Week 2. 21st – 27th of December 2024. Lloret de Mar to Mar Menor 436 miles
Saturday 21st of December 2024 (Lloret de Mar to Amposta – 155 miles)
We hope that you have all had a lovely Christmas. Our best wishes for the New Year…
In the last week, we have driven from home in East Cowes in the United Kingdom to Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava, Spain. We got through France in three days. We have seen the Millau Viaduct, been on the beach in the Med, seen some lovely old Spanish towns and had our first ‘menu del dia‘ on this trip at least. We have also enjoyed some sunny walks on a beach or two. A good start.
Today we are leaving Lloret on this the shortest day and heading south on our journey. We leave later than we hope but we are off after filling up with diesel and a fine Spanish coffee from the service station. Bit of a long one today, 3 hours. We are planning to stop at a free spot next to Port Aventura, which has one of Hayley’s favourite rollercoasters, Shambhala, we won’t be visiting it today, however, as it’s the weekend and too busy. Our route will take us along the back of Barcelona on the AP-7. It’s another bright sunny day and getting warmer.
We find the free spot, but it’s a bit away from anything unless you are visiting the amusement park, so we decide not to stay the night. No matter, we have a spot of lunch and we are soon on our way again, this time to another free spot, a very popular one, on the Ebro Delta south of Barcelona. It’s getting warmer, 18 degrees. It’s a lovely drive.
We get a space, which is lucky, as there are only two left. Whew! It’s a nice spot next to the city of Amposta. We get settled in and have a chat with the Dutch neighbours behind us who have also just been out for a week, but are out until March…
We have a good walk around the town near to us, it’s not bad, nothing spectacular but it’s warm and sunny and we like walking around new towns. The walk back to Jess is through the local park, which is very nice.
We are back at Jess at 5 pm. A full day.
Dinner tonight on Jess is a local dish, Fideua. Similar to Paella, but made with small thin pasta instead of rice. Hayley does this really well.
Sunday 22nd of December 2024 (Amposta to Benicarlo – 25 miles) HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEL!!
Today, we’re taking a short 30-minute drive to our next stop, where we will spend Christmas. We’re doing a full van service and filling up with LPG. Even though it’s Del’s birthday, some jobs still have to be done…
It’s a lovely day today, and as we move further south, even though the drive is short, the temperature is a warm 18 degrees. There is a threat of some clouds, but nothing yet.
We are heading to a campsite that we have stayed at before in a town called Benicarlo, Camping Alegria Del Mar. It’s a very popular site with people from all over Europe who are transiting through or spending weeks at a time there. It’s a very nice place, well maintained, with lots to do with some good walks.
We are given a nice and spacious pitch and get settled in quite quickly.
Today it’s Del’s birthday and Hayley has booked a nice beachside restaurant for lunch. He has already received his gifts, his favourite Champagne, Taittinger, and a nice pair of Apple Air Pods Pro. He loves them.
Lunch is just a 5-minute walk from the site so we set off and we are given a nice inside table with a great view of the sea.
The sun is lovely and warm, at 18 degrees with no wind. What a day and a place for a birthday.
Lunch is delicious and very well-priced for what we had and the location. We walk it off with a short walk towards the marina and the town before setting back towards Jess. The city of Benicarlo took quite a bashing from the floods in the Valencia area that killed so many people in October/November 2024.
We see, at first hand, some of the devastation as the road that used to connect the campsite to the marina and towards the town has been swept away.
As we are staying here over Christmas we get Jess set up for the festive season. We have some lights to put up and we find space for the Christmas cards that we were able to bring. She is all set up.
In the evening we stay indoors and play an escape room game and finish off the rest of the champagne. A lovely day today. There is a threat of strong winds on the way apparently.
Many thanks for all of your kind birthday wishes for Del and our Christmas cards. There may be some back in the UK that we missed after we left which we appreciate.
Monday 23rd of December 2024 (Day 2 Benicarlo)
As predicted the wind has built up overnight and is expected to get fierce later today and overnight, calming off for Christmas Eve. We have a simple and quick breakfast today before setting off for a walk into the city of Benicarlo. It is windy, it’s behind us so we will struggle to walk back in it.
