Month: March 2018

Well we finally got to Roses and it’s a really lovely. We’re really here because we want to go to Cadaqués and Port Lligat which are 10 miles away at the end of a road which winds uphill for 5 miles, hugging the side of the mountain, before dropping back down to the rocky coastline which surrounds the towns.

Cadaqués is well known as a town which attracted many artists such as Picasso and Cezanne, but it is really Salvador Dali who made the town famous as he bought a house here, where he lived and painted, for many years. In recent years, the area has become a tourist hotspot offering sand, sea, beautiful scenery, mountain biking and and most water sports but particularly sailing and wind surfing. It looks and feels like a small piece of the Côte d’Azur except it is more relaxed, is certainly cheaper and, well those who like to be noticed have stayed in the Côte d’Azur.

Being close to the French border, Roses has been caught in the middle of a number of wars over the centuries and has been occupied by the French on each occasion. To defend the town a massive wall was built around it and a castle built at the end of the promontory. At best it seems, these fortifications delayed the French advance rather than prevent occupation. On the last occasion the French withdrew they blew up much of the defences, but enough of the castle remains to give the outline of the town real character.
I said finally got to Roses for two reasons. Firstly we had planned to get here a week earlier but high winds, the Tramuntana, particular to this area were forecast and we would never have made Cadaqués on a bike.

Secondly, we hit a traffic jam. Absolutely nothing was moving. We must have been stuck for about an hour. In the end we were lucky, with lorries juggling back and fore trying to let another lorry though, a gap opened up for us to get on the roundabout and actually head for the centre of Figuares, then on to Roses from there. We discovered later that the traffic had been halted by protesters in support of the jailed Catalan Government. Jail them all I say!

We walked to the town along the promenade on our first night. It is a lovely walk with the outline of the town getting bigger as you walk towards it. There are lots of bars and restaurants but we stopped at the excellent beach bar to be serenaded, if you could call it that, by the screeching of green parakeets who seem to have colonised the Pam trees all along the shoreline.

The bike ride to Cadaqués, needless to say was absolutely stunning and Cadaqués itself did not disappoint. We reckon that this route could easily be in our top twenty best ever cycle rides.

The Silver Machine was parked up in a Campsite, Camping Salata, close to the beach and a 2 km walk along the promenade. It’s not bad value at 20€, really excellent facilities, although Wifi is extra. We chose a campsite because the Aires we knew of were either a bit too dodgy sounding or were too far out of town to walk in. When we arrived in Roses we discovered a new aire had been opened last year and was right next to our campsite! It is expensive though, 12€ per night, plus more to use the fresh water, waste water disposal, chemical toilet services, plus more if you want to use electricity, so we reckoned we were as well in the campsite.
After seeing very few British people since Benidorm we were surprised how many were on this site. It seem that, particularly if you’re you live in the south of England, Roses is about as far as you can reasonable go if you are on holiday for three weeks.

Making plans is turning out to be pointless. Every time we think we know what we’re going to do next, we do something else. We had planned to follow the Volta around the mountains but decided it was just too cold. Just as well as all 3 mountain stages were rerouted because of snow.

Instead we planned to spend a few nights in Roses before heading to Barcelona for the final stage. Good plan except that BBC weather was predicting 60 mph winds for the area so we have postponed that one until hopefully next week IF the winds are favourable. According to a local in Pineda, these winds are very specific to that part of the Costa Brava, happen at least once a week, and are called the Tramuntana.

So we ended up in Girona for a couple of nights, a really beautiful, interesting old city, and really we could easily have spent 4 or 5 days here. The aire was almost in the city centre, about 10 minutes walk away from the oldest parts of the city, which although at ground level was the top level of an underground car park. The aire was gated and you had to phone a number to get the gate opened. The couple who managed the aire were very friendly and very helpful. The lady spoke excellent English. At 12€ per night it is expensive, but for that you got security ie peace of mind, very clean toilets and free Wi-fi albeit with varying speeds.

We didn’t achieve much in the limited time we had but we managed to meander through some of the lovely old narrow streets, visit the Cathedral of Gerona, the Basilica de Sant Felieu and the Museo d’Art.

