We have now been in Conil in the
Andalucía Province of Spain for nearly 3 months. This was our third time at the
La Rosaleda campsite; we had been here 4 years ago and again 2 years later.
When we arrived in December the weather was good with warm dry sunny days. We
spent a lot of time sitting outside by the campervan reading and soaking up the
sun. Once into the New Year the weather changed, it became a lot colder especially
at nights and there has been plenty of rain. There were still sunny days and we
took advantage of them for long walks, bus trips to Gibraltar and Sevilla, and
cycle rides.
The walks we did were familiar
routes that we had covered on our previous visits. Down to the lighthouse at
Cabo de Roche, through the woodland paths to the village of Roche, along the
beach to Cabo de Trafalgar, and all the way back from Barbate via Trafalgar. We
met an English couple, Gary and Yvonne, originally from Yorkshire now living in
Exeter. Gary wasn’t much of a walker but Yvonne wanted to do the beach walk to
Trafalgar so she came with us. It was a lovely day with the sun blazing from a
dark blue sky when we made the trip. Gary was waiting at the pub up the road from
the lighthouse at Cabo de Trafalgar and we joined him for a welcoming beer and
tapas. After our lunch Gary drove us back to the site.
Another walk that Yvonne wanted
to do was the cliff walk from Barbate to Trafalgar. Twice we arranged that Gary
would drive us to Barbate then pick us up at the end of the walk, but twice we
had to call it off because of heavy rain before we started out. One day the
weather was perfect but our friends had other plans so we decided to go on our
own. Instead of just the short cliff route we took the bus to Barbate and
walked all the way back to Conil. It was a lovely walk with outstanding views
from the cliff tops but hard going with lots of loose sand on the tracks
deposited by the high tides and storms we had recently, fortunately none as bad
as the south of England were experiencing at that time.
The couple that I met on our
first visit, Barry and Maureen from Stoke, were here again. Barry is a very
keen cyclist and Maureen joins him at the back end of a tandem. Other new faces
that cycled in the group were Brian, Geoff, Steve, Vic and Ray. Brain is
retired and lives in France near Limoges; Geoff was a hairdresser in Dorset and
still interrupts his cycling to cut and style the hair of lots of other female
campers. The routes we cycled I had done on previous visits, to Barossa,
Benalup, Naveros and Chiclana. When I
started with the group at first, I struggled to stay with them riding on my
heavy thick hybrid tyres. Moira ordered some slick racing tyres on the internet
and now I’m spinning along nicely with the rest and setting the pace at times. The
German couple that have been here on our other visits are staying in one of the
site’s bungalows. This year they had cycled here all the way from Germany`.
They have a few activities at the
site restaurant each week. There is a quiz night, whist and line dancing. We go
to the quiz and whist; the line dancing would also be fun but it clashes with
the whist. We have been playing with Gary and Yvonne as partners for the quiz
and have been very successful. Gary has a very good general knowledge and
carries the team but the rest of us manage to contribute when he is stumped.
The first week we played was just a warm up for us then we have been winning
ever since, either first or second. Between us we have won E170. We haven’t
been as successful with the whist. In the system they use you change partners
every hand and you end up sometimes playing with complete beginners. So success
depends on getting a good partner as well as good cards and we haven’t managed
either yet.
I have been going to the gym
about three times each week. There is a gym on site but it opens for 2 hours on
only 3 days each week. For the first month I joined a gym in town but found
that with cycling and walking I wasn’t making much use of it even though it
opened all day Monday to Saturday. This last month I went to the site gym and
for the 3 days managed to work out before going walking or cycling as it takes
only a couple minute to get there and back. I spend about 90 minutes normally
training and I’m getting into lifting big weights again.
The bus trips that the campsite
arranged have been very good. The first one was to Gibraltar and we had fine
weather for the day. This time the bus took us through customs and immigration
and parked in the centre of the city. On our previous trip we were dropped off
in La Linea on the Spanish side of the border and walked in. It also meant that
this time we didn’t have to leave early in case of a delay getting through
customs etc. and back over the border into Spain. There had been lots of
activity on the TV about trouble at the border caused by fishing activities by
the Gibraltarians but there was no hold-up for us, we were just waved through
after a quick glance at our passports. We sent most of the day on the rock
walking up as high as the cable car station. We had glorious views of the
Straits from there and the number of ships anchored before carrying on into the
Mediterranean or through to the Atlantic. We saw plenty of the Barbary apes on
the rock; they are quite friendly and tame, seeming to pose for the camera.