It’s a nice easy 30-minute walk into the town which, is fabulous. A very bright, clean and lively town. It’s a small city with a population of just over 26,000. We stop at a busy cafe as Del wants some Chocolate con Churros. A popular Spanish snack all year round, even for breakfast but very popular in the winter months, especially this time of year.
It’s basically a doughnut straightened out with some icing sugar sprinkled on top with a cup of very thick hot chocolate. Not very exciting but if you get a good one it’s delicious, and this one was a good one. Just the right amount and only 3 euros! In the UK we have seen £5 and upwards for a rather substandard copy. Never had a decent one at home.
Back at Jess Hayley knocks up a very pleasant Malaysian dish with chicken and massive Spanish prawns, very tasty. The rest of the day is spent at Jess reading and just enjoying the sunshine despite the strong wind. The last time we were here it was the same. We seem to attract the wind…
Tonight it’s free bingo at the campsite bar. Yipee! A pleasant afternoon, reading, chatting and Del doing a bit of work, all very relaxed. We get showered and set for our big night out!
The restaurant on the campsite is very popular and we can see why. The menu is excellent, it’s cheap and they are quick. It’s very good.
We have a pile of calamari, patatas bravas (again) and a massive house salad. We cash in our two free drink vouchers that you get when you check-in.
Bingo time. Six games were played in total and Hayley won the full house on the last game! Well done Hayley. The prize was a bottle of red wine. Very nice.
The last time we were here she won twice… A bottle of wine and a huge bar of chocolate.
It’s still windy as we make our way back to Jess. It’s supposed to calm off soon, we hope. It would be nice to sit out in the sunshine for Christmas.
Tuesday 24th of December 2024 (Day 3 Benicarlo)
Finally, the wind has gone away – well, kind of. We are expecting a warm, sunny day, so we shall try to get out and sit in the sun and read our books with a cold beer. Fingers crossed.
Del is off for a solo walk along the beach. It’s fabulous. A bright, clear, warm sunny morning. Hayley is back at the van sorting out drawers and cupboards. She likes that. Well in small spaces, everything must have a space… Back at Jess we just take it easy, reading outside.
Lunch today is at a Japanese restaurant called Matuya. You order everything on an iPad that is bolted to the table on a gooseneck arrangement so you can move it about between you.
Our walk to the restaurant is blocked off completely today. The road was completely smashed apart during the recent Spanish floods, and now the temporary fix is shut, so we have to take the long tiresome trudge over the stone pebble beach.
We are shown to a table in the restaurant, which is rather nice on the inside.
It’s very big and spacious with lots of tables with a very bright, ‘easy-on-the-eye’ decor. It’s busy already. The waiter cleans down our iPad and resets it for us. For 15 euros you can eat as much as you like! Drinks and dessert are extra. What a deal. When we lived in Barcelona there was something very similar, only it was the traditional belt that went around the restaurant and as the small plates sailed past, you just scooped one up. We spent a lot of time in that place. (And money!)
Hayley has Sake to drink, and Del has a cold local beer.
Indeed we take advantage of this place. We have lots to eat, maybe too much. The restaurant has a policy of ‘fining’ you if you order and leave too much food behind.
Quite right too, however, there is no chance of that at our table as we hoover everything up that we have ordered.
A very pleasant walk back in the afternoon sunshine. Back at Jess we just lay back in the sun and read. Del lasts 3 minutes before he’s snoring.
As Christmas Eves go, it’s fab. Warm sunshine, a good walk and a great value lunch. Not bad, not bad at all.
The evening is back at the van and another escape room game from “Unlock” by SpaceCowBoys, helped along with a few drinks of fizz… Tonight we did well… 4/5 on this game!
Wednesday 25th of December 2024 (Day 4 Benicarlo)
Merry Christmas to you all… Have a great day!
When we look through the van blinds this morning, the sky is beautiful and clear. We are up and wishing each other a “Merry Christmas.” Del puts together a fabulous breakfast complete with fizz and Christmas crackers.
We exchange some gifts and cards over coffee. A lovely morning.
