Winter Camping in Spain A massive Catch up!

Hi Guys
Well Ive received complaints that I havent blogged for a while and seen as I have been so busy I have started this now but it probably wont get brought up to date until..?! Well  at least Im trying and that has been said before!
We are back at Marjal Costa Blanca yet again. We took off at the beginning of december to inspect sites for the Caravan Club. We have 28 sites in Spain and Portugal to inspect so we thought we would get the northern ones done first before the weather turned too bad. Oh the great theory..those bloody yanks sending their artic blasts to northern Spain! Each time I venture out somewhere new or different in Spain I just fall in love all over again with this amazing fabulous country. So a week last wednesday we left Marjal where it was a very pleasant 20 degrees and sunny and we went for a 5 hour drive to Madrid Camping El Escorial. Wet and damp but not too bad. The net day we thought we would visit another site nearby called Monte Holiday. No point in taking the van..ooo what a wise decision! It was raining.." no maybe its just low cloud as it is a bit mountainous" a little further. " Im sure that there is snow mixed in with this rain. The temperature guage must be worong. It says 0 degrees!" We keep on driving. within 10 miles we are met with snow ploughs and the road is white over! OMG I couldnt see a thing. Had it not been snowing I think it would have been beautiful! Thank god for the best driving course that I did in my last job. I certainly needed all my advanced driving skills to get us down but we did it!
I love Monte Holiday even though the mountains were white and it was cold but we were given a very warm welcome. They have just installed some super deluxe pitches there and they had views to die for that I hate to say it made Scotland and the Moors etc look flat!We found one lonely British Unit up there

The views would have been great! 

Camping El Escorial

Depressing or what?! It reminded me of camping in england! On to El Astral

We were the only unit on there! There must have been 400 empty pitches and you guessed it.... a motorhomer parked right on top of us! They did the usual trick of revving engines, getting on and off bloody blocks  and banging about at 7.30 am! Did he think we were wild camping?! It is a secure campsite! I certainly felt safe unrtil mr french motorhomer came on top of me ooh l las I should be so lucky! 

On to camping Haro. Theres somethig about this site that I do like. Well I like all of them that I saw but Carlos s welcome on the bar really does help! " You are not going into the Pyranees? Are you really mad?!" Well it needs inspecting so off we went / The sat nav said something like 5 hours to do 200 miles or so....stupid sat nav. No stupid us! Off we went up mountain sides. There was a terrible gusty wind and great care had to be taken. The bends got worse and I was having to sound my horn on this single track up a mountainside. We eventually found the campsite Pena Montesena. I can only say that the welcome couldnt have been warmer-but I couldnt say that about the weather. We were the only people on site but the swimming pool, the shop,the bar and restaurant were all open! Boy did we get good service-they even lit a log fire for us so that we could eat our pizza in the restaurant

Thwe food and the wine were delicious. We then went and snuggled up in the caravan and were really grateful for the central heating. We got up in the morning and I couldnt work out what was the matter with the front window...

It was frozen solid! It had been minus 6! Look at that snow on the mountains!

The views were well worth the rough journey up there.

When people tell me that they have seen Spain as they have spent a week in Benidorm or wherever I get mad! Spain is green! Spain is amazingly beautiful. All in all I would really recomment this site but dont go in winter unless you want to visit Andora or go skiing! or there again like us and have suicidal tendancies! 

We stopped one night at the lovely Vilanova Park and then made it down to camping Javea and Kiko Park... How different can campsites get>?/

Yes it was all change again with the weather about 20 degrees again! Oh I did re visit an old favourite of mine. I still love Javea and they have spent lots of money on the new toilet blocks

The wonderful little bar.restaurant was providing menu del dia that was porkstew and potatoes for 4 euros! Well it would have been rude not to and vino 1 euro a glass! Oh Im not supposed to be checking out the vino.its the campsites! Well we visited 17 in total. Hard,hard work but great fun and really interesting. I can honestly say that there was not a bad campsite. I dont have a favourite as they are all so different/ One thing that is important to me and I can say of them all is that they were spotlessly clean. This was in half of Spain we still have the other half to do and its different again! How I love the different faces of Spain. Its like several worlds merged into one country.

So here we are back at Marjal Costa Blanca where its been quite busy. I dont know whats going on or more to the point whats not going on. Roger and I have been busy planning the New Years Eve bash again by the pool. Without putting a poster up I already have 90 tickets reserved so if you want to come....come to pitch C03! We are aslo planning a British weekend , the last weekend in January..come on lets show the Dutch that we can do markets and party too! Im not saying thatait got too much for Roger but..

its a good job this wasnt a video with sound! 