When we descended from the Rock we went in search of Morrison’s the UK
supermarket that has a branch here. Lots of expat Brits head for Gibraltar
especially for Morrison’s and to stock up on British brands of food; all we
wanted was a tin of custard powder that Moira forgot to bring with her and you
can’t get it in Spain. We got the custard and also enjoyed a lunch of fish and
chips, reportedly the best in Gib. and the closest to the real thing, it was
very good.
Our other trip to Sevilla was
just as good. The weather was perfect for most of the day but late in the
afternoon it clouded over and we had a few showers of rain, one with
hailstones. We are planning to a walk in March on part of the Camino de
Santiago that goes from Grenada to Merida. In preparation we picked up the
passports/credentials needed for the walk while we were in Sevilla and we knew
where to get them. Also before sightseeing we got information on the times of
buses and where to get them from here to Grenada. We walked along the banks of
the Rio Guadalquivir and crossed over one of the many bridges into the Triana
district for lunch. Surprisingly we came across an Indian restaurant where we
had a delicious curry. At the square outside the Cathedral there was an
exhibition of sculptures by Henry Moore which we found strange and intriguing.
The highlight of our visit was the palace at the Piazza de Espana. This was a
curved building fronted by a canal with pleasure craft for hire. Over the canal
little bridges took you over to the palace where you could climb the stairs to
high balconies for outstanding views of the piazza and the large fountain in
the centre. Around the curve of the foot of the building there were alcoves
with the coats of arms and maps of all the different provinces of Spain. When
the rain came on late in the afternoon we shelter in a park while others who
had been walking near the river headed for the bus which was parked nearby.
When we did get back to the bus, 15 minutes early, it was already full and
waiting for us. It then left straight away and we were soon again at La
Rosaleda which hadn’t had any rain, just warm sunshine.
At a weekend recently we went to
Vejer for a visit to this attractive village perched on the top of a high hill.
It was a steep climb up and we were fortunate to be on the bus; on a visit
before I cycled up and it was a struggle. After walking round sightseeing;
there was a quint old church with nice coloured windows, a castle and a ‘city’
wall where we could stand and take in the outstanding panorama of flat country,
for miles. On the bus we had met an Englishman, Keith, who was out for a week’s
holiday. He was on trip with a group for a week of Scottish Country Dancing. He
said all the people were of Scottish descent but none actually from Scotland.
He invited us to their final evening of music and dancing at the Gran Conil
hotel the following Tuesday. From Vejer we found a nice dirt path+ through vineyards
back to Conil. We took up Keith’s invitation and went to the Scottish evening, Yvonne
joined us but Gary isn’t into that sort of thing. It was a very enjoyable
evening, the music made us a bit homesick and the dancing was well done. They
managed to get us up for one of them! The group come out to somewhere warm
every winter for a week to dance and learn new routines. Some had come from as
far away as Florida. We were made very welcome.
We brought our big satellite dish
with us to pick up the UK TV channels. Everything was working well with good
reception of all the BBC and ITV outputs until mid-January when we lost them
all. They have put up a new satellite with a stronger signal but a smaller
footprint, reportedly to give the north of Scotland, Orkney and the Shetland
Islands better reception. Fortunately the internet WiFi at the campsite is
good; not so good that we can watch the TV live on the computer but I can
download programmes from iPlayer that we have missed and watch them a day late.
The internet radio signal is still good enough for listening live.
We are now in our last week at La
Rosaleda and preparing to start our walk from Granada. Moira arranged with the
campsite to store the campervan here while we are away. It should take 3 weeks
to cover the 400 km from Grenada to Merida and the weather is getting drier and
warmer, so it should be a pleasant trek. We have had a very nice stay here in
Conil, it is a friendly site and we have made a few new friends.
CONIL PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM.
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