The Adventures of Melvyn and Lesley
Having retired we are busy pursuing the things we enjoy
We have stopped here a few times, only €9 and that includes electricity. On the land opposite us there was a full blown circus with lions and all the rest of it. A good place to stop, near the motorway and a large supermarket and eateries nearby.
We have been very lucky with travel conditions over the whole journey, they have been perfect so far. In fact, as we were about to find out, they were good until we got near to our final destination.
We tried a new stop over in Peñiscola, La Volta Peñiscola Stop and Go. €7 per night including wifi. Good showers and perfect for a 1 night stop over. It was very busy, in fact, there was a sign saying it was full, but Lesley charmed the Manager into allowing us to stop on a pitch with no electric. We would definitely use it again, but next time perhaps it would be better to book in advance.
Well, that was quite a storm. Laying in bed was like being in the middle of a firework display. We got off lightly, some people were completely flooded with muddy water. The car park and roads are like wet fields and the beach has been washed into the sea.
Started with another run before tackling the windbreak. Today I ran past the Salinas and wsa pleased to see there were still some flamingos there. Although they’re not pink, they do have some pink tail feathers. I think Dulux would describe their colour as pomegranate white.
I bought some cleats last year which, with some clever rope work allows me to fastened the windbreak very securely. Just as well because people like to lean on it when they’re “talking over the fence” and of course when it’s windy, which hopefully will be frequent. Also put up some pretty solar-powered lights so we can find our way home in the dark.
Next it was on the roof to unload the boards and other bits and pieces and set up the washing line.
First day back in Spain started with a small run followed by setting up the pitch. It normally takes 2/3 days to finish it off and kindly the wind didn’t blow enough to go windsurfing. Jobs completed so far, outside floor down, tent up, plumbing for fresh water and waste, washing machine plumbed in and tested, WiFi set up, TV set up, numerous cups of tea drunk, hidden chocolate digestive found and opened. More of the same tomorrow.
Well, it may not be the best campsite we’ve stayed on, but we had a good night’s sleep and woke up to a brilliant crescent moon pointing out to a well illuminated Venus. Although the water had been cold everywhere else, the showers were excellent, so a good start to the day.
More excellent motorway, a little busy as we skirted Madrid but otherwise very easy driving. We had arranged to pick up the hire car at 3:00 so we hoped there would be no delays – and there weren’t. We arrived at Murcia Airport to collect our car, a white Fiat 500 at 2:20, perfect. 
Lesley followed me as I had Sat. Nav., bad move, I went wrong at the first roundabout. A small problem counting to 4 for the fourth exit. Apart from that we made good progress and were on the campsite about half an hour later.
We were saying hello to friends before we even got to our pitch, and lots of our friends, who knew we were arriving came to say a quick hello. It was good to be back.
Ferry arrived on time and we didn’t have to wait too long before we disembarked. This is our third time of doing this and with Lesley in charge of navigation we made short work of any potential sidetracks and headed on our way towards our overnight stop at Camping Pico de la Miel.
All together we drove 211 miles, an easy drive helped by the fact that the weather was excellent the roads superb and the traffic very light. The first part of the journey is through very green and luscious landscapes, undulating and very pretty. Further on and there is a definite change to the landscape, it is now much more open country side, the trees disappear and there are huge areas of agricultural farmland, a prominent crop seems to be sunflowers. At this time of year they appear to be dead and I assume they are waiting to be harvested for their seeds. 
The hills when you get to them are big, at times we are in excess of 1500m.
Apart for stops for lunch and fuel we drove straight through arriving at Camping Pico de la Miel at about 6:00pm.
After a good trip to Portsmouth we queued up (in first place) ready to go through check in in the morning. 4G signal at the dock (in fact most of the way to Portsmouth) meant that we had pretty good internet access so were able to access emails, our blog and social media. The ferry, “Cap Finistere” was the same one we have travelled on before and it’s okay, nothing fancy but nothing missing either. Wifi is free but not very fast. It’s still impressive when you think we are moving and must be locked onto a satellite to get it.
There is a small cinema on board showing a selection of films throughout the journey. We opted to watch “Tha Man from Uncle”, it was absolute rubbish, but on the plus side the seats were very comfortable and we had a good view of the screen.
We had dinner in the restaurant and the food was very good, I can’t remember the names of the dishes Lesley had scallops followed by Sole for the main course and I had serrano ham and a poached egg followed by a sumptious pork dish. Unfortunately as it was now dark and the boat was rocking a bit I started to feel a little off. Lesley had taken some sea sickness tablets and was feeling fine. We decided to watch a bit of telly as a distraction but at 9:00 decided it would be a good idea to go to bed. I felt better lying down and slept quite well. The restaurant’s Petit Dejéuner was basically the full English, it was very nice and should set us up for the day. No delays so far and the sun looks like it could be there for us as we arrive.
We left home about 11:30 in beautiful weather with blue skies and bright sunshine. We were in no rush so we took our time. It was just as well as the weather conditions became very mixed and traffic quite busy. We found a good services to stop at at Tothill in Newbury where we had tea and watched telly for a while. The final final leg of our journey took about an hour and we arrived just-in-time to queue up ready for tomorrow. We actually managed to be first in the queue.
