Our stay at Los Rosaleda, Conil de la Frontera

December 2011 

Our six weeks at Los Rosaleda campsite in Conil is coming to an end, we leave for Albufiera in Portugal this Saturday. The site hasn’t been very busy but we are told that after Christmas and New Year it is full with retirees like ourselves getting away from the winter rains and snow. The row where we are camped had only a couple of motorhomes and caravans on it when we arrived but now it is nearly full and the remaining places are reserved for people arriving in January. The charges for a spot here over winter is very reasonable, it cost us €9 per night. The electricity is extra and metered but it works out at about €1.50 per day, which covers all our cooking, lights, fridge and TV, fortunately it is warm and we haven’t had to bother about using our heating. Another good thing about Los Rosaleda is the free Wi-Fi, which is available over the total site, the download speed is very good and I am able to take advantage of BBC iPlayer to download previous programme. Also Moira downloads the ‘Daily Telegraph’ each morning on to her iPad as soon as she wakens. I have our big satellite dish set up and the reception is alright. I am able to get BBC 1 & 2 along with all the radio channels, so we have plenty to keep us fully entertained.

There is a small gym on site but for some reason, probably for Health and Safety concerns, it is only open for 2 hours on Monday to Friday mornings while the attendant is there. I have been having a short run first thing before going to the gym for a workout, each morning, so I am keeping fit. There is also a Pilates class which I go to along with Moira. I found it quite difficult at first trying to get my legs and body to stretch into various awkward positions. Either you have to be double jointed or maybe I’m just old and stiff, but it is getting easier after a month of agony.

The lighthouse at Cape Trafalgar

We have been doing a lot of walking as the weather has been perfect for it. We have had a couple of rainy days but mostly it has been clear blue skies but luckily not too hot when we have been walking. One long walk was out to the lighthouse at Cape Trafalgar. This is the point where off the coast the famous sea battle took place 200 hundred years ago and Admiral Nelson died. It was a long walk all along the beach; it was about 30 km there and back and took us about 8 hours. As you head along the sand there are old stone watch towers at intervals that were used as lookout points centuries ago for invasion forces or pirates from the Barbary Coast of North Africa. Any sign of enemy action and a fire was lit in the tower which would be spotted from the other towers who then lit more signal fires and defensive plans and manoeuvres were put in place all along the coast. There was nice surf on this coast and plenty of people keeping warm in wet suits were taking to the waves with their boards. At Trafalgar just off the rocks below the lighthouse there were some really big breakers and the sea was black with Lycra clad surfers. We sat watching them as we were having our lunch at the lighthouse. We normally take a flask of coffee and sandwiches with us when we go on these long excursions, we don’t pay the exorbitant restaurant prices.

Body boarding at Cape Trafalgar

There were plenty of other nice walks in the area, along country lanes and farm roads but our favourites were the ones along the magnificent beaches. I have been doing some cycling; the group that I cycled with when we were here previously haven’t arrived yet. I went out one day with a guy from Holland, Franz, but he rode a super fast racing bike and I slowed him down on my heavy semi mountain version. I wasn’t very cycling fit then but have done a number of rides on my own; I am now feeling more comfortable in the saddle though my bottom isn’t quite in shape yet. Moira has got her new electrically powered bike and has a few rides but is waiting until we get to Portugal where there is a cycle track going into town from the campsite.

One of the many secluded beaches

Another visitor to the campsite who we have become friends with is a guy from Holland called Peter. He is a seasoned traveller like us, and has a blog going about all his ventures. He calls it, www.doingwalkabout.com, unfortunately it is all in Dutch, but I told him about my blog and his English is good so has been able to read it and we have compared notes. During his stay here, until the spring, he is busy writing a book about all their travel adventures. Just this week a couple arrived and their ‘van had an Isle of Man number plate. I had seen a ‘van with IOM plates last year in the site we stayed at near Denia, it was the same people and they recognised us. It’s a small world. There is an English couple near us, Dave and Tina, they have been coming here for years and Tina said she remembered me from our last stay, well it was my ‘I climbed Kilimanjaro’ t-shirt that she caught her attention.   

We both were suffering from the cold a couple of weeks ago. I got it first, a sore throat and feeling tired. I must have passed it on to Moira who had it much worse and did a lot of spluttering and coughing. We are alright now and we didn’t have to bother about a doctor, we just doped up on pain killers.