The weather promises to be very nice today, and we plan to go to the same restaurant that we went to for Del’s birthday, Mar Blava. The only space they have left is on their terrace, so we have booked that for 3pm, but first we should have a walk so we set off for the short walk to the beach. To our surprise, and shock, the skies have clouded over, but quite a lot, not what was forecast as we feel spots of rain.
No matter we have a couple of options up our sleeve. We can eat at the very good campsite restaurant, or we can eat at Jess, which is equally good.
The clouds thicken as we walk back to Jess, but the rain has now gone. Del gets himself comfortable outside with a chair, his book and a small beer, Hayley joins him and they just get comfortable when a small shower of rain passes through. We decide to cancel our Christmas lunch at the beachside restaurant and decide on the campsite restaurant instead.
Despite the cloudy sky and the odd, very light shower, it’s still warm as we sit in the van with the door open and read, watch videos and exchange messages with friends back home.
One of Del’s gifts from Hayley was a bottle of 10-year-old Scotch, so of course he has to try a sample. Delicious.
So who got what:
Hayley: A year’s subscription to Audible. A box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates. A Bluetooth sleep mask.
Del: A bottle of Scotch. A Scotch tasting kit. The two remaining books are from the Brian Klein Trilogy. And a phone holder/lamp gismo.
Here is a quick promo for Brian Klein. Brian Klein is a TV director who turned his hand to writing during COVID-19. He has written three books, with a fourth on the way in March 2025.
They are excellent, real page-turners, and highly recommended. (There you go, Brian, that’s a fiver you owe me!) They are a seriously good read. You can see them all here. Give them a go.
Christmas dinner is at the campsite restaurant which is excellent. House salad followed by chipirones (baby squids), fiduea and a dessert. This is all helped along with a couple of glasses of house red all for 50 euros… Excellent.
Back at the van Hayley gets her guitarlele out and plays us a few songs with a little help from Del with vocals until bedtime.
Here is the setlist.
- Don’t Speak – No Doubt
- Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
- One More Time – Britany Spears
- Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
- Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
- Day Dream Believer – The Monkees
INTERVAL
- Army Dreamers – Kate Bush
- Rebel Yell – Billy Idol
- Sail Away – David Grey (Our Wedding Song)
- I Got You – Split Endz
- Please Let Me Get What I Want – The Smiths
- California Dreaming – Mamas and Papas
ENCORE
- Heart Of Gold – Neil Young
- Harvest Moon – Neil Young (Del’s ‘H’ song)
2ND ENCORE
- Strong Enough – Cheryl Crowe
Blackout…!!!
No kidding here. She really does strum and pick these tunes out properly on her guitarlele that we have brought with us… Good stuff!
We have had a lovely day today, and a good Christmas. Stress-free, easy going and just nice. We hope that you too have had a lovely Christmas and we will see you in the New Year. The evening is finished off with some good old country and western tunes from Patsy Kline, Kitty Wells, Glenn Campbell and Loretta Lynn. Love it…
Our very best wishes to you all…
Thursday 26th of December 2024 (Benicarlo to L’Olleria – 140 miles)
Today, we are moving on. We have spent four nights in Benicarlo and have enjoyed our stay. The town is not a tourist town by any means, but it has a lot to offer. It has everything you could want. It’s vibrant and busy, very clean, and well looked after. The town also has a good collection of great places to eat. We only tried two of them, but there are many here with at least two Michelin-rated restaurants.
The campsite is great. Well run and looked after, they have something for everyone. Us Brits are in the minority amongst a large contingent of Germans, Dutch and Swiss. We like that though, that’s why we are here. We have enjoyed a good Christmas, no overeating or drinking, some sunshine, lots of fresh air and a very happy Christmas. We hope that whatever you did, you enjoyed yours…
Time to move on though and get ourselves further south. We are heading for a simple overnight stop, inland. It’s a piece of land that has electricity and water with hens that peck around the van.
It gets great reviews, so we shall see. The weather is cloudy and we do have a few showers of rain, nothing heavy, just a light shower or two.
We leave Benicarlo via a fuel stop. It’s a 2.5-hour drive but we are in no rush to get there. Our journey takes us through the outskirts of Valencia where the traffic is pretty heavy and where we also see where the flood water came through. The city itself was spared the worst of the flood but the water came rushing through via the dried-up river bed bringing heavy debris and trees with it.
