April 28th 2010

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

We get ourselves out on our bicycles before it becomes too hot. It is in my mind to try cycling along the coast on minor roads / tracks to Peniscola, which according to my calculations is about ten miles north of where we are.

The first three miles are easy going, along paved roads and paths, but then (after the lighthouse to the north of Alcossebre), it becomes a fairly rough track, more suited to a mountain bike really, plus it is very up and down.

We pass the other camp site from the ACSI book (Ribamar - 1560), not a good bet this, it might have decent facilities, but it is in the middle of nowhere and at least 3Km along a rough unmade track.

We soldier on but at 6 miles, there is no built up area visible further along the coast, and there is dissent in the ranks.

We turn around and head back. This is certainly the more upmarket part of the resort, with a good promenade along the beach and some rather smart properties.

At the first bar, we stop for a cooling glass of Rose, then decide to have an ice cream. Kathleen settles for a fairly mundane strawberry ice cream, but predictably I go for an enormous banana split, with three flavours of icecream, cream etc etc. The waitress actually sings "happy birthday" to me when she brings it, even although it is not my birthday of course.

After lunch we spend the afternoon at the beach, it is a hard life.

Only two mentions of Liptons tea bags, but then again, we had only one cup of tea today!

April 27th 2010

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

The last Asda teabag was used last night, so far there have been three mentions of how crap the French bought Lipton teabags are, otherwise not a word of complaint.

I always fall prey to insect bites, and given that the weather has now warmed up nicely, there is no shortage of biting insects. Kathleen has been coating herself in "Avon Skin so Soft", which, we have been told in the past is an effective insect repellent, although it is not intended as such. Apparently even soldiers use the stuff, when they are in tropical climates, it is so effective.

It is doubly effective for Kathleen, since I am usually somewhere near to her, and not coated in "Skin so Soft" (because she hides it away for herself), so the insects feast on me and not her. To add to the problem, we have an ultra-violet insect killer (which I might say is not terribly effective). It it re-chargable, but during one of her "tidying up" exercises (for which read, move things from where I put them, to somewhere else), the charger has been moved, and now, despite the fact it is somewhere in the van, we cannot find it. 

After yesterdays exertions, I do not think we will be doing anything too energetic today.

Today is hairdressing day, ie the full works, washing, drying straightening etc etc.

We walk to the supermarket, yes, you guessed it, because the cycle helmet will mess up the hair.

Then we lie about in the sun.

I summon the energy for a half hour cycle ride along the coast, then we play badmington for a little while, but it is too hot for serious exertion. Perhaps a game of boules after tea might be an idea.

Excitement extends to watching a giant grasshopper as it climbs about in the hedge alongside our pitch.

Our English neighbours are gearing up to leave. They have not been unfriendly, simply reserved, and have (as they say) kept themselves to themselves. Kathleen had observed, to me, that they must have been away from home for some time, since they are well sun tanned (particularly the wife of the pair). Well, seeing that they were packing to go Kathleen made a special effort to talk to them (and of course extract as much information as possible). I was away washing the dishes, but joined in the conversation, briefly, as I walked past with the (washed) dishes. During this brief chat I noted the reason for the wife's "good tan", was that she was in fact brown skinned. I wandered back to the van to put away the dishes, having decided to mention to Kathleen (on her return), the reason for the tan. Too late, on her return, Kathleen told me she had committed the faux-pas of saying "you must have been away from the UK for a long time, you have a great sun tan", a special McCaffery moment, don't you agree?

April 26th 2010

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

The day begins with clear blue sky and bright sunshine, great, we can "do" the cycle ride to Alcala de Xivert, from the booklet we got from Tourist Information.

We pack our sandwiches, and a drink, and off we go.

Before continuing, I should explain that the booklet gives the following information (and I quote):

Difficulty: Leisurely
Type of Route: Flat, Road
Length: 16km (10 miles)
Duration: 1hr 45Min

The following is how the route is decribed (and again I quote).

"Leaving from Alcosserre towards Alacal de Xivert along the national highway go around the roundabout and leave the Tossalet Hostel on your left, and then continue on under the bridge at the turn off to Capicorb. About 300m further on, turn right onto a dirt road that initially runs parallel to the Valencia-Barcelona railway line, only pass under the railway line various times along the way. Then the route continues for various kilometres along flatish land, and then borders the Estopet Ravine, and ventures on to the outskirts of the mountains of the Sierra De Irta Nature Park. Leaving behind the Espopet Ravine, you first come to Frenchmans Cross and then the Calvary Chapel, then enter Alcal De Xivert."

