Friday 22nd April 2011, Easter Good Friday, RDM.

Well quite a lot of Spanish arrived and set up their various tents and caravans, we had eaten and as the evening went on they started setting up their table, cooking fires and pots.  Then about 10pm the heavens opened, supposed to be 0.5 mm, no way, the calles were flooded and everyone bundled themselves back under cover, quiet night after all!

So SWMBO is washing, sheets included, vacuuming and generally cleaning, she must be fully recovered now.  May have a walk to the beach and port to watch all the kite surfers as it's blowing a bit of a hooley today, great drying weather though.

Finished “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follet, good read and I now understand how the 1st World War actually started, as his attention to historical detail is very good, looking forward to the next two of his planned trilogy.

After a bit of a lie down in the sun, we drove into Roquetas to see the Good Friday Semana Santo procession which consisted of, well look at the pictures.  BTW it's Good Friday in a very Catholic country and all the shops are open, how does that work then?
Back to the MS and been looking forward to some Cod with vegetables but as SWMBO managed to under cook it (not a first) and basically ruined the whole meal.
Doms and she carried all the luck on the night then another ML, better but not much and bed.

Saturday 23rd April 2011, another sunny day.

El Tiempo, an internet based weather forecasting web site, which, last year was excellent is now a pile of shite!  In fact if you expect the opposite of what it is predicting you will probably be better off.  Even this morning it was saying clouds and rain, not a drop, just sunny skies.
For some reason SWMBO has got it into her tiny mind to find the cheapest bottle of Listerine you can buy in Spain and today we went on a tour of all the local supermarkets in town to find it.  Parked in the plaza and walked all around the place, finally found some at €4.80, in of all places Lidl (may God bless and keep it), big surprise there.

Vodafone Spain has been sending me texts telling me I'm running out of credit, God knows how, I hardly ever use it, Skype most of the time.  So I go into the Vodafone shop in the plaza and ask for a recharge for the phone, she asks the number and I give her, in fluent Spanish, the number and hold up a €20 note, she points me over to the meat section.

Walk down to the port and there are millions of dinghies, look like Lasers, in some kind of regatta and the whole place is quite busy, holiday week end, what else?

Back and she is cooking a whole chicken, Moroccan style, and if it all goes the usual under cooked way, I will be in hospital tomorrow with Campylobacter poisoning. 

I decided to give the MS a bit of a clean as it is covered with cobwebs, on the outside I may add.  As I was doing this I realised that although I called them cobwebs, they are actually spider webs and what were they full of?  Mosquitoes!  So why was I removing something that was actually helping us, so I stopped. 

Been taking a keen interest in these webs now; Mikey has the choice spot between the landing legs of the MS, Bruce has a very pretty web across part of the spare wheel and Claris has a good one between the back axle and the vegetable rack.  The number of mossies in Mikey's web will mean that in about a week he will probably be the size of a Tarantula, that'll please SWMBO no end.  Hope they can cling on when we move.

Nine days until we leave and journey up to Benicassim for a change of scenery and a closer Lidl (may God bless and keep it) and Mercadona as they are both within walking distance of the campsite.  More expensive there at €10.50/day as opposed to €8 here, but much better cycle routes and we get a visit from second born Heather second week of May.

Back to the Moroccan chicken;  chicken was delicious as was the vegetables, watched Virtuosity with Denzil Washington, no silly he was in it, OK beats Murphy's Law I guess.
Sunderland beat Wigan 4 – 2!  Could well mean we are staying in the premiership!

Sunday 24th April 2011, RDM and normal Sunday breakfast for her.

The much put off, boules match with David and Elaine, men against the women.  They won the first game 13 – 0!  We men won the series 3 – 2 though, just ahead of the forecast rain, when El Tiempo got it right for a change.  Back indoors and she's ironing and I'm making a slow cook beef casserole, yummy.
Kinda dull and overcast with the temperature in the low 20's and apparently it's 26°C back home for the Easter week end. 

SWMBO has been banging on about the Royal wedding for ages and constantly asks where we are going to see it, I personally don't give tinker's cuss for it and it looks like she is going with David and Elaine down to the Spinnaker to watch it on Friday morning.  I will go to Alcampo in Almeria to engross myself in the one € aisle and all it's wonderful bargains.

Went for a walk round the camp site because of the imminent rain, to toot at the few people still here and then as the rain had not arrived a quick cycle into Aguadulce and got back just ahead of the downpour.  Chucking it down as I type, glad I again did not wash the car but it's got to be done soon.
The other day a couple of guys from the foursome who are sharing a casa (small wooden bungalows on camp site)  opposite us, came over and started up in fluent Spanish and pointing agitatedly to the rear light cluster on the MS.  So I'm thinking, do they want oranges, red plastic or perhaps a reversing light?  I was on the point of calling for help from Tricia, who is more up on Spanish than I am but then the thought of her being in the near vicinity of two six foot, nut brown, dark eyed, obviously virile young men gave me pause for thought, the thought that I would never see her again.

Then it dawned on me!  They were pointing at the screws holding the light cluster together, ah! They want a screwdriver, so I lent them one and off they went back to the casa.  It turns out that they were putting together a new BBQ unit, hence screwdriver. 

Reminds me of the time when SWMBO saw this lorry driver under the bonnet of his truck and she said to him, “Do you want a screwdriver?” and he replied, “No thanks, I'm on my lunch break”.
Anyway, BBQ together and they go about lighting it and I have to be honest, what nationalities would be top of the tree for having and lighting BBQs?  Well Australasians for one and the Spanish would be up there somewhere as well.  These guys weren't.

They tried using fire lighters, nope, sticks, no go, then one bright spark (not) decided to get some fuel from his car, pours on a litre or so and tries to light it.  Diesel doesn’t light very well with a match, it works better inside a robust cylinder under intense pressure and temperature, er..something like a car engine for instance, not in a low pressure/temperature environment like the bottom of a BBQ.  So a decision making process obviously went on and another bright spark, with a petrol engined car, went for some more fuel.  Another litre went one, a match was lit.

One of the requirements for diesel to ignite was immediately met, i.e. the temperature rose exponentially as the petrol exploded, the resulting conflagration causing five foot flames to leap in the air and about eight eyebrows were singed off in a moment.  Putting out a petrol fire with water is a definite no, no, but they tried and eventually, just as it looked like the whole casa was going up, someone put a big lid or cover on it.

I don't know what they actually ate, when they finally got it going later in the evening but I can guarantee it tasted of 95° octane.  Never got my screwdriver back.

However, our casserole smells great and just about ready, so got the potatoes on and even made some half decent Yorkshire puddings, then getting ready for doms and part one of the Matrix.
Tomorrow, Monday, surprisingly not a holiday here, looks like rain all day so we might just go for a drive somewhere, still can't believe the weather we are getting here compared to what going on back in the UK, just not fair.

Monday 25th April 2011, RDM and continually dodging the rain.

