Author: CaravanRamblings

Our last day at Camping La Roselada in 2018. Went to the Harbour restaurant for lunch with Chris, Alison, Paul and Andrea – cycling the circa 4 miles and managing to dodge the showers.

The Tapas was as good as ever, the prawns in chilli and garlic oil are a particular favourite.

We’ve made some great friends at Roselada and wish everyone  well for the remainder of their travels – in the case of Mike and Linda – for the next three years!

Adios amigos! Till next time…

It was time to finish off the packing in the afternoon, including loading the now electric bikes on top of the Sorento. The added weight not making things any easier.

Ready to go…

It was quiz night at the bar in the evening where we secured the 4th prize. The tie breaker question was How many passengers can an Airbus A380 hold in its maximum configuration. We went for 697, the other tied team 737 with the actual number well north of 800. Hey ho.

The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art Foundation, based in Jerez de la Frontera is known all over the world thanks to its show entitled “How the Andalusian Horses Dance”, a unique exhibition of horsemanship which both exhibits and summarises the work which the institution has carried out since its establishment.

We visited the School with Chris and Alison, having booked tickets some days earlier at the campsite. It’s a popular show because our first choice option to visit with Mike and Linda too was already sold out.

Parking was behind the Equestrian School in some kind of public car park. Several enterprising Spanish men were keen to take 3 Euros off us for a full days parking. Unable to provide us with a receipt, the payment was considered more akin to an insurance policy to avoid damage to the car whist we were at the show…

We looked around the palace, its grounds, the general museum and the carriage museum.

Late afternoon we headed to the Restaurante La Torre at El Palamar. Situated right next to the beach, it must be a stunning location with some nice weather!

Food was good – can highly recommend the burger. For dessert, the ladies wanted Strawberries and cream again; but the Strawberries and Cream restaurant is closed on a Tuesday. Instead, we showed a picture to the waiter and this is what he produced – it certainly wasn’t on the menu!

Strictly speaking Sunday was a single lunch but we managed to span two restaurants. First was La Fontanilla, near to the beach. This had been recommended by a lady in Sevilla two years ago and it certainly lived up to its reputation. The seafood was superb. Last lunch with Mike and Linda before they escape Rosaleda and head towards Estepona. Also present was Chris, Alison, Paul and Andrea.

Then to one of the seafront restaurants because the ladies like the strawberries and cream there…

No let-up in the pace and a wonderful BBQ in the evening at Paul and Andrea’s. All the more remarkable because the weather was atrocious and it was not at all pleasant BBQing in the wind and rain. Still, he’s from Penrith, so I guess it’s normal!

Monday we made the difficult decision to move on from Rosaleda, and head towards Malaga. We won’t actually leave until Thursday but given it was a dry day, it was the first (and probably the last) opportunity to mop up and close down the awning.

The weather in Malaga is definitely warmer and we have friends arriving from Yorkshire so it probably makes sense to move on. We are heading to Torre del Mar.

Wednesday cycled to El Palamar (the surfing beach) where we saw a little bit of sunshine although it was still a bit cold. Today was a bit like my non-acoholic brewery tour of last week – the highly recommended burger bar was shut…

Our regular quiz companions have headed off so we managed a decent result with Paul and Andrea.

Thursday was a house keeping day.

Friday we cycled to Conil harbour and back along the very muddy cliff top. The electric bikes are great. Most of the time little power is needed but when there’s a hill, the motors make light weight of things. I’m up to over 50km and I still have half a bettery charge left!

We were back in plenty of time to explore the Conil micro brewery, where we whiled away the afternoon. This bottle we shared between the 4 of us. At 9.8% and very spicy, it definitely isn’t a session beer!

Also a great range of beer.

The other halves enjoyed their own tour…

Before joining us for last orders…

A full-on day was followed by dinner at the campsite, Italian themed. Mozarella salad, Sphagetti Bolognase followed by Tiramasu.

Saturday was a bit quieter. Watched the Man U Liverpool game and then Ireland v Scotland and England v France. At least the Wharfedale result went the right way for once! Come on Dale!!!!

 

 

The weekend at Gibraltar is now behind us and we are settled back into our home at Roselada. Monday was another brutal day for wind and rain but still our awning and caravan is surviving.

We headed over to Puerto Santa Marie in the morning for camping supplies.

Highlight of the day was a visit to Lidl and a chance to use this implement of torture.

 

 

 

Given the incelement weather in the afternoon, we headed to the bar with Mike, Chris, Linda and Ali to play cards and, of course, drink some beer!