A point to note, the time given to complete the route is 1hr 45min, this automatically means that Kathleen expects to do it in 1hr maximum.

We set off, and all goes according to plan.

We come to the bridge, find the dirt road, and set off along it.

It is a little bit rough, but soon the surface improves and becomes tarmac. It is more or less flat.

We pass under the railway line a couple of times, no problem, we are cycling between fields planted with Orange trees and Olive trees.

We see hardly anyone, just a few people working in the fields. It is very hot (25C).

Then we come to the bit where it says "borders the Estopet Ravine". Wrong. It does not "border" the ravine (which by the way is a mini Grand Canyon), the route goes down into the ravine, (very nice free wheeling for a half a mile) and then up the other side, (not so nice).

This our view from almost the top of the otherside of the ravine.

But credit where credit is due, there is not a word of complaint, well, that is not quite right, but only a couple of words.

Then we come to the bit where it says "ventures on to the outskirts of the mountains of the Sierra De Irta Nature Park", ventures on to the outskirts!, it goes right over the bl***y top of the mountain!

By now we have done about 9 miles, and we are not going to turn back, so eventually we make it to Alcala de Xivert, it has taken us 2hrs 15minutes to do the 11 miles.

I can only conclude that the person who translated the route from Spanish into English, did not know the words "up", "big" or "hill", so just used the words they did know, ie flat.

It gets worse.

Kathleen's reason for coming here was to see the inside of what we are told is an impressive church. We find the church is closed on Mondays, and the doors are locked. The tourist information office is also closed

We sit and have our sandwiches in the square infront of the church, which you can see here. Not sure what the banner is about.

Deciding that having pedalled this far, we may as well have a look around, we wander around the town. That is it, apart from the church, there appears to be nothing else to see.

We eventually find a bar and retire to it. Here mutiny breaks out. Some of the other routes in the Tourist Information booklet are actually decribed as "Difficult", god knows what they must be like. Kathleen says she is not doing anymore cycle rides from the Tourist Information book and she is not going back the way we have come. So we opt to go back along the N340, risking death by juggernaut as opposed to death by heart attack, altitude sickness, dehydration, exhaustion or a combination of all of these.

Fortunately, it now being about 14:30, the road is fairly quiet, all sensible people are having a siesta, and there is a fairly wide hard shoulder to the road for most of the way.

The return journey, is "only" 9 miles, so in total, the round trip is 20 miles.

We return to find we have some new English neighbours, they have bicycles on the back of the camper van. We ponder should we warn them about the Tourist Information book?, no, more fun to keep quiet.

We retire to the beach, which is just at the entrance to the campsite.

As you can see, we have it just about all to ourselves, there are only three of four other people dotted about the beach.

We chill, and I read my book.

As you can see below, Kathleen is same pose, different surroundings.

April 24th 2010 - April 25th 2010

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

Using the diagram drawn by the young chap at reception we attempt to find the church. I suppose we should be grateful that he tried to help, but we soon find the diagram is not much help. After leaving the campsite it directs us to turn right and continue for 2km. Since we are pedalling along the shore, with the sea on our right, we would literally be in deep water if we followed that instruction. It is clear the diagram is drawn in mirror image, ie left equals right, and right equals left! 

After riding for about 5km, we give up on the instructions and return to Alcossebre to the Tourist Information office. Here we get a street map with the church marked, and a booklet of walks and cycle rides for future use.

Even using the street map, we cannot find the church. We eventually ask a passing Spanish man, who in turn enlists the aid of a passing Spanish woman. From her we get the vital clue to how to find the church "Porta blanca" she tells us, which I interpret as "white door". Now the penny drops, we have ridden past the church at least three times, without recognising it as a church. It is a modern building with a big white surround to the door. So mission accomplished we retire to a beachfront bar.

We return to the site, having pedalled almost 11 miles looking for, and evetually finding the church.

After lunch we are lazing in the sun (as shown left), reading etc, when the arrival of a caravan towed by a car with Dutch number plates causes much excitement and hugging among our German neighbours.

As best we can understand, the new arrivals are (German?) friends of those around us. The driver of the car we are told is 85 years old, and is called Jacob, his wife, is 89, her name we are not sure of.

Due to an administrative foul up by campsite reception, their pitch has been wrongly booked. They have apparently been coming here to meet up with the rest of then for many years, and always have the pitch where we are parked.

The fact that "their" pitch is occupied (by us) seems to be causing them great concern, even although there is another empty pitch just a few yards along the road.

We offer to move pitch, and allow them to have "their" pitch, since it makes no real difference to us, but clearly means a lot to them. Let us face it, at 85 and 89, and having driven all of the way from Holland or Germany towing a caravan, it does not seem unreasonable to indulge them.

