We have just passed the end of our first Week at Conil de La Frontera. Today it is raining heavily and there’s plenty of time to catch up on our blog for the last few days.

The weather has been very calm prior to today with plenty of sun and no wind. Cool days warmed by the sun’s rays but night-time temperatures have been dropping to low single digit Celsius.

The end of the week was marked by the festival of San Sebastian. The Romeria de San Sebastian festival takes place on the closest Sunday to 20th January and in the case of 2025, specifically the 19th. The event honours San Sebastian, patron saint of cattle ranchers, and features the participation of dozens of horse riders and floats along with what seems to be the entire population of Conil de La Frontera.

It takes 2 – 3 hours for the procession to meander the few kilometers to the woods of El Colorado. Here the party atmosphere, which started much earlier in the day, continues un-abated until long after darkness has descended.

There are many ingenious ways families carry sustenance for the day ahead.

This family found a novel way to carry their box of wine or sherry…

In the middle of the afternoon we headed out on our bikes for a loop around the urbanisation, Roche. We attempted to pass along the “fiesta” road through El Colorado but this proved impossible due to the crowds of revellers.

Finally, around 9pm the remnants of the procession made their un-steady way back to Conil for late-night Mass.

Whilst the Romeria de San Sebastian was the highlight of our first week here in Spain 2025, Friday night was the first “community” meal. A three course set menu with Flamenco dancing.

New for this year was the after-dinner brandy selection. No Veterano was available but whatever brandy was served up, it was an extremely generous and satisfying offering for a couple of Euros. Served in a substantial glass, whose shape was a fusion of square and round.

The cycle ride below is a circular route from the Rosaleda campsite and is predominantly off-road and most of the off-road section is a dedicated cycle path. It’s around 18km and the route Moe and I cycled on the afternoon of the Fiesta. I also did a similar route earlier in the week.

Sunday also saw the arrival of our friends Jennifer and Richard at the camping ground.

It seemed an age ago that we welcomed in the New Year and it took a week to pack the caravan and campervan. With “feels like” temperatures of -6C in East Devon and roads on higher ground closed due to snow, it was no fun and we were glad to be on the road shortly after noon on Thursday 9th January.

We took the longer route to Portsmouth (A303 and A34) which at a distance of over 150 miles took some 4.5 hours.

We were quickly checked-in at 6pm and then had about 3 hours before the next movements through security. We headed over to the Ship and Castle for a couple of pints and a meal. There was already a familiar face in the bar, heading to our campsite in Spain and a little later we were joined by another group.

We were almost last to board, just after midnight with one caravan behind us and a lonely static. We were on the lorry deck and hoping this would facilitate our departure in two mornings time.

Our outside Club cabin was on the ninth deck and included with it, for the duration of the trip, was the magical Commodore Lounge pass. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is served in this lounge (complimentary) and it’s far away from the maddening crowds of the main ship.

As fellow travellers heading to Conil de La Frontera gathered in this lounge, our section of a dozen familiar folk resembled a party boat as we made full use of the “Wine Taps”.

By the end of the day, it was difficult to know whether it was the boat or the wine causing an element of instability.

Our unit, travelling on the garage deck was one of the first to disembark and we headed off to Caceres, our first and only stop on the journey south. The roads as always were quiet and we arrived at Caceres to be greeted by the same faces we had met on the Brittany Ferries boat, Salamanca.

Covering 353 miles from Santander to Caceres took around 7 hours leaving just 250 miles the following day to Conil.

There were about five of us parked together at Camping Caceres and we enjoyed a meal later on in the restaurant.

Sunday was another uneventful travel day but as we had now left behind somewhat murky weather, our caravans were filthy and we found the perfect place to wash them The last service area before Sevilla has lorry washing bays, perfect for ensuring our caravan would arrive pristinely clean.

This was a great idea because the Campsites really don’t approve of washing your outfit on the pitch…

Arriving mid afternoon at Camping La Rosaleda, our pitch reservation was in order (just as well because the site is another sell-out) and we started to set up on a large double pitch. This enthusiasm for setting up didn’t last long before we headed off to the bar where we enjoyed drinks and dinner. As a Dutch couple said to us, the bar has been really quiet but today, the British invasion arrived…

We ate pork at the restaurant and caught this glimpse through the door of the restaurant kitchen… Mind boggling.

Monday and we setup the awning and all our bits and pieces. The weather was an extremely pleasant 20C with no wind.

We finished just before evening and then drove to the Mercadona supermarket for supplies.

Dawn broke on Tuesday and another beautiful day emerged. Slightly more breeze today and temperatures I guess were around 16C to 18C. We took a picnic to the beach and a long walk around the town of Conil.