Judy and John couldnt believe how quick we got our big awning up and didnt trust us so thought it was a good ideato keep the cycling helmets on to be on the safe side! Thanks Pals but who looks the pudding?! 

Ahh well Im nearly up to date. Its a good  job that it does rain sometimes in Spain or I would never get this done!Weve been some great places and met great people. This retirement game is well untruly alright..oh just a minute I was working!  I hope you have fun too! http://www.campingelescorial.com/en/

http://camping.monteholiday.com/en/http://camping.monteholiday.com/en/

www.campingdeharo.com

en.camping.info/spain/aragon/camping-pe%c3%b1a-monta%c3%b1esa-21117

www.vilanovapark.com/?lang=EN

http://www.campingjavea.es/

http://www.marjalcostablanca.com/

Winter Camping at Marjal Eco Resort nearly a month on!

Well people keep asking me why I havent blogged for ages. The truth of the matter is that there is little to blog out about as there is very little going on and I dont like to be negative. We came here originally when the site opened because the facilities were great snd we had lots of friends and a good social scene here...oh dear how things have changed. Yes we have lots of friends here but I think that the campsite is losing its will to live!
I went to Happy Hour last week as its one of the few evening events on and that was anything but happy so I will give the birthday celebrations of Marjal a go. Whats on?!! I really couldnt make this up!

Yes thats right a model railway! Save me! As usual it was aimed at the kids. Apparantly it was a ride. There again was entertainment that started at 10pm and all in spanish/ Hellooooo who are your biggest customers at this time of the year?! Certainly not the spanish who only come at weekends! Who and what age group spend the most money?!  So to all my friends I hoped that you enjoyed the model railway!
We have been eating out a lot as we have also given up on the restaurant here as its never open and when it is the food is of a variable standard. Last night we tried..

Dont asl me to pronounce ot but it was near Beijofar

Please not the healthy option! It didnt last long though,,,,,

Home made warm chocolate fudge cake with ise cream after beef Bourgnion and half a bottle of good red wine all for 14.95! This place is certainly more sophisticated than the British Bars and restaurants around and is not a "cheap and cheerful" and not at the other extreme but certainly somewhere mid stream. Excellent food, well presented and great service. I think its British owned but it is definately a mediterranean menu and sooooo much  choice! We will definately will be going back there. Who wants to be blooming cooking?! Apparantly it is advisable to book and I can see why! 

Oh Ive just seen that there is actually something on in the restaurrsnt here tonight! Telepathy! A Dutch Dance with buffet. They say its International?! Starting at a reasonable european time 8pm! Might give it a go..do I give up my model trains and go and start polishing my clogs or just fill my face>! Ya ya! You see Im fluent in Dutch too! Have a good day!

Winter Camping at Marjal Costa Blanca

Good morning world. Well what has been going on? Not a lot. I dont know why this year but everything is extremely quiet. Yes us Brits are definately being shown up by the Dutch and the Spanish. I do hope that things change soon!
There seems to be lots of empty pitches and quite a few regulars arent here. Some have health problems etc but I cant beleive that so many people could be ill all at once!
The weather remains very mild and we cant believe that its November. Yes it does get cool quickly on an evening but during the daytime its very pleasant. Its so quiet around here that Im actually looking forward to doing some work! Happy Hour on Thursday was anything but happy and I would hate to go to a depressing hour! Julio sent the entire hour trying to get a karaoke machine to work. Thank god he was unsucesful or there would have been a mass exodus from the bar. What are they trying to do to us?! A nice pleasant singer would have been nice but come on...Karaoke>! They obviously havent heard us sing! I actually left early in time to watch Eastenders-how sad is that?! Is that really me?!
During the day I have resorted to my sewing but others have found good books to read

 Note the eyes closed and that mouth! I thought it was he entrance to the Dartford Tunnel! You take it easy old boy!
Last night I decided to try Longs Bar again in Catral. Wow! Steak for two with all the trimmings and dessert plus a bottle of wine to share 19.95. It wasnt cheap plonk either. It was a nice Rioja. When I said that I was driving they re corked it for me to bring away. Phew! Another crisis avoided! Its under New Management and on a Sunday apparantlay it gets very busy with sunday dinners but they are open until 8 pm. Im not on comission but so far its been great there. Nothing too fancy just plain good British cooking

The Presentation was good which is more than can be said for my photography! Apparantly I had missed some organised entertainment that was on in the bar here but it didnt start until 10pm! Helllooooo where are most of your customers from? Spain or the rest of europe?!  The rest of europe and given that some cant stay awake in the afternoon ,never mind 10pm what a waste! They are just catering for the minority that are only here at a weekend leaving the rest of us europeans who are here all week  to tuck up in bed bored! No dont go there! You know what I meant! Things arent that bad yet! Actaully they nearly were last night when I went to bed whilst Dave watched the bloody Rememberance Parade thing as I really was losing the will to live! 