As ever there plenty bars, cafes and restaurants to cater for everyone’s tastes and then some! The people looking after the aire strongly recommended a nearby Basque restaurant called Txalka so thankfully gave it a whirl. We got there a 8 and people we already there and eating which we have found is pretty unusual. The staff were very welcoming and the restaurant was actually warm which is not always a given. The tapas was served as a buffet. Each dish cost 1.70€, you ate as much as you like and at the end the empty dishes were counted up to work out your bill. A bottle of the cheapest local wine at 14€ was absolutely gorgeous. The food was absolutely beautiful although truth be told, not sure what we were eating at times!

It is clear that the Catalan elections remain foremost in people’s minds, everywhere you go there are signs, flags and yellow roibnons supporting an independent Catalonia.

It is even clearer that the Spanish Government has a lot of work to do to win over the hearts and minds of at least 50% of the Catalan people.

In the last post we feel we were perhaps a bit harsh with our first impression that Pineda had little to offer. In the 3 nights we were there we discovered there was a relaxed friendliness about the place and it turned out to be a reasonable base to explore the Costa Brave by bike.

 

We found a great wee tapas bar “La Bellota” to commentate our last night in Pensacola. The night ended well with good food and a pleasant atmosphere in a busy bar. It didn’t look like it was going to be like this: the Spanish never really cease to amaze us how late it is before they come out to eat. We popped into a few bars on the way into town before having a walk around the restaurants to see where we fancied going. They were all absolutely deserted and as such totally unappealing. We found La Bellota in a small row of restaurants tucked away in a cul de sac squeezed between the town walls and the sea. Even then it was empty, but by this time it was 8pm and we were cold, hungry and getting a bit grumpy about it all, and although empty it did look appealing …….and warm.

The next couple didn’t arrive until 8.20 and it wasn’t till after 9 that the restaurant really filled up. Really recommend it though if you ever get to Peniscola!

The Silver Machine is tucked away into a pleasant corner of Camping Enmar in Pineda de Mar, a nice site with all the facilities you would want for ACSI Card price of 19€per night. The site is owned and run by three brothers and I have to say we have never felt so welcomed on a site before by really friendly and helpful people. There is an aire in Pineda, but as we were travelling 300kms from Peniscola and probably not arriving until late afternoon, we were concerned it would be full, hence booked the campsite. It turned out the aire was not full and although we would have stayed there it’s not attractive being fenced in without being able to see out, it has tight pitches and and I’d overlooked by flats.

Pineda de Mar is a holiday resort, population 26,000, on the Costa Maresme, 37 miles from Barcelona. Sadly it has little to recommend it other than the miles of beaches. We would not be here if it wasn’t for the bike race.

The bike race, or the Volta a Cataluña to be precise, is a 7 day stage race around Catalonia. Today it started and finished in Calella which is a continuation of Pineda, sprawling southwards along the coast. The Volta was first held in 1911and is the third largest multi day race in the cycling calendar behind the Tour de France and the Giro D’Italia.

The  Volta isn’t recognised as one of the top races, but as we found out the top teams treat it very seriously indeed, and there is a very strong peloton racing this week. It’s much more relaxed than the Tour, for example, there a much fewer spectators and although there was a big armed police presence you get to wander through the team buses and mingle with the teams and support staff. Alexandro Valverde is one of the top cyclists around at the moment, he is the darling of Spain, the defending champion of the Volta, and as such he was clearly the star of the show. (And he knew it)

The race was eventually won with in a sprint finish by Alvaro Hodeg, who races for the Belgian team Quick Step.

Oh and if you ever wondered how these teams manage to wash their kit when they are on the road, which I am sure you haven’t, here you go anyway!

In case of any doubt this is the side of the Team bus. The race stats in Mataró tomorrow which is 15 miles down the coast so that’s where we plan to be.

It was just a short hop for the Silver Machine yesterday morning to Peniscola, called the ‘city by the sea’ locally, taking only 1 hr 15 mins to do the 75km journey along the N340.

The aire was only about half full when we arrived at about 11.30 but steadily filled up during the course of the day. Although all nationalities at people t he’d up here l, unusually must re than half the vans are owned by French people. At 8.40€, which includes toilets and services, the aire is not much to look at, it is not cheap, but really it is all about location.

We are literally a stones through from a beautiful beach which stretches the 2 kms into Peñíscola in one direction and to Benicarlo and beyond in the other.

A footpath/ cycle lane takes you along the beach in both directions, and this afternoon we headed for Peniscola. We knew from our guide book that Peniscola was well worth a visit, and we have certainly not been disappointed!