Walked to Aguadulce and back, six and a half miles and just got back before the rain started, went to Mercadona for a few things, ditto.  Rain was on and off all day really.  Lot of reading was done, weather for the rest of the week is dry and warm.
Doms, me and some mini pizzas followed by garlic chicken and fried onion and peppers in wraps, (burritos) accompanied by a nice fresh salad.
Were going to watch the rest of the Matrix as SWMBO had fallen asleep half way through, last night, as she was totally whacked from the walk she just slunk off to bed early and I watched “Frequency” on my PC.

Tuesday 26th April 2011, RDM and we are going to check the wedding venue.

Read this sometime:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220768216260#description

It's hilarious.

Yes we are going to cycle to the Spinnaker to check it's availability for the royal weeding on Friday, I will be wandering around Bricomat or some such place for the 2-3 hours it will waste of everybody's else's lives who actually watch it, what utter drivel.  Did I mention that I'm not really “with” this sort of thing?  Didn't particularly want to go to my own wedding, not my scene really.  Unfortunately it's SWMBO's scene BIG time, it's been none bloody stop and when she goes on constantly about what she should wear to watch, it beggars belief!  I mean she and others zombies  will be sitting in a Brit pub, eating tapas, on a beach, in front of a 42” LG plasma screen and she's wondering what to wear?  Give me a break, please.

Been for the bike ride and the table's booked for 10:30 am on Friday, fish and chips day as well!
For some reason SWMBO has become absolutely enthralled by burritos (wraps from now on) and, provided I cook and prepare them, will eat them at any time of day, thinks of them all the bloody time, she does.  Today at lunch, after telling me again, for the millionth time this week, that she is going on a strict diet as her clothes have mysteriously shrunk, and then proceeded to eat three of them with some salad.  I didn't think she would be capable of eating again that day but not two hours later, she snuggled up to me and whispered in my ear, “What's for dinner, then?”

As the “Orange man” has started his clandestine deliveries again (the camp owners don't like him making the odd € on the side), we are now the proud owners of two sacks, 20 kg, of oranges.  Now just like women's breasts, oranges cannot be too big, but some of these actually were and when I was squeezing them (the oranges, please!) one or two were too big for my hand squeezer and some of the juice was spilling out over it on to the table.  “Watch what you're doing!” was the encouragement I received from SWMBO as she was drinking faster than I was making it.

Did a bit of sun tanning and reading for the rest of the day.
Doms, her, Matrix, end of “one” and beginning of “two”, bed.

Wednesday 27th April 2011, RDM and the plan is a picnic.

By car, to a little place along the coast called Almerimar, been there before but it was raining.  Guess what we will be taking to eat? Yep, lots of wraps.

Had to get up early this morning as she was snoring like a wounded whale, she says she doesn’t but I have actually made a recording on my phone and if she doesn't sort it out I will put it on the blog.
Talked to Tony (lucky Luciano) and Debs via Skype last night.  They are living in their soon to be replaced/sold 5er on a campsite just off the A14 in England, sounds so romantic.  Living “just off”  the  A14 doesn't quite conjure up the exotic sound of “on the beach front in Morocco”, or “by Lake Constance”, does it?  Still  I'm sure our paths will cross once again in the future, just hope it is not “just off the A1 at Newark, in the middle of February.”

So lonely

No probs getting off the pitch?

YPs!

The parade

Where's the white men at?

Good Friday parade

Howdy partner!

Coming up to the time when we start consulting our 55 point plan for leaving a camp site, sounds a lot but they all need to be covered, but we will not be Germanic about it and start now, leave it until about a day before.  Also have to pay the pitch bill, which will be 2% more than last year as we will be using a credit card, last time it was cash but as it costs 2.5% to get the cash from an ATM now, it's a no brainer.

Saturday 16th April 2011, RDM and back to same as, same as.

Yes but in clear blue skies and hot weather, I can get used to that.  No pictures I'm afraid as we have basically done nothing all week.  Yesterday and Thursday was spent washing and shopping (food) pretty much most of the time with an odd walk for a bit of exercise and basically getting back “into it”.

The site is almost empty but that might change at the week end as the Spanish begin arriving for the Easter period which begins April 17th, Palm Sunday, and goes on for two weeks.  There are lots of festivals planned locally and some big ones in the city of Almeria, We may get the bus and take some of them in.  I say “may” because at the moment, it's 10am, and Tricia is still in bed and suffering from a bout of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which started yesterday and is usually a result of strenuous walking, like what we did in Granada.  This has happened before when we've done hard or long walks/cycle rides for two of three consecutive days and she's ended up in bed for a couple of days to get over it.  So we may not be going anywhere for a while, mind it doesn't effect her appetite (what does?) so I will be relentlessly sent to the shops for provisions I guess.

Went for a short walk to the beach with the video camera to shoot some scenes of the kite surfers as the wind is really getting up, camera nearly blown out of my hand!  Went straight back.
Saying that, although it is very warm, the wind has picked up considerably, as forecast said, so cycling would be right out anyway.  I may get to creep off later this evening to the Spinnaker as Man City are playing Man United., in the semi finals of the FA cup, should be a good game.

OK game and City won 1 – 0.
I had taken some “snap” along as the prices there are pretty steep so I just nipped out at half time, back to the car and saved some €'s, only had one drink for the whole of the match though.
Got back and she had had roast chicken with all the trimmings, ill eh?
Doms and beaten 3 – 2 and then the DVD “Crash”, well some of it as SWMBO fell a sleep again.
Sunderland got beat 2 – 0 by Birmingham City, not looking good.

Sunday 17th April 2011, still very windy.

Looks like Tricia's ME is going to be around for a while and I was told, when I got up at 8am, “Don't wake me up, ever!”
Popped round to see David and Elaine to let them know that our boules match was going to be called off this Sunday, they were concerned for Tricia, but OK and threatened to thrash us at a later date.
Of course the ME does not diminish her appetite so when she finally arose, probably because she could overhear me Skyping Adam and talking about the problems he was having with our/his Porsche.  “So where's me breakfast, then, eh?”

Chucky eggs, soldiers, fresh squeezed OJ, tea and a half toasted baguette covered with thick cold butter and marmalade, sometimes she has to rough it you know.  I had cut the half baguette in half again lengthways and one half was bigger than the other and as I placed it on the table her eyes became glued to the bigger half on my side of the plate.  It was like watching a small child picking the largest piece of cake at a party.  She looked at the plate, then at my back as I was getting the tea and was just reaching for the big bit and I turned round and she hesitated and took the bit closer to her.
By the look of disappointment accompanied with hatred, if such expressions can coexist, and thinking I wanted to be still attached to the two roundish objects I cherish so much, I gave her the big piece.  Tensions eased and the morning progressed without further event.

Because of the dearth of Ericks there is no used copies of Die Welt to  read and unfortunately I read the Telegraph on line.  Hell's teeth!  Libya, the national debt, the £ to the €, the price of fuel, the UK is going to hell in a hand cart.

The rest of the day was just hanging around the MS and reading.

