Swins 2010 2011 tour, where are we now?: Wednesday 27th April 2011, yes still Wednesday.

Almerimar was a lot different, better that is, than the last time we visited, for one it wasn't chucking it down, sunny and hot. It appears to be a haven for sailors as it has 3 marinas housing hundred's of boats. It also has a stronger Brit contingent than here as a few of the are Brit owned and English appears to be the preferred language, over German, next to Spanish. So a quick tour and a coffee then drive back via the motorway as the single carriageway there is in a terrible state.
Lunch was three, yes three, wraps of chicken, peppers and onions for SWMBO and I had a cup of tea.
Then it was more sun and reading, dinner, more chicken and vegetables, mine curried.
Doms, er again! Last bit of Matrix II and then bed.

Thursday 28th April 2011, RDM and the market.

Well the visit to the market went very well, we walked, accept it was closed or rather just not there as it is always not there on the last Thursday of each month. Funny thing is we did this last month, same result, will we never learn?
Then it was washing again. As the weather is hot, mid 20's, with a very light breeze and not a cloud in sight, why not and we need at least one wash before we move she says. (why?)
She has gone back to her original soup recipe which is just hoy water with vegetables in it, bloody awful, for lunch. Dinner will be fried potato with me, burger, her, an unpronounceable fish.
Last Matrix, tonight.

Friday 29th April 2011, RDM and “The” Wedding day.

Took Tricia, Elaine and David down to the Spinnaker to watch the William and Kate wedding on about four TVs, lots of bunting and Union Jacks about and apparently it filled up nicely.
Me, went off for a tour of Alcampo in Almeria commercial Mall, various hardware shops, bought nothing. Finally bought some more cigarettes as the thousand I'd bought in Gibraltar, for €1.5/20, had run out, works out about 6/day, so not too bad. Here in Spain there are €3.15/20, twice the Gibraltar price but still half the UK price, still, must cut down even more.

Returned to pub around 2:30 pm for the final balcony kiss and a fly past by a Lancaster bomber and Spitfires, and it looked like everybody had had a good time. Apparently full English breakfasts followed by Fish & Chips was the order of the day for David and Tricia, burp! Weird thing was it was clear and sunny in the UK, here persistently chucking it down.

Then back to our MS and after a couple of coffees and snacks, and five hours later, two bottles of Fizz, and the equivalent of three bottles of red wine, some beer and a G&T were consumed, good day all round. We tried to watch “Silence of the Lambs”, pointless really as we were both falling asleep most of the time, bed.

Saturday 30th April 2011, RDM and I guess the green comes up today.

Forecast is dry today and then the odd shower until we leave so up it comes, people might think we are Germans, packing so early. That's what we did, got things done. Bit of a walk then dinner, now done, cribbage, her, dinner them bed.

Sunday 1st May 2011, RDM and final packing.

Basically all packed and cleaned ready to go, a day early as it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow.
All that's left is a final empty of the tanks and stow the waste hog and sewer pipe, which incidentally is leaking like a sieve all over the place, new one needed for next season I think.
SWMBO is stowing all the food and indoor items that ma break.
Couple of drinks round at David & Elaine's place and then cribbage, beef casserole, “The Bucket List”, then bed.

Monday 2nd May 2011 RDM.

All's well at home, Adam's car is now OK due to me paying £320 to the garage for replacing the starter motor, Heather's got her new pussy cat, Archimedes, a “British Blue” kitten, hope the older female cat does not kill it.
Finishing off the final points on the 55 point list and will hook up and park in the calle later this afternoon. Probably eat in the café on site for our evening meal and then an early start tomorrow.
Did that and a very nice meal it was although at €10 for a bottle of pre opened Rioja was a bit OTT.
Back to MS and watched a John Grisham movie about, you guessed, lawyers, OK though. Tricia was a little bit tipsy and said what ever time I got up in the morning would be OK with her.
Fast forward a bit.

Tuesday 3rd May 2011, RDM and 6 am.

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!, I'm not awake yet! Bugger off and let me sleep!”
Time line 8:15 am and we are off, goodbye Roquetas De Mar for another year.
It was a 350 mile, eight hour, drive to Benicassim and arrived about 4:30 pm, fairly uneventful journey but about all I want to drive in one day. Main route was the A7, none toll, road with a bit of the A31/35 shoved in rather than follow the coast as we usually do. Averaged 20 mpg! Mainly because the wind was from the south west and was helping a bit. Got the usual stares from passing motorist with a few of the Spanish equivalent of “WTFIT”! Even had some guy taking pictures of us from all sides. Some real heavy weather on the way up with lightening and the lot although the temperature got up to 29 °C.

Had our first run in with the Spanish police. On the A35 just south of Villena, we were just about to stop for more diesel and a cup of coffee when two motorcycle policemen began weaving to and fro in front of us and made it quite clear that they wanted us to stop at the services. After a cursory look at my driving licence it turned out that they were more interested in what the hell a fifth wheel was, asked us if we were on holiday and after I explained that we travelled around Spain for most of the year, they were happy and zoomed off, no problems there then. We had the coffee and Tricia tried some tapas, pork and tomatoes, it must have been bad because she left.
Arrived at Benicassim and it is, as it was, clean, well run, a bit busy but expensive. We are on a non serviced pitch, electric only, half the size as the one in RDM and €4/day more than we were paying, plus electric. Mind it is an up market site and probably worth it if you use all the facilities including their very modern gym.

