Lesley and I have enjoyed our races in Spain. We have run five races in all with distances as unusual as 5.2k and 14k to the more usual 10k and two half marathons. We did quite well in our age groups with 2 first places and 5 second places. Prizes are given for the first three in each category but they do sometimes cap the upper age group. Two of the races capped the vets’ categories at 50! Races cost between 10 and 18 euros with great goody bags, often with two technical T-shirts. All the races were well organised and had chip timing, they don’t bother with finishing funnels. Post race time is important. We always had music, usually live, and free food and drink (including beer), for the runners and their family and friends. We would highly recommend races here if you get the chance.
Category: Motorhome
Los Belones
Time for a coffee. As usual we had our Spanish lesson this morning and of course while we were there the wind was blowing and the windsurfers were having a great time. By the time I got to the beach at 12:00 the wind had dropped off. I did an hour but nothing very exciting.
We decided to go to Los Belones for a coffee. Pictures show a view of Fuente and a mural of Los Belones (painted on the gable end of a building from the same street).
Dirk’s December Do
Another Oompah evening. The dutch certainly like their barrel organ style music. It was a good evening and Trevor and Sue joined us which was nice. Research shows that one of their (the Dutch) favorite songs, “The Red Rose Cafe”, (Het kleine café aan de haven) is actually a Dutch song written in 1975 by Pierre Kartner, also known as Vader (Father) Abraham. He’s also known for the Smurf song. I have to admit I much prefer the version by the Fureys.
The quiz
It had been suggested we should go along the weekly quiz organised by the Camping and Caravanning club. Julie whose idea it was obviously didn’t realise how inexperienced and weak we are at this sort of thing. In preparation I watched Pointless much more carefully in the hope that some of the answers might be useful in the quiz. Alas, it didn’t work. In spite of help from Derek and Anne we came last, but I think we all enjoyed the evening and at the moment it looks likely that we will have another go next week. Brian (Julie’s husband) says that the questions all get repeated over a period of time and the longer you go the better you get. The winning team got about 56/7 compared to our lowly 39. In our defence I would add that we only had 4 in our team compared to 6 in the others.
Car Hire in Spain 2014-15
In September, before we left the UK, we booked a hire car (website) on the internet. After doing some research we managed to get a good price for three months hire (300 Euros) but we also decided to purchase ‘collision waver damage’ insurance in the UK as Martin Lewis advised (£180) so we wouldn’t have to buy it when we picked up the car (website)
On Saturday 1st November our friend John (Dixon), very kindly took us to San Janvier airport (about 35 minutes drive away) to pick the car up. It was completely straight forward and we drove away in a 4-door Opel Corsa with only 8000Km on the clock, a very nice clean car. We did a small detour on our way back to La Manga to explore the town of Torre Pacheco where we will be doing a half marathon race on December 14th. After some shopping in the Mercadona and Aldi supermarkets we drove back to the campsite.
Our first trip out was on the following Tuesday when it rained heavily all morning after a windy night. Derek and Anne came with us to the Parc Mediterraneo in Cartegena where we did some shopping and browsing around the shops there – Decathlon, Leroy Merlin and Carrefour etc. We bought a vacuum cleaner for the motor home!
It is very handy having the car to go shopping or to visit new places we haven’t been to before. Also it has enabled us to enter a couple of races, the half marathon in Torre Pacheco as mentioned before and a 14Km race in Cartegena on Sunday 23rd November. Derek and Anne have also been able to do some shopping with us so that they don’t have to carry it all on their motor bike, like we have done in previous years.
On Sunday 16th November we went out for lunch to a restaurant called Meson Galindo, which a friend recommended to us. It is in a village called La Puebla about 20 minutes away. We hadn’t booked a table but they fitted us in at the back as we had arrived early enough but very soon the whole place filled up with mainly Spanish people. The food was very nice and reasonably priced, 10 Euros, 12 Euros or 15 Euros for a very substantial meal. (website). We hopefully will be going there again.
Summary 13 – 19 October
General
Mostly hot and sunny with a couple of wet periods. Flies are a pain though. I have made a fly trap but they don’t seem interested. I don’t think the attractant is impressing them.
