N 36.748199 W 4.065450 - CALETA DE VÉLEZ, VÉLEZ MALAGA - 12.33€ parking anything else is extra!

Left Rincon today after having said goodbye to Hendricke, Klaas & Barney to head along to Caleta de Vélez.

We headed for the official parking at the port - what a kerfuffle!

In order to get there we had to ignore SatNag because one of the roads was shut off but we got there. Then the fun began. In order to get through the barrier you have to navigate THE MACHINE!

In this machine, if you are a new user you have to register but first you have to select your plot number, select whether you want just parking; parking with water and toilet emptying; parking with electricity or the whole shebang! Then comes the registration bit and for this you enter a passport number; name; country of residence; vehicle registration number and email address. After all that comes the payment by card, then the barrier will go up.

The cost for this was 12.33€ /24 hours; water & toilet emptying 3.50€ and electricity 0.35€/hour. Too late we realised that we couldn't empty the toilet cassette unless we paid for water as well but it was okay as we'd only emptied it before leaving El Rincon but we like to do it whenever the opportunity arises.

It was a bit of a noisy place until the end of the working day as we were next to a boatyard and a boat there was being sandblasted. After that it was normal noise.

Don't come here if you want to eat out! We walked along the waterside - one restaurant nearby had people in there in the afternoon; the second, although open, had none. Neither had people eating in the evening. We also walked along the main road in case we were too early but nothing was open there either. When we got back the other two were still empty so it was back to the van for my version of Pasta with Pesto and Bacon.

Finished the evening reading a book given to us titled London. It's a massive tome and being heavy to hold it makes my poor old hands ache and I don't have my magnets to counteract it - I've lost both my ring and bracelet. I'm convinced they are in this van somewhere but if they are they've found themselves a good hiding place. Mike thinks they might have fallen into the bathroom rubbish bag and got thrown away.