The town of Conil de la Frontera

As I mentioned previously when we were coming down through the middle of Spain that we were tempted by the signs indicating the Via de la Plata route of the Camino de Santiago. Since we have been in Conil we have given a lot of thought of doing the route. The plan is to start at the beginning of April after our stay in Portugal. We will come back to this campsite in Conil where we can store the motorhome during the period of our hike. We have ordered a book from Cicerone who do all the hiking guide books and it will be delivered to the campsite we are heading for in Albufiera. We will spend the next three months working out an itinerary; the route is about 1000 km from Seville to Santiago de Compostella taking us about 50 days, so needs a lot of planning. We will also have to get plenty of walking training done while in Portugal so that we are super fit for this marathon hike.

The harbour at Cabo Roche

Thursday 15 December

Watch tower near Conil

Watch tower at El Palmar

Watch tower near Barbate

Viewpoint from forest walk

Today we went for a last long walk. A German couple who go to the Pilates told us about a beautiful route from Canos de Meca, the little town at Trafalgar, over the cliffs to the town of Barbate. They said they take the bus to the start of the trail and catch another at Barbate to come back to Conil. We thought about it that way but in the end decided we would walk the beach route to Trafalgar and continue from there over the cliffs to Barbate for the bus back. We left at 9:00 and the tide was out so the sand was hard packed and we made excellent time reaching the lighthouse at the Cape in three hours. From there it was a two hour hike over the cliffs. It was the best walk we have done in a long time. The trail made its way up a steep path and through a National Park forested with coastal pines and eucalyptus trees. We stopped in a spot with the sun warming us through a gap in the trees and had our usual packed lunch. On the cliff top there was another of the series of watch towers and a wonderful view point where we azure blue ocean stretched out before us and the surf broke on the golden sands far below. When we started to descend from the crest the trees thinned and we had a glorious panorama of the coast to the town of Barbate and its harbour full of luxury yachts. When we reached the town the most difficult part began and we had to find the bus station. I tried out my Spanish with ‘Donde esta la estacion de autobus’, I seemed to be understood as the directions eventually took us to the bus.

Clifftop view

Friday 16 December   

All that needs doing is to pack up again, ready to set of for the border tomorrow. We will take two days to get to Albufiera stopping for a night at a free aire just over the frontier. I had my last session at the gym this morning and used the whole two hours to get as much done as possible.

 The weather has been first class up till now and we are hoping it will continue, but at least we are avoiding all the rain, hurricane winds and now snow those are the conditions in Scotland this winter.    

travel map

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Heading fo Spain

We are in Conil in the south of Spain. It is between Gibraltar and the Portugal border and near the port of Cadiz. We were here three years ago and enjoyed it so much we decided to come again for a month before heading for the Algarve for the rest of the winter. At the site we are staying, La Rosaleda, it has good Wi-Fi covering the whole campsite and it is the first freely available internet that I have been able to use since leaving the UK. So this is the opportunity to relax and update my blog for this year’s attempt to follow the sun.

Jacob's Ladder to Kinder Scout

We left Scotland early in September and slowly made our way south. We had several stops to do some walking. Our first stop was at Edale in the Peak district of Derbyshire; this is where the Pennine way begins and we had wanted to come back here from the time when we did that long distance path. We spent a weekend exploring the ridges overlooking Edale and Castleton and climbed Kinder Scout. Next we made our way to north Wales and did two walks that had been tackled by Julia Bradbury in her series of hikes for her BBC TV programmes. One was in her Canal walks and took the towpath from Llangollen to the Pontcysllte Aqueduct. The Pontcysllte Aqueduct, ‘the stream through the skies’, an engineering masterpiece was built by Thomas Telford. This wasn’t a big transport canal but a feeder canal taking water from the River Dee at the Horseshoe Falls to supply the Ellesmere Canal. There were some holiday narrow boats on this stretch but they had difficulties at times when coming in opposite directions on this narrow waterway. These barges were all powered by diesel engines but at Llangollen there were some tourist boats that were towed along the bank by large shire horses. The other Welsh walk was in Julia’s series on walks along old railway lines that had been closed by Beeching in the 1960’s. This one took us from Dolgellau to Barmouth on the coast. It was an easy stroll along the tarred over railway track and followed the river Afon Mawddach with its multitude of bird life. At the mouth of the river we crossed over a long railway bridge to Barmouth on the other side.

