Day 5 Vilanova to Rojales – 400 miles
We decided not to stay another day in Vilanova and chose instead to head straight for the olds. This took about 6 hours in all. We arrived to wide smiles just as it was getting dark. Hoorah!
The drive on this stretch was a bit boring really compared to the landscapes seen across France. The road lanes seemed a bit narrower and the drivers definitely more aggressive and reluctant to let us through. There was a lot more traffic and towards the end, I started to show my first signs of driver’s fatigue. My back ached at bit and my right leg was a teeny bit sore, but other than that, since finally getting that seat in the right position, driving has been very easy and very comfortable. Everyone else on the other hand was, by the time we got there, well and truly fatigued. In fact, for the first time in the whole 1,379.4 miles, that phrase “Are we there yet?” came out.
Having the spare bedroom to use in the olds’ house meant an opportunity for a new sleeping arrangement in the van. So, the 16 year old went upstairs and me and Mrs. F went at the back. The rest of the clan stayed indoors. The back bed is made up from cushions from the seats and ‘blocks’ of foam stuff as gap fillers. These fillers are oddly thinner than the seat cushions which means that unless you put them on the outsides where ones feet and head go, your bed ends up feeling a bit like a flat lilo in an empty swimming pool. We had a dry swim last night so I shall be putting the blocks in the right place for tonight.
Today and for the next few days, we are just going to be hanging out and relaxing with our folks and do not expect to do much driving. Hopefully, the sun will shine a bit so we can take in some rays and maybe clean the van which really needs it, both inside and out. A couple of things have broken in the van and surprisingly a couple of things have gone missing too, like the camera case; there one minute, gawn the next. Having it empty of us all for a while should enable us to give it a thorough service which should mean finding all those bits and bobs.
Day 6 – Torrevieja (20 miles)
We went out for a gad around Torrevieja and into a huge Carrefour. It was a total nightmare to park the white whale in the car park. We ended up taking up two spaces. The van immediately attracted some attention from some ‘hoodies’ who kept staring at us waiting for us to wander off before having a go at breaking in. I doubled back out of their sight, went straight up to them and took their picture. I then pointed to the van and said ‘No’ lots of times. This made them run off and after that I felt a lot safer about the van and ultimately, it was left alone.
I tried out the shower in the van today, but gave up quickly after banging my elbow more times that a champion arm wrestler. Not only is the space very small, but the water pressure is so slow that the water comes out at just like it does when you’re in the swimming pool and you squirt it out of your mouth. It might be something to do with the low voltage here, but as I haven’t tried it anywhere else, I don’t know if that is normal or if there is something I can do about it. Either way, it doesn’t matter much because we can use the olds’ shower anyway.
We’re all looking forward to our second Christmas tomorrow.
Merry Christmas – part 2
Today we had our second Christmas and much to our four year old’s surprise, Santa visited twice this year. We didn’t quite manage to have lunch outside, but it was till odd scoffing sprouts with the sun shining so bright outside. On Boxing Day we did actually manage lunch outside in the sun. Very nice.
Day 10 Rojales to Madrid (350 miles)
We started our trip home today and decided to make two over night stops before our ferry leaves Bilbao on Friday lunchtime. Before we waved goodbye to the olds, we gave the van a really good clean on the inside and got everything ready. We also had to reinstall all of those Christmas presents we had spent so long wrapping and hiding. It’s amazing that despite all of the planning around what to take/not take and where to put it all, we completely forgot to remember where we stored everything. For example, when it came to finding somewhere to stay on our way to Bilbao, I didn’t have a Danny where the guide books were. I ‘deliberately’ put them somewhere safe because I knew I wouldn’t need them until after Christmas. I found it in the end on the shelf above the boiler which I had completely forgotten even existed. Getting things out of the van has been a bit like the morning after moving into your new house when you really don’t know where anything is because nothing has found its place yet; it’s amazing how much stuff you can lose in such a small space.
