Morocco - here we come!

Tomorrow we meet up with the Morocco group at Casa Bernardo's just outside Algeciras We stay one night on the car park and take the ferry on Friday. Wow! We can't believe we're almost there.
Today is a big washing and getting everything ready day. Our other neighbours here have just come back from Morocco - they have been on two different trips with the same guy who is leading ours - so have been filling us in on some of the details, stuff you need to know, etc. Very useful. Don't know when the next blog will be, depends on Maroc Telecom. Glad to hear that you are having a bit of a heatwave back in Britain!

Nosey Neighbours [and some very helpful ones!]

We have some very inquisitive neighbours on our present campsite! But, also, some very helpful ones. Mabel made her first mistake on the way to this campsite, bringing us through a very narrow and twisting mountain village, not once but twice, much to the amazement of its occupants and to our embarrassment. Add to that the stress of driving round a site twice to spot a good pitch, then finding dog muck on it and having to move pitches, and, finally, once you've parked up again realising that you've forgotten to put water on board. There was no way that my driver was going to move the van again!

Fortunately, Barry on the pitch across the way, called out as we walked past, "Would you like a beer?" How could we possibly refuse? A pleasant hour passed, then later, we moved our table across to theirs and all had a meal together. And, also, we were able to link our hose pipe to his and reach the water tap. Wonderful!

Tapas trail with Zoe and Dan

Whilst in Seville, we met up with Zoe and Dan to do a "tapas trail". Didn't find any of the bars mentioned in the guide books but did find some great ones of our own. In one bar, we tried bellota ham with a glass of fino as recommended by Rick Stein [thanks Dick and Julia for the book!] Dan is a butcher and thought the ham was lived up to expectations. It was delish! Bit of trouble finding our way back to the bus but made it in the nick of time.

Sights of Seville

We caught the bus into Seville to have a look around. The cathedral was very impressive; apparently, it is the largest in the world and was built onto an existing Islamic building. Unfortunately, there was a long queue so we didn't get to see the inside. Instead, we just strolled around the narrow streets of the Barrio Santa Cruz and just soaked up the atmosphere. A lot of the architecture had a Moorish influence and every so often we caught a glimpse of an inner courtyard through great wooden doors. We'll probably see a lot of these in Morocco.

A game of boule

No-one had parked on the pitches at the back of the van so we decided to have a game of boule. It was all taken very seriously with feet used to measure the distance when a dispute arose and time built in for refreshments between games. At the end, no-one could remember who had won the most rounds!

And neither is a woman's!

David has his jobs to do - and I have mine!

A man's work is never done

La bicicleta no funciona!

Zoe and Dan

A young couple, Dan and Zoe, have parked opposite us in a twenty year old VW Autosleeper [not quite the cult VW but almost!]. They have saved up, rented their house out and are now spending six months touring Europe. They have come down from Salamanca [where, like us, they came across the Irish travellers] and are going on from here to Seville and then into Morocco [but a bit after us]. They came over last night and we all sat chatting until very late; I think they were glad to have some “younger” English people [their words!] to talk to after all this time away.

Sitting up late with Dan and Zoe last night meant that we weren’t really in a fit state for moving on to Seville today. Instead, we stayed on site and did lots of jobs [I think we’re starting to feel that we need to get everything ready for Morocco next week]. The main task was to wash the van and clean out the water tanks which we were able to do on site. After all that, a couple of hours by the pool helped cool us down again.

Zoe and Dan came by later in the evening and showed us a couple of things on the computer and also the camera. It’s very handy having some people about! Didn’t sit up quite so late this time – we must move on to Seville tomorrow!

The old monuments of Caceres

Cycled into Caceres again this morning, this time to look around the old quarter. As luck would have it, we decided to follow a different cycle track and it bypassed the new part of the city, and took us round to the older part. And what a place it was! It is called the “Cuidad Monumental,” a very apt description because it is full of very old mansions, public buildings, churches, towers and palaces. It was mostly built by nobles and the church using money from the Americas, it is defended by a city wall and is pretty well preserved since 16^th century days. Every time we turned there was another impressive sight to see. With new camera in hand, I was looking forward to capturing some of the sights for ourselves and others to enjoy back at home. I managed a couple of photos of the Grand Plaza which lies below the Monumental City and a couple of the historic buildings when – ping – no  more battery on the camera – would you Adam and Eve it?!

El frigo no fungiona!

Disaster – last night the fridge has stopped working! A waste of good food and no ice for the G and Ts! How could we get it fixed? Using our newly-acquired skills on the internet, we found the name and number of a Dometic service engineer and managed to rustle up enough Spanish to ask the girl on Campsite reception to phone and explain our problem. The upshot was that we found ourselves driving across to the other side of Cacares [with good old Mabel’s help, of course] to catch the engineer before he finished work at 8.00pm. He tested the fridge and then explained as patiently as he could that there was nothing wrong, it just wouldn’t function properly on electricity in hot temperatures, and we would have to use gas. Apparently all caravan fridges are the same [it didn’t tell us that in the manual, though].

