June 2015

Ninot on Alicante Promenade

7th June 2015. 

We've had a fairly quiet start to the month but have still managed to cycle almost 90 kms including another ride to Busot to see if my hill climbing legs had improved. I am pleased to say that the second time around it was much easier so all this practice must be working! Deb & David left on the 3rd to start heading further north so we won't see them again until we meet up in Gruissan around the end of July. 

Wedding Anniversary toast.

Today is our wedding anniversary and Pilar, the site manager gave us a lovely bottle of wine from her home town in Northern Spain. We did a great ride to Valle del Sol this morning but when it turned out to be a large urbanisation with no shops or cafés we headed back to make our own coffee. Oh well, it saved us €2.80!! As it was so hot we spent a lovely afternoon on the beach before walking back to cook dinner. We were keen to watch Bradley Wiggins's attempt to break the hour record so we were delighted when we managed to find a website showing a live stream of the attempt.  I then had my first attempt at a lovely fish curry recipe that I had pinched from Deb and we enjoyed a lovely relaxing evening with the curry washed down by Pilar's wine. 

11th June 2015.

After a month at El Campello it was time to move on as we planned on visiting many places en route to Cartagena before heading inland to Totana and then Murcia. We need to be back at El Campello for the 20th June as Alicante celebrates the festival of the Fogueres de Sant Joan (the bonfires of San Juan), also known as the Hogueras de San Juan depending on whether you speak Catalan Spanish or not. It's a 5 day festival celebrated every year around the time of the summer solstice to welcome in the summer. It promised to be an amazing display of music, dance, fireworks and food but for me the attraction is the Ninots which you may remember from my post in April when we visited the Fallas museum in Valencia.

Chilling by the lovely pool at La Marina

Anyway I diversify so more of that later. We set off for La Marina, just south of Alicante as it was ideally placed for visiting several coastal towns as well as the Laguna del Hondo nature reserve. It was a lovely little site with 2 swimming pools which was a real bonus now the temperatures were getting in to the high 20's. Ironically today was cooler with showers, the first rain we had seen for weeks, typical. We spent the rest of the day planning our itinerary for the next few days.

14th June 2015.

Pink Flamingo on the salt lake

We have enjoyed 2 great rides since we arrived at La Marina. On the 12th we cycled to the beach area exploring the pretty coastline with its sand dunes and trees, the nearby salt lakes with their beautiful flamingoes and also cycled around the urbanisation of La Marina which is apparently the largest urbanisation in Europe. I nicknamed it 'little England' as it was full of British and even had a British style pub called the Hogs Head and several charity shops all with their signs in English. It was a very hilly area so we had certainly got some good exercise, albeit only 20kms. The following day we did a lovely 30km ride to the

The view en route to Laguna del Hondo

Laguna Del Hondo nature reserve. The scenery en route was lovely with great views of the mountains in the distance.  Right in the middle of the reserve we followed the signs to a viewing point and came across a huge lake full of pink flamingoes. I was keen to get a picture of them in flight so you can guess how annoyed I was when several off them took off in front of me and I accidentally hit the off button by mistake. By the time I got the camera back on the birds had landed at the other end of the lake. I did eventually get a picture of some of them flying but it wasn't a close shot and my Panasonic LUMIX doesn't have the powerful zoom that my Nikon SLR camera does. 

The one disadvantage to the lovely little site we were staying on was the mozzies. There were hundreds of the little blighters and we were woken up several times each night by their buzzing and their bites.

Stunning view from the cycle path

We had even given up on the fly screens and closed all the windows but they still got in. We decided to move a mere 5kms to a lovely little camperstop at San Fulgencio as we had checked it out the day before and it appeared to be relatively mozzie free. After parking up we set off for a bike ride to Guardamar del Segura. The town itself was much like any other but the area around the coastline was stunning. There were miles of sand dunes backing the lovely beaches with well designed

Guardamar beach

walk/cycleways between the trees. As we rode along we kept getting glimpses of the the sea between the trees. It was a stunning area and we covered a very pleasant 35kms, enjoying a great ride. As England were playing Slovenia in the World Cup qualifiers we cycled to the Hogs Head after dinner to watch the game which resulted in a 3-2 win for England. It's looking like England will make the finals but how far they get is another matter!!

Santa Pola salt mounds

17th June 2015. 

