Hi folks,

Hope this finds you well. Got to confess that this place was not where we were heading for,  , we were actually heading for a free stopover at Fuengirola castle but as we came off the motorway Moe spotted all the motorhomes so we thought we would have a look. Once parked up we found the place on one of the Apps we are using, it had waste disposal and water, we already had gas so thought, why not? We arrived on a Tuesday to find it would be market day in the morning and we would get moved so we moved ourselves, only to find we were in the shade so no solar battery charging so we moved again, only this time a German knocked on the door to tell us we would block the sunlight to his portable solar panel in the morning, we didn’t move. He was back ten minutes later to tell me the police would move us on and fine us a lot of money, we didn’t move. In the morning the motorhome next to him left so we moved into the space, and then went for a walk, when we got back he’d gone! Oh well.

The market on the Wednesday and Saturday was a massive thing, the stalls were being set up in the dark at 6 in the morning and it didn’t pack up till late afternoon, long day for them in scorching heat, Maureen had a bimble round it and came back empty handed, shocked!

We were sat in the MH the next night and a small truck drove along the line of MHs sounding it’s horn and then parked at the far side of the area, lots of folk then appeared to make their way across with bags and boxes, nosiness got the better of me and off I went, no bag or box though. It turned out to be a ‘food bank’ van and had offloaded boxes of food, of course I followed the lead of the long termers and got stuck in, claiming a pile of fruit and veg. This happened every night we were there, in the end I was going but not getting anything as the fridge was overflowing, but what a great idea.

Whilst we have no problem using the on board toilet we soon picked up on a motorhomers trick, find somewhere for a coffee and use the toilet at the same time. This worked well as immediately behind where we were was the golf club, they did coffee, and had a toilet. We became regulars in more than one sense of the word and by the time it came for us to leave and move on, Josè was fetching our coffees without us having to order!

The town itself was alive and buzzing, lots of places to eat and drink, all the necessary shops, including one that supplied and activated our Spanish SIM cards, our UK ones are now subject to data and day usage limits! We watched the Ireland v New Zealand rugby in an Irish Bar and consumed a couple of beverages along the way, brought back memories of Javea in times gone by. Now it would not be normal if when going for lunch at a local restaurant Maureen didn’t go into the hairdressers next door and get her hair cut, suppose it saves me having to do it, and I am sure some of you know that story, but yes, it’s happened this trip as well as every other trip. 

We were keeping our eye on the weather as the wind had got up, the place had become a bit of a dust bowl and rain was forecast, as we were relying on battery power and needed a bit of sunshine, and didn’t really fancy sitting two or three days out in the rain we decided to find a campsite for the weekend. After a quick phone call and some broken Spanish and broken English we had found a site with space, the decision was made there and then we were off, the joys of a motorhome. It was going to make a pleasant change to have electric and also to get all our washing done ready for the next part of the adventure. Off we went via the garage to fill up the gas which was an adventure in itself, 8 km (or 5 miles in UK money) down the road and we are now set up in Camping La Buganvilla, I’ll let you know how we got on in the next blog entry. Stay safe.