Week 6. 4th May – 10th May 2026. Cala Montgo to Cantallops, Spain – 47 miles.
We are in our last week in Spain and spending it in one of our favourite places. The Costa Brava has a fantastic rugged coastline, charming towns and villages and slightly different food from the rest of Spain, being in Catalunya. A lot of bike riding this week and dirty van roofs. This week we meet up with an old holiday friend and end up with a coughing and sneezing fit from, of all things, a tree.
Monday 4th May 2026 (Cala Montgo to Sant Pere Pescador – 11 miles)
There are storm warnings for some parts of the Costa Brava, so last night we took in the awning and all the outside gear, just in case; however, this morning it’s blue skies and not a breath of wind. Nice. After some hearty bacon sandwiches, we explore the other half of the campsite. Some of these Spanish coastal campsites are immense, with 500+ places in each. Some towns have an influx of 3000 plus campers in the summer.
Aquarius camping in San Pere is a beautiful campsite which we have been to before. We thought it was only 3 years since we visited, but when we looked it up on our blog, it was 7 years ago! Which is terrifying!
We get a nice spot and settle in, we are right next to the beach with an expansive view of the bay of Roses. It’s a windy day, and lots of kiteboarders are out jumping 20ft in the air.
Back at the pitch, we are visited by a British camper, pitched nearby, who is surprised to see us. It’s true there not many of us Brits out on the road, the majority are German, Spanish, then Dutch.
Dinner is pasta with a caprese salad, which Del gives a big thumbs up to.
Tuesday 5th May 2026 (Sant Pere Pescador – Day 2)
It’s blue skies again when we wake up, but as we eat our breakfast outside, it clouds over and gets quite cool. Today, like yesterday, we have a yellow warning for rain, hail and strong winds. It didn’t come to anything yesterday, and we ignore it again today and set out on our bikes to L’Escala.
It’s a nice ride through the countryside next to orchards on one side of us and the sea on the other. We stop at the historic village of St Marti d’Empuries for a walkabout.
It’s one of our favourite areas in the Costa Brava with huge Roman and Greek ruins.
We cycle on to the town of L’Escala, which is lovely and on to the marina at the far end of town. After a drink, we head back towards the camp, but on the way, we visit a hotel that we used to stay regularly at in the late 90s. El Moli in San Pere Pescador is a charming boutique hotel which we used to love staying at. We knew the owner, Elena, quite well, and she even came for a drink on our boat when we stopped at Empuriabrava 23 years ago! This was the last time we saw her.
We pop into the hotel, and Del seeks her out. It takes a few seconds, but soon she is giggling and hugging us and remembering us well.
We sit outside with a drink and chat about the years that have passed (Del does, and H tries to keep up and chip in while she can, not being the expert Spanish speaker that Del is).
What a lovely day. We cycle back, buying some home-brewed sangria on the way from a local farm shop. We have had a good 19-mile ride, so we are ready for dinner. It’s another fideua on the gas stove and a winner as usual. We eat just in time as black clouds and thunder roll in…
Wednesday 6th May 2026 (Sant Pere Pescador to Empuriabrava – 9 Miles)
It’s been a great stay at Aquarius camping, lots of good exercise and relaxing. Very nice, Today we are not going far, we are just moving about 10 minutes north to Empuriabrava. But first, we’ve got to do something about our roof.
Our pitch was under a tree, which was frequented by pigeons, and it was covered in a huge amount of bird poo, but a lot, we’ve never seen so much of it…
We could hear them doing it as it hit the roof. We’ve found a jet wash with a small gantry, so we head there. The gantry is not quite high enough; in fact, we wonder what the point of it is, but it will help a little. Jess is 3m high, and the gantry is about 80 cm. Del gets our foldable step out and uses that while H backs Jess in and out at various angles to get the different parts of her cleaned.
