Guadalest is listed as one of the “must visit” towns in the region. A fine example of a medieval town in the mountains close to Benidorm. In fact the contrast between Guadalest and Benidorm could not be more striking as we drove past Benidorm on the way there along the AP-7.
Benidorm – not for us…
Castle at Guadalest
Bell at Guadalest
Cycled to the market in the morning and stocked up with local produce. Everything seems so inexpensive in Spain – at least in these parts. Can’t understand why all the ex-pats are returning home – they are in for one big shock.
In the afternoon we drove to Laguna de la Mata which is a salt lake between Dolores and Torreveija. The bikes were loaded on top and we cycled 20km or so around the Laguna.
Laguna de la Mata
An historic city some 1 hour drive from Sheppards rest.
Amphitheatre at Cartogena
We explored the town with is Roman ruins, amphitheatre and castle on the hill.
The castle is initially accessed via a “glass” lift enclosed in a see-through metal structure. Never did like heights…
Ancient Roman baths still being excavated
Spent the day at the campsite, with a brief trip to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies. Weather was hot and the swimming pool nice and cool.
Pool at Sheppards Rest
This turned out to be a 25km ride from our base in Dolores to the beach at Guardamar where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. Mostly off-road we followed a service road most of the way which was running alongside one of the many concrete water runs.
We tried to cycle into Guardamar but we hit trouble crossing the river from our side and at this point we didn’t want to add another 5km onto the trip so headed back with a determination to cycle the route again and this time have lunch in Guardamar.
Goats ahead
The journey back along the service road was uneventful until close to Sheppards Rest, when we were held up briefly by a goat farmer taking his herd for a walk to pastures new.
A hot and sunny start to the day and a realisation that’s Moe’s wisdom tooth abscess wasn’t going to go away by itself. It had started hurting the day before and now needed some assistance. The campsite owner directed us to a Dentist in Dolores who spoke good English. Problem was we came across the wrong one because no-one at the practice spoke any English.
However, Moe was seen within 30 minutes of us arriving at reception, X-Rayed and diagnosed as a tooth abscess indeed. We paid 18 Euros for the consultation, X-Rays and a course of antibiotics was prescribed.
Moe’s anti-abscess drugs…
An offer was made to extract the tooth on the Friday which would need to be preceded with a consultation with a surgeon and further X-Rays taken but this was politely declined. Personally, I’m not so sure – the outfit inspired more confidence than my dentist in blighty who now refers fillings to the Dental Hygienist!!
In the afternoon, I fitted 4 new tyres to our bikes. When we bought the bikes they had Specialized Borough XC Sport tyres on them and they have been absolute rubbish. We’ve had dozens of punctures over the years and after 3 in one day whilst cycling on the Isle of Wight, I decided to replace them and bought 4 Continental Travel Contacts. I’ll provide an update on their performance later on.
A big days towing and because we had arrived late the night before in Haro, we hadn’t been able to pay on arrival. That meant waiting until reception opened at 09:00 and after engaging in a discussion about driving routes with some fellow Brits, we didn’t actually leave until 09:45.
With 760km to cover, this would be a big day but the roads were excellent and free of traffic allowing us to cruise at the speed limit virtually all day. The Sorento pulls like a train and one forgets that there is 1400kg of Caravan floating along behind. The Sorento was new late last year and this was the first Eurotrip in the beast. The built-in satnav performed flawlessly for the entire journey and we arrived in Dolores sometime after 18:00.
Sheppards Rest
Sheppards Rest is a small site run by a British lady and has accommodation for around 6 outfits, being located in the countryside just north of Dolores.
Due to the projected ferry delays reported in yesterday’s blog, we sought out alternative
Approaching Santander
locations near to Santander and had Camping el Helguero (www.campingelhelguero.com) allocated as a backup. In the end, the ferry caught up some time and we made the decision that if we were out of the port by 18:30 we would head to Haro.
Camping de Haro
In the end we were out by 18:45 and drove to Haro anyway, arriving around 21:15.
The campsite was fine and Haro being in the middle of the Rioja region (one of my favourite wines), we will try to stay a bit longer on the return journey and stock up on some wine. We were able to park on a grassy area and remained hitched-up, ready for an early start the next day.
We were booked on the evening crossing to Santander, scheduled to arrive at 17:30 on the Saturday. We had been in touch with Camping de Haro in Haro, Spain which is around a 2 hour drive (190km) from the port of Santander and would just take the edge of a very long drive the next day.
The campsite had indicated space wouldn’t be a problem but reception closes at 18:00; however security would be happy to site us after that. Arriving after 22:00 was considered by them less than ideal.
Our dilemma on reaching Portsmouth was that due to bad weather in the Bay of Biscay the prior weekend, the schedule was recovering and still 2 hours behind our arrival time of 17:30, leaving just 30 minutes to offload and then precisely 2 hours to reach Haro, some of the drive being in the dark in a country we had never towed in before.
This weekend the Bay of Biscay was kind and we had a pleasant smooth crossing. I hope for similar on the return journey.