The good news is that this morning, now that temperatures are slightly lower, it is working again and we have ice. David says that we had better have our G and Ts before midday while we’ve still got ice cubes – don’t worry, Nancy – I put my foot down on that one!

Woodland wonderland!

Our campsite near Miranda del Castanar was set amongst ancient woodland [mostly oaks - the pigs like eating the acorns], absolutely beautiful and there was only us on it! But there's always a fly in the ointment and, in this case, there were about three million and they were all over us! We were ok once the sun went down and when we had breakfast next morning. We walked into Miranda del Castanar in the early evening, much less touristy than La Alberca, and had a beer at the local bar. Lots of the older Spanish sitting out playing cards and chatting - very few in the bar watching TV. Come to think of it, we haven't bothered at all with out Sat TV for the past two weeks and haven't caught up with any news. Are we relaxing at long last?

Mama mia - la camera es rota!

One of us has dropped the camera - the clue is in the picture. We read the book of words but to no avail; in the end , we resorted to a hard thump and the lens retracted but wouldn't come out again.I had a sleepless night wondering how to say "Can you repair this camera?" in Spanish, and , perhaps, "We need to buy another camera." But how to ask for the features that we wanted, etc. We cycled into Caceres [again along a cycle track - the Spanish are very good at these], parked up the bikes and managed to ask directions to a camera shop. The young lady didn't speak English but took one look at our camera, shook her head and produced a similar model at a quarter of the price and with more pixels. DP knows a bargain when he sees one and immediately stumped up the Euros. It came in a box with all the necessary parts and a manual in SPANISH! This could be the end of Nancy and Peggy's film show - all we can hope for is that it works in a similar way to our old one, and let's face it - we only ever used that on automatic!

Bristly Pig Country

After Salamanca, we decided to head into the countryside through Sierra Pena de Francia.We didn't see any "bristly pigs" - [the area is famous for its Iberican ham] but did come across some gorgeous mountain villages - La Alberca and Miranda del Castanar. It was like stepping back in time: narrow passageways, wood and stone buildings and medieval timbers. There were a few medieval Spaniards sitting on benches and doorsteps as well!

Salamanca

Have been told by various people to visit this historic city and it certainly lived up to its reputation as possibly one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. We were able to cycle into the old city following the river from our campsite. We came to the Roman bridge and then walked through a narrow passageway into the old walled city past the cathedral and university buildings. A "must see"  - apparently, it really comes into its own when all the university students return.

Green Coast

Drove up to the coast hoping for a few days of sea, sun and sand but, although very picturesque, it obviously is called the "Green Coast" for a reason - we arrived in a thunderstorm and it stayed grey and cloudy for two days. We didn't bother to go on up to Luarca but, instead, headed south for Leon and beyond. Cudillero was a bit like Staithes but still an important fishing port.

Moving on

We have had a great time at La Viorna campsite, near Potes in the Picos Europa and have stayed longer than intended. Lovely pitch with great views, good neighbours {Mike and Diana}and good facilities. Last night, the four of us went down into Potes and caught some of the fiesta - a rather haphazard procession with lots of loud music, drinking and fun! We got back to the campsite before midnight and were able to watch the fireworks from the vans down in the valley below. However, we've got itchy feet again and are going to drive further on through the Picos, then back up to the north coast. By Sunday, we're hoping to be at Luarca which is supposed to be a pretty little fishing village.

On the domestic front, we managed to buy a plug - the words for universal and flexible are the same in Spanish, you just need to pronounce them properly!

Fuente De - wow!

Went up to Fuente De yesterday and took the cable car right up the side of the mountain. Very scary, particularly as the last bit of the ride went straight up the cliff face. However, the views from the top were fantastic and we were lucky enough to have a really bright and clear sunny day. Extremely nerve-wracking stepping back into the cable car as you could see through the gap straight down the mountain.

Asturian cider pouring

Potes is a lovely little town, looks almost Swiss Alpine with lots of wooden verandahs. We were lucky enough to be sitting outside a bar when along came a group of women and started pouring cider from a bottle in the Asturian way - holding the bottle high and the glass low so that you end up with a head on the drink. We had a go later at the campsite but, without thinking, had bought bubbly cider so we ended up with mainly froth. A bit of a waste but a good laugh!

Mountain views from La Viorna campsite

What views! We are quite happily having another Betty Day [staying on site and catching up with the chores] and who could complain about doing a bit of washing when you're sitting amidst scenery like this?! David's busy reading the van manual [we've only had it for four years!] and later we're going to tackle the instructions for the camera so we can do more than use it on automatic [we've had that for five years!] The site has a beautiful swimming pool, too - wish I could lay claim to the beautiful rear climbing out of the water but I'm afraid it isn't me - such a view wouldn't be fit for publication...