The chains in Spain break mostly when the shop's shut

So, we're nearly at the end of our first week in Spain and haven't had much wifi access.  However, we currently have free wifi so I'm making the most of it...


Monday saw us hop across the border from France to land at our first Spanish stop at Sant Feliu de Guixols (no idea how it's supposed to be pronounced!!) in the region of Catalunya, a free aire on the edge of town, full of German and Dutch motorhomes.  Having decided to avoid toll roads as much as possible, the journey from Port Vendres was ridiculously windy (not the blowing variety) and we were blessed with some incredible views en route.

The Spanish border crossing - I didn't want the workmen thinking I was snapping them - hence the dodgy picture!

Some of the driving views before Barcelona

 

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The beach at Sant F de G

Sant F de G is a nice, but fairly unremarkable seaside resort, but the aire was quiet and it gave us a couple of days to rest up and get used to another country - and more importantly, allowed Pete a driving free day.  I found that the basic Spanish I thought I knew was pretty useless too as they all speak Catalan in Catalunya!

On Tuesday evening, we made our plans for the next day and decided to head inland to a town called Vic.  As we needed groceries, a gas top up and it was almost laundry day, we figured we could get it all done in the same town.  Coordinates for all necessary services input into 'Hazel', we were ready for the off.  However, on Wednesday morning, after a particularly chilly night, we decided that it would be colder in the mountains, so we decided to stick to the coast instead; never change plans at the last minute!! Decision made, we headed south (as is always the case at the moment!), with the intention of trying to find another free aire on or around the coast.

After driving through a number of no go areas and failing to find any petrol stations selling gas, we finally got joy at Sitges, which according to the map, was of some touristic interest.  We failed to find the aire that should have been there, but having driven further than he'd like for the day, we took the easy, but painfully expensive option of booking into a campsite.  We made use of their tiny washing machine while we were there and to save the extortionate dryer fee, we made the most of the weather and hung the washing up outside.

Laundry day in Sitges

Having failed to find a supermarket without height barriers en route, we were low on supplies, so decided to completely hammer the budget and eat out for the first time since leaving the UK.  I also made good use of the amazing campsite showers and had the longest, hottest shower I've had in weeks!  We do shower in Dora but we're very limited by time and space, so it's really not the same at all.  Feeling squeaky clean and refreshed after my little piece of heaven, leaving absolutely everything electrical on charge as we were hooked up for the first time, we left Powell to snooze and spent  a couple of hours at the campsite restaurant eating tapas and drinking our usual tipples.  It was nice to be out of Dora for a couple of hours in the evening as more often than not, we're hunkered down for the night by early evening.  The food wasn't amazing, but it was tasty enough and reasonably priced, coming in at just under 35 euros for the two of us.

On Thursday, once our laundry had finally dried off, we were on the road again.  Having been slightly disappointed by our hunt for beach stopovers so far, we set off with renewed vigour, to a tolerated spot just outside Tarragona.  We arrived and found a couple of other vans there, right on the sea front.  It was a lovely little spot, where, for once, dogs are allowed, so we took Powell for a wander on the beach.  The only problem was the blatant 'no motorhomes' signs, which looked like they had been placed quite recently and could not be ignored...we both wanted to ignore them and stay anyway, but knowing there was a risk of being moved on later in the evening, we bottled it and headed inland to an authorised aire.

The route to Asco was beautiful, but unfortunately we didn't get much chance to see it all before it got dark.  By the time we arrived, it was after 7pm and it was too late to find another spot after we noticed the nuclear power station cooling tower only a km or so away from the aire... something that our aires guide had neglected to mention!! In addition, the aire is right next to the main road and a train track, so it wasn't very quiet until much later.  Poor Powell looked panic stricken every time a train went past - to be fair, it did actually sound like it might be heading straight for us it was that close and loud!! Pete took Powell for a wander into town before we headed to bed and noticed the busiest bar in town was called El Nucleo - nice to see the locals embracing the power station!  They offered tours too, but I visited Heysham when I was at school, so I didn't fancy another one.  I made the mistake of looking the place up online, having gained access to their free town internet.  They had a leak a few years ago, but took 3 months to inform the authorities!!  Needless to say, we were off the next morning and we didn't top up our fresh water, just in case!

