13/4/22 continued in France(2)
12/4/22
Arguedas : A day of varying terrain and landscapes. We were soon climbing up into the mountains (Sierra Palomera, I think). The weather deteriorated with low cloud and rain making poor visibility. That didn’t last long and we came down onto a plateau which was still at about 900 metres, but was rich farmland with various crops, vineyards, fruit orchards etc. Then we climbed up again to over 1200m, but by now the weather had cleared and we could see more mountains ahead! Before we arrived I didn’t realise that Spain is so mountainous. We have been here 10 days, and driven over a thousand miles and at no time have we not been able to see a mountain. Tonight’s stop is at Arguedas. We had some trouble on arrival. As we approached the town we saw a sign indicating the ‘autocaravannes’ park, but our stanav said straight on. This led us into the town of Arguedas, which is full of narrow, windy, twisty streets, made even more difficult today as they are preparing for a “bull run” (popular entertainment hereabouts!), so many streets were blocked off, and others had narrows entrances created by high fences designed to constrain the bulls. I had visions of being stuck up a narrow one-way street that I couldn’t reverse out of. Luckily at the last minute we saw a street that led us out back on the main road. So we retraced our route back to the sign we saw earlier. This led us by a roundabout route to the motorhome site via suitably wide roads.
Arguedas is famous for it’s ‘troglodite caves’. These are dwellings cut into the rocks that were occupied until the nineteen sixties. The motorhome park is right at the foot of them. We had lunch, then went for a walk to look at the caves, and a bit further to stretch our legs after the long drive. The weather has been kind to us since we arrived. The site is very popular, there were 5 spaces when we arrived at about 1 o’clock. It’s been full since about 4:00 and others are arriving.
11/4/22
Segorbe : We said our goodbyes to Simon and Karen, then, after a quick stop at a supermarket to top up the fridge and larder, we set off on the homeward journey. To get from Spain to France means crossing the Pyrenees. There are essentially three routes. The western end, the eastern end and right over the top. We came the eastern route and down the Spanish Mediterranean coast. For a change we decided to go back by a different route. Right over the top was out of the question. It’s very steep with lots of twists and turns, also at this time of the year there is a risk of snow. So we are heading across Spain to go the western route, then up into France via Bordeaux.
Our first stop is at Segorbe, a small town north west of Valencia. We arrived about 13:30, had lunch then went for a wander round the town. The weather is cooler than down in Calasparra, but still pleasant.
10/4/22
For the past few days we have a great time as guests of our friends Karen & Simon at their house in Calasparra. For my birthday they took us to Mojacar where we stayed overnight in an hotel.
Tomorrow we set off on tne return journey.
6/4/22
Calasparra : The rain had stopped during the night, but it was stiil fairly cold. After breakfast we decided to have a shower, but the water tank was a bit low, so I drove the few yards to the service poinr and topped up. Then back to our spot as it was good and level ( Bertie’s shower needs to be level if we are going to avoid water pouring over the floor). A bit of tidying up then we set off. Again the satnav was playing up, saying it couldn’t find our position. But eventually we found the right road out of town. The aim for the day was our freinds Simon and Karen’s house in Calasparra. As we approached Calasparra we gave them a ring as the satnav couldn’t find their road. Karen talked us in and we arrived about 11:30.
5/4/22
Hellin : Our planned stop for tonight was in Chinchilla de Monteargon. As we were climbing up into the mountains the weather deteriorated quickly, and soon we were driving through a heavy snowstorm. We reached Chinchilla just after eleven o’clock. The area for campervans/motorhomes (autocaravannes in Spanish) was a large, newly laid space just below the old medieval town. From the park there is a long, wide flight of steps up to the town. We were looking forward to exploring it. But it was still raining and snowing and very cold. We had lunch and then debated what to do. The forecast was for more rain and down to freezing overnight. So reluctantly we decided to find somewhere else lower down the mountains nearer to our destination of Calasparra.
On consulting search4sites the only suitable place was at Hellin, so we set off. About 40 minutes later here we are. The site at Chinchilla was very attractive and pleasing, but here at Hellin isn’t. The site is behind a disused factory looking out onto a building site and the bus station. I hope I dont offend the residents of Hellin, but the town is rather unattractive and run down, but it’s warmer and not snowing!
4/4/22
Castellon de la Plana : Today’s first task was to negotiate Baarcelona’s intricate motorway system in the rush hour with a satnav that kept losing itself. We took wrong turnings at least twice but eventually found ourselves heading south on the A7. It wasn’t entirely our fault, around here each place has two names, one in Spanish and one in Catalan. The road signs sometimes have one, sometimes the other and sometimes both. We had previously decided that we would prefer the N340 road, more interesting than dashing along a motorway. So we turned off the A7 and headed for Taragona down the N340. Taragona’s busy streets took quite a bit of negotiating, which entailed a stop to check maps, both paper and virtual. The N340 was found again and we carried on. After a while it was clear that even though it was more pleasant on the N road, it was going to take too long to get to tonight’s stop. We had been told that it fills up quickly, even out of season. So for the last 60 miles or so we rejoined the A7.
At half past twelve we arrived, making the journey four and a half hours, the longest we have done so far. The site is close to the beach and in warmer weather it would be lovely, but there is a strong, cold wind blowing. After lunch we braved the wind for a walk to stretch our legs after all the sitting down travelling.
3/4/22
Cabrera de Mar (on the beach) : We moved from the motorhome park down to the car park right next to the beach behind the railway station. Yesterday on our walk we saw other campervans here. There aren’t any signs to say we can’t stay here so we’re giving it a go.
We started the day by catching the train into Barcelona. The first obstacle was buying a ticket, it’s an unmanned station with only automatic ticket machines. To make it even more confusing the machine is in Catalan. Our Spanish isn’t too good, but our Catalan is worse. After some bewilderment and hassle we acquired two tickets to somewhere (we hoped Barcelona) and hopped on the next train. We have been to Barcelona before and knew roughly the layout of the central area so we worked out which station to get off at.
A great day was spent wandering around, through the old, winding, medieval streets and down the Ramblas. A lazy lunch was taken in a street restaurant, but then it started to rain. So after another short stroll around, we caught the train back.
2/4/22
Cabrera de Mar (near Barcelona) : It’s hard to believe the difference between today and yesterday morning. But this morning didn’t start off too good. When you think of southern France it’s balmy warmth that comes to mind, not a bitingly cold wind that chills your blood. That is how this morning started. We needed to top up our drinking water and empty our grey water. Whilst doing this I got wet and freezing cold. We set off for Spain. The route took us up a winding route through the edge of the Pyrenees very dramatic scenery (sorry no pics). I had to get down into third gear for a while but Bertie did well. The change in the weather as we came over the top to the Spanish side was welcomed as there was blue skies and the sun was out. We chose the pretty coast road to Barcelona which confused our satnav and arrived at the motorhome site at 12:30. After parking up and sorting a few things out it was off to Lidl for some bread, cheese & wine (plus a few other things) for lunch.
The afternoon we spent walking to the beach and checking our the train times for our trip to Barcelona tomorrow.