This is a trip of many firsts – several most un-wanted!
Moe has gradually been improving from her respiratory illness and two courses of antibiotics – the latter started just a few days before our departure taking the duration of her illness to more than a calendar month. Ideally we would have pushed our departure back a few days but all of the Brittany Ferry crossings in January were fully booked.
She also forgot to bring enough of one of her inhalers and it’s our first time in Spain when the Pharmacies have refused to sell us prescription medication over-the-counter. We tried three different Pharmacies before heading to a Private Clinic where they prepared Spanish prescriptions for a fee of Euros 30.
A word of warning – Flu and Covid rates are on the rise here in Spain. Masks are now compulsory in Healthcare settings.
The second first was our new Towcar – the California Ocean. After a dreadful period of ownership due to a leaking pop-top (affecting an extensive number of vehicles manufactured in MY23) we appear to be finally close to a robust VW fix. This meant though that this was the first time we had towed the caravan with this vehicle.
The towing credentials of the California are impressive – we have the 204PS version but not 4-wheel drive (which wasn’t an option when we ordered ours). You really don’t know the caravan is on the back. Even when you hit some bumpy road, the outfit stays solid with no buffeting of the Cali at all.
The first leg of the journey was from Santander to Caceres – in total some 368 miles – completed in around 7 hours. Snow was falling on the high ground from Santander but the roads were clear and the snow ploughs were out and about.
We were allocated a large plot at Caceres, complete with our personal toilet block but with overnight temperatures below zero degrees, some heating in the private facilities would have been welcome.
This left us with a circa 260 mile journey on Sunday from Caceres to Conil de la Frontera. After a late start we had completed this and arrived at Camping La Rosaleda just after 3:00pm. We were greeted as old friends by the campsite reception and presented with a bottle of Rosaleda’s Christmas wine!
Our new double plot is fantastic. So much room for the Cali, caravan and awning. With us both being under the weather it did take a few days before we had cleaned most of the journey’s grime from the caravan and erected the awning etc.
There a lots of familiar faces here again at Rosaleda with the site fairly close to a sell-out. The English contingent seems to decrease a little more each year as we all work out how we want to allocate our 90 days in the EU. For us this year, we will only stay for 6 weeks as Moe has some medical appointments in February but this does then give us the opportunity for another trip in June / July.
Joe went on one one of his favourite cycle rides, from the campsite heading through the woods to Nova Sancti Petri and then back along the coastal road and clifftops before descending into Conil.
Thursday night was the first communal meal and the restaurant was packed for the food and subsequent Flamenco dancing.
Our favourite bread-shop – La Cremita, at Chiclana de la Frontera is still baking the most fabulous loaves of bread.