We have done 2 fantastic rides the last 2 days. We cycled to Torrevieja which had some pretty areas but wasn't really our kind of place. The main route was along the N332 dual carriageway but luckily there was a good cycle path covering the majority of the route so it wasn't a bad ride and we covered 44kms. Yesterday we cycled to Santa Pola which was a lovely fishing town built over the ruins of an old Roman village. It is bordered by salt marshes and we could see two huge piles of salt as we approached the town.

The Castle

What a delight this place was with its lovely promenade, wide sandy beaches, a stunning castle and the Marina. We explored the town and then stopped for coffee and tostada for the bargain price of €1.50 each. After leaving the town we stopped to admire the salt marshes, home to many flamingoes, before heading home. The one disadvantage to this area was that the only route was along the N332 and unlike the route to Torrevieja there were no cycle paths so we were cycling in a small lane adjacent to the carriageway. It was quite a gusty day so it wasn't a very pleasant ride being buffeted by the wind, especially as the wind was blowing us towards the carriageway. Definitely not a ride for a nervous cyclist!! Although it wasn't an overly hilly route it was quite tiring with the wind and it was a relief to get back.

Santa Pola promenade

We had covered another 46kms so we rewarded ourselves with a glass of wine.

We had underestimated how little time we had and how much there was to see as it had now become evident that if we were to make it back to Alicante for the Hogueras festival we did not have time to make it to Cartagena or Murcia. We decided to head to a lovely campsite at Crevillent as it was the nearest one to Elche, famous for its orchard of over 200,000 palm trees that have been declared a world heritage site by Unesco. 

Elche castle

After a quick set up we unloaded the bikes and set straight off for Elche. The route was via the very busy N340 but as the road was lined with industrial and commercial units along a large stretch of it there was an adjacent service lane that made it safer although there were still a few places with no service lane where it felt like the traffic was dangerously close. Elche was delightful and had a very good cycle path network. After admiring all the palm trees we headed to the castle which was lovely.

That is one big stiletto!!

There was a giant sculpture of a stiletto heeled shoe outside the castle which intrigued me. I later Googled it and discovered that Elche is home to a major shoe making industry creating employment for over 18,000 people. Luckily for Glynn I wasn't aware that on the outskirts of the city is the Salvador Artesano factory selling thousands of shoes at discounted prices! Although it is unlikely I would have found any shoes to buy as I am somewhat of a freak by Spanish standards as every shoe shop and market I have visited only sells shoes for women up to a size 41 and I am a size 42. Are there really no big footed women in Spain or do they just rely on mail order?

Elche palms

We meet some amazing people on our travels and today was no exception. Parked opposite us was a lovely lady named Aileen. She was 78 years old and hailed from Ireland. She didn't let the lack of a travelling companion hold her back and spent 6 months every year touring a new country in her camper, learning their language and then spent every winter in Thailand . She was a great character and had many tales to tell us of places she had visited. We enjoyed a fun evening of wine and gossip. 

Outside the Town Hall

20th June 2015. 

We returned to El Campello yesterday and today we were up bright and early to catch the tram into Alicante for the start of the Hogueras festival. Prior to the main event there have already been many events taking place in the preceding weeks. Each neighbourhood selects its Beauties and her ladies in waiting and from these candidates the queen of the fiesta is selected, the Bellea del Foc (beauty of fire) and her Ladies of Fire (Damas del Foc). There are also Infantile Beauties too and all wear the traditional dress of a Novia Alicantina (Alicantinian Bride). Parades of the Ninots have already taken place and I was really excited to see the Ninots (meaning puppets or dolls) in situ as opposed to in a museum and we had a fabulous day wandering around the city looking for them. There was an incredible atmosphere with thousands of people

Check out that food!!

filling the bars and restaurants and wandering the streets, cameras in hand, much like us. There was a fantastic drum band playing in the streets, building up the excitement towards the crescendo that was the Mascletà at 2pm at the Plaza de Los Luceros. The Mascletà takes place every day of the festival and is an explosive display of firecrackers and fireworks that are so loud the noise can exceed 120 decibels and ear plugs are recommended. There were thousands of people heading towards the Plaza and we went with the flow, keen to witness our first Mascletà. 

