Author: CaravanRamblings

I needed some washers for my ebike conversion kit so accompanied Mike on his visit to the bicycle repair shop. His bike has been with them for 24 hours and whilst a prompt 24 hour and 20 Euro fix was promised, the bike is still in pieces. The wires into the motor were broken and now the whole back wheel is in bits. Still, all will be sorted by lunchtime.

Whilst the technician didn’t have any washers in the store, he said he get me some in town in about an hour. The price, 0.5 Euros for the 8 washers and as promised, they were there in an hour. I’m thinking that perhaps his time would have been better spent fixing Mike’s motor…

Friday afternoon, and a long afternoon electrifying my bike. I have to say, the results are impressive. The campsite here at Rosaleda is hilly and on the power level 1 (9 is the highest), cycling around is a breeze.

Here’s a link to the full article.

https://www.caravanramblings.co.uk/?page_id=2414

Thursday is walking group day. About a dozen of us headed for the bus station in Conil where we would board the bus to El Palamar. Another fine example of EU(?) funds being put to solid use in Spain – an impeccably clean bus station with maybe 6 or 8 bays. Even more remarkable because the bus timetables on view would have suggested a large parking space at the side of the road to be more than adequate.

With the fare of 1.16 Euro to El Palamar, it will take some time to recoup the infrastructure costs! One thing more to add – the buses around here are more akin to luxury coaches!

El Palamar is also know as the surfers beach. We grabbed a coffee and then walked along the coast back to Conil. Total distance, around 11 miles so not a bad day at the office.

 

I’ll leave the comments section open on this post in case anyone can explain the plaque below.

 

 

A quick beer at the beach shack and then back to the campsite where my Dillenger electric bike kit was awaiting collection. It left Blighty on Monday and arrived Thursday pm. Pretty impressive.

 

Chilled and sat around the campsite all day. Another beautiful day but not sure how long the weather is going to last.

Quiz night at Rosaleda in the evening, partnered with Pat and Caitlin again, from Ireland. We did pretty well just two weeks ago (although how much of that was Moe and I is debatable). This week the largest section was on showbiz, TV etc which isn’t really our scene so no chance of winning the money today! Good company and a pleasant evening.

Moe disappeared for the day shopping to Chiclana de la Frontera with two ladies from the campsite. Splendid idea, the three of us (myself, Chris and Mike) left behind would spend a long lunch at the Conil Cervezeria, the local micro brewery.

What a mis-calculation. The brewery only opens in the evening and Friday to Sunday lunchtimes. Most of the afternoon was then spent at the TBG (The Good Burger), which, despite it’s name, is one of the nice bar restaurants on the seafront. Weather is hot, the beer cold and remarkably varied for what on the surface looks like an average burger joint.

The ladies eventually return and provide transport back to the campsite.

 

The weather has been gradually improving over the last week with plenty of opportunity to sit in the sun, read a book and grab a beer.

It’s still chilly in the evenings but the wind has lost the biting edge which was a feature during the first part of our stay.

It’s now warm enough to drift across to the shower block in shorts and a T shirt, although we aren’t rising particularly early in the mornings… Nine o’clock seems to be the earliest most folks start moving around although we have been known to face the “walk of shame”, visiting the deserted shower facilities after 9:30!!!

Thursday we joined a walking group and headed for a picnic to the Port of Conil. The consensus was that we walked a total of around 10 miles. We might be some of the youngest on-site but we certainly aren’t the fittest.

Friday and we decided to buy a couple of electric bike kits, which will hopefully be delivered to Spain this week.

I opted for the Dillenger street legal kit.

and Moe is getting a Cyclotricity one, as she needs a pannier mounted battery.

Sunday went for lunch at El Nautico with some folks we met on site – Alison, it turns out, shares a birthday with me. Not just the same day of the year but we were also born in the same year!

Monday was sorting out some chores before a buffet dinner in the campsite restaurant.

