We woke in Javea to the sound of a pile driver from the building site close by. Just what you don't need when your trying to have a lie in. Once ready we drove up to the Marina at the other end of town to have a butchers and very nice it was too. After a couple of hours looking round we jumped in the van and headed in the general direction of Calpe.
We stopped at a small town with a beautiful sea front named Moriaira and parked up on a large car park with plenty of other Motorhome's on the edge of town. Val made us some lunch and then we set off in the van looking for the promenade. No sooner had we exited the car park we spotted the sea. We drove down to the prom, turned around and headed straight back to the car park.
We headed out again on the hoof the few hundred yards back down to the sea front. The temperature on an electronic sign said 17° but it didn't feel quite that hot. There was one chap walking on the beach however, with nothing on but a sarong and croc's. It was a very picturesque sea front and we took loads of snaps before having a look round the Marina and the quaint shops and bars around the town centre. It was getting on for 4pm by the time we got back to the van so we decided to stay the night and have another walk into town later on.
After dinner we headed out into town. There were still some shops open and quite a few bars with a enough punters to make it worth their while. We had a walk down to the Marina and then through the back streets to the van. We just got in before the heavens opened and it remained constant throughout the night. Nice and cozy in the van though with Val trying to sort us out some secure parking and me reading a good book about hitch hiking round Ireland with a fridge. Sounds good to a couple of happy campers.
6 December 2016
Throughout the night we had a howling gale and heavy rain which woke me a few times but once I'd paid a visit I was back to sleep in a jiffy.
We slept late and took our time getting ready to set off. I was just switching the gas off when the police arrived to move us on. It was the first time it's happened but probably not the last. The officer who spoke to me was very nice. He asked is I wanted to be told in Spanish or English. It's probably a regular occurrence if your wild camping.
We headed for Calpe once more and finally got there. The aire that our Irish navigator Jerry directed us to was an aire no longer. We made our way to the sea front and parked up so that we could have a look round. The aires that were available were fully booked and there were lots of Motorhome's parked up in the streets. Calpe wasn't really to our taste so after a good looked round we moved on.
Our next stop was Altea. We parked up and had a look round the Marina which was very commercialised. We were struggling to find a spot and Jerry got us lost a couple of times. We had read about an aire on our Dutch app, Campercontact. The place we were looking for was called Daniella's and after getting lost another couple of times we finally worked out how to get there as it was down a dirt track, under a bridge about 50 meters from the shore. Very rustic, but it suited us down to the ground. All the facilities which were a little bohemian and you could only plug into the electricity for two hours and after dark.
With the help of the iboost we got a good strong wifi signal so after dinner, a shower and charging up all our devices we had time for a quick episode of Suits. Happy Days.
7 December 2016
Wall to wall sunshine greeted us this morning as we woke up just as the weather forecast had predicted. It also predicted that it was set fair for the next few days. That pretty good when you think that Hillary Clinton should be president elect and Britain should have voted to keep being be run by Brussels bureaucrats.
After a hearty breakfast of cornflakes we headed out on the bikes along the strangest of cycle tracks that actually ran between some of the cafes dining tables on Altea's promenade. The Spain guidebook has a paragraph detailing how one of the waiters went arse over tit with a tray of food flying everywhere after stepping out into the path of a cyclist on said cycle path without looking.
We went as far as we could along the prom to the next town which was called L'Alfàs del Pi. We locked up the bikes and went exploring on foot. There were lots of bars and swak shops a bit like Morecambe promenade in the summer. We had a walk into the town centre and even found a large car park with one English Motorhome, one German, one Spanish and about a dozen Dutch vans on it. We noted down the coordinates for future reference and took a couple of photographs.
As we headed back to the bikes we couldn't resist a pint and a tapas for €1.50. It was just after midday but the bar looked like it was in full swing and had been for some time. Judging by the sobriety of our fellow drinkers some had been in there quite a while and they weren't all British. We had a pleasant hour in their company before remounting the bikes and heading back to the van trying not to imperil any poor waiters on route.
After lunch with the sun still shining brightly we got the recliners out and did a bit of sunbathing and reading at the same time. I finally finished my Tony Hawks book and am now looking forward to another of his offering which is about his adventures with a piano in the Pyrenees. I can't wait.
Val cooked us a steak dinner and had to contend with our fluctuating electricity supply. Daniela who runs the site allows us to plug in for a couple of hours from 7:00 till 9:00 but the power tonight kept going on and off. We don't need the power as we can switch on to gas for cooking and rely on our solar for light but when Daniela's power goes so does her wifi. What about our evening episodes of Suits.
The sun shines on the righteous, we must have been rewarded for helping an old lady last night. She was trying to get down a slope with her walking frame on wheels. Val held the front to stop her doing a wheelie whilst I linked her arm and we got her onto level ground in one piece. Steak, Suits and a drop of vino. Contented campers.
Daniela Aire N38° 36.378' W0° 2.456' €10 per night.
8 December 2016
Day 100 since we left Wyre Close and we woke 50 metres from the sea in Altea just a cock stride from Benidorm. I didn't realise we were so close until we started driving this morning. We wanted to check out a site called Almafra which is on the outskirts of Benidorm and when we put the coordinates in the TomTom, our sat navigator Sean the Irishman informed us it was only about 5km away. No wonder the price of a pint has been getting lower.
Of course we couldn't set of until the van was cleaned and hovered just in case we have burgers when it's in storage. How could we sleep at night unless we had prepared for the eventually?
We found Almafra after first of all getting lost up some narrow winding lane. Some backing up was needed before getting on the correct course. Val had fed Shaun the wrong coordinates so he couldn't be to blame under the circumstances. When we arrived we parked up and went into reception to enquire about availability in January. "Abla Englies" I said to the receptionist, her response being "a little". Then in perfect English she told me they were booked up till April. We had a butcher though for future reference.
Our next stop was a little town called Villajoyosa. We stopped and had a very late lunch before getting out and exploring the town. We walked up onto the cliff and took a few photographs and then had a walk down onto the beach. It was a quaint little town with a couple of campsites and a nice quiet feel to it.
Next we headed for Alicante. It was too late to try and find a camping store we intended to visit. So we tried to find our storage spot ready for tomorrow. Google maps wasn't much help as they don't give you the coordinates. We drove round and round, in and out of the airport and pulled in for the third time in a small village called El Altet. We had passed without any warning the opening to our secure parking location. Now it was a case of trying to get back to the same spot made difficult as it was on a dual carriageway only accessible from one side. We managed to get back there and pulled in to take down the coordinates which should make life easy in the morning.
Our final stop was at a wild camping spot at a large flat car park right on the beach just north east of Santa Pola. As I'm updating the blog Val has the window wide open trying to cool down. We have just got everything ready for the morrow and kept up with the United match with a mixture of internet radio and the Sky Sports app. Mhyki's first goal for the club and another for Zlatan to put the game to bed. I hope it's light in the morning before we leave this place as is a stunning spot and i would love to take a photograph as it was dark as we arrived. An early night for the not so sleepy campers toady for an early dart.
Camino del Carabasi - Wild Camping Spot - 38°13′32" N - 00°30′38" W
9 - 30 December 2016
Our time was spent between London, Sheffield and Morecambe before flying back to Alicante. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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