an excellent, mid afternoon, long lunch at Villa Del Mar, followed by lazing in the sun.