The old fortified sea town dominates the landscape as you walk along the promonade. Inside the massive ramparts the town is a labyrinth of narrow streets twisting around the base of the castle.

It has been fought over on many occasions since the 6th century, but the castle as it stands today was build on the foundations of an Arab fortress by the Knights Templar in the late 16 century. Scenes from El Cid starring Charleston Heston and more recently Game of Thrones have been shot here.

Modern Peñíscola has developed in all directions from the old town and with a population of 8000, is a popular family holiday resort. As you walk along the promenade it is clear that the tourist season has yet to begin. Although you pass pass a variety of hotels and eating places, most are either not yet open or very quiet. It is not until you get into the centre of Peniscola that there is any real signs of life.

The forecast for today was not great with rain all afternoon, so we planned to go for a bike run first thing, chill in the afternoon then go out for something to eat tonight. So far the plan has worked a great, indeed as I sit here typing the blog the rain has stopped earlier than expected so I need the get finished and head off for a beer!

We headed for Calig through Benicarlo and back the same way. The route was chosen really because it would be easy to navigate but as with most of Spain it was full of surprises.

The route itself was almost pan flat, which was a pleasant surprise. Càlig turned out to be a lovely little village where everyone said hola to us in passing.

Benicarló was beset with La Fallas Els Gremats, the towns folks version of the Valencian Fallas. Twelve spectacular effigies, which represent the twelve committees of the Fallas, are built over the year and placed around the town. The festival begins with firecrackers going off all over the place, which we experienced this morning, and finally the effigies are burned to mark the end of the festival.

So what started as an easy 20 mile bike run to stretch the legs turned into a pretty interesting morning. Anyway off to get something to eat and maybe a little beer, early start tomorrow as we plan to get north of Barcelona.

The Silver Machine is currently parked up with another 70 Motorhomes, 237kms from Benidorm, in a free aire, beside a small airport, on the outskirts of El Grao de Castallon.

We plan to avoid toll roads whenever possible but the downside is, of course, that it can add a lot of time to your journey as it proved today between Benidorm and Valencia in N332. After that we were flying as the A7 around Valencia is toll free as is the CV 10 all the way here. So after leaving Benidorm at 10.30 we finally got parked up at 3pm.

The aire is well positioned with fine views over a beautiful sandy beach. There are no services but people seem to be empty their grey waste into a drain in the roadside and getting freshwater from a drinking fountain by the beach. Don’t think we’ll bother!

It is a lovely 30 minute walk into El Grao along a path which follows the beach and onto the marina. This area is far and away the most attractive part of town with shops, bars and restaurants dotted around.

Had a great last couple of weeks in Benidorm basically doing everything we did last year but especially got a lot of cycling in. Since the start of March we have cycled 280 miles with 8447 metres of climbing. Best trip was over the Col du Rates into the Jalom Valley and back through Calpe.

Went around the tapas bars in the old town for our last night, just had to be done! We have left Benidorm once again with some great memories and……yes we will be back. Oh and Christine got a new hat!

We’ve been incredibly fortunate with the weather this week. Although it has been mostly cloudy with a couple of days rain, the south east corner of Spain seems to be the only part of Europe to escape the “beast from the east”! Even Barcelona only 300 miles to the north had snow.

The problem with Benidorm is that, if it’s raining and your trying to stay out of the pubs there ain’t a lot to do. In case you ever find yourself in this position here is some ideas!

1. Write a blog. 2. Walk along Levante Beach with an umbrella. 3. Drink Cappuchino in Costa. 4. Shop in Benidorm Market.

We have had some decent weather too. On Wednesday we took the chance for our annual pilgrimage to Benidorm Cross. The road winds steeply up the hill for about 1.5 miles so it’s a decent walk with some breathtaking views as a reward.

We managed a decent run out on the bikes on Thursday, heading first for Villa Joyosa before cutting inland and through the mountains to Orxeta and home through Finestrat.

The profile shows that about 2/3 of the 27 miles was a steady climb from sea level to about 1100 ft before a fast decent into Benidorm.

We also said good bye to Paul on Thursday, so had a bit of a night out. The photos say it all really! As all the best night outs do in Benidorm, we ended the night with Elvis! The real one this time.

It really has been great having Paul’s company this week, along with his great mates. We will next see him in Cornwall in June as we plan to swing in past to see him and Wendy on our way home.