Running
Lesley.
Starting to feel a bit better, one run was definitely quicker than at home.
16.3 miles in 2.54 giving an average of 10:43 Mins per mile and about 1600 feet of climb.
Melvyn
I have felt sluggish this week, possibly not yet used to the heat and may be still feeling the effects of the journey here. However, although low mileage is slightly up on previous weeks.
24.77 miles in 3:35 giving and average of 8:41 Mins per mile and about 2250ft of climb
Windsurfing
Melvyn
Two windsurfing days this week first day was overpowered on 7.5, rigged the 6.0 and gained some control. Next time the 7.5 was right but on neither day did I feel completely comfortable.
Lesley
None yet!
The new Ferretería (Cabo de Palos)
Felt like starting the day a little differently today so instead of a run we decided to get the push bikes out and cycle into Cabo. We made our first trip to the ferretería in Cabo. It is an ironmongerists heaven. Restricted ourselves (myself) to buying a few bungees to hold my boards onto the trailer, but in the words of Arnie, I’ll be back!
This picture is the old premises, it’s now housed in a new building, lots more space and easier to navigate.
First full day of sport
Lesley was going to Dance Fit and Pilates today (10 – 12), so I left early for my run. Conditions were good, sun low and a little breeze. Still feeling the effects of the journey and not ready long runs into the hill so like my previous runs today’s was just over 5 miles.
Lesley set off for her classes only to find that the instructor had cancelled due to illness.
After lunch I started to rig sails but was compelled to check out sailing conditions. The wind had picked, about a 4 – 6 beaufort from the South West. Sailors were planning, I had no choice but had to go out, I had only rigged the 7.5m² so that was my sail of choice. Mistake. Not only is a SW wind at La Manga difficult to gracefully sail away from the beach but I was seriously overpowered. I worked at it for the best part of an hour an although there were lots of excitement it was never really comfortable. I decided to come in and rig a smaller sail. A bit of a rushed job but I shortly returned to the water with my 6m² Tush Rock. A much better marriage, especially as I was now able to use my 103l Synchro.
Overall I count today as a good sailing day (and the first in La Manga this time) and came off the water feeling very tired. I was also dehydrated and drank copiously before going to bed. All in all a good day, just need to get myself re-used to the running and sailing routine.
Day 3: Ferry and road trip
Always nice to start the day with a cooked breakfast. Wifi is very slow but at least it’s free so able to use the internet while we wait to dock. We are reassured that the ferry is on time and we should be in Bilbao at 11:45 uk time.
The crossing was quite rough with the ferry pitching and rolling throughout the night so we’re both feeling jaded, not the best start for the drive ahead. This year we plan to stop at Pico de la Miel which at just over 200 miles shouldn’t be too demanding.
Because of our position on the ferry it took an hour and a quarter before we were able to disembark. Travel conditions were good although there was some rain and about 4 hours later we arrived at the campsite. Campsite was fine for overnight stopping, good shower block close to our pitch and wifi available too.
Day 2: Onto the Ferry
There were a few more people arrived overnight. The ferry doesn’t leave until 11:45, gates open at 9:00 so plenty of time for something to eat and a bit of breakfast TV. There’s a lot of hanging about at this stage, once through the gate we had to queue again waiting to board. I’d love to learn the science of boarding. They have to make sure that the ferry is stable all the time. It’s fascinating watching them take off the incoming vehicles and choosing which vehicles to load and where to put them, it’s definitely not a case of sort it out for yourselves. Most impressive are the drivers that maneuver the large lorry trailers that have been dropped off for delivery.
Boarding was no problem, once on we were on we took our bags and set off to find our cabin, unlike the ferry from Venice to Greece there is no camping on board.
Lesley took to travel tablets to ward off sea sickness, perhaps foolishly I didn’t, I quite like a bit of rock and roll and was fine until we returned to the cabin for something to eat. I had a nauseous half hour but was fine once I got horizontal. Sleep was difficult because the boat was all over the place.