At 2:30 pm we arrive at our stop after taking the wrong turn and ending up on a cycle path. We have a very short moment of concern about how we are going to get back, or turn around, but fortunately, the path opens up again onto the road and this time we make the correct turn.
True to its reviews it is just a large scrub land, but well provisioned with electricity, water and there is even a shower. The weather is the warmest it’s been but by 4:30 pm it turns a bit chilly.
In the field with us is a large dilapidated IVECO truck converted into a motorhome with 2 adults and 4 kids (and a washing machine)… There are 2 vans registered in Estonia, a Finn, a Swiss and then us. The Finnish car/van has been here for a month and a half!
At 5 pm the chap who owns the land, and has a very nice substantial house next door, comes to collect payment.
15 euros for the pitch, electricity, water and half a dozen fresh eggs from the hens next to us, who aren’t allowed to peck around the vans anymore (much to Hayley’s disappointment).
Dinner in tonight and early to bed.
Friday 27th of December 2024 -116 miles (L’Olleria to Mar Menor – 116 miles)
Our breakfast this morning is the fresh eggs that we bought from the site owner last night when he popped by for payment. They are in Hayley’s words “…the best eggs I’ve ever had…” and they are. Very tasty eggs, laid by the hens behind the van.
It was a very pleasant stay here, L’Olleria. It was very peaceful. Today, we are off to Mar Menor, south of Alicante. It doesn’t take us long to pack up, and we are on our way. It’s a cloudy, cold start to the day, but we are hoping that it will improve. On our way, we need to do some shopping, so Hayley finds us an Aldi, which is about an hour away. We also need some LPG, so she finds that, too.
The journey is a bit gloomy. There are lots of heavy, low clouds about, and we think it might rain.
Indeed, we do get a small shower or two. In this area of Spain, farmers are allowed to burn wood at this time of the year. It’s bad this morning. Plumes of smoke are dotted throughout the countryside. You can’t smoke in a lot of places in Spain now but you can burn as much wood as you like. We tried to get a photo as we left the farm this morning of the sky. There was a low cloud stretching for miles that was yellow, yes, yellow! Wood burning had been going on since the early hours.
We get parked up at the Aldi. Hayley goes in while Del stays with Jess. The shop is at a busy intersection, and at the lights, Del spots an unusual busker. Every time the traffic is stopped on red, this chap jumps out into the waiting cars and starts a juggling act. Very odd.
The next stop is to pick up LPG. We have a successful fill up so we are ready with plenty of gas for cooking and heating. While Del pops into the shop to pay, Hayley is left to remove the adaptor from the side of the van that allows us to fill up with LPG. As she removes it, the excess that had built up in the pipework of the van spits back at her and gives her a nasty ‘ice-burn‘ on her finger. Over time these can turn into a nasty blister so we will keep an eye on that. Needless to say, she is now banned from having anything to do with the LPG unless it’s inside the van, i.e. cooking, making the tea and putting the heating on…
The drive has taken just under 2 and a half hours when we arrive at the campsite in Mar Menor. Camping Mar Menor is a popular place frequented, as usual, by the Germans. We like it here. It’s good for bike riding. We get parked up in our allocated pitch.
After a cup of tea and some traditional ‘Kings Day‘ Roscon, Del rips the van apart and gives her a good clean. The outside is prepped with the awning, table and chairs, finished off with some decorative lights. While that’s going on H is running back and forth to the site laundry facilities getting some, much needed, washing done.
By 6 pm we are all done.
We have a clean van inside and out, all the laundry is done, we are full of gas, and water and plugged into the mains and we are now settled in for our 5-day stay here. It’s here that we will bring in the new year. 2025.
See you on the other side…
All sounds great, your Christmas looked really good. Love the Mar Menor (obviously) . Hope you weather is good for the rest of your trip.
Still a bit miserable here but our Christmas was good.xx
Sounds like a good new year’s eve brewing.
Enjoy.
Wishing you a happy belated birthday Del and also a merry belated Christmas to you both. Quite envious of you enjoying 18 degree weather, as it’s much colder here! In advance, a very happy and healthy 2025 and safe onward travels!