Christmas break in southern Spain.

Sitting in the afternoon sunshine outside of our bungalow at Camping Marjal.

We've been at Camping Marjal on the Costa Blanca for a week and enjoying mild weather with daytime temperatures of 18 to 21 C but dropping at night but not usually enough to use the camper heater. We've been exploring the local towns by cycle including Catral, Callosa  de Segura, El Fonda and Cervillente. The latter ride was amusing as the route had been signed since our visit last year. However, the cycle route came to a full stop as it approached a new motorway. I enquired with some locals who directed us over the new road to find what remained of the old road on the other side. This proved beyond us as after surmounting to the gravel and sand base of the motorway we couldn't see a way down. Eventually we retraced our steps (or wheels) and found a road to El Realengo and the main N340 into Cervillente. After a casual time looking around the town we decided on another route back (aided by my new GPS!). This went well, crossing under the new forming motorway and main rail line and then I noted a pista on the right that looked like it would connect to our inbound route. After a while the track disappeared in a palm plantation and although we were only a few yards from the road we wanted, there didn't appear to be a way though the dense shrubbery and dikes. Retracing our wheels (again) we found another route on tarmac to get us back to the El Fonda Natural Park and the campsite.

One of the problems with this area is that the 1:200,000 Spanish provincial maps or Michelin maps don't have many minor roads marked. The Garmin Europe navigator GPS map for Spain includes some minor road and pistas but misses the majority so on the minor roads to, for example  Callosa, the Navigator shows us driving across fields although the roads are well established older roads of the area. The only maps I have found that include the many tarmac minor roads are the "Mapa Topografico Nacional de Espana" which are on a 1:50000 scale but cover quite small areas and seem difficult to get hold of in the UK (or here).

Another interesting experience was finding Alicante airport to pick up dad. Checking on the airport internet site I got the GPS coordinates for the Airport. I checked on the Garmin GPS and it gave me the same location. This ended up taking us to the south side of the airport on relatively minor roads to try and reach one of the runways by a track alongside the perimeter fence. Needless to say, we ignored this and eventually found the Santa Pola road and turned north to find the first signs we'd seen for the airport and at the same time seeing an Easy Jet flight landing (probably from Edinburgh). As we found on our return journey, the route is very simple by motorway particularly when you're not starting from a landing runway!

Feliz Navidad or Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year..2013. 

A drive across Spain in December

All alone in Aranda Campsite amongst the Pine and Holm Oak trees.

Hi, We’re now Spain having taken the ferry to Santander from Portsmouth. The sea crossing was smooth and we both got a decent night’s sleep and breakfast before departure in Santander at about twelve, Spanish time. The sky was blue and we had a magnificent view of the snow-capped Picos Mountains as we came into the harbour.  The new route out of Santander made driving at lot easier as it avoids the city almost altogether and it wasn’t long before we made our first pass of the Cantabrian range at about 1008 m and descended to Burgos, our first stopover. The “navigator” got confused but we spotted the campsite signs in Burgos and followed them. The campsite was a little run down and the women’s showers were in a terrible state so we used the van’s facilities whilst there. The following day we took the local bus into the city and spent ages trying to take in about 1/1000 th of the information about the history etc of the magnificent cathedral. We had intended to see the “Museum of Human Evolution” but there wasn’t time after lunch so perhaps next time we come this way. There was a Christmas market outside the cathedral and lots of sites aside the river. It was however colder than home with indicators showing 6 to 8 C and it felt like it too.

Lots of interesting statues in Burgos, anyone for Chestnuts?

 

The following day we headed towards Madrid but stopping in the Rio Duero valley (home of the Ribera del Duero wines) near Aranda de Duero. The campsite is pleasantly situated amongst Pine and Holm Oak trees a couple of kilometres out of town. We checked that the campsite was open (our information said it closed in part of December and January) before taking the camper into the centre. It was pleasant to walk around going into a bodega (we needed to know more about the wines). We soon discovered there are many, many wines under the Ribera del Duero label so with advice we chose one for Christmas day, so our fingers  are crossed  (Pago de los Cappellanes) with “our” Mayor de Castille” as backup. It was another holiday so most places were closed but we saw around the main Plaza Major and the old part of town.

After a very cold night (waking to near zero in the camper and freezing fog outside) we moved south around Madrid to Camping International at Aranduez crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama at 1444 m (no snow) This is the first time I’ve driven near Madrid but it was fine with the “navigator” guiding us through what seemed a web of motorways (all free so far). The climate seemed milder, maybe it was the blue sky and sunshine or the lower altitude (about 423 m), but by the time we reached Aranduez, we had lunch in the sun with the camper door open. We then had time to walk across the bridge into the Jardin del Principe and then a ten minutes walk to the Royal Palace and more gardens (some with roses flowering still). The Palace (Palacio Real) date from the 19^th century when the Spanish Bourdon’s ruled and it was to Aranduez they retreated to enjoy the Spring and Autumn seasons, a bit of a Spanish Versailles then (it did have that grand open aspect we recall from Versailles).

The Royal Palace in Aranduez, lots to see around the town.

We too enjoyed the sun and our first beer of the trip before returning before sundown to the camper. This campsite is by far the best we’ve stopped at so far on the trip and I guess it would be possible to drive directly here from Santander and then onto the coast, making it in two days, not much fun but if the weather was bad it is an option to escape.

Now at Marjal Costa Blanca campsite having set up camp. It seems much milder here and good to get off all the thermal layers of the last few days. The drive from Aranduez was easy, mostly on motorways and with very little traffic. The toll bit (AP36) cost us 12 euros, the only toll cost of this route from Santander, so pretty good. The diesel is also cheaper than at home at about 1.39 euros per litre. We now have a week to sort out stuff and look around to see what has changed since our visit last year. The campsite, on first impressions, is in excellent condition with more campers than we recall from last winter. Anyway, more of that later...hasta luego