Helen strolling through the Municipal park and Palm Groves before lunch

Hi, Still at Marjal Camping on the Costa Blanca. We've been exploring the area a little by cycle and also a couple of days out and about in the camper. This week we went to Guardamar del Segura on the coast, Cox, Almaradi, La Marina (urban) and Elche. We found some hills going upto La Marina and I had a puncture on the "glassy" pista on the way back.  The city of Elche is only about 10 miles away but is quite an urban sprawl although the old centre or what remains is very pleasant, especially around the Basilica and the Alcasser. Some folks on our camping site didn't really recommend it for a day-trip for various reasons including the difficult parking. We took the camper in and although parking wasn't obvious for something our size, we had a few tight squeezers but it wasn't too bad. We had a nice stroll along a pista next to the river into the centre and found a pleasant place for lunch. We got some great shots from the top of the Basillica de Snt Maria. There is alot of history connected with the development of the city and the Palm Groves for which it is world famous.

This is a view of the Palm Groves from the top of the Basillica de St Maria looking north to the Sierras in the distance.

The Riu  Vinalopo goes through the centre. It has been "set in concrete" with a central gully about 6 feet wide forming a fast flow; the concrete basin itself is massive but we doubted whether it ever filled; infact we saw a van driving down with the workmen picking up dog litter if you get my meaning. The track at the side looked fairly new and on route we met many joggers, mostly young people enjoying some exercise. There was lots of graffiti about, even on the new buildings and bridges. One of the Dutch men in our Spanish class when asked what he didn't like, replied it was the graffiti to which our young Spanish teacher, Anita, replied in her bouncy manner, that "no this is good, it is art!". Well some of it is very artistic and we can appreciate that, but there was much in Elche that was just signatures, well I think so anyway, or maybe I was missing something.
 Like most of the local towns, Elche had some pretty Plazas with restaurants set around the sides giving the places a relaxing ambiance in the sunshine. In the towns they are sometimes difficult to find although the Town Hall or a church are usually a good clue to their location.
In Spanish classes we've been concentrating on "families" and I now know (well yesterday I did) more about family relationships in Espanol than I do in Ingles...you never know when you want to explain in Spanish about your second cousin removed! We're sincerely hoping that she'll move on next week and before the end of our stay here we'll be able to write this blog in Spanish, at least once anyway...one day perhaps That's all for now, a sundowner calls...adios

Cycling group from Marjal Camping at the square in Rafal, sunny ride after rain in the night.
Helen's on the left next to her bike with her back towards the camera. You can't see me because I'm behind the camera!

We had about 30 in our cycling group today and had a great ride from the campsite to Rafal and back. It had rained the previous day and overnight but the sun was out this morning. The terrain is very flat and not as interesting as "our" Purbecks. We also tried the local "Fondo Nature Reserve" the other day but we got bogged down in mud so came back to clean our bikes up. We'll try that another day when the area has dried. It does look interesting with several hides to watch the wildlife, mainly birds and isn't very far away, about 10 minutes by cycle. Otherwise we're making the most of the gym, swimming pool and sauna. The language classes are going well but I think we may be learning Valencian which is similar to Catalan, I may be wrong though! Adios for now.

 Hi, Now away for a couple of months in Alicante/Murcia in southern Spain. We took the Dover to Calais ferry and drove (a long way, stopping at Aires on route!) to get to the border near Angeles-sur-Mer where we camped-up for the night in the harbour. We had originally intended to then go to Valencia and spend a couple of days there but on route I realised that the campsite might be closed as we'd stayed there last year but at a later date in January. Anyway, this turned out to be the case but luckily we just diverted off route to Peniscola on the coast. This was a busy campsite with lots of residents but a very pleasant stay with two sunny days and a chance to see the old town and the restoration work they have been doing (since 2008) on the sand dunes (see photo above). We then drove straight down to Mahjal camping which is south of Alicante city near Crevillent and the Parque Natural El Fondo or Hondo depending on the map.

This is a shot of Helen in the afternoon sun after we joined a group cycleride to Callosa in the morning. The campsite is brand new (opened in December last year) and has very modern facilities, gym, indoor pool and we're doing free Spanish lessons; maybe one day I will be able to speak something resembling Spanish. It gets dark by 6 and light by about 8.30 with temperatures rising in the daytime to near 20 C at the moment. However, the temperatures drop suddendly as the sun drops and in the morning it is 6 - 8 C and feels cold. However, once the sun gets above the horizon, the temperatures quickly rise unless there is cloud cover and then it stops at about 14-16 C. There looks to be lots to explore locally on our bikes, small villages and the Nature reserve and the coast is ony about 15 km away. There is a train line a few kilometres away that goes to Murcia and Alicante and also buses that can be found to get around here and to the coast. We've joined the gym, indoor pool and sauna and that went well so far. In case anyone wants to contact us, we have email and a phone signal. We've used Skype alread to contact Helen's Mum and Dad and that works fine but we only got one picture.