The Pontcysllte Aqueduct

The stream in the sky

Horse power on the Llangolen canal

Foot bridge over the River Afon Mawddach

Afon Mawddach estuary

Railway bridge at Barmouth

Caen Hill locks

From north Wales we headed for Cardiff and spent a weekend with Margaret and Justin. I ran the time trial in the park that Margaret does every week. It was 5 km and I managed it in 26 minutes. Not bad as I haven’t been doing much running training recently. When we left Cardiff it was for another of the Canal walks, this was on the Avon Kennet canal and the highlight was at the start, Caen Hill near Devizes, where there is a series of locks one after the other to the top of the hill. The line of 16 locks that raised the canal 235 feet were described by Julia Bradbury as ‘one of the Seven Wonders of British Waterways’. Once a narrow boat starts on the locks it has to keep going, there is no stopping point in between. We stopped on the steady climb up the hill to watch people operating the lock gate system. They are all manual and it is hard work opening and closing the gates by pushing on the long arms to manoeuvre them into position. The walk from Caen Hill along the towpath ends at the Regency city of Bath on the river Avon. We spent a day in the city and toured the many beautiful sights and buildings that are highlighted in many of the Jane Austin novels.

Heading for Caen Hill locks

A heron on the Avon Kennet canal

Bath Abbey

Royal Crescent, Bath

Another view of the Royal Crescent

Moira had booked the ferry while we were in Cardiff and we left the campsite we were staying at on the canal and made it to Dover for the crossing that same evening. When we got over to Calais we spent the night in the aire overlooking the harbour, it was very busy and we had to squeeze in to one of the few remaining spots. As we travelled south through France we were rewarded by remarkably sunny and warm weather and surprisingly they were enjoying a similar Indian summer in the UK. We were able to keep in touch with the happenings back home through our satellite reception of the BBC and other UK channels right down to the south of France. The small satellite dish was sufficient and I didn’t have to set up our big 1.5m monstrosity until we got to Conil. While travelling the big dish was strapped to the towel rail in the toilet and it was out of the way there.

Beautiful lake beside the aire

The old town of Saint Jean d’Angely

The aire at Saint Jean d’Angely

 

Through France we camped at a few places where we had stayed at before,  Le Crotoy on the river Somme, St.Valery en Caux situated below towering white cliffs, Le Sap a little village with the aire beside a delightful little duck pond and then to Soustons Plage. This last place was one of our favourites near Biarritz and the Spanish border. It is next to a large lake with a path around the perimeter. We walked the path, cycled it and I ran the route on numerous occasions. Moira got the chance to try out her new electrically power bicycle and is enjoying it enormously. We stayed at Soustons Plage for 15 days and I managed to get out every day for a run, my longest was 15 km. It was a fairly cheap fortnight here with the aire costing only E6 per night and that included electricity.

When we left France we decide to head to the south of Spain as directly and as quickly as possible. We didn’t want to travel down the Costas and for a change went down the centre using toll roads and motorways all the way. The route took us to overnight stops at Palencia and Caceres both on the Ruta de la Plata. This is the route that crosses the plateau that covers the middle of the country. There is a walking route that follows close to this road, the Via de la Plata and is another of the numerous variations of the Camino de Santiago and joins the ‘French’ route, the one we walked a few years ago, at Leon to make its way to Santiago de Compostella. We are going to do some research into this pilgrimage route and may do it in the spring before we return to Scotland.

I was expecting the site at Conil to be busy with lots of people already here for the winter but it was quiet with lots of spots available for us to choose from. We took our time and got a place that was in the sun for most of the day and it had a clear view for TV reception. Also as I mentioned earlier we had an excellent Wi-Fi signal. Now we have an iPad we can pick up the internet on it as well as our laptop. Moira also has the newspaper downloaded each day and we don’t have to go searching for a shop selling UK papers. A few days before we arrived there had been a lot of rain here and the pitches were muddy, but now the sun is blazing down and it hasn’t taken long for the clay soil to be baked hard again.

