Week 20, 21 & 22 - Hello Dirkje

Monday 2nd March 2015

Today should have been moving day but we are still sorting DVD’s, no worry, no hurry we will go tomorrow or the next day.

Tuesday 3rd March 2015

Well it really was moving day today, the plan was to move from Camping La Sierrecilla to a new to us site Campsite Pinar del Rey. It was around 275 km (170 miles) and took some three and a half hours. When we arrived at five to two we found the reception, which was over a half kilometre from the site entrance, was already closed and seemed to have been so for some little while despite a sign that said Closed for lunch from 2 till 4. We had a little wander around but didn’t find the actual camping site so rather than wait twiddling our thumbs till reception re-opened (at least two hours) we got back in the car and headed off to our next site, Camping Jávea.

We have been to Camping Jávea a couple of times before and from where here we will visit Dirkje. This section of the journey was around 278 km (173 miles) and would take around three hours - yes I know that is quicker than the first section despite being slightly further but it is virtually all motorway.

We arrived at 6.00pm to find only two pitches available - two out of one hundred and ninety three touring pitches, in March, unbelievable.

When we were researching to start this lifestyle we read that in Spain a mover was essential because of the tight access to some pitches. This is our 134th European site and it is the first time we have had to unhitch on a site road corner and motor move round the corner then re-hitch to tow to the pitch,and we have been to this site (with this caravan) before.

Wednesday 4th March 2015

img 1173 med hr

This site is popular with the Snowbirds, there are lots of Brits, Dutch, German and even Scandinavians but virtually no Spanish. There is a charge for the internet and while I don’t have a problem paying I do expect to get value for money but the quality of the internet is very poor and here the use of boosters is strictly forbidden on pain of having your connection cut off so every device, and we have four, has to be paid for separately so that would be €20.00 (£14.24) per week or the “special" rate of €72 (£51.26) per month. Yea I’m gonna pay that - not!!

Thursday 5th March 2015

We popped in to say hello to Dirkje today we got no answer from her door intercom or her mobile phone or indeed her Spanish phone so we gave up and went back to the caravan. We got a phone call later that night, she had been out for the day, we arranged to visit around noon the next day.

Friday 6th March 2015 to Sunday 15th March 2015

We have been deliberately lazy over these last days, we have visited Dirkje, done some shopping and bought a Spanish tablet. I needed a new Kindle but they seem very delicate (I keep busting them) so when I saw an 8” Spanish tablet at just €150 I thought I had better have a look. The screen is not as bright as our Samsung Note 10.2 and the memory is smaller but it can be expanded (unlike an iPad) and it was a third of the price of the Samsung and can still do virtually everything the Samsung can so I bought it and so far am very pleased but will I still be happy next week and the week after? Time will tell

el camion

There was another highlight to this week, on my first visit to Spain in May 1995 with my bro’ we went to a fish restaurant in Calpe called “El Camion”. I have lost count how many meals we have eaten there over the years, the lady owner used to sit outside dispensing sangria to encourage customers but she was rather fierce and I often wondered if she frightened away more than she encouraged. On Tuesday night Dirkje took Sue and I there for dinner, we had a seafood fiduea - not bad! After the meal I asked the waiter if “Mumma” was still alive (she seemed pretty ancient to us in 1995) - “Oh yes” said the waiter, “ she would be outside as usual but she is on holiday in the Caribbean”

Sadly El Camion now seems only to worship the great god profit and although the meal was reasonably priced and the portions reasonably sized the quality although again reasonable was far below the standard we would have expected on previous visits - I doubt we will return. While writing this I was sidetracked by looking up El Camion on Trip Advisor” and was disappointed but not surprised at the poor reviews it has been receiving.

Monday 16th March 2015 to Sunday 22 March 2015

We had such hopes for this week, we had several outings planned, including a visit (or two) to Las Fallas, The Festival of Fire. What we actually had was a week of foul weather, equipment breakdowns, rubbish internet and poor Sue had a cold, not the usual namby pamby ladies cold but a full blown jobby that could almost (but of course not quite) qualify as a “man cold”. She stayed in bed for three days, which for Sue is absolutely unprecedented.

belge

Sunday night Dirkje took us out to dinner. We went to a Belgian restaurant that has a good reputation and we were not disappointed, we all had Sole meunière, a French dish in a Belgian restaurant in a Spanish town - how cosmopolitan is that? The meal was delicious, the only bright spot in a grotty week that the sooner we can forget the happier we will be.

Last updated Sunday 21st June 2015                                                                                © S W Ghost 2015