Played Doms in the evening and because I beat her so badly she wanted to play last double in the box to get even.  We were down to the last two with double six to come, my turn.  She put her hands over her eyes and cried “I can't look!”  Of course while she did this I did, and then I picked the winning domino.  “Did you look?”   “Er........”.  You bloody did didn't you?”  “Er........”.  All physically debilitating  problems connected with her ME disappeared instantly as I was pelted with dominos all round the MS, a four one nearly broke the kitchen window, bad loser.
Started to watch Murphy's Law, an English crime series made around 2000'ish, OK I guess.

Monday 18th April 2011, RDM.

Tried a three mile walk to Mercadona and back, she was kinda OK but suffered a bit later that night.  Funny thing is, I'm physically OK now, toes OK and can walk and cycle and was getting back to losing some of the tummy I have developed and now we're doing nothing again because she can't.  I have to cut back on the BAW again.

We have discovered tortilla wraps and I made a batch with chicken, red peppers, onion, salad etc.  They were delicious!  The operative word being “were” as we've eaten ten in two days, the “we” being mostly SWMBO, did I mention her appetite is unaffected? 
A few more motorhomes are leaving but are being replace by Spanish, mainly in tents, why do they all have dogs/  Which they immediately let loose, although there are notices saying that dogs are to be kept on a lease, and of course they pee and crap all over the place, the dogs, not the Spanish that is. 
Wind finally dropping but the forecast is for cooler and varied weather for the next couple of weeks, ho hum.

This evening, last of the tortillas and cribbage, (me), ML and bed at 11 o'clock.
Tuesday 19th April 201,1 RDM, did not sleep well at all.

You know I go on about dominos, results and sometimes violent aftermath of some dubious games, and I have come to realise how central the “game” is to our lives.  I mean it's not exactly life and death, it's more important than that.  It's hardly surprising when you think about the history and tactics of, what must surely become an Olympic sport in the near future. 

We play 12's, that is, there are 28 “bones” or “tiles” in a set and we draw 12 each leaving 4 back in the pack.  This means you are never sure what your opponent actually has although using statistics and the tactics you employ, you can make good guesses.  With “all out” games, where all bones are used, every domino is out there so tactics are your main weapon.
I was basically taught by my Mum who took the game rather seriously and used to thrash me repetitively with her slipper whenever I played the wrong domino, and forced salted tripe down my throat if I played a double too early, I learnt quickly!

She also instilled into me the basic laws and unwritten rules of the noble sport, that have not only allowed me to play dominoes to an adequate level but also provide me with the basic fundamentals for living life itself.  Some are self evident but please indulge me here.
“Never play a six three early in the game if there is a “r” in the month”. 
“When mixing the pack prior to playing, endeavour to keep your thumb on the double blank”.
 “Never play 5 & 3's with friends or relatives, it will only end in tears”, I know this as a fact as I played once, and only once, with the wife, the blood stains never came out of the carpet to this day.  “If you are going to “bugger” someone's double, make sure a sharp object and a clear escape is at hand”. 
“Anyone who can't hold a least 6 doms in one hand is a puff, 7 is impressive, 8 is just showing off”.
Are just some but not all.

The history of doms is interesting as well, did you know they found a set in Tutankhamen's tomb, bet he didn't play for matches!  The modern game “apparently” came from Italy in the 18th century but I know, 'cos my Mum told me that they were playing the game long before that, down the pits in the North East of England.

The history from that part of the world is full of larger than life characters who would travel from pit to pit with their demountable board and doms set.

The brilliant Tommy Pearson who at one time took on 24 simultaneous games at Murton Colliery working man's club for a pint of “Fed” per game.  He drunk himself into oblivion on the proceeds and was found naked, lying in a stream full of nettles clutching a five two and a double three.  He was buried three days later in his native Sunderland.  Unfortunately his liver had to be cremated on humanitarian grounds two days after that and the resulting conflagration caused half of Vaux brewery, being next door, to burn down and therefore deprive the hardened drinkers of that town to a very thirsty two weeks prohibition. 

Three men, George Bentley,  George Pears and  George Armstrong, after not having a bottle of Vaux Double Maxim for nearly a week, drove the infamous 12 miles north to “Newcastle” and partook of a very poor and inferior copy of Double Maxim called Newcastle Brown Ale, which incidentally has never been  heard of since.  Anyway, after they were later tarred and feathered, they were forever referred to as the “George boys” or Geordies, or “Traitorous Geordie Bastids, all of them” as all people from Newcastle are quite rightly known today.

Peter Herrington declared a false knock in the Blue Bell in Cleadon and was stoned to death round the back of the pub while Brian Ferris (no relation), who placed a five three the wrong way round at Silksworth Colliery's annual play off was found staked out at the pit head with “Cheating Bastid”,  in what looked like hobnailed boots, etched on his naked torso.

John Thompson was seen “tampering” with the back of a double six, in a mixed pairs doubles match in Whitburn village hall and had two empty domino boxes forced up his “back passage”, he has never been able to fart audibly ever since.

Probably the worst case involved Arthur Gladstone, who smuggled in an identical extra five blank into a crucial pub play off semi final in the snug of the Fish and Eagle in Hebburn.  Not only was he struck off the Dole office Christmas card list but suffered the ultimate indignity, he was packed off without a penny in his pocket, to live down “Sarf” and is presently suffering a turgid existence as a traffic warden in Middlesbrough.

Of course men and women can play the game so it is very egalitarian in it's essence. My Mum took it up late in life, just after she'd buried my Dad, who was still alive at the time but a few stern clouts with a four pound mell hammer put paid to that.  She won many prizes “working the tables” in north east pubs and clubs and became pretty good at darts, or “arras” as she called them.  I can still see her coffin littered with all her trophies as it drew past the curtains and into the flames of the “Crem”, and thinking, “I wish I'd kept a few of those, they must be worth a few bob”.


BTW do not ever, and I mean ever, make the mistake I did a while back and tried to introduce SWMBO to the fine art of darts.  When I first placed a set of soft tipped snub nosed Red Dragon darts in her hand, her eyes glazed at first and then became all “flinty” with the same sort of look she has when her .22 air pistol in her possession.  We started off by seeing who was nearest the bull, I said “Barrrr” and she said “Moooo” and as she was closest, she went first.

Now playing darts, or chucking the arras,  with an unrestrained woman in the confines of the MS is an experience I do not want to live through (and I barely did) again.  There were and still are, holes everywhere.  When someone visits and enquires after the cause of them I explain, “woodworm”.  One guy pointed out the other day that it was a funny kind of woodworm as I seem to have it in the plastic TV speakers as well.

Back to today which is mainly cloudy with the hint of rain up there, don't know if SWMBO is planning some kind of walk as she doesn’t think she is 100% yet, was she ever?
Three mile walk to the village and back again is all she can muster and the rest of the day watching the odd shower of brown rain and reading.