Entry of the Bands Parade

All around the city centre barracas and racòs (big tents) are erected where everyone can eat drink and dance the night away during the festivities. There are numerous parades,  the Entry of The Bands, small bands from each neighbourhood accompanied by the Beauties in traditional dress, the Prize Giving parade and the Offering of the Flowers parade. There is also a spectacular International Folk Parade featuring dance troupes from all over the world. 

An Infantile Beauty

I doubt much sleeping is done during the Hogueras festival as the celebrations carry on throughout the days and nights and firecrackers are set off in every district at 8am. We could hear the firecrackers from our camperstop in El Campello which was about 10kms from the city centre. It all culminates at midnight on the 24th June when the bonfires are lit all across the city and whilst everyone is dancing and singing the firemen spray them with water in what is known as the banyá. In true Spanish style the festivities don't actually end there as a firework competition takes place over the next 4 days and there is a medieval market and numerous shows.

Ninot

After the very enjoyable Mascletà, with ours still ringing from the noise, we decided to head back to the tram and spend the evening relaxing as we had walked for hours and we're ready to put our feet up.

22nd June 2015.

Yesterday we spent the morning cycling and the afternoon was spent cooling back down with a swim in the sea.

Parade of Giants

Today we decided to head back to Alicante to watch the Entry of the Bands parade and the Parade of Giants.

It was lovely to see the Beauties accompanied by their tiny counterparts in their traditional dress. With every group accompanied by their own band there was a lot of noise as they made their way down the streets. We wandered to other areas of town, checking out some more Ninots that we had missed on our previous visit and as we walked past the bullring there were ticket touts trying to sell us tickets for that night's bullfight. We declined their offer of cheap tickets and headed back to the tram as it was now wine o'clock!! I would definitely recommend a trip to Alicante to witness this festival and here is a link with more information. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfires_of_Saint_John

Alicante Bullring

26th June 2015. We left El Campello on the 24th, deciding against going back into Alicante for the last night of the Hogueras but we may well go back another year to witness the bonfires. I almost can't bear the thought of witnessing those incredible Ninots being set alight. We decided to spend a few days back at Calpe before we head inland slightly. It is now getting incredibly hot and as the Motorhome seems to remain several degrees hotter than outside it is getting difficult to sleep. Today we decided to copy the Spanish and spend the evening on the beach with a bottle of wine and a picnic. We have been surprised at how busy some of the beaches are at night but with the temperatures climbing so high now it is the best place to end the evening with the lovely breeze coming in off the water. Clutching our beach chairs and a backpack packed with cheeses, olives, crackers and wine we headed to the beach. The wind seemed to be getting stronger and it soon became obvious that our first beach picnic was not going to happen tonight. The gusts of wind blew sand everywhere and it was like getting a free exfoliation as we were getting shot-blasted by the sand. It was almost painful so we admitted defeat and headed home to have our food and wine. Oh well there are plenty more days to have a picnic on the beach. 

The view to the coast from the camp

29th June 2015.

We have spent the last 2 days at a really lovely campsite at Campell in the Vall de Laguar, approximately 10 kms inland as the crow flies. It is a stunning area in the mountains with fantastic walking and cycling opportunities. Well that would be the case in cooler months but as our luck would have it the temperatures had soared to over 40° not the least bit conducive to cycling level roads let alone mountainous ones! Always keen to give things a go we set off yesterday to explore a could of local villages agreeing that we would not cycle too far in this heat. We headed to Orba first which turned out to be downhill all the way and no pedalling was required for the entire 5km journey. As we flew down towards the town my heart sank knowing I was going to have to cycle all the way back up again. After a quick exploration we decided to head back but with a quick deviation to Fontilles which

At Campell

houses the last remaining Lepra hospital in Europe. The views all the way down to the coast were stunning and I stopped to take some photos while we got our breath back from the tough climb. We were surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and a huge valley that sat between us and the sea. The roads were lined with fruit trees, oranges, limes and many others. It is an area famous for its cherries but we had just missed the season. It was absolutely stunning and is definitely a place we will return to in cooler months. When we arrived back at Campell the temperature sign was showing 42° so we swapped the bikes for swimming gear and headed straight for the pool. I didn't even bother to check how cold the water was as I think I would have got straight in even if there had been ice on it! 