Our German neighbours insist in pitching in and helping move our stuff, and in directing me in manoevering off the existing pitch, and onto the new one. Since this whole operation is executed in a mix of German and English, it goes surprisingly smoothly.

They do seem keen to get rid of us, to next door to a Belgian couple.

Kathleen gets a big hug from Jacob, for allowing them to have "their" pitch.

Afterwards talking about it together, Kathleen and I both mention the fact that Jacob sounds like a distinctly Jewish name. Now I know, like Basil Fawlty, we should not mention the war. But it does seem rather odd don't you think. Perhaps they were on Schindlers List (yes, I know, in bad taste, but I could not resist it).

Having done our bit to foster peace and harmony in Europe, the rest of the afternoon is spent in using Skype to contact those of the children who are contactable.

Sunday, Kathleen is off to church. I find a newsagent selling English Newspapers, and catch up on the General Election saga, very missable. Followed by lunch at a beach side restaurant. I have a seafood starter, pasta, prawns, mussels, squid, and some other sea related things I cannot identify, but very nice, followed by fresh Tuna. Kathleen sticks to very English chicken and chips, followed by the biggest sweet on the menu, plus of course a very nice bottle of Rose wine.

In the afternoon, Kathleen decides to do some washing, and discovers where the washing up sinks are whilst searching for the washing machines.

April 21st 2010 – April 23nd 2010

Kathleen has a solution to the tea bag problem. A message to Phillippa and she has arranged for the tea bags to be collected from our house and delivered to Joan and Bryan, who will courier them across Europe, to deliver them to us when we meet up in France. Operation tea bag is now in progress.



Liguerre de Cinca (Huesca) – Liguerre de Cinca – ASCI2010-1622


We travel through Rioja wine country en route to the next site which is beside a man made lake (which is a reservoir) in the hills north east of Huesca.


As we approach, we think we may have made a big mistake, as we are heading steadily towards mountains which are covered in snow half way down their slopes. But when we arrive at the site it is positively stifling hot.

There are not many people here, it is obviously early in the season, one German van, and two Dutch vans (yes, those Dutch do get everywhere).

The surrounding countryside is beautiful, and there is hardly a sound except the birds.

There is a scenic walk to the village, along the lake, we sampled a little of it this afternoon after we arrived and plan to do the whole thing (3Km each way) tomorrow, provided we are not snowed in.

It does not snow so, we make the walk. It is beautiful and so peaceful, a bit like walking in the lake district but with more trees, and less people (we see no one). The village (Liguerre de Cinca) is very well restored, but deserted, we see one woman and three cats. Even the bar is closed, which is not much of a welcome when you have walked 3Km to get there!

In the afternoon, the Irish couple who we met briefly at Pamplona arrived, they must be following us.


I joked a few days ago about them getting the bus back from Pamplona. It turned out that what happened was, they got the bus into Pamplona. Had a bit explore, and then had themselves a meal with wine etc, followed by a few more drinks, missed the last bus back. So they decided to walk, setting off at 22:00, when it was pitch black. They had a few adventures getting lost in the dark, at one stage they even encountered a couple of Spanish policemen. When they explained in their pigeon Spanish that they were having difficulty finding their way back to the campsite, they said they could not help them. Anyway, they made it eventually, and are none the worse for the experience, as always, these things are funny after the event!


We have overnight rain, not heavy, and gone by morning, but enough to soak our chairs, Kathleen decides to dry them using an item of clothing from the dirty washing bag, it just happens to be one of my shirts.


We get an early start, about 09:30, because we have quite a long drive today (300km), along mostly single carriageway roads. The Tomtom does the navigating, all goes well except around Lerida, where they have built or I should say are in the process of building, a whole new motorway and ring road, which are not in our Tomtom, map. It just so happens Kathleen is driving at that point so she gets a couple of wrong turns, and some tight turning around manoeuvres in a housing estate, as well as a trip through Lerida Centre, complete with suicidal pedestrians.


We stop at just outside a place called Flix for lunch, at a well kept picnic place beside the River Ebro. There is even a supermarket just across the road, where Kathleen is able to buy a bottle of Larios Gin, just to get into the Spanish spirit so to speak. We arrive at Alcossebre at about 16:00.


Playa Tropicana – Alcossebre (Castellon) – ACSI2010-1559


First impressions are that this was a good choice, It is quite a large site, the sort of place where people spend the winter.