We are planning to stay here for about 6 weeks then move on to Portugal and the Algarve. We have booked into the site at Albufiera from the middle of December and will be there until March. We are looking forward to lots of warm sunny days while it gets cold and snows in Scotland.    

The Tall Ships Race, Greenock, 2011

Greenock was the assemble point for the Tall Ships this year and from there would head for Lerwick in the Shetland Islands for the start of the race to Norway. The Tall Ships last visited Greenock 10 years ago and we arrived from South Africa two weeks after the event. Everyone was raving about how wonderful it had been and what we had missed. This time we were determined to see the whole thing and made certain that we were back from our cruise to Norway on time.

All the ships were to be assembled at James Watt dock in Greenock by Sat 7 July and there would be lots of attractions other than the ships like displays, funfair and musical entertainment while the vessels were tied up. Before that we drove down the Clyde coast the day before and watched some of them sailing up the river. It was a bit disappointing as they made their way using diesel power and none of them were under sail.

On the Saturday, all the ships had arrived and were tied up at the docks. We walked down from the house to the quay and although it was mid-morning, already it was busy with long queues to get aboard some of the ships that were open for visitors. We didn’t bother waiting but just wandered about enjoying the sights of these magnificent vessels. Some of the big ones had the crew up aloft tying up the sails. We had our normal lunch with us in a day pack; sandwiches and a flask of coffee. We weren’t going to part with our money to the expensive stalls that had set up selling fast foods.

(What confused me about the whole event was how it helped the economy of the town. I had read in the local newspaper that a councillor for the district stated that the attraction would bring in huge numbers of people and they would spend a few million pounds. This may be the case but the people gaining from this bonanza weren’t the local businesses. All the stall holders were from out of town and are what the Americans term as ‘carpetbaggers’. Later I walked through the town and it was deserted, none of the local shops were gaining probably the opposite with most of the regular customers viewing the ships. We spoke to my brother David about it later and he told us that the last time the ships were tied up at Customhouse Quay and the Waterfront which are close to the town centre and this did help the local businesses. This time that area is closed for the construction of the new Arts Guild Theatre and could not be held there.) 

We didn’t bother visiting the event on the Sunday but went for a walk there on Monday. It was much quieter than at the weekend, but they had more security at the gates examining bags for alcohol and aerosols which I assume could be used as an explosive. On a board listing prohibited articles, vivuzelas and flags were banned for some reason.   There weren’t any queues to board the ‘open’ ships, so we went on board one of them, the Mir a Russian ship, and it was very interesting especially the glimpse we got of the bridge. This wasn’t basic as in days of Nelson, but highly computerised with radar and GPS systems as well as a sophisticated communication network.

In the evening we went to an open air concert on the quay. It was very crowded but we made our way down to near the front. The group performing was Deacon Blue, a Scottish group from the 80’s. They were supposed to start at 9:00 but it was 15 minutes late when they appeared. But not right away, they had to have a couple of idiots, who were trying to be funny (but failed miserably), to introduce them. As it turned out the group were rubbish as well, just a noise with a thumping bass that seemed to vibrate the insides of my stomach. We listened for about half an hour before deciding that was enough and heading home. After the concert there was to be a firework display which we hoped to see from home but because of the bend in the river it was completely out of sight.

On Tuesday we were out early to see the ships depart and sail down the river, on their way to the Shetlands for the start of the race. At the James Watt dock they were preparing to go and the crews were aloft unfurling their sails. We made our way down the Waterfront to the esplanade and on the way there was a display by the Red Arrows aerobatic team to give the ships a magnificent send off. Unfortunately about a month later one of the pilots taking part was killed when his plane crashed at another of their displays.

We made our way further down the river to the esplanade and the Battery Park to get a ringside view as the fleet made their down river. Others that had a close up were those on the Waverley paddle steamer that accompanied the ships on their departure. One surprise was a cruise ship that left its berth at Princes Pier just as the first of the sailing vessels appeared. It was well down the river ahead of the fleet and the tourists on board must have been very disappointed to have missed the pageant.

There were huge crowds all the way down the coast who were rewarded with a wonderful sight, with most of the vessels in full sail. It had been a great weekend and as last time the weather was exceptional, unusual for Greenock which is famous for its rain.

The Tall Ships Race. Greenock 2011 Photo Gallery