I will have to draw up a list of things I should have bought with us and another list of things I shouldn’t have bothered with. On the ‘should have’ list, a dustpan and brush is definitely top of the list. I can’t believe I forgot that and I can’t believe how many times I’ve been reminded for forgetting it. I thought I would have been given some credit for bring the modern day equivalent though, a Dyson hand-held vac, but it turns out that that will actually end up on the ‘shouldn’t have’ list. For 99 quid, you don’t get a lot for your money. It should be sold in Sports shops as a piece of workout equipment; it’s quite hard work to use it. However, its least appealing attribute is its overall performance. There is no mains cable use and the battery (which has to be fully charged to work) only lasts about 6 minutes. During those six frantic minutes, the carpet is basically smeared with the plastic nozzle creating a static rub of magnetism binding clogs of hair and dust that can only be collected up by hand really. Unlike its bigger brother, the vacuum part of this tool doesn’t exactly vacuum that well so, overall, it has been a real let down, especially today when it actually stopped working altogether. If that isn’t a bad enough write up for you, the sod also takes up a lot of space too.
Anyway, the van was eventually cleaned and rid of unneeded stuff and we were on the road again by 10. It felt odd being in the spacious cab again after a few days being ferried around in my Dad’s Golf. I spent ages the day before with the three guide books, a large map and my Tom Tom working out a basic route and where to stop on the way. This has been by far the most difficult part of this adventure for me. Buying the van, booking the ferries and even learning all the things I’ve had to learn have had their moments, but they were easy compared to planning where to stop. I think there could be a number of reasons for this;
- I’m rubbish at this and at reading maps and planning stuff generally
- The maps are difficult to read if you don’t have a general understanding of what places are where
- The guide books are deliberately designed to be hard to use – some don’t even give maps of the areas they are trying to guide you through and
- Most places are closed because it is the lowest point of the low season
My experiences of France made me call ahead to the stops in Spain. Today I was lucky that this only took me about 45 minutes in all and that the first two places I called were open and spoke a bit of English. I also deliberately chose the largest sites because they are more likely to be easier to find or be known by the locals if I get lost. Having the Tom Tom helped work out how long the driving would take so it made the planning a bit easier. My journey up to Bilbao is now split into two 5 hours drives leaving me just outside Bilbao itself the night before the ferry leaves.
We decided not to stay another day in Vilanova and chose instead to head straight for the olds. This took about 6 hours in all. We arrived to wide smiles just as it was getting dark. Hoorah!
The drive on this stretch was a bit boring really compared to the landscapes seen across France. The road lanes seemed a bit narrower and the drivers definitely more aggressive and reluctant to let us through. There was a lot more traffic and towards the end, I started to show my first signs of driver’s fatigue. My back ached at bit and my right leg was a teeny bit sore, but other than that, since finally getting that seat in the right position, driving has been very easy and very comfortable. Everyone else on the other hand was, by the time we got there, well and truly fatigued. In fact, for the first time in the whole 1,379.4 miles, that phrase “Are we there yet?” came out.
Having the spare bedroom to use in the olds’ house meant an opportunity for a new sleeping arrangement in the van. So, the 16 year old went upstairs and me and Mrs. F went at the back. The rest of the clan stayed indoors. The back bed is made up from cushions from the seats and ‘blocks’ of foam stuff as gap fillers. These fillers are oddly thinner than the seat cushions which means that unless you put them on the outsides where ones feet and head go, your bed ends up feeling a bit like a flat lilo in an empty swimming pool. We had a dry swim last night so I shall be putting the blocks in the right place for tonight.
Today and for the next few days, we are just going to be hanging out and relaxing with our folks and do not expect to do much driving. Hopefully, the sun will shine a bit so we can take in some rays and maybe clean the van which really needs it, both inside and out. A couple of things have broken in the van and surprisingly a couple of things have gone missing too, like the camera case; there one minute, gawn the next. Having it empty of us all for a while should enable us to give it a thorough service which should mean finding all those bits and bobs.
Day 6 – Torrevieja (20 miles)
We went out for a gad around Torrevieja and into a huge Carrefour. It was a total nightmare to park the white whale in the car park. We ended up taking up two spaces. The van immediately attracted some attention from some ‘hoodies’ who kept staring at us waiting for us to wander off before having a go at breaking in. I doubled back out of their sight, went straight up to them and took their picture. I then pointed to the van and said ‘No’ lots of times. This made them run off and after that I felt a lot safer about the van and ultimately, it was left alone.