It is just about on the beach, you can hear the waves on the beach from our van, and everything seems to be in good order. It so happens that the pitch we choose is in the German quarter, and we have German and Belgian neighbours. We later find there is an English quarter, but we opt to stay where we are.


We have a quick explore before our evening meal, and manage a seven mile cycle along the coast, we do not find the church so that is a task for tomorrow.

20th April 2010

Looks as if the rain may have gone, sun is shining, with broken cloud, when we wake.

Today is major hair day, it is the full works, washing, straightening, conditioning etc etc, so that will take up most of the morning.

At least the teabags seem to have been forgotten about

By 10:30 the hairdressing is over, and is followed by a musical recital, in the course of which Kathleen makes the acquaintance of some of our neighbours, a couple from Northern Ireland, who are planning to walk into Pamplona today, and get the bus back.

There are bus stops, but we did not see a single bus when we cycled into Pamplona yesterday, so I don not really fancy their chances of getting a bus.

As of 20:45 they have not returned, so I suspect they are walking both ways!



Later (shortly before lunch) we go for a walk, (would have been a cycle ride, but the cycle helmet would mess up the hair).

We walk in the opposite direction to Pamplona, along a very well kept cycle / walking track. I think this must be part of the Pilgrim Route to Santiago de Compestela, since it is so well looked after.

As you can see Kathleen is striding out ahead.

The countryside here is not the barren, parched landscape of southern Spain, it green and planted with various crops, potatoes, maize, beans etc, etc. This much greenery of course must mean it rains here more often than in the south.

After about 2Km we come to a very pretty small village, which does not appear to have a name, just a bridge, and two bars, not even a shop as far as we can see.

When we get back to the van, we find that both English couples we spoke to yesterday have left, along with two Dutch couples, was it something we said?

It is very hot in the afternoon, we have to put the awning up to have some shade.

19th April 2010

We leave to head for Pamplona, it is not very far to drive, but we do remember that last time we came this way, the road was very poor.

We head south on the N10, the Tomtom, then takes us onto small road, presumably to bypass San Sebastian, but it is a bit scary, eventually we emerge onto a decent dual carriageway which whisks us toward Pamplona, the road has been dramatically improved since we last came this way about four years ago.

Eusa/Oricain/Pamplona - Camping Ezcaba - ACSI2010-1599

We had been remarking as we travelled, there was no indication we had left France and entered Spain, other than the road signs being in Spanish rather than French. But on arrival at the campsite, you immediately know you are in Spain. The facilities are clean and work fine, but everywhere you look, there are half finished things. On Kathleen's first trip to the loo, she noticed that the bolt to lock the door had been put on the wrong way around, so it slid away from the door frame instead of towards it. Another bolt had been added (right way round) a little higher up the door, rather than correct the original mistake.

The reception is closed (presumably because it is early in the season), the chap who books us in is the chef in the restaurant, so he really is the chief cook and bottle washer.

The ACSI book says there is a cycle track to Pamplona which about 9km away, so after a quick lunch and a brief chat with another English couple who are here, we set off on the bicycles for Pamplona.

Sure enough there is an excellent cycle track, following a river to Pamplona, so we have an explore. The bull run is not in progress, so we do a cycle run instead through the streets of old Pamplona. They have novel traffic lights here. When you press the button to cross the road, the sign shows a little red man standing still, and a count down of numbers from one minute (ie 59, 58.. and so on), then the grenn man comes on (a picture of a little green man running), and the numbers start to count up (to 30 seconds). The waiting bit is not appreciated by both of us.

Eventually we settle in a pavement cafe. The place is quite busy, after waiting for about 30 seconds, the McCaffery patience begins to slip. I go into the bar to try and buy our beers, but, I am told if you are sitting outside you have to get your drinks from the waiter. Eventually we get our much needed drink. It was bright and sunny when we left, but as we sit (under an awning fortunately) having our drink, there is a sudden thunderstorm.

This causes Kathleen enormous amusement. I have left my waterproof back at the van, and she has her "emergency" poncho style waterproof from the St Claire's walk in her handbag (explains why women's handbags are always so full). Fortunately the rain stops, and the sun comes out again.

We eventually head back to the van, but about two miles from the site, the thunderstorm returns, so Kathleen is able to use her "emergency poncho", which justifies having carried it all this way, I just get wet.

When we get back, we find there has been an influx of vans, there are now two Dutch caravans, a German Campervan and three English campervans, in addition to us. There are also a couple of sets of campers with tents, and a number of what look like static Spanish caravans. The Spaniards are just as noisy as we remember from previous trips, even the children conduct their conversations at a shout.

Fortunately, all the rain is torrential, it does not last for long, and we have done 16 miles in total.