So  today its off to my favourite market at San Isidro. Yes its scruffy. Yes its disorganised but I love it. I can be equally boring there and buy a weeks fresh veg for about 2 euros! Its a true  Spanish=Moroccan and very little english is spoken. It gets great fun when I try to barter in pigeon spanish which comes out in my own unique language Spanish.french and english. Fes What a  great language- It could catch on who needed Latin?! but who the hell  knows what I will finish up with! 

So all I have to say now is Au luego bye and have a good day! 

Two weeks on..The Return to Marjal Eco Resort

Well I hurtled back to Marjal and I havent stopped! This was supposed to be my relaxation! Oh so other people had other plans....namely my mother!
The day after I arrived back I sold my mothers trailer. I hasten to add that she had wanted to sell it! She had a fifth whhel and was finding the steps difficult. To cut a very long story short we then bought a 38 foot American  trailer, a large caravan to ,ost of us. It did get veryt complicated as nothing we do is straightforward. I sold mums fifth wheel in euros and bought the new one in pounds! Hey two weeks of hard graft and I have a happy mummy  so it was all worth it.

Whilst moving mum of course the weather was red hot but now its all done its cooled down. I think they call it sods law! Hey ho Its certanly still warmer than England/

It was great to see many of my friends again but lots of things have changed here in the few months that I have been away.You go into the local bars and everyone has changed places. Yes all the bar owners seeme to have swapped and has bought someone elses bar! I went into Cafe Uno as I wanted some plain simple cooking. After waiting half an hour on the terrace I gave it up as a bad job. Apparantly that has changed hands. I have tried Longs and the lady I knew in there used to work at Costellos and Village. I must admit that I quite liked it there. Good service and cheap and cheerful food.Me cook? You must be joking. I think I should be a restaurant critic! 

There do seem to be lots of empty spaces at Marjal. Yes they have opened new sections but many of the regulars are missing. Whether Im too early but no one seems to have got their act together yet as the animation/entertainment is just about non existent. One firm favourite ramains though...happy hour! Just dont try the bar meals! Its quite simple to keep most of us Brits happy-cheap booze always works! 

At last I think they have just about sorted out the wifi here. Yes they have put pitch prices up but I dont mind if we get to use all the facilities and wifi! Bliss. No not quite.....

A new dog free zone! Well I did consider it. Once again there are 5 dogs around me and cats. The dogs just yap when they see a cat and the one behind cries! If I want peace and quiet I must go on to E block beside the motorway and in the remains of the storage area! I dont think so but at the moment it s bareable! Time will tell. It made me laugh over Halloween when the Spanish were here. The middle section of the main road they have block paved and put signs up that dogs cant pee or poo. What a good idea. The only problem is that already the Spanish have found a way round it..walk your dog on the road! Can you imagine the mayhem it caused?! Bikes,pedestrians,Kids ,cars,caravans and dogs on long elasticcy leads?! Take your life in your own hands if you want to be in or out the campsite! Ahh well at least they  are trying!

Oh and someone had a go at nicking Daves bike. Daves old mountain bike. I was sitting in my awning at about 0715 one morning and a bloke came up running at the side of my awning towards the bike I shouted at him and he ran off. I was telling my friends to be careful "How do you know that he was spanish?!" Well I cant think of many other people that can swear in Spanish like that! Well at least its increased my vocabulary! All I can say is that if he wanted to nick a bike he should have at least chosen a good one or get himself to Specsavers! 

