So Happy to be wandering again! Hola Espana via Woking!

Yippee.  There is a god up there! We left dear old Yorkshire and headed to the dreaded south coast. A long trek. I chose a CL just the other side of London so that we only had to travel to Portsmouth the next day to get the ferry. The CL was called Hoe Farm at Woking. It had very mixed reviews but as it was only for one night it didn't matter too much. We survived the mad M25 and travelled maybe 10 miles or so. The sat nav was telling us to turn down this country lane "yeah right.  You ve got to be joking" but we did and what a suprise we got.  In the middle of all this city life opened up a clearing in the woods,with chickens and horses and here was our CL! Spotless and new shower facilities etc. Now at the end if this lane was the train station that takes you into Waterloo in about 30 minutes! What a find and all for £20 a night! I know it's expensive  for a CL but hey how much would a hotel room cost in London? We will definately be going back there to take the grandaughter to visit London maybe next year. HOE FARM!!

Well this has to be a first. .the sea was calm! More than I can say for my nerves Brittany Ferries when a very rude Marshall got annoyed with me because I kept looking into my mirrors and not at him! The ferry was not anywhere near full so why the he'll we had to park so close is beyond me. It certainly was fun climbing out of the car in a most undignified fashion! Thank the Lord that I haven't put any weight on!  What would a larger person have done?!

Anyhow it was a lovely crossing and it arrived on time. ( yes it was the Pont AveN the one we just about rowed back in May!)
We headed straight for Playa De Oyambre campsite which is just perfect. It's about 45 minutes from the port. Legs down, a quick scrub up and into the lovely bar/restaurant.  Chill out commenced immediately!  The pool was open, the beach within walking distance, sun shining and life was good. To cap it all my daughter and grandaughter flew into Bilbao and had a few days with us. Life can't get much better than this!

Even the walk to the beach was superb!

She will kill me for this....Katie glam ping! 

Life was being far too kind to us. We even drove into San Vicente one day only to find a wonderful medieval market taking place (like the one in Orihuela). What a lovely setting and a great time. Sadly school was starting and it was back to school so we headed for El Astral a site we have used numerous times. This should have been a leisurely 3 hour drive.  Dave was taking up the caravan legs and I put the motor mover on.  Suddenly the back of the caravan dropped. There had been a nail on the ground and as I engaged the motor mover I had pressed it straight through the blooming tyre! What are the chances of that?! Yes-only me but it could have happened on a motorway but there again....I doubt I would have needed the motor mover!  So we started to change the tyre?no problems or so we thought. Where the motor mover had been fitted made it impossible to get the jack under! What was also worrying was that it's max weight was 1000kgs! Our Caravan weighs 1500kgs! STUCK! I went to see Pablo and Francis the owners of the campsite and hey presto a man with a trolley jack appeared! Lesson learnt. Make sure your jack is strong enough and that it will fit on to the jacking point!
We headed straight to Feu Vert some 20 miles away and for the princely sum of 17 euros our puncture was repaired and a new jack purchased. A really small and snazzy one that holds up to 2000kgs. Now to get the repaired tyre back on to the caravan as we were parked on a road and of course it would be the offside tyre, Lots of shaking heads. A light bulb moment..in my best pigeon spanish "I will pay for beer if someone puts it on!" Two young men forgot about health and safety and within minutes my caravan was back on track! 5 euros each and two very happy young men and an even happier British caravanner!
We did eventually have our 3 hour drive to El Astral and we have a lovely pitch. It's 36 degrees, the pool is open and it's within walking distance of the town of Tortesillas.

The itches are huge and it's suprisingly green (they are always watering it! )

I love people watching as it never fails to disappoint at some people's stupidity.or expectations. A British couple pulled on with a 7.3 metre Swift pulled my the biggest Nissan pick up I have ever seen. I saw it enter the site and said "that's far too long" The rig must have been at least 13m in length if not longer and in spain requires marker boards etc  ut none were displayed.  They couldn't make the turn into the campsite and had to drive around the site to get to their pitch which turned out to be behind us 

Huge! They started talking ,well complaining to us "I can't get my caravan,  awning and car on the pitch! The pitches are too small!" How I bit my tongue I will never know. How about "your car is too big! " Well if they can't get it easily sorted on this campsite they are in for a very happy holiday I can't think of anywhere in Spain with such generous pitches!  