Fontilles

There seemed to be no breeze inland so today we decided to head back to the coast. We drove to a lovely campsite just outside Oliva, set right on the edge of a gorgeous sandy beach. The best bit was it was flat for miles around. We could see the mountains all around but didn't have to cycle up them to get a good ride in. We set off on an exploratory ride to El Verger and picked up some shopping before spending some time on the beach watching kite surfers battling to stay on their boards as they flew across the sea. I was very

Beautiful Limes

tempted to have a go as it looked great fun but ever since I had an operation on my shoulder I have to be a bit careful about putting too much strain on it so I will just have to watch in envy.

30th June 2015.

We decide to finish the month with a ride in to Denia. It was 16kms from the campsite but there was a really good cycle lane most of the way there and we spent a great morning exploring the town with its lovely castle, port and beach area. After a well deserved coffee stop we headed back to end the afternoon on the beach. With only 2 kms left to go I

Only my 2nd puncture!!

managed to cycle over a sharp piece of metal which embedded itself in my tyre. Glynn told me to carry on using his bike and he would walk mine back rather than change the inner tube on the side of the road. We had stopped en route at a supermarket so Glynn was carrying a heavy rucksack of shopping while I had a much lighter one. I cycled back, unpacked the shopping and made a cup of tea before suddenly realising I should have cycled back and taken the other backpack once I had dropped mine off. Oops. I set off again but only got outside the campsite gate when he appeared. Oh well it was a bit like an army exercise, blazing sun, heavy backpack pushing a bike with a flat tyre. The exercise will have done him good!!

We had cycled 38kms bringing our total for the month to a very healthy 525kms. We have kept up with the 30 day Ab Challenge. We now repeat day 30, doing two days on and one day off and we have both noticed a huge difference in core strength and muscle tone which is a great benefit when cycling. I have now introduced a 60 second wall squat in the hope of increasing my leg strength. I must say it seems to be working as I feel much stronger on our rides and when we get back from a 40km ride I feel like I could go out and do it again. Okay this may be wishful thinking as I know if I suggested it to Glynn he would definitely decline so I have never been in the position of putting this to the test. 

It is now getting unbearably hot and difficult to sleep (and cycle) so we are glad that we are now heading  back towards France. The beauty of having a Motorhome is the ability to change our plans on a whim which we frequently seem to be doing. Our original plan was to keep heading south working our way towards Portugal but the heat has made the decision for us and we will start next year's tour by heading to North Western Spain first and working our way down the Portuguese coast before heading to Southern Spain. 

In spite of the purchase of 2 beach chairs at a cost of €45 we have come in £100 under our baseline budget without even trying. It is so much cheaper in Spain than it is in France and if it wasn't for the purchase of 4 new tyres last month we would have come under budget for the past 3 months. In addition the exchange rate is hovering around 1.40 compared with 1.20 that we were getting last year so this has made a huge difference.

It is now 2 months since my last traumatic visit to the hairdresser in Benidorm and my hair has not only grown sufficiently for the back to curl again but is in need of another trim in the not too distant future. I can't face the trauma of another visit to a hairdresser so I may have to resort to wearing my baseball cap when I'm out! 

We have now cycled a total of 1502 kms on this trip and are halfway through this tour. We have much to look forward to with new destinations and meeting up with old friends but first things first.... What can I spend that £100 on??? 

Flying Flamingoes

Salt Lakes at Santa Pola

Basilica de Santa Marí

Basilica de Santa Marí

Part of my favourite Ninot

More from my favourite display

A bit of fun.

May 2015

The Santisima Trinidad, Alicante

We're heading for that striped mast!!
1st May 2015. We decided to start May with a climb to the top of the Serra Gelada
rather than our usual bike ride. The mountain side is covered in pine
trees and there is a marked route which weaves through the trees to
reach the summit where repeater masts are stationed. Some of the
route markings have long since faded so we took a few wrong turns but
soon got back on track. It involved a climb of over 400 metres and in
some places it was so steep I had to keep stopping to rest as my poor
thigh muscles and my lungs were protesting, payback for all the years
I smoked. It was a really tough climb which took us just over an hour
but the view of the surrounding areas from the summit was
outstanding. 
The view from the top!
We could also see down to the lighthouse where we had cycled previously which looked tiny from the summit. I was amazed at how many other people we saw doing the hike so we weren't the only crazy ones!! The descent proved to be trickier than the climb with loose stones on the track. I managed to slip 5 times giving Glynn a heart attack each time as he worried that I would hurt myself. Apart from one heavy fall backwards when I landed on the palms of my hands I escaped relatively unscathed much to Glynn's relief. 
Lovely beer and tapas.
When we got back down to the town we spotted a really pretty hotel courtyard with a small water feature and a big pond full of Koi carp. They were advertising beer and tapas for €1!! Heaven!! We sat and recovered from our climb with a well earned beer and some lovely tapas of crusty bread with Chorizo and a tasty sauce. When we got back to the Motorhome we had only walked 10kms but it certainly felt like a lot more!! Certainly far enough to warrant a reward of a glass of red wine!!