 Talking of Specsavers there is a god up there after all. I waqs accuesd by Dave of being a cheapskate with my last pair of glasses. Needless to say I wouldnt buy vairiofoculs and lost both pairs on the Tour. Specsasvers in Guardamar is fantastic. I showed him 511 euros! Now who is a cheapskate?! I just cant wait for them to arrive. How am I going to pay for them? An e mail from the Caravan Club......will I inspect 27 sites in Spain and Portugal?! Hmm..let me think?! So a wandering I must go! It will be hard work and a lot of miles and paperwork but its interesting to see the different campsites and the people that you meet along the way so I am looking forward to it. That poor old car! I will have inspected 50 sites by the end of the year,not to mention the ones that I have visited on my own or on Tours. How lucky am I?! My car is just one year old but I darent press the trip meter thing to see how many miles Ive done! Ignorance is bliss-just keep on tugging! Well they were daft enough to give me a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty!
So today thre sun is out but it looks to have a cool wind. Theres only one thing for it.. a mucky job but soemtimes a girl has just got to do it.....market here I come. Not for anything exciting for fabric for repairs for people. Hey ho Its hould keep me out of mischiefn or at least help!
Whatever you are doing have a nice day now!

The Caravan Club Riviera Touch Grand Tour..the final update!

http://www.vieilleferme.com/?lg=es&c=bienvenue-es&m=menu_left_esWell O wasn't able to keep my blog up to date. If anyone says that they were bored on this Tour they were an absolute fibber! Time? Where did it go? You only realise how many places you have actually been to when you flick back through your camera roll. You look at a picture and think 'that was great but where was it?!'
I think I'm up to leaving the terrible storms in Genoa and dashing to the French Riviera. Camping LA Vielle Ferme, near Nice. Oh one nice day and then.....more rain. On our planned trip out but what a lovely surprise we got later. It just didn't rain it came down in stair rods so we did our guided walk on a coach!

Actually it was great fun. We had a great driver who somehow managed to make it great fun even though he didn't speak any english and we were in a sorry state as we were reliant on my French!

We knew that we were having lunch out but zi never quite expected anything like this. Hotel Negressco on the Promenade de Anglaise. This was the entrance..

The actual restaurant

But oh...the food!

I dread to think how much the three course meal had cost. I only had one glass of house wine....wait for it...10 euros! I can get 3 bottles for that! Wow though. What a fantastic treat. It is listed as one of the best hotels to stay in in the world. Oh boy I can see why! Oh I even took pictures of the ladies loos. I was just blown away by this place!

It was far too nice to even go for a pee in!

Next stop was our final move on the Tour to Sommieres. We went as the advanced party ( in more ways than one!) to make sure that it was safe due to previous flooding. I'm pleased to report that it was perfectly safe at Domains due Masserau. I went to sleep to the sound of owls and was awoken by a bloody donkey! Here I am camping with all my friends!

But at least the pool was open and I had it all to myself!

The others soon arrived and the weather picked up again. We had two more coach trips. One to Aix in Provence and the other to Montpellier. Both beautiful cities but knackered.com!

The farewell meal was great fun. It had been planned in a nearby restaurant that unfortunately had recently been flooded so we pinched their chef and the campsites conference room and...voila!

Even in such circumstances the chef managed to surprise us with the dessert when he pulled back the dividing door.

He set fire or whatever they call it to lovely homemade ice cream! Wow!

Now I have to admit that there aren't any pictures after this point and I'm just praying that no one had a video camera. Chris got his guitar out and someone had to lead the singing didn't they? Why? I'm a shy, quiet, reserved sort of person you know! A great Tour..now bring on the next one!

http://www.massereau.com/en/

http://www.hotel-negresco-nice.com

The Caravan Club The Riviera Grand Tour French Riviera

What a lovely day on Saturday. You can walk from this campsite into one of my favourite cities in the world, Antibes. I hadn't been there for twenty years and it still didn't fail to impress. The prices didn't either though! 10 euros plus just to park the car for 3 hours! OK so its the real millionaires playground but I'm certainly not a millionaire! Its so..French! Narrow winding streets, chic shops and of course those yachts!

Look at the gym in that side-even I might be tempted to exercise.

I couldn't afford one of these even if I did win the lottery! How the other half lives but are they happier than me in my little caravan? I doubt it.

Yesterday was a bonus. Due to the weather we moved early so I organised an extra trip to Monaco. Now normally there is a lovely double decker train that goes from the campsite but you guesses..we are in France..they are on strike so coach it had to be. The weather was overcast but pleasant enough for walking around. Its one of the few places that I can get really excited by cars -'err not another Ferrari!" Common! 

For sale?! Then I saw one that I could afford....

It looked impressive outside the Formula one shop!

outside the famous casino

We do have some dreamers in our group!

The truth of the matter is that we arrived by bus. We couldn't afford a meal so we found a supermarket and bought a sandwich and sat on a wall to eat them! Some would say that we looked like tramps. I prefer to say 'we had a picnic!"