So today it's lovely yet again. We spent much of yesterday doing an impression of Widow Twankeys Laundry on site and the late afternoon by the pool. Life is good. So today,,,a little shopping and pool or siesta. I've felt like a different person and already got into the habit of swimming at least half a mile a day. I feel so much better for the sunshine and the exercise. Happy bunny to be wandering again!http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjAsfPd4vfOAhUNuhsKHYfhD24YABAA&ohost=www.google.es&cid=CAESIuD2Efb5WGbFsgWzdRXjj1hTuKOUW4Pk1fLmVRTj4kGu_WY&sig=AOD64_3_aakbcKND8KaqupQkILvIlI31Pg&q=&ved=0ahUKEwij5u7d4vfOAhVBPRoKHd74BMYQ0QwIHg&adurl=

http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

http://www.campingelastral.es/en/

Wandering again-what a difference 24 hours can make!

Well after we had Hosted the Russian Tour for the Caravan Club we had a lovely week camping with our grandaughter in North Yorkshire and after that everything went down hill, Including the British Summer! We suddenly had coughs and splutters that we hadn't had for at least 5 years and had forgotten how grotty colds are. We simply couldn't shake it off.  One day it was pleasant and sunny and then there was rain,damp and more bloody rain! We were extremely fortunate that the Club wanted some muppets to do a "recce " in Morocco  so who did they ask? Hmm "do we have mugs written on our fore heads?! How could I say "no". We have taken groups across there before but never really stayed..so here goes! All that was far too easy. Getting a ferry at fairly short notice was also problematic due to the problems at Calais more people are looking for alternative routes. Eventually we managed to squeeze on to the Plymouth-Santander Ferry on Sunday night. We were only able to book a 4 berth inside cabin but hey Ho we were going! Thank goodness we left Yorkshire early. The M5-what the heck is all that about? ! 9 hours to travel to Taunton! We really are a third world country where our basic infrastructure can't cope and even if you ever managed to get into fourth gear beware of the speed cameras at 50mph! Eventually we stayed in a CL which was basically a pub car park. £13.50  A night! No showers and only loos when the pub was open! Oh the business was up for sale and he informed us that no matter what he shut the pub at 10pm! What?! The pub was quite busy but true to his word it closed at 10pm!
Sunday morning came and the Devon hospitality continued to excel Thunderstorms, lightening and the forecast predicted a tornado! In torrential rain, coughing and spluttering we headed slowly and carefully for the docks. ......dockside and sunshine! The ferry was late in but who cared we were getting on it. The wonderful Pont AveN that we have been on many times over the years.  Yes she is old but has been taken care of and has had at least one major refit to my knowledge. We opened our cabin door with no natural light and it was dim to put it mildly but it was clean and the beds felt comfortable. We had a lovely meal on board and bought at the bar! Unlike the pub where wine was £5 a glass and P and O prices things were reasonable. Not cheap but not a total rip off.  A great evening. The sea was like a millpond until 2am! Wow! Angry wild sea,tossing our little boat all over the place. I am not a good sailor and I'm not frightened of water but I was seriously beginning to wonder if I could swim ashore to France if I had to!  Things flying, crashing banging all around us. Security were closing the bars and restaurants and apparantly everyone was told to stay in their cabins.  I say "apparently" as at 2am I was already well in the land of nod. Things in our cabin were creek ing and it had nothing to do with our bones! Awake all night as in between the tossing (behave!) staff were using the lift that's shaft ran next to our bloody cabin!
Anyhow we arrived safely with no swmiming involved. In a different world. Few cars on the fast and efficient motorways.  Sun shining. Beautiful scenery. Tired as we were it was a sheer joy.
We only drove for maybe a couple of hundred miles to an old favourite El Astral at Tortillas, South of Burgos. The pool was open. Kids having fun. Sunshine,warmth,cleanliness all as standard. What had I been thinking of?  We needed euros and milk. We just nipped into the town.  Free parking just about everywhere. Just being able to "nip". No bloody machines to pay. No yellow paint plastered everywhere. What a difference in 24 hours! A drink of wine on a lovely terrace  €1.50! Well it would be rude not to! Hey and not only do I have a phone signal but spot on wifi in the caravan! Why the he'll would anyone WANT to stay in the UK?  How can they afford to camp there?! The waterproof clothing and groundsheets are already dried out.  Our coughs and splutters have gone. I've had a great nights sleep, now what shall we do? Breakfast outside watching the world wake up and a day at the pool?! Yep the only thing that's not here is my family but hopefully I will catch up with them again soon when they fly out to us. All I can say is wandering is the best way of living! Europe is the best continent but who knows what Morocco will bring? I do know that I am one very lucky old gal!