I tried out the shower in the van today, but gave up quickly after banging my elbow more times that a champion arm wrestler. Not only is the space very small, but the water pressure is so slow that the water comes out at just like it does when you’re in the swimming pool and you squirt it out of your mouth. It might be something to do with the low voltage here, but as I haven’t tried it anywhere else, I don’t know if that is normal or if there is something I can do about it. Either way, it doesn’t matter much because we can use the olds’ shower anyway.
We’re all looking forward to our second Christmas tomorrow.
Merry Christmas – part 2
Today we had our second Christmas and much to our four year old’s surprise, Santa visited twice this year. We didn’t quite manage to have lunch outside, but it was till odd scoffing sprouts with the sun shining so bright outside. On Boxing Day we did actually manage lunch outside in the sun. Very nice.
Day 10 Rojales to Madrid (350 miles)
We started our trip home today and decided to make two over night stops before our ferry leaves Bilbao on Friday lunchtime. Before we waved goodbye to the olds, we gave the van a really good clean on the inside and got everything ready. We also had to reinstall all of those Christmas presents we had spent so long wrapping and hiding. It’s amazing that despite all of the planning around what to take/not take and where to put it all, we completely forgot to remember where we stored everything. For example, when it came to finding somewhere to stay on our way to Bilbao, I didn’t have a Danny where the guide books were. I ‘deliberately’ put them somewhere safe because I knew I wouldn’t need them until after Christmas. I found it in the end on the shelf above the boiler which I had completely forgotten even existed. Getting things out of the van has been a bit like the morning after moving into your new house when you really don’t know where anything is because nothing has found its place yet; it’s amazing how much stuff you can lose in such a small space.
I will have to draw up a list of things I should have bought with us and another list of things I shouldn’t have bothered with. On the ‘should have’ list, a dustpan and brush is definitely top of the list. I can’t believe I forgot that and I can’t believe how many times I’ve been reminded for forgetting it. I thought I would have been given some credit for bring the modern day equivalent though, a Dyson hand-held vac, but it turns out that that will actually end up on the ‘shouldn’t have’ list. For 99 quid, you don’t get a lot for your money. It should be sold in Sports shops as a piece of workout equipment; it’s quite hard work to use it. However, its least appealing attribute is its overall performance. There is no mains cable use and the battery (which has to be fully charged to work) only lasts about 6 minutes. During those six frantic minutes, the carpet is basically smeared with the plastic nozzle creating a static rub of magnetism binding clogs of hair and dust that can only be collected up by hand really. Unlike its bigger brother, the vacuum part of this tool doesn’t exactly vacuum that well so, overall, it has been a real let down, especially today when it actually stopped working altogether. If that isn’t a bad enough write up for you, the sod also takes up a lot of space too.
Anyway, the van was eventually cleaned and rid of unneeded stuff and we were on the road again by 10. It felt odd being in the spacious cab again after a few days being ferried around in my Dad’s Golf. I spent ages the day before with the three guide books, a large map and my Tom Tom working out a basic route and where to stop on the way. This has been by far the most difficult part of this adventure for me. Buying the van, booking the ferries and even learning all the things I’ve had to learn have had their moments, but they were easy compared to planning where to stop. I think there could be a number of reasons for this;
- I’m rubbish at this and at reading maps and planning stuff generally
- The maps are difficult to read if you don’t have a general understanding of what places are where
- The guide books are deliberately designed to be hard to use – some don’t even give maps of the areas they are trying to guide you through and
- Most places are closed because it is the lowest point of the low season
My experiences of France made me call ahead to the stops in Spain. Today I was lucky that this only took me about 45 minutes in all and that the first two places I called were open and spoke a bit of English. I also deliberately chose the largest sites because they are more likely to be easier to find or be known by the locals if I get lost. Having the Tom Tom helped work out how long the driving would take so it made the planning a bit easier. My journey up to Bilbao is now split into two 5 hours drives leaving me just outside Bilbao itself the night before the ferry leaves.
We drove up to Madrid today along more peage and some very bumpy roads and steep hills. The route took us straight through the middle of Madrid which was great. However, it played havoc with the Tom Tom because the streets were filled with overhanging Christmas decorations which blocked the satellite signal meaning I had to use my instinct a couple of times and just head north. We arrived at our chosen site and were charged a humongous 51 Euros for parking and showers. No bar, restaurant, internet, nothing. Just a car park and a shower block. Still, as Mrs.F observed, it is very safe and a reasonable premium to pay really...
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