As we were setting up, in a light rain, a English couple began talking to us and I was mentioning RDM and the differences in prices he asked me if there was many English there, I said no, and that's the way we like it, not too pleased about it. But it is summed up in a CC&C rally that is on site, apparently they, about 100 people, regularly commandeer some of the facilities, all day, for themselves, like the boules courts etc. Also on the Royal Wedding day they took over the main reception and were charging €12 to get in to watch the TV!

Went for a little shop at the local Mercadona and then had the three course “meal of the day” at the restaurant for €9.90 inc. a beer because we just couldn't be bothered to cook anything, and it was very good value, mind the pudding was dreadful.
Bottle of fizz and some BAW.
Watched “Next” with Nicholas Cage, no he was in it silly, OK'ish and then bed at 11'ish.

Wednesday 4th May 2011, Benicassim until 20th June!

Woke up about 6'ish feeling as if I had been through a wringer with all that driving yesterday, everything aches and I just had to get up.
The new cycle path runs behind the site from Benicassim to Oropesa, a small village, about 2 miles along the coast, will try it tomorrow.
Went for a walk through the town and back via the beach and the problems we both have of mixed memories of all the similar place we've stayed at causes us to something, like a plaza, is just round the corner and it isn't. Weather is beautiful, sunny and warm with a nice breeze.
SWMBO is now officially and definitely back on her “nothing nice”, diet, i.e. watery soup, no alcohol, no sweets, bread, milk, coffee, well you get the picture. Mind she has eaten all the licorice and sweets we had so that's a help.

Game of boules, me 13-7, pitches are right next to us. Dinner, sausage, eggs and fried garlic potatoes, me, fish fingers and cabbage (ugh!), her.
Doms, me, followed by John Grishom's “The Firm”, STARRING Tom Cruise, bed.

Thursday 5th May 2011, Benicassim, Bonterra Park, warm.

Weather still very good so will do that cycle run today.
BP was our first real campsite and we stayed on it for 9 weeks, starting 12th April 2009, at the time I thought it was a brilliant site and I guess it still is. It's very clean and the location is great wrt the beach and the town and shops etc. I now feel, on returning, that it is more like, as a few people we have met on ours tours have mentioned, it is a bit crowded when full so you're eating etc. just next to your neighbours, a bit on top of each other, a bit too ordered and regimented, and frankly, a bit too British. I've never seen so many copies of the Sun and the Mirror outside of the UK and there seems to be an awful lot of TVs in awnings with British soaps running all the time, “English breakfast €6.50”, here and there, not what I want to see or hear really. I mean what's wrong with sauerkraut and sausage? No copies of Die Welt to be found and hardly anyone says a friendly gutten morgen anymore...........................Mien Got! I've become German!

On a serious note however, there are about 50 CC members here on a rally, come every year about this time apparently, and they have a regular plan for each day, all seem to eat together and we were told that they often commandeer all the boules courts for hours on end. Also, on the Royal Wedding day they took over reception and it's TVs and were charging €12 for anyone who wanted to watch it! Thing is if a bunch of Germans or French or Dutch or whatever get together and start shouting, I can't understand it most of the time, it's just a noise. When a large gathering of English do it, usually in a Dudley accent, I can, and I don't want to listen to it, especially when it's about where you can get Watney's red barrel and where the best fish and chips is, stay home!

This is true so help me God. An Irish guy is parked next to us and I noticed he was messing about with the rear light cluster of his motorhome, “What's the problem?” “My indicators keep going on and off”. “Er...........isn't it what there are supposed to do?”

So today we will have a walk up to the Thursday market in town and check out the local produce which if I remember from last time was one of the best markets we have ever been to, especially wrt fruit and vegetables.

After some frantic e-mails from Heather about her not having any confirmation from Easyjet, it's been sorted and she is arriving on Saturday, SWMBO has calmed down now as she has many plans for the both of them when she gets here.

One of the things about staying at a resort or campsite that is on the coast is that because there are always mountains right next door, you can only walk or cycle in two directions. Unfortunately when we were first here in Benicassim you could only go in one direction, towards Castellon, about 10 miles away. Now they have finished a route to Oropesa which cuts out all the very severe hills and as you can see from the pictures, is rather pleasant. So we did the market, good, bought vegetables and two hats, don't ask, cycled there and back to Oropesa and walked to Lidl (may God bless and keep it) and Mercadona and are now truly knackered.

Doms, her, “Changing Lanes”, chicken stir fry with fresh red and green chillies (1kg for €1 at the market, couldn't believe the price and bought 1 kg (a lot) and boy are they hot!) and then bed.
Typing this at 11:38 pm and my mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. It is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapour of invention. Or in other words I've had a few, goodnight!

Friday 6th May 2011, BP and what's the plan today?

Hidden keys, We have a spare hold key secreted somewhere outside the MS, OK you guess; inside the hold is my large heavy locked and bolted down tool box, secreted in that is a large password protected padlock, inside that is a spare set of keys for the Truckasarus and MS. So if we loose our keys we know where we can get a spare set. Except when we travel I put the tool box in one of the lockable tin boxes in the back of the Truckasarus and if I don't transfer it back before I put the locked metal rear top cover back on they are as much use they as chocolate kettle. I often don't. This time I remembered before I managed to loose the keys, later found. (Lots of “locked” terms in there, which I like.)
Weather is going to be hot, hot, hot for the foreseeable future, so no worries there then?