To get closer, Del ends up keeping his balance by steadying himself on the front of Jess… Fool! It’s not the best example of health and safety, but we get the job done.
The camper park in Empuriabrava is brand new and is a good addition to the town. We used to occasionally go to a free parking area nearby that was council land, but recently there had been security issues, van break-ins and damage, so the council have closed it, leaving the way clear for Autocaravaning Empuribrava.
It rains heavily on and off, so for lunch we decide to wait for a break in the weather and go to the local supermarket here, which does excellent food on their terrace, it’s much nicer than it sounds. We get a table to find there’s no set lunch, the service has gone downhill, and the menu is expensive. We decide to go into the centre of town to hunt down a good lunch.
Last May, we rented an apartment here. We tried to go to a fine dining restaurant called The Noray, which does a good, cheap lunch menu, but it was always shut for one reason or another. This time it’s open, so we seize the chance. We’re a bit on the scruffy side in our cycling clothes, but it’s fine.
The lunch we have is the best of the trip, and is beautifully presented with a view of the Empuriabrava canals. (Empuriabrava is often called the Venice of Spain and is a massive housing complex on canals with moorings.) We cycle back just in time to beat the rain.
Thursday 7th May 2026 (Empuriabrava – Day 2)
Today we will stay in Empuriabrava but move to another nearby unvisited campsite, called Camping Mas Nou. It’s a similar price to last night’s spot but a vast difference from the camper park with beautiful grounds and facilities.
Today, we get back on the bikes again and explore parts of the town that we have not seen before on past visits. It’s a vast and sometimes confusing waterway of canals and streets.
Empuribrava was reclaimed many years ago from swamp land. There aren’t a lot of bridges over the canals, so places that look near are actually hard to get to.
We also visit the skydiving centre. Empuriabrava is a very popular place for skydiving; we imagine the view would be great, but jumping out of a plane is not for us. Still, it’s great to watch and hear the rush of wind over the canopies as they come in to land 10m above you. We’re surprised how popular it still is with a tandem jump for beginners starting at €300 and rising to nearly €500 with a video package.
We have a look at the indoor skydiving place called Windoor, which is basically a vertical wind tunnel capable of speeds of about 300 kph. There are 2 men inside, twirling and twisting around upside down and being thrown around like rag dolls. It’s a bit mad. H had a go at this 7 years ago and thought it was great fun!
We get some good exercise today with a 10-mile bike ride, then spend the rest of the afternoon at the van having a lovely dinner outside, with far too much to drink… Oh dear!
Friday 8th May 2026 (Empuriabrava to Sant Pere Pescador – 9 miles)
We are driving back to St Pere Pescador today. We stayed a couple of days here at the Aquarius campsite at the beginning of the week, and while we were there, we popped in to see our friend Elena, the owner of a local hotel where we used to stay. She has invited us for dinner tonight, so we are camping in a campsite directly opposite the hotel called Camping Senia Riu.
At the site, we get a large space, and we get ourselves set up, then we are off on the bikes again, exploring the local river area and nature reserves nearby. It’s a fabulous bike ride, and we end up on the beach where massive sand dunes have formed. The sand dunes here change every year in size, due to the sometimes strong winds; these winds also make it a very popular area with kite boarders and windsurfers. This really is a beautiful part of Spain with its long rocky coastline and lovely beaches. The scenery is beautiful, and the vibe is very relaxed.
Back at the van, we are sneezing and coughing and discover that we are parked beneath plane trees. They are well known for causing respiratory problems, especially at this time of year, and the campsite is full of them. We have to lock ourselves in the van behind the fly screens until it’s time to go out for dinner. It really is that bad.
At 7:30pm, we cross the road to the hotel El Molí and meet Elena and her Swiss boyfriend Andy. We have dinner in the back room of mussels, a salmon stew and Spanish cold meats and bread washed down with wine and a vintage sherry that they opened for us, a sherry that is at least 40 to 50 years old and was tucked behind the bar when we used to holiday here.