Had to replace 14.5 Kg Repsol gas bottle, only lasted six weeks and it's gone up to €15, bloody hell, that means gas is costing us 36 cents a day for all our cooking and the fridge freezer, daylight robbery, that is! (Calor would cost about 3-4 times as much, go figure)

Home made beefburgers, real chips, not micro or pan fried, peas, egg, fried onions and tomato, el fresco, brilliant.

Doms, me 3S, ML which is basically a half hour program stretched out to one and a half hours and last nights episode was totally crap, if it does not improve we will have to go back to Battlestar Galactica.  All the American series have been very good, I'm afraid the Brits just can't do it to the same standard.  Bed at 12'ish to be woken up minutes later by some Spaniard arriving and setting up his Caravan at half past bloody midnight!

Wednesday 20th April 2011, weather better and other than the usual 3 mile walk into the village did nothing but lie in the Sun and read all day.  Not washing the car again as although we only get the odd shower, about 0.1 mm, now and again in the night, it's still brown rail and most things are left speckled brownish.

Orange man turned up after a 3 month layoff, bought 10 Kg for €5 (bargain!) and have made up 2 litres of OJ which is now cooling in the fridge. 

Tricia says she is getting better but still has the odd relapse and is at present, it's 6:15 pm, having a lie down in a darkened bedroom.  The smell of my cooking the dinner in about half an hour, will no doubt revive her.

Thursday 21st April 2011, RDM.

Stop press!
Something happened last night that ranks up there with the appearance of Halley's comet, the second coming and me buying the beers down the club, in other words, as rare as rocking horse shit. Tricia didn't want any dinner last night!  Of course I thought I had misheard or she was just joking but then again I've never, and I mean never, known her to actually “joke” about food.

She had been lying in the sun most of the day, obviously having a rough time of it and managed our walk and some lunch and then some OJ.  Then about 6'ish she is complaining of a headache and I'm sent to the pharmacist to get some more paracetamol tablets.  Went to the first one and he told me that although he was a pharmacist he didn't actually sell any kind of drugs?  How the hell can someone make a living selling, as I looked around me, sun tan and wrinkle creams?  Hang on where about's in the world am I, er....Spain, oh yes, well.  So I go the the next one and get a box of 650 mg tablets, get back and stuff a few down her throat and naturally start getting the chips on.

“Don't feel well, am going to bed, can't eat, don't want any dinner”.  Well I very nearly dropped my potato peeler, those were words I thought I would never hear.  Still, I put the chips on and with the frying aroma winning over the maximum strain of the “fantastic vent”, she rallied with “Oh well, put a few chips on a plate with a buttered baguette”.  But it was not to be!  “No, no don't, I just can't eat, going to bed”.

Well you could have knocked me down with a tin of Frey Bentos corned beef, and if I think about that one, it's probably true of anyone.

So I had my chilli, with extra chips, watched “Crash” on the PC, read Ken Follet's, “Fall of Giants” and then about 1 am, went to bed to the accompanied sounds of fireworks and car horns coming from El Parador, two miles away, don't ask.

Woke up this morning about 6'ish and immediately felt for a pulse, she thought I was getting fresh so I got a slap, well she's still with us at least, let's see what the day brings.

Our moving date is going to be 3rd May so that's just under two weeks away, worked it out and it's going to be about €1,200 for 5 months inc. electric, not bad I think, just under €8/day. 
Not much to do really as there's nothing else we want to visit in the region and with SWMBO a bit laid up it's going to be reading a lot I guess. 
There are quite a few Spanish on the site, mainly caravans and tents, as we build up to Easter, also means a lot more kids running about, ho hum.
We decided to walk to the Thursday market in Roquetas which is on, remarkably, every Thursday and she finally bought the kind of hat she has been looking for.  Problem is  she now calls everybody “partner” and keeps on saying “Manos arriba! Manos arriba!” and “We'll head them off at the pass!”  God help us for small mercies.

The Spanish are coming

"Head them off at the pass!"

Saturday 9th April 2011, Camp Reina Isabel, La Zubia, Granada. ( I think I'm falling under it's spell?)

Sierra Navada ski resort

(writing on Sunday and all pics are at the bottom)
Set off on Friday morning just about on time as planned, i.e. one hour late at 10:15 am.  We (SWMBO) had previously decided that we would take the “pretty” route across the Gado and Navara mountains, she however would not drive so she could take in the scenery.  I must admit it was scenery with a capital “S”, the Peak District in the UK?  Eat your heart out.

So we (I) drove north out of El Parador toward Enix and Felix, (sounds like a couple of cats) on the A391 and then onto the A3040, both fairly minor roads but provided stupendous views.  They are great motorcycling roads but that is in the past now, I'm afraid.  The plan was to check out the three campsites in the Granada area to see if there were OK and also if they could be used, sometime in the future, to get the 5er on a suitable site.

Well we checked out two because the one in the actual city of Granada was basically impossible to get to as the city fathers have decided to rip up most the city roads for a new tram system and getting anywhere was a nightmare.  The poor old GPS was having a nervous breakdown because a lot of the streets were closed and others were being used as one way but in a previous life had been one way, the “other” way. The traffic was horrendous and as we were foreign and therefore judged to be fair game, no one and I mean no one, would let us out at junctions.

Before that we had called in at Camp Altos, north east of Granada and as the name suggests it is rather high in the mountains, beautiful views but just too quiet and definitely no go for the 5er, also getting anywhere from it on a cycle would be beyond both our capabilities.  So on to Granada as described above until we arrived at this campsite,  Camp Reina Isabel, which is small, Moorish in style with a great restaurant,  ACSI, and about 2 miles south east of Granada.  Guess what the predominately nationality is here, yep, German, even the male receptionist was an Erick!

As it's ACSI it's €15/night inc. electric which makes it almost twice the price of Roquetas but as a base for getting to see Granada et al it's pretty near perfect.  You could cycle in but the road does not have a cycle track and is rather busy, as a bus stops right outside the site, it's a no brainer.  The facilities, showers, toilets are excellent but the fact that the only bar on site is closed for refurbishment is a bit of a bummer.  There is a Dias (supermarket) only about a mile away so that's a quick drive/cycle for necessities like bags of ice for the beer and G&T's.

Speaking of which that's what we did last night, the last of the pies, vegetable soup, followed by cold beer and G&T's for SWMBO, while we watched Jeremiah Johnson with Robert Redford, no he was in it silly, one of our most favourite films.

So we spent our first night, since we were courting and her mother thought I slept in the car when we went to Cornwall, under canvas.  OK we had nice airbeds and better sleeping bags but it was snug and we both slept soundly.

We are going to the Flamenco dancing tonight as SWMBO has so decreed, bus picks us up and 8:30 pm outside the camp and returns us around midnight, €28/head, dinner extra.  Of course as I have only shorts and track suit bottoms, which are frowned upon, I will have to get a pair of decent trousers sometime today.