Tuesday and the weather has improved ever so slightly. Bought some mudguard’s for Moe’s bike and spent the afternoon fitting them and tidying-up the two electric bike conversions.

Another hearty breakfast was followed by a hot shower at the Eliott Callaghan hotel. That’s however, the last of our luxury lifestyle this weekend as later in the day, we will return to Camping La Roselada.

We headed first to Ocean Village and grabbed a coffee at O’Reillys bar. The wind had dropped a little and planes were now taking off and landing again at the airport. Looks like D and T will be avoiding a bus journey to Malaga or Jerez.

It’s really quite novel watching the barriers close such that the road crossing becomes part of the main runway.

Next was a shopping trip to Morrison’s to stock up on Sausages, Bacon and Gin and Tonics! We also bought food and implements to make our own picnic lunch at Europa Point. Whislt we just about managed to dodge the weather, before we left, the heavens opened and we were thoroughly drenched!

It was quite late when we returned to Conil so we headed to the restaurant for a snack. The entrecote sounded good, but small snack it wasn’t.

 

The weather improved ever so slightly in the morning and we took one of the Gibraltar “Rock Tours”. For £25 each we had a private minibus which visited the following sites:

• Pillars of Hercules
• St Michael’s caves
• The siege tunnels
• Monkeys

Here’s a selection of pictures from the tour.

In the afternoon we walked to the furthest point of the Rock, Europa Point where the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque, also known as the King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud Mosque or the Mosque of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is located.

Inclement weather meant we were soaked again and reliant on public transport to get us back to town.

Evening dinner, another recommendation from D and T was “La Bodeguiya”, a Tapas bar located close to the central square. It’s the kind of restaurant one would pass by were it not for some local knowledge. The food was simply excellent, but we weren’t quite sure why some of the best dishes appeared not to be on the menu! Thoroughly enjoyable evening, with perhaps a splash or two of excess wine – the only thing missing being the “classy” “flag” show from the Lord Nelson.

Overnight was calmer than of late but around 07:00 the heavens opened and the vicious winds returned. Things held pretty good with the awning but as a precaution we moved much of the awning contents into the van.

Then at lunch time we received the nod (well, Whatsapp actually) that our friends, D and T had battled through the Berkshire blizzards and arrived in time for their flight to Gibraltar. Despite the offer of a tent or bungalow at Roselada,  they chose to meet us in Gibraltar and avoid the Spanish experience completely.

We headed for the 2 hour drive with the wind and rain still pounding the car. We took the coastal route passing Tarifa where we had been assured there was a nice view point at the top of the cliffs.

This is what we saw.

Lunch and onward to Gib, arriving around 3pm. Weather hasn’t improved.

Quickly through Passport Control and on to the Callaghan hotel where we were a) Lucky to navigate the narrow streets and b) Even luckier to find a parking space.

On arrival, the receptionist had a good chuckle when I asked about the Heathrow flight. No way was it going to be able to land at Gib in these conditions. He was right. D and T are currently in a bus from Jerez. Oh the irony.

Meanwhile, we are sat in the Lord Nelson pub, awaiting their arrival and pondering why this is the outstanding location on Gibraltar. The Old Speckled Hen is nice though and this is the home to Gibraltar Rugby.

 

 

 

 

We were woken around 5:00am to the sound of driving rain bouncing off the caravan and the most incredible winds. The awning is struggling to survive the onslaught and the caravan is rocking. Thunder and lightning illuminates the nighttime sky and the roads through the campsite have turned into rivers.

The awning needs re-pegging and we need to double-up on the pegs. Except now we’ve run out of pegs! Chris arrived with an extra tie-down strap which is now lashed across the roof of the awning.

The French couple next door lost the battle to save their awning as the storm ripped it into pieces. Many people are taking down theirs for the medium term, as the 10 day forecast is not showing any respite.

A trip to Decathlon to buy some extra tent securing equipment was bizarrely followed by a BBQ as the rain subsided for a spell. It’s actually quite warm, but the regulars here are saying this is the most extreme weather here in a decade.

With nothing else to do, we headed up to the bar late afternoon to play cards and games with Chris, Ali, Mike and Linda. Seems I’m a bit of a whizz at Connect four and rather lucky at card games!

It’s Andalucia day today and everywhere is closed. Even the bike shop where Mike’s bike was due to be collected. Again!

Paul and Andrea arrived from Malaga just after lunch. The forecast storms and inclement weather have arrived and it’s been bucketing it down all day – looks like Emma is arriving. Very unpleasant day to travel and set up on camp.

Spent the early evening in the bar before dinner with Paul and Andrea.