It’s Valentines day today. It hadn’t occurred to me before we left Blighty that finding cards over here in Spain might be equally as difficult as finding a wedding anniversary card in Croatia (last year)!

Moe of course had apparently brought one she purchased last year, claiming that it wasn’t the one actually given last year but just an unsued one. Hmm. Work that out.

Fortunately Amazon Prime came up trumps with a nicely deisgned, hand-decorated card, boxed with our new travel kettle. Bit of a cheek really because I had to pay about £6 additional postage on each item for delivery to Conil and Amazon just popped them into the same outer box.

The campsite laid on a four course meal in the evening which was excellent.

During the day, we had visited another of the white Spanish villages.

Arcos de la Frontera

One of Andalucia’s most dramatically positioned pueblos blancos (white villages), Arcos balances atop a rocky limestone ridge, its whitewashed houses and stone castle walls stopping abruptly as a sheer cliff face plunges down to the river Guadalete below.

As it was still siesta time, we stopped at the terrace at the Parador Hotel on Plaza del Cabildo – this is the place to go for a leisurely drink and enjoy the best views in Arcos. It doesn’t look like it will be too long before the crumbling limescale ridge becomes a real issue for the monuments.

Castillo de Arcos (11th-15th-century castle), is a medieval castle of Moorish origin having been rebuilt almost entirely in the first half of the 15th century. Currently it is private property and not open to the public.

Iglesia de San Pedro is a 15th-17th century church built on the site of a 14th century Al-Andalusian fortress or watchtower. Different styles can be observed here in its tower and facade.

A trip to the shopping centre at San Fernando, direction Cadiz and a visit to Leroy Merlin (my favourite diy shop in Spain) and then a walk along the beach at Conil.

Beautiful views towards the town and endless miles of empty beach. We’re sure it isn’t like this in the summer!

Hiked over to the El Nautico restaurant at the port of Conil. Total distance there and back around 7 miles and a good start to the Fitbit “Workweek Hustle”!

The food was very good, with Mo and I both having the “Atun rojo de Almadraba” – Red (or Blue Fin) Tuna.

A good choice but some of the Tapas being served on neighbouring tables looked even better so we may need to expand our horizons on our next visit.

It was another cold day so a nice warm coffee set Joe up for the return journey.

The restaurant itself isn’t much to look at (in fact it’s more like a portacabin) but we recognised the same staff from at least two years ago and they have much improved English but were also patient when we tried to speak a little Spanish.

Whilst the restaurant may not be much to look at, the views over the port are great, but perhaps would be even better on a hot sunny day!

The Spaniards never shy away from a good party and Los Carnivales is one of the best-know carnivals in Spain. The whole city takes part in the carnival for a full 2 weeks each year and on the opening Saturday, everyone wears fancy dress.

Fortunately for us we were visiting on a Sunday, via a coach trip organised by Camping La Roselada. At 10 Euros each, much better than fighting our way in the car.

The carnival has it’s origins in the Middle Ages and according to the Catholics the name comes from carne- levare, meaning “to remove meat” (mandatory requirement for the Christians during every Friday of the Lent). The pagan origin is of a celebration where meat is offered to god Baal (carna-baal) in a festival where everything was possible.

The old town was a sea of people and straight away, it was clear our idea of a nice meal was just not going to happen. In the end we made some sandwiches from provisions we bought from a local supermarket. Washed down with some Cruz Campo.

Lots of add-hoc entertainment takes place throughout the day in the Old Town whilst later on, on the main road through the modern section, a several hour street parade commences around 5:00pm. I say that very loosely as this is Spain and it started nowhere close to 5:00pm.

A selection of photographs follow:

Just for the record. I have no pictures to post for Saturday but it was a chilly day for chilling and perfect for a nice hot chilli in the afternoon! A walk into town and a couple of beers at a city centre bar followed by the England Wales rugby match in the campsite restaurant.

A good result for England and an even better result at Threshfield where Wharfedale secured a 5-point victory with a comprehensive win over Huddersfield (43-5). Thank goodness for Twitter.