We were initially going to stay for a couple of days but it now looks like 4 or 5 nights as today is walk into La Zubia village (shops are open) and then down to Dias and the shopping mall and then Flamenco.  Tomorrow is going to be a trip up to the Sierras, Monday shopping in Granada, Tuesday will be the long awaited visit to The Alhambra and probably leave for Cordoba on Wednesday.  Now the camp sites have to be paid for in cash and as it's €3/day for Wi-Fi, which I'm loath to pay, I'll need to transfer some money from to bank on to my Caxton card or get hit with the stupid charges Nationwide now apply.

The camp is about ¾ full and and although the facilities are good they are not many and sometimes there are queues for the two washing up places so you have to wait, in your trap as it were and as soon as you see some kind of break in the traffic, make a run for it and elbow your way in.  Of course if you are behind an Erick forget it as they will spread all their stuff to take up both positions.

Yesterday, when we arrived, it was 32°C and putting the tent up, hindered more than helped by SWMBO, was tiresome to say the least.  She has obviously not cottoned on the concept of toggles and instead just tied all the tiebacks in knots, so what took me 15 minutes to do by myself took half an hour and lots of sweat with her “helping”.  But then she came into her own.  Tidying and finding places to put things and then when she found that the tent has an inbuilt shoe rack, she was almost overcome with ecstasy, and the next two hours was spent putting various items in said shoe rack, well anything but shoes.  She then found two pouches in the bedroom of the tent and I had to bring her round with a wet tea towel.

I must admit the thought of packing this away, driving 100 miles to Cordoba and putting it all back up again is not something high on my list of enjoyable experiences.

Walked into the village and walked out again, that's about it really, not much to talk about, mind she still managed to take a million pictures.

Not quite as hot this afternoon and we decided to go and find me a pair of suitable trousers for the Flamenco, managed to get a pair of Chinos for €6, discounted at the Sol supermarket, result!  OK they do not quite fit but I can just get them on and they'll be fine if I can lose about 5 kilos before 8:30pm, I will be taking my track bottoms for a quick change if things get iffy. Also got some food shopping in for Sunday, I think we are OK for B&W, so one less thing.

Went for a cycle ride along some tracks south of the camp site, I thought Tricia was following me and ended up about 4 miles away, turned round and she's not there, nobody told me about her, I can't wait until tomorrow, how can I know, nobody cares, I can't wait until she calls me, she's not there!  If you are old enough you will recognise those lyrics, if not, too bad.

“Well no one told me about her the way she lied (always)
Well no one told me about her how many people cried
But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know why should I care
Please don't bother tryin' to find her
She's not there

Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the colour of her hair (blonde)
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there”
“The Zoombies, Greatest hits”, 1974, “She's not There”.

Anyroadup, slight panic, has she fell in a nettled ditch?  Abducted by a gang of Senegalese dark men?  What about the camera, did she have it?  All these thoughts rushed through my mind and quickly out again, as I cycled back and forth along all the tracks she may have taken.  Got back to the site, she's not there, nobody......no, no, no, let's not start that again.  Jumped in the car and drove back intending to cover all possible or probable routes she may have taken, found her as she was cycling endlessly round the shopping centre, she'd found her way home then.

A few tears from her and bruises around the head from me and instead of putting her bike in the back of the truck I told her to cycle back as I might scratch the Navara's paintwork with her cycle pedals, bless.

Dinner of chicken, potatoes, carrots, peppers and cauliflower, who said camping is a simple life?
So we went to the camp gate and low and behold the minibus turned up only 5 minutes late to take us to the Flamenco night, picked up some others on the way and we were finally herded to the pub/restaurant where it all took place.  About a hundred people were in a long room with a small stage at the end of it. 

Now the last time we had seen Flamenco was at Marjal campsite and involved a midget.  This time it was the real thing and the three acts of 2 x 3 women and a bloke were I guess real Spanish.  SWMBO took another thousand pictures and when I reached for the video it was sans battery, I'd left it in the car.  Other thing was instead of Germans, this time it was Japanese and as soon as the dancers appeared everyone of them held up a camera, hundreds of them, all at once, bet none of them was a German Zeis, I hope our shot of them doing this comes out OK.  5 of the women dancers were pretty good and then the grandmother, who had to be 80 got up,  mind she could play the castanets pretty damn good, a lost art I think. 

The bloke looked as if he'd been on prozak for most of his life, gormless but loud would be my bet for him.  Then a quick tour of the night time city sites, Alhambra at night was spectacular, and back to Ramone our maniac driver to get us back to La Zubia, if we survived because he drives like a mad man.  You know in those American films when the guy is driving and he is talking to his passenger for about 30 seconds at a time, not looking at the road? 

Well I can forgive that because having driven a lot in the States the roads are predominantly long, wide and straight.  We were driving on narrow, winding, cobbled lane lanes in the middle of town with people on each side and he is talking to our female guide in the next seat and taking both hands off the wheel to remonstrate with her now and again, how he didn't decapitate the passers by with his wing mirrors I'll never know. 

As it was approaching midnight we both had the thought of being locked out and sleeping rough, but this is Spain, I mean we were walking through the side street in Granada at 11:35 pm and people were just opening their menus in some of the kerbside restaurants.   

We were told we would be dropped off back at the camp about midnight and began to immediately worry about being locked out, refer to the last sentence, this is Spain, stuff doesn't even start until then.
Back at the tent it was a couple of games of knock out seven, (me 2-0) G&T's and then bed, bit cooler tonight.

Sunday 10th April 2011, Granada CRI.

By God those air beds are comfortable thoughbut, both lay there until 9:15am and if it wasn't for the  Germans AND French running around shouting at each other as they were packing up to leave, and the fact I was dying for a pee, I wouldn't have gotten up at all.
BTW if anyone is actually reading this it will probably be Friday 17th April as at €3/day for internet I cannot bring myself to cough up the money.

Looks like another sunny 30+ day and we plan to get the bus into Granada and then do the tour bus thing, perhaps get a break on the Alhambra tickets and pop into there for the afternoon session, who knows?

At the moment SWMBO is in her little heaven as she tidies things, moves stuff around so I can't find it anymore, sweeps out the tent and does some hand washing.  All the time she's got this blissful smile on her face, most of the other site residents think she's away with the fairies, they'll never really know, I live with her and I don't.

The views from here are fantastic, the sheer magnificence of the snow capped Sierra Navada  mountains looking down majestically on the city of Granada spread out below them, dominated itself by the historical Alhambra placed high at the north of the city.  At night the mountains are picked out by the lights of the chalets and ski lifts projecting a hypnotic scene against the inky backdrop of a Andalusian night sky.  By the cringe!  Where the hell is all this coming from, mustn't be drinking enough and suffering from dehydration?