2nd May 2015. Our friends Deb and David arrived today. We met them last year when we were camped at Narbonne plage and again at Gruissan Port when poor David lost reverse gear on his Motorhome and Glynn had tried to help him (see July 2014 post) . We had stayed in touch and it was lovely to see them again. The first thing I checked was whether David had remembered to take out breakdown insurance this time!! We sat outside in the sun and enjoyed a lovely al fresco lunch while we caught up on all the news. It was a really hot day, reaching 29° and early evening we took a stroll down to Albir to show them the lovely beach and we enjoyed beer and tapas at a seafront bar before walking back. It had been a really lovely relaxing day.  

 3rd May 2015. Ouch!! My calf muscles!! I couldn't even get out of bed this morning my calf muscles were so tight from the climb 2 days ago!! Glynn laughed while I hobbled around trying to loosen them up. 

 5th May 2015. 
At the lighthouse.
We have enjoyed a couple of nice rides around the area the last 2 days, albeit only 40kms, so today we decided to walk to the lighthouse for a change. Deb and David don't ride and we were keen to show them the spectacular views so we took a leisurely stroll to the lighthouse and after admiring the views we returned to Albir to partake of more beer and tapas as a reward for the climb. 
Glynn had been making enquiries about getting 4 new tyres fitted on the rear axles as he noticed the walls were starting to show early signs of cracking. 
View of Albir behind us from the lighthouse
He discovered the tyres were 11 years old so they must be the original ones from when the van was new! A local garage in Benidorm had quoted us a good price and when we raised concerns about negotiating Herman into their workshop they insisted it would be no problem for them to come to the camperpark and take one wheel at a time to fit and balance the new tyres before returning them to us. We were very impressed at their customer service. The mechanic turned up and took the first wheel at 4.30pm and said he would drop it back on his way home from work. When he hadn't returned by 6pm we started to worry as the garage shuts at 5.30pm. We tried phoning the garage and then their mobile number but got no answer. We breathed a sigh of relief when he eventually returned with the new tyre shortly before 7pm. He fitted the wheel and said he would call in the morning to take the next one. It was only after he had gone that we noticed he had fitted a Michelin Agilis van tyre and not a camper tyre!! Oh well there wasn't a lot we could do about it until the morning so we decided not to worry about it. Deb and David had invited us to join them for the evening and we spent a lovely evening sat outside chatting, enjoying a very nice bottle of champagne and some nibbles. This is the life!

6th May 2015. Glynn phoned the garage as soon as they opened and explained the error with the tyres. Initially they weren't too happy and insisted we hadn't asked for camper specific tyres. I understood their reaction and once we referred them to a previous email we'd sent them they accepted it was their error. The camper specific tyres were showing as unavailable until the end of June so they agreed to refit our original tyre. As we didn't know where we would be at the end of June we couldn't commit to having the tyres from them so advised them we would be in touch if we were back in the area around that time. We breathed a sigh of relief that they still had our old tyre or things could have got very awkward. We waited in all day but the tyre didn't materialise. Glynn eventually phoned the garage again at the end of the day and they explained they had been very busy but would come in the morning. 