What a special evening, it’s so nice to see Elena again and to be in El Moli, where we have so many fond memories.
Saturday 9th May 2026 (Sant Pere Pescador to Roses – 11 miles)
Elena has invited us for breakfast this morning. A simple but tasty affair of croissants, toast and some very fine coffee. We chat with her and Andy for a while and bid them farewell. It has been great to see Elena, and we won’t leave it so long next time. We can’t quite believe it’s been 23 years since we last saw her. This time-passing thing is getting quite scary.
Back at the van, we pack up, which involves shaking and folding the groundsheet. This releases a huge amount of pollen and irritants which have fallen from the surrounding trees, and for the next hour or two, we are both coughing and wheezing. Del is suffering worse than H. We do the long drive to Roses, 15 mins away, where we have stayed many times before. We are trying a new campsite here, as the last time we stayed in Roses with Jess, the campsite wasn’t great. This one, Camping Salata, is fabulous.
There are beautiful flowers everywhere, the shower block is the best ever, and they have a gorgeous shop where we end up spending £20 on stuff we didn’t think we needed.
We set off into town on the bikes and explore the back streets. Del is in a bad way with his coughing and streaming nose, so we take a break for a drink. There are plane trees here as well, all down the promenade. Feeling better now, though, we have a walk around the town before a quick cycle around the marina where we used to stay.
Back at the van, Del does a complete clean-down of the surfaces inside that we think the tree pollen may have landed on. It’s nasty stuff; neither of us suffers from hay fever or allergies, but this tree has badly affected us. Watch out for it…
It’s getting quite cool now, so we sit inside. H plans the stops in France and books some campsites. For dinner, she makes us a rather splendid dauphinoise potatoes, pork, and salad, with a delicious local cheese afterwards. We sit in the van with soft jazz playing, with the now heavy rain hammering on the roof. It’s nice and cosy though.
Sunday 10th May 2026 (Roses to Cantallops, Spain – 22 miles)
There was a lot of rain in the night, and it’s cool and foggy when we wake up. It clears eventually to a beautiful day as we set off to continue our journey north. Tonight we are stopping at a small parking spot, which is free to stay if you visit the restaurant that owns it.
We tried unsuccessfully 3 times to fill up with LPG on the way. 2 of these attempts are in La Jonquera, the last town on the motorway in Spain, towards France. It’s chaos here, and that’s even with a large number of trucks parked up because it’s a Sunday. The whole place is set up as a huge truck stop with garages, supermarkets and some dubious-looking showgirl clubs. There’s also a huge influx of French cars coming over the border to save 65 cents a litre on fuel.
Eventually, we get clear of the concrete jungle of La Jonquera and drive up the very narrow and windy road to the restaurant.
Their overnight spot is fantastic, full services for your van and an amazing view over the Bay of Roses.
The restaurant is very busy, but we manage to book a lunch at 3pm. In the meanwhile we tuck Jess into a cosy spot and sit and have a beer with the fantastic view. We are surrounded by cork, olive and pine trees, along with just the sound of birdsong. It’s idyllic.
At 3pm, we walk down to the still very busy restaurant. We are in the middle of nowhere, yet there are about 200 people in here.
We have goat’s cheese salad, calamari, shoulder of lamb and duck, and it’s all amazing. We complimented our waiter on the Ali oil, the garlic mayonnaise, the best we have ever tasted, and he came back with a ceramic dish of it, telling us to put it in our pocket and keep quiet.
The meal is delicious with friendly, professional service; we can see why it’s so popular and why people take the twisty detour to be here.
We stagger back to Jess after a Ricard each, a half carafe of wine and a chopito (a free Spanish shot). We tip the waiter generously for his fine work looking after us. Finally back at Jess, we sit outside in the warm afternoon, chatting and reading. What a great day.
Tomorrow we will cross the border into France. Our last week.
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