I mention earlier, that SWMBO likes at least two of everything, one for the wash, one to wear is her motto.  So as we have only one bath towel each, mind I only use a large hand towel for my morning shower, but that didn't stop her from buying a couple more because we were “going on a trip”.  I don't mean the big trip, I mean this little one to Granada and Cordoba. 
So anyway I end up with a new black towel and you know what happens when you use them for the first time, even if they've already had a quick wash, yep, they don't dry you and they leave little bits of themselves all over your body.  So I come out of the shower and I'm so covered with black dots that if this were the middle ages I would have been thrown on the nearest hand cart.  I remember once coming back into the changing rooms after thrashing Alan Swan at squash and there's Gary Kent bending over, naked and picking at his, well, thingy I guess.  “Er.....Gary, er...steady on, what are you doing man?”  “New towel mate”.  Enough said.

So, gets to 12 o'clock and we just manage to catch the 12 o'clock bus at 12:16 and after paying the princely sum of €1.30 the bus takes us into the centre of town.  Armed with my €1 map purchased from the site shop, which at any other place is free, we quickly get lost looking for the biggest attraction in town, the Cathedral.  After a few abortive turns and some swearing and shouting from SWMBO we find it and also the start for the city bus ride.  Always worth doing these, a cheap way to get the main attractions of the city in your head to be able to plan to give them a real visit later in the day.  Cheap!  €18 each for a bloody bus ride!  However, the ticket last for two days so we will be back tomorrow, no problemo matey.

Had some lunch which was a “racione” of Habas beans and cured ham, although it was marked as tapas at €1.50, a “racione”, which is what Tricia asked for or rather agreed to, means a full meal of them with a small baguette, so not €1.50, make that €11.50, how many beans to you get in a tapas, two?

Now SWMBO has been berating me about not walking much, but as my broken toes are now healed I mentioned that we should walk back, yeah right, 4 miles in 32°C, two hours and many detours later we arrived back at camp at 6:15pm and she is set to kill me and, “I'll not do that bloody walk again”!  Now it's Sunday, so nothing is open shops wise to buy cold beer, ice etc. but just 1Km from home there is a Repsol station and I remembered that they all sell booze.  I'm typing this at 6:45pm with 1 litre of San Miguel already under my belt with another one expected very soon, may be an early night and more to the point, no work tomorrow.

Just done the washing up and leaning against the Navara when this guy, who turns out to be called Tony, a nice guy, walks up asked me, in English, how long I was staying here.  I was flabbergasted!  First, he spoke English and have did he know I was English right off the bat?  Took me a while as I'm probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer on occasions, to figure that standing next to an English registered car, chances are it gave him idea.

Poor bloke was just on holiday for 2 weeks in his 15 year old motorhome and was busily driving round Spain and Portugal seeing what sights he and his wife had time for.
Played Doms and I lost in the last game on the count, not a proper way to play.  Bacon, cheese and veggies for me, remains of last night fro Tricia.  Then watched most of Blade Runner with......by ourselves, accompanied by some some beer and a nice bottle of local wine, cast adrift to bed about 11:30pm.

Monday 11th April 2011. CRI and a slight change in plan.

Hello Mother, hello Father, here I am in, camp Granada, camp is really entertaining and I'm sure we'll have some fun when it stops raining.
Recognise that and you must be over 55.

The new consensus is, i.e. SWMBO has changed her mind (she got €200 for it as it had hardly been used) and we are now not going to Cordoba because, 1, all the packing and unpacking, 2, She wants to stay longer in Granada and 3, we just can't be arsed.

So today the great cycle tour of Granada (without the very steep hills) is planned where we will follow a tributary of the the Rio Genil and then follow the river itself up to the north of Granada, then across to the west and return.  I personally think we will be lost after about half an hour so God knows where we may end up, I think I'll take the GPS.  Honestly the problem is this bloody €1 map we got here it got something all cartographers would cringe at, a rolling scale.  So everything at the bottom up the map is larger than those bits at the top, brilliant!

Stop press!  Just had another conversation and all that above is going to happen tomorrow, not today as was my original suggestion, of course I am completely in the wrong and she had said this was the plan all along, stupid of me.

So it's bus in, see a few more sites then Red tour bus to the Alhambra and back.

Monday, later on.
6:65pm and we are back at camp.  The original plan was Granada for the Alhambra and then Cordoba for a couple of nights, Cordoba now mealy a dream now and guess what?  The bloody Alhambra is booked up for 4 days in advance and as we are not waiting until Friday, that's gone aswell. FFF'YFF.  We got the 11 am bus at 11:08am and it was decided to walk up, and the operative word is up, to Albaicin, the old Moorish part of town on the hill where we were shown on our evening walk as part of the Flamenco night, full of cobbled street and SWMBO had visions of small narrow streets filled with little nicknack shops.  Plenty of the streets but very little of the shops, I heard my wallet practically singing in my pocket. 

On the way up she kept on wanting to go to the loo every 10 minutes, it was like having a small child with me.  Got to the top and stopped for a coffee and it took ages for the guy to bring the bill after repeated requests, so I left €2.80 on the table and left, normal a coffee is about €1.20, so OK and a bit of a tip.  Walked away and “Señor, Señor!”  Called me back because I was 20 cents short, stupid bastid.  Found St Nicholas church at the top for the view in daylight. 

The night view yesterday was better but then most things look nicer at night, if I'd bared my bum and stuck a lighted candle in it at half past ten in the evening, that would probably look better than a daylight version, do you think?

Back down into town to catch the Red Bus up to the Alhambra for the disappointing news and then back on the bus back down again.  Luckily the €18 ticket was good for two days, one less thing.
Tricia wanted to visit a park and perhaps take in the Science park, so it was back on the free bus and we got off 6 stops later for coffee cake and a stroll round the park, the Science park was of course closed.  The it was “That bloody walk” again, must be getting fit.

Back to Dias to load up on BAW and then dinner, cribbage, me, and “Groundhog day”, well half of it until SWMBO fell asleep.  During the night I heard some rustling (for me to hear anything while I'm sleeping is highly unusual as I could normally sleep through an earthquake) in the front of the tent, anyway it's a bloody cat nibbling at our food!

Didn't the cats, they're all over the place and of course when SWMBO decides to feed them with some choice bits of salmon, which I warned her about and got “Stop being so cruel”.  So what do the said cats think, must be food in there!  Thing is they ate some of the speciality bread that SWMBO had just bought from Dias for a picnic on Tuesday, so now it's “If I see one of those little bastids I'm going to shoot it with my air gun”.  Don't mess with SWMBO's food.

Tuesday 12th April 2011, CRI and the plan is a drive up to the Sierra Navada, as sierra means mountains I'm not putting that in, it's like saying Boutique Shop.  Then a bike ride along the river tracks and an “expensive” meal at the renowned camp restaurant.

The run up the mountains was spectacular, just look at the pictures, no commentary needed.
By the time we got back, we left late to start with, it was 4pm so the bike ride was chucked. She was feeling tired and had a lie down and said was was not bothered about eating tonight?  EH?
Oh forgot to mention it. As we ere driving away the bloody cats suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tried to get into the tent!

We covered the entrance with smelly insect spray and that kept them out, although one did try again last night.