 7th May 2015. Ouch, sore calf muscles again!! I'n not sure this walking lark is good for you!! Might stick to cycling from now on.
At 9.30am a young mechanic turned up and took away our wheel promising to return in an hour and a half with the old tyre re-fitted. When he returned as promised he showed us that they had cleaned the rust off the back of the wheel , sprayed it silver to help stop it rusting and greased the wheel nuts. Now that's what I call good service. We breathed a collective sigh of relief that all had ended well albeit we still needed 4 new tyres!
I had a real fancy for some soup and we are somewhat spoilt in the UK when it comes to buying ready made soups as there are literally hundreds to choose from. This is not the case in Spain and after scouring Lidl, Aldi and Mercadona I was only able to come out with a chicken flavour packet soup, pollo con maravilla. Oh well, needs must!! I didn't know what maravilla was so I placed my Word Lens app over the packet to translate it and couldn't help laughing when it translated it as "knob soup"!! We didn't realise how apt the description would turn out to be as the soup was disgusting. Serves me right for not being patient and making my own. It literally translates as chicken soup with wonder! the only wonder was how they could call it soup!! I was determined to enjoy a nice soup so set off back to the supermarket for a nice dry white wine and a kilo of onions. In hindsight choosing to make a big batch of French onion soup in a motorhome wasn't my brightest moment but never mind. I am sure the smell will eventually fade and it makes a change from the smell of curry. The soup required 250ml of wine so while I caramelised the onions I happily consumed a glass or 2 to check for quality as I needed to ensure the wine wouldn't spoil my soup! The end result was absolutely delicious and we sat outside in the sun with a big bowl of soup and lots of crusty bread. I froze 4 bags of soup for another day but then decided to remove 2 almost straight away so that we could have the soup again tomorrow. 

 8th May 2015. Glynn beat me at Rummikub 2-1 making the score 9-6. Enough said on that!! 

 13th May. We have had a lovely time at Alfaz del Pi and in the last week we have cycled all around the area covering around 100kms. 
Villajoyosa
We headed in to Benidorm one day but got a bit carried away and ended up in the beautiful coastal resort of Villajoyosa, 20kms from our camperpark. The promenade is lined with lovely 4 storey narrow houses all painted different pastel colours and there was a beautiful wide sandy beach. A real picture postcard resort and if you're in to chocolate it is the home of the Valor chocolate factory where you can have a free guided tour before purchasing some chocolate! 
This morning we decided to leave Alfaz del Pi and head further south to El Campello. The views along the coast were stunning as we headed towards Alicante. The camperpark was in a fabulous location just 2 minutes from a beautiful wide sandy beach and just 3 miles south of the main town of El Campello. The tram line runs along the edge of the promenade and runs from Alicante which is only 10kms south of the camperpark and runs as far north as Denia stopping at Benidorm, Calpe and Villajoyosa too. 
We decided to explore the area and cycled along the promenade in the direction of Alicante. It certainly seemed to be much less hilly here compared with Calpe and we did an easy 20km ride. Tomorrow we will venture in to Alicante to explore. 

 18th May 2015. We have spent a fabulous week exploring the area. 
Alicante Harbour
We cycled in to Alicante twice which was an easy 20km round trip. We cycled to El Campello and beyond, exploring the promenade and the marina on the way. There are a few short but sweet (interpret sweet as horribly steep!) hills leading out of El Campello so we were keeping our fitness levels up as Glynn suggested "let's just pop up that hill and see what's there"!! "Righto Glynn". I was surprised and disappointed that El Campello has not yet caught up with the need for cycle lanes. There was plenty of room to create them and many areas nearby provide excellent cycle routes. Maybe in the near future? On the whole Spanish drivers are very considerate to cyclists and there are few places we have visited where there aren't cycle lanes. Funnily enough the closest call I had was when an English car came within a foot of me. I can't print what I thought of their stupidity as getting that close is life threatening to a cyclist. 
I had been exchanging emails with Deb and David after they left Alfaz del Pi and after describing El Campello to them they decided to head back south and join us. They arrived this morning and we were delighted at seeing them again.  

 21st May 2015. We have spent the last few days catching up with Deb and David. We did a lovely 7 mile walk to El Campello market and back, we strolled along the promenade and had enjoyed a couple of hours chilling on the beach.
El Campello


I have even managed a quick swim although it was a far cry from the lovely warm waters of Goa. I was keen to head out on the bikes again today so we set off towards Alicante before chancing across a great cycle lane network. We followed the signs to the University at Sant Vicent del Raspeig. The cycle path varied from a separate lane beside the road to a wide tarmaced traffic free path through barren wasteland where we passed an old goatherd with his herd of goats. A series of whistles from the goatherd and the goats quickly cleared the cycle path to make way for us like a group of obedient schoolchildren. Typical I had forgotten my camera today so I managed a quick picture on my IPhone but it doesn't quite have the picture quality of my camera. From Sant Vicent we headed towards Alicante and then followed the coast road back home. It was a great ride albeit only 38kms. We decided to play boules after lunch and Glynn beat me 2-1 after a slow start. Deb and David joined us and again Glynn managed to sneak up and take the trophy after trailing behind most of the game. After dinner we decided to play Rummikub and I finally managed to beat him 3-0 bringing our total to 9-9!! All in all it had been quite an active day so we decided to chill with a nice bottle of red wine and some olives.  