The cooling tower at Asco

The aire at Asco - radioactive skies?!

View en route to the coast - the Ebro river

We decided to give the coast another go and headed to Els Muntells, another free, but official aire, near the sea, described as peaceful and out of the way.  We arrived and after driving through the town, left almost immediately.

Els Muntells

I know you shouldn't be fussy when you're not paying for things, but...it was too early in the day to just stay there so we moved on again, to our final stop for the day, Peñiscola in the region of Valencia.  We parked up at La Volta - Stop and Go campsite after discovering they only charge 7 euros a night!  We were immediately greeted by a British motorhoming couple (it would seem that they enjoy greeting the newbie Brits as they arrive!)) who, along with the majority of the guests here, had set up camp here for the winter.  I can't really blame them; for that price, you get secure parking, showers, clean water, grey and black emptying, free wifi, loos, a swimming pool and onsite bar and restaurant.  But I think we are actually the youngest people here, by a good 15-20 years!  However, it's not something we'd be tempted to do ourselves.  Sounds a bit harsh, but the whole point of a motorhome is to go motoring in them.

Once we'd had a spot of lunch, we offloaded the bikes and dusted them down a little and took Powell for a ride along the promenade, a round trip of around 10km over a couple of hours, so a good and much needed, leg stretch for him.  Peniscola and Benicarlo are about equidistant from the campsite and neither of them are much to shout about, having been terribly overdeveloped like most of the coast we've seen so far, but the beach here is really nice, although dogs aren't allowed!

This part of Spain appears to be predominantly arable farmland, with oranges being the primary crop.  I may be wrong, but it doesn't appear to be a particularly affluent area, yet we've seen the odd huge new build, which sits awkwardly amongst the single storey farmhouses on the outskirts of town.  They may well belong to the farmers, but something tells me otherwise.  Spain is a beautiful country, but it doesn't appear to be very wealthy and the contrasts we've seen so far are considerable.  We've been here before, but we stayed in the countryside so we weren't subjected to such contrasts before.

So now it's Saturday and our second night at La Volta.  Today we went to find a bike shop after Pete's chain snapped en route to find sparkling water last night (one expensive habit of mine that won't easily go!).  He returned downhearted, with a broken chain and no water.  It turns out his chain had snapped but he had scooted on regardless to the supermarket, only to find that he'd forgotten his wallet.  Pete, however, ever the optimist and determined not to be beaten, then jumped onto my bike and returned triumphant half an hour later...with 2 bottles of lemonade!  Pete had read the name 'gaseosa' and assumed that it was water.  He was gutted; I was flattered that he'd gone to such lengths to feed my habit.  After a 5km walk each way and a fruitless search for 'Blobikes' bike shop today, Powell was well walked but Pete was still chainless.  He returned later on this evening after checking the opening times and re-checking the address, only to find that it, like everything else around here, was closed.  So today really would have been a complete waste of time, had we not had Powell with us!!  It also gave us a chance to grab a couple of bits for lunch and for me to buy an actual bottle of water!  I just hope we can find a bike shop soon as although he's fixed it for now, it's only a matter of time before it breaks again and we're hoping to do some via verdes in the next week or two.  Via verdes, I'll go into in more detail when we do one, but they're essentially green ways for biking.

We might have considered staying another night here, but we've noticed another thing about this part of Spain too; they don't seem to have their dogs inside.  All of the dogs we've seen around here (and there are many) appear to be little more than guard dogs and are consequently left outside and bark at the slightest noise, which then starts the neighbourhood on an evening chorus of barking and howling!  Now we both love dogs, but that is annoying, especially when the motorhoming pets (and there are also many of those!) join in!  Powell of course, is not one of the culprits, being possibly the quietest dog we have ever known!

Tomorrow we leave the security of our little housing estate for pastures new.  We remain positive despite the less than promising start!  We've been a bit disappointed in the quality and location of the free aires available so far in Spain.  We've been spoilt by the aires in France and now we're over the border, the difference is phenomenal.  However, as we're only just into the second of 17 very different regions (including the Balearics and Canaries), all is not lost.

I've taken so few photos, it'll hopefully take no time to upload them...watch this space!