Eventually we wondered up to La Zubia village and found this great unpretentious, I mean what does the word mean?  Using it is pretentious in itself for God's sake!  So we went into this small Spanish cafeteria and had a fantastic four course meal of mainly fish and king prawns, BAW and she absolutely shovelled it down, most of my bits aswell.  “I was a bit peckish after all!”  Peckish, peckish!  She very nearly ate the tablecloth, Hells teeth!

Tent, rest of “Groundhog day” with Phil Murry, no he was in it silly, bottle of Spain's finest €3 vino, care of Dias and bed, well airbed and sleeping bag.  The only real problem is getting out of them and standing up in the morning.  When I was 20 and doing this, jump out of bed no probs and on with the day, now struggle out of sleeping bag and spend 5 minutes trying to get off my knees and onto my feet, it's just too hard.

Wednesday 13th April 2011 and bye, bye CRI.

Up at 6 bloody 30 because those flaming cats tried to get in again at 5 am and I couldn't sleep in case they got in and, and, well I don't know, perhaps started reading my Kindle or logging on to the internet, I don't know, but I couldn't get back to sleep on the strength of it. 
Said this before and it's still true; “Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function”.

So managed to make enough noise and by 8am she up, “What's for breakfast, is the tea on?”  Makes my romantic heart all a flutter.

SWMBO drools in her sleep, mentioned it before I know, but last night she forgot to brush her teeth and had ate a bag of liquorice, her pillow was practically black this morning.
So both up and two hours later we are all packed up and both are knackered, it's quicker packing the 5er!  Then back “the pretty” route again, and it was.  Do you know in 4 days she has taken over 500 pictures and 9 videos, who does she think she is Spielberg?  The 93 miles took 5 hours because the ups and downs and twisty bits were mostly done at 25 mph with the constant click of the bloody camera and “STOP!  STOP!  Go back, I've just seen a mountain goat!”  “Did you get his good side?” was met with a clout round the ear.

So we are now back in the MS, it's 8pm and 21°C and I'm typing this while she is “naming” all the photos( mountains 1, mountains 2.........mountains 375), don't accept an invite to dinner any time soon,  also, don't think there will be Doms tonight.

Thursday 14th April 2011, RDM and now we are back it's wash day.

Good thing is she wants to use the machine in reception block and as there's hardly anyone here, no queues, one less thing.
Last night it was “Gatica” and we are running out of things to watch.

Our cooking arrangements

Size is not everything!

Hope we use them?

Trick 2?

Tricky?

On our way

We arrive

Camp Reina Isabel

Nice

What are we eating tonight?

Comfy

SWMBO camping

Sierra Navada town

S

The lost cycle track

Say Cheese!

The great Mr Flamenco!

Alhambra at night

Enlarge and read the signs

Alhambra by day

It's a hard life!

Mini MS

Friday 1st(April fool's day, the day of our first date 39 years ago and Max's birthday) May 2011

Friday 1^st(April fool's day, the day of our first date 39 years ago and Max's birthday) May 2011, RDM and I think I'm finally starting to relax a bit.

Couple of things, spelling mistakes are either there because SWMBO has not proof read it (she does!) or the spell checker has gone on holiday.

Formatting has gone all to hell aswell and as in the past when you get over 30+ posts these
things start to happen, including not being able to put the pictures in the relevant part of the text, so you will just have to live with it for the time being.

My one reader out there has expressed the opinion that some of my acronyms are unfathomable,
so although they may be obvious to me they are not to others.  Also when I re-read this in my dotage, (probably next year the way things are going brain wise) I'll have probably forgotten what the hell I
was talking about.

Actually I hate that word “obvious”, because very few things are obvious.  It reminds me of the time when I had a few more than the two alcohol sodden brain cells I still have now.  Back in 19 dot splash I was in a maths class trying to understand what the hell these Fourier transforms did and why bother with odd and even functions, I spent a year on Fourier Analysis and to this day I do not understand them, anyway I digress; so half way through a lesson with a massive proof on the blackboard, the Prof says “and the next step is obvious”,  20 odd perplexed faces turned to him with the same thought in their tiny overworked minds, “WTF is he talking about?”  So the Prof goes out and comes
back 10 minutes later with “I was right!  It IS obvious!”  Think it through, it's obvious.

That last rambling also brought something to mind, quite often when I am typing this I'm not thinking of anything and sometimes like the trap 3 and 5 story it's based on something that happened recently, I'm just remembering and probably embellishing it a bit.  But here's the thing, when typing I sometimes stop and think, “What's the best word to type next”, and if I can spell it OK I type it.  Now think when you are having a conversation with someone, do you actually think about the next word
you are going to say?  No, you are trying to express an opinion or meaning to another person and you just do it, how does that work?

By the cringe!  This is getting a bit profound.

A bit more profound stuff, “Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function”.

Just tried the talking bit with SWMBO and sometimes it just doesn't work.

Anyway, as promised, back to the acronyms.

SWMBO            She Who Must Be Obeyed (Trudat).

CCC                   Chilli Con Carne.
SBA                    Sweet Bugger All.
MS                     Mother Ship, the 5er.
BTW                   By the way.
Filme                  Do you understand? Agree?
Trudat                 I concur.
TW                    The Wire, an American Police TV series, bloody brilliant it is.
Erick                  German.

Morgen             Camp site standard greeting in the morning.

Truckasarus       The Navara pickup.
CS                     Chicken Shop.
PWC                  Pussy Whipped Club, place where I do the washing up.

BAWD              Beer and Wine Day (days I can have a drink, week ends only).

Sherbet/fizz       Spanish €1.65/bottle Cava.

SS                      Shit street, when beaten by a complete line in cribbage.

SSS                    Shower, shit and shave.
WTF                  You already know.
3S                      To win 3 – 0 at any board game.
RDM                  Roquetas de Mar.

IIRC                   If I Recall Correctly

More to come

Friday morning started with SWMBO getting all excited, no no read on, about the upcoming picnic and could not wait to get to the chicken shop.  Had breakfast and decided not to cycle there but to combine our week end shopping trip as the CS was just opposite Mercadona.  Did the shopping and
left SWMBO to pile the stuff into Truckasarus while I crossed the road to get the hot roasted chicken.  Just goes to show what an absolute naïve plonker I really am; we had “booked” a chicken for 12 noon and I foolishly turned up just after to be told, “Another 15 minutes, Señor”.  Bloody Mañana without the same sense of urgency.  Went back and by the time I had drove back, 20 minutes later, it was nearly ready, €7.90 for the chicken with a fresh baguette thrown in, so not bad!

Shopping put away and after placing my rather tender arse back on the saddle, we cycled off the 4 miles to the fort on the beach and picnic heaven, coffee on the way back.  With the 20 miles the other day and 8 now, my sorry backside was crying out for my padded cycle shorts with their chamois
crutch, which of course SWMBO had left back in Forest Row.

Lay in the sun, BAWD and she had a whole bottle of sherbet, chicken and veg, Doms, me 3-2,
TW and bed.