 22nd May 2015. We caught the tram to Alicante with Deb and David.
Quaint Spanish street


I was keen to explore the ruins of Santa Barbara castle as I had visited them 22 years ago on my first trip to Spain when I had spent a week in Alicante with my dear friend Katrine (we have sadly lost contact so if anyone knows where Katrine is now let me know. She had just married Andy and was expecting a baby when I last saw her about 12 years ago). After exploring the harbour and the Old Town we started the climb up towards Mount Benacantil which took us through some quaint narrow streets lined with colourful pots of plants and there was an old Spanish lady sitting outside her front door catching the breeze. 


The picture it created was the epitome of Spain. It was a really steep climb up to the castle but so worth it for the spectacular view when we got there. After taking some photos and catching our breath we began the descent in search of a restaurant and lunch! 
The view from Santa Barbara castle.
When we finally made it back to the Old Town we found a great little place with tables lining the pavement and sat outside to eat. They did a great menu of 3 courses and a glass of wine for €10.50 a head. Bargain!! We didn't just get a glass of wine as the waiter placed a full bottle on the table accompanied by a lovely big bread basket with balsamic vinegar and olive oil too. By the time we had finished all 3 courses we were full. After a slow saunter back towards the tram station we headed home. What a great day it had been. 
No words needed!!
 

23rd May 2015. After posting a review on the Motorhome Fun forum about how lovely the area was 2 more British motorhomes had arrived so I decided to have a paella night. Will and Jan, whom we'd met at our last stop in Alfaz del Pi, where also now at El Campello so there was 10 of us with Deb and David too. We had a great night getting to know each other and enjoyed copious amounts of wine and paella while we swapped information about great places to visit. Yolanda, who owns the site with her husband Jorge, knew we were having a gathering and turned up with a lovely Spanish tortilla to go with our paella and I had also made lots of garlic bread so I was definitely going to need a big bike ride tomorrow to burn it all off. 
Enjoying the lovely warm Spanish evenings!
Just as everyone was leaving at the end of the evening I got a message from my son Darryl asking to Skype. He had lots of friends round and they had enjoyed a big bike ride in the afternoon before heading back in to our village for a pub meal and a few beers. They were all in high spirits and it was great to catch up. Let's hope the house is still intact when we get home!!  

 24th May 2015. OUCH!! I couldn't get out of bed again this morning, my poor calf muscles were in complete spasm. I am seriously going to have to give up climbing steep hills!! 

 27th May 2015. Glynn has continued to make enquiries about obtaining 4 new tyres but 2 further garages had confirmed the Michelin Agilis camper tyres were unavailable until the end of June. This presented us with the issue of whether it was worth the risk driving further south as although the tyres had good tread it was a real concern that we could have a blow out because of the age of the tyres, the other option would be to go for a different make. Yesterday we had been enjoying a lovely ride around Sant Joan d'Alacant and Sant Vicent del Raspeig when Glynn spotted a Euromaster garage. He made enquiries about camper tyres and although the manager spoke no English it was easy to write down the tyre size and he produced a written quote that wasn't only the cheapest we'd had but appeared to indicate he could get the Michelin tyres the next day. When we got back to the camperstop we enlisted the help of Pilar, the site manager, and she kindly phoned the garage and was able to confirm that the tyres were available and she was also able to tell the garage that we needed metal valves which we had struggled to get him to understand. So today we found ourselves driving to Sant Vicent at 4pm with fingers crossed that the tyres would be the correct ones. We were delighted to discover they were and 90 minutes later we were heading back to the camperpark €700 lighter of pocket but with 4 shiny new rear tyres to match the new ones on the front. At least we could safely carry on our journey without worrying about a blowout now.  