We were awaken this morning by another blooming thunder storm. Today is a walking trip around Nice and then a meal in a very prestigious restaurant ( I can't even spell the word!) Do you think they will let me in with my walking boots and kagool?!

Someone always has to lower the tone! Lol

http://www.vieilleferme.com

The Caravan Club The Riviera Touch Grand Tour 2014 update

Its so hard to keep this blog up to date. Anyone who says that they have been bored on this Tour is a liar! I'm not even sure what day of the week it is never mind where the hell I am! I will have to get the itinerary to tell you where I've been and what we be been up to!
The Last time that I blogged we were at camping Roma Flash. A campsite that is one of my favourites overlooking Italy's eighth largest lakes. The water was still 26 degrees. The views are just to die for

This pic was taken from my caravan door watching the world wake up!

This  lovely bar area is the scene of our barbecue and sing song. What a way to start the day.

From here we visited Rome. Each time I visit Rome I get more and more disappointed. I find it ridiculously expensive,dirty and disappointing. 4 euros for a cup of coffee in a budget cafe! It isn't a working city. Its simply a tourist destination. I can't even say it has the wow factor. I can't help but compare it to York and I know which gets my vote any day as the most beautiful and well preserved Roman City.I failed to be impressed before with the Tivoli fountains but even worse this time as they were being renovated and all you could see was scaffolding but still the Japanese took pictures!

We left camping Roma Flash after we had a surprise meal out which was superb. None of us wanted to leave this site or area as it is simply stunning.

We arrived at Orbetello Camping Village and the site was very Italian with very small pitches. How could anywhere compare to Roma Flash though?!

The following day we had a boat trip to Giglio Island and..another meal! Wow what a day. As we approached Giglio we could see where the cruise ship the Concordia sank. What was that captain thinking of?! Quite sobering. 

We then went to the castle on the top of the island with our fantastic tour guides and then a meal in a restaurant before the boat back..

It all got too much for one of our group

What could possibly go wrong?.......

Our group was suddenly surrounded late at night by real Irish gypsies! This was shortly followed by a visit from the local Police! I was able to make a quick call to the Caravan Club and we all moved to the next site early. Its not the fact that they were there but they were up to no good,wandering around our pitches in the early hours, car alarms going off so off we went to the next site..ahh bliss!

Norcenni Girasole Club was just heaven when we got there. I was last away and somehow found a different route to everyone else. The road got narrower and steeper..I kept going..cyclists took pictures of each other ,each hill that they had successfully climbed but the best picture of all would have been when they saw us and our caravan..we had just successfully climbed a 15 in one! Yes ..in second gear at that! I must admit I don't recommend that route! Dave started laughing. I snapped 'I don't know why you're laughing. I'm poo pooling myself here and I'm driving!" The site is huge with everything that you could want set in the heart of Tuscany just please check the route! It has 9 swimming pools and superb restaurants, shops etc. I actually think its the biggest site in Europe.

The new Hull City football team or the Caravan Clubs star players?.....

Yes just for a change we gate crashed another party and showed the youngsters how to do it! I even managed 'the twist' and the 'moonwalk' I wasn't being shown up by some thirty something lass ( don't tell anyone that I couldn't walk the next day!)

From here we went wine tasting. ( doesn't the Club think we be tasted enough already?!) 

We were sorry to leave this site. Lovely but onward we must go to camping Rapallo.

I think this site wasn't helped by the rain and some members of the group forgetting that they weren't in the UK! This was in total contrast to some we had left and in my opinion was TRUE Italian. It was very rustic but very clean with a little bar. Land is scarce for building/camping in the Genoa area so to find a campsite at all was something of a miracle. We had a lovely meal in a restaurant within walking distance of the campsite as well as a supermarket but oh boy did it rain?! 1 metres worth in one day! Some of our group turned out for the trip to Genoa and showed the true camping spirit

I must admit they did look strange particularly when the sun came out! Anyhow Genoa was an interesting place 

It didn't even stop for us to eat our lunch!

It thundered and lightened all through the night. We were all awake since 3am. The Club made an excellent decision to move us ahead quicker than planned to the French Riviera. Oh boy was I frightened driving?! Even the tunnels were flooding! As we approached France it dried up and the sun came out! Hallelujah! I have just heard that 4 were killed in the Genoa region and there has been untold damage as the river broke its banks!

So we arrived near Antibes last night in sunshine but guess what it did this morning A storm but nothing like Italy's. Its drying up now so its time to visit some old haunts...how I am looking forward to Antibes. I think I might just join a boating club!