Saturday 2^nd May 2011, RDM, time flies?

Earlier I outdid myself trying to take too much to the PWC after SWMBO eating so much last night. Yesterday I had “decanted” my Lidl (may God bless and keep it) wine into a carafe as a means of disguise, we were expecting Mel and Joyce for a farewell drink as they were leaving today (Saturday).
So along with all the other washing up I was carrying the carafe in my little finger.  Washed everything up and on the way back, constantly saying under my breath “Don't drop the carafe, don't
drop the carafe, don't drop the carafe” all the way back from the toilet block.  I opened the MS door and I dropped the carafe, dropped it on the metal steps, don't think it will be in use again and
apparently, according to SWMBO, I'm a tosser.

I've resolved the gas supply for the planned camping trips, going to use the extant Repsol 14KG bottle and will buy another regulator so I can leave the original in the off position and leave the MS on GasLow gas supply.

So one less thing!

SWMBO decide to vacuum with our little but powerful mains unit and after she'd finished I was charged with emptying it.  So I detached the collector and filter bit and took it down to the rubbish bin to empty it. 

This guy comes up to me and after talking for about two minutes I realise he's in fact not an Erick but Scottish, his accent was quite broad and Glaswegian and having only three teeth in his head he mumbled a bit.  So he says “Mind that coffee filter certainly needs a good clean”, as I'm bashing boat loads of dust out of the vacuum filter.  I guess an easy mistake, see picture.  He then tells me he's leaving in about a week and I ask him why, because the weather is getting really nice here and it must be cold back in Scotland.  “I'm going back to see the dentist”.  Well I very nearly soiled myself because I think he passed that finishing post about 15 years ago, way too late for that now mate!

It's 12;20 pm, Saturday as I'm typing this, stereo playing Steven Bishop and we both couldn't be more relaxed.  Seems weird I know but we seem to have been busy running around basically achieving SBA for the last week for some reason, so today we do nothing except watch the industrious Ericks finally pack up and leave.

Trip to Eroski this afternoon to get the gas regulator and some porridge for SWMBO and that's going to be it for the day. 

Stop press!  Didn't go because I thought I could smell gas from the gas locker and using the sure fire (pun) method of half and half water and fairy liquid and a small brush, found the leak; and after a visit to Michael “The Mechanic” who had the correct spare O rings, all is now non smelly and less explosive.

I remember as a lad my Dad looking for a gas leak in the oven by using his zippo lighter (honest!), the resulting explosion blew the kitchen windows out and removed both his eyebrows and singed off what little hair he had, Mum was not best pleased as her Yorkshire puddings went flat.

Not as hot today as the sun is slightly shrouded so it's barely in the low 20's, so reading out there is OK.

Call via Skype to Derek L and brother Alan and all's well in the world.

Too hot to eat so it's a game of something then TW and early bed tonight.

Doms it was and me 3S, she not pleased, even lost last double in the box, last of series 4 of TW.

Sunday 3^rd April 2011, RDM, bit overcast, a lot less Ericks about and boules day.

The boules is going to be men v a gaggle of SWMBO's so some of us may not live to tell the tale.

8am and with a final toot of their horns the Germans were on their way, SWMBO even got up
to wave them goodbye!

Excellent day to wash the car so that's what I'll be doing this afternoon.

The men absolutely murdered the womenfolk at boules but all had a great time.  Mike and Irene won't be here next week however as they are leaving for France on Friday.

Mike came round and spent the afternoon drinking coffee and talking about hos favourite subjects, motorbikes (the Triumph Tiger Cub in particular) and how to strip car engines, I found it all  interesting SWMBO however was a little bit underwhelmed with chain tensioners and twin overhead cams.

Walk along the beach towards Aguadulce and then back for dinner, Moroccan lamb which I'm afraid just was not as good as it has been in the past, don't know why, same ingredients but didn't taste the same.

Doms, got beat 1-3, TW and bed after I watch Dumb & Dumber on the PC until 1am.

Monday 4^th April 2011, RDM and lonelier and lonelier.

Yep, the whole site is about a quarter full now with very few new people turning up so you can now see and hear the resident Spanish and their kids especially when school is out and all the time at the week ends, still mustn't grumble then again that's exactly what I doing I suppose.

Cycle ride into Aguadulce and back along the beach stopping for a coffee along the
way, oh, the injustice of it all!

The insurance cover note will run out next week so I called Camptons and they will e-mail me a new one so we can definitely go the Granada and Cordoba next week, can't wait to see this Alhambra thingy.  May do a trial pack of all the tenting equipment tomorrow as it is planned as a wash day
(sheets therefore washing machine at reception and €3.80) I will have time on my hands after the filling and emptying stuff for the other whites in the twin tub.

She had fish and veggies me CCC with crackers, Doms, me 3S and then TW and bed after a
bit of a read.

Tuesday 5^th April 2011 and by God it was rather warm last night!  18°C
through the night and now it's 21°C and it's only 9:15 am!  Think the washing will dry pretty quickly
this morning.  So the sheets got machine washed and they did dry very quickly, out,up and back in, in a couple of hours.  Rest of the wash via twin tub tomorrow.

The wind is coming from the south west and probably gathering it's heat from Africa by the feel of it.  Went for a 4+ miles walk and felt OK'ish afterwards, so it looks like the toes are OK now and no
excuses for more walks and cycle rides and start to get rid of the “tummy”.

The plan to go to Granada and Cordoba may be brought forward to Friday as the thinking is “why wait?”  Also if we decide to stay longer there will be less chance of running into the Easter holiday season with the price hikes and all the kids.  So did a trial pack and we are going to use all of the spare space in the Truckasarus to get everything in.  I have made a list and it's amazing what you need to
remember to take, also need to charge all the rechargeable batteries as we may not get a pitch with electricity as we are only a tent this time.

Doms and narrow win for me, followed by fish fingers et al and TW.  When we went to bed it was still 23°C outside so windows and vents open and the duvet was little used.

Wednesday 6^th April 2011, RDM and the “other” wash.

Still breezy and very warm at 19°C, great drying day then!

Probably post this last blog on Thursday and that will be it for a week.

Been getting things together for this trip, I've got more electrical connectors and cables for just about every eventuality including reverse polarity, basic set of tools and the weird thing is I'm more
concerned about things breaking or not working or not having the right stuff with us than we do when we set off with the 5er!  The list is now longer than our 55 point “going away with the 5er” check list, how can that be?

4 mile walk into El Parador and back calling into the site pub for a quick drink with Bryan, the resident Brit on site, came here to visit 12 years ago and never left.

Dinner and with no time left for Doms, TW and then bed, temperature still in the 20's.

Thursday 7^th April 2011,

final preparations and a bit of shopping for the trip, weather looking great for the next week in Granada and Cordoba averaging 30°C+ during the day and 12°C at night.

We have ways of making you leave!

Ericks leaving

Pinic at the port

Just a little bit more roast chicken

Now you see them

Now you don't

Boules, the master game (not)