 28th May 2015. Today I learnt a useful lesson. We were just getting ready to go out on a ride when I decided to lay on the floor and do some stretches as I had been having a bit of trouble with my sacroiliac joint. As I laid down I heard a funny noise and felt this lovely warm feeling spread across my lower back. Then I remembered I had put my banana in the centre back pocket of my cycling top and I had just laid on it, squashing it !! Note to self, do stretches before loading pockets!! 
Hot & sweaty but worth it for the view.
We decided to ride to Busot today which was my second daft decision of the day. It was very hot and Busot was at the top of a long long climb from El Campello. My Garmin showed we had done a total ascent of 400 metres when we stopped to admire the spectacular views. I had really struggled with the climb today, probably partly due to the heat and the wine consumption the night before and also due to the fact that no matter how hard I try I am rubbish on the hills. Will I ever get better? I can only keep trying. We enjoyed a well-earned coffee at a café in 
Stunning view from the café in Busot
the town that overlooked the valley below and got chatting to a guy who had recently entered an event where he had cycled over 300kms over a weekend. Respect!! He told me to just keep doing the best I can. Great advice. The descent was awesome and I had to apply the brakes when we were reaching 50kms an hour as it was getting quite scary. It was downhill all the way to Mutxamel and then on to El Campello. We were back in no time and although we had only done 32kms it had been a tough ride. We decided to enjoy a leisurely afternoon playing cards in the sun. 

 30th May 2015. After a quiet day yesterday where we did little more than stroll to a local market before enjoying beer and tapas we decided to go on another big ride today. 
The church in Mutxamel.
I liked the look of a town called Xixona as it was only 20kms away so we set off bright and early after a fortifying bowl of porridge and my banana safely tucked in my back pocket (after doing my stretches!!). Note to self: switch map view on Google maps to show the terrain!! Oh Lordy what a route I had picked. With a total ascent of nearly 450 metres in 29° of sunshine we arrived in Xixona suitably exhausted and when I removed my helmet my hair was wetter than if I'd just got out of the shower. Glynn went to order 2 coffees and came out of the cafe with a big grin on his face. All became clear when the waitress appeared with the coffees and the most delectable looking patisserie filled with chocolate cream. Oh my it tasted good and was well deserved. As we had been climbing all the way from El Campello this meant it was an easy descent all the way back and we stopped to explore Mutxamel, a lovely town we passed through, before heading back for lunch. We had cycled 46kms so an afternoon of laying on the beach was called for!
Looking a bit flushed in Mutxamel!!
 

31st May 2015. This month seems to have flown by. We have enjoyed some great rides in spectacular surroundings and also enjoyed the walks, although my calf muscles may beg to differ! we have cycled 442 kms bringing our total to 977 kms. In addition we got ourselves a job!! Yes, you read correctly. Ever sensible where money is concerned we had spotted an advert in the local paper offering a free stay at the camperpark we are currently on in return for helping out when Pilar, the manager, was at lunch from 2-4pm and also after 7pm when she finished each day. All it entailed was letting any new arrivals in and showing them the facilities and then Pilar would sort the paperwork when she was next on duty. It suited our routine perfectly as we tend to ride in the mornings and chill after lunch. We have had great fun learning to communicate in French, German, Spanish and Flemish. What I have learnt is that I speak far better French than I do Spanish and as for my German and Flemish speaking skills, let's just say thank god for sign language!! It has been great fun and we have met some really great characters. We will continue to help out until we leave here around the 10th June when we head further south to Cartagena. It also means we have come in under budget for once, well that was until we bought the new tyres!! Oh well, there's always next month!

Are we crazy!

Whilst browsing on Facebook I had seen a 30 day Ab challenge on the Cycling Bug page. Ever up for a challenge I persuaded Glynn we should give it a go. It involved doing front and side planks followed by crunches and bicycles. All month we have been working our way up from a 15 second plank (way too easy!) to 120 seconds (not so easy!). It has been great fun (read that as challenging!) and after only 2 weeks we could see a huge difference in muscle tone. By the end of May we were on 120 seconds front plank, 76 seconds side planks and 100 crunches and bicycles. We have decided it would be a shame not to carry on so we will repeat the last 5 days of the program. I am now looking for the next challenge so I may start on their 30 day squat challenge. All in the hope that I will get better at climbing those hills!!

Me and Glynn in Alicante

El campello harbour

Alicante Town Hall

Interesting sculpture!

Santa Barbara castle

With Deb and David in Alicante

Looking up towards Santa Barbara castle