And time slowly passes.....

January 24th.2013

The weather is distinctly iffy. When the sun shines it is very hot but we have had a lot of cloud, some cold winds and an exceedingly violent storm last weekend with winds of 55pmh plus. Fortunately it had been forecast so hatches had been battened but it still caused a few problems. Social life is very bubbly, and more people than ever are attending events .The management put on their usual free meal in honour of the Conil festival which consists of the whole town joining a procession of decorated wagons loaded with the entire stock of alcohol from the supermarket and walking to the next village where they have a bbq in the woods.Its called the Romeria de San Sebastian but was unfortunately cancelled on Sunday as the high winds meant that they couldn't get the floats decorated in time but it may kick off next Sunday although the forecast is not looking good for that.But the lunch was still good anyway. We play boules with Tony & Sabena when the sun shines & canasta with Harry & Joan when it doesn't.The Gf does pilates and I'm doing Tai Chi twice a week. Harry has started a Progressive Whist night,after a reasonable showing last year, which is even more popular this year and makes a very convivial evening. We've walked and cycled( weather permitting) into town and along the beach and have several offers of joining others for mass electric bike rides....the popularity of electric bikes increases every year, and they can even be hired in town now. The Gf is still wary of cycling if the wind is cold after last year when she was laid low with sinus and throat problems, so cycling is mainly on hold at the moment. Nick,Barbara,Dave & Geraldine arrived on Friday, in time for a very rollicking night at the restaurant with music by an aged rocker called Chris Cody who was excellent . We are not having success at the quiz. Wednesday night saw 118 people participating, 30 teams which is probably a record and we came 5th. We scored 39 and the winners scored 43 and we could have equalled them if certain peoples had been listened to. Our new partners, Paul & Caroline are ex-schoolteachers and their input should be better. I caved in to Picasso as the answer to 'Spanish painter 1904-89 who was born & died at Figueras' when I knew full well that Picasso had died in France, in the 70's & was 90+, and that Dali must therefore be the answer but they seemed so positive. There were other examples but I'm sulking so move on.
Last note on the weather, people who arrived yesterday spoke on having driven from Calais in 6 days and  had snow for 5 of them right down to Caceres, which is only a days drive from here. At least its much warmer than home.
 

OFF TO SUNNY SPAIN

January 17th 2013

who came down twice, spent a lot of The Fridge......had problems in September when the fridge wouldn't switch to 12v power when driving. Not a huge problem as it worked on gas and mains whenever we stopped, but not right, and then on our last night in France, it stopped working on gas and defrosted itself. So took it down to Chelston in Taunton in November for repairs - and had the filler connector for the refillable autogas bottles moved from inside the locker to outside to keep the french happy. The fridge problem was an electrical relay from the engine that had died so was soon fixed, but the fridge still didn't seem to be getting cold enough when I got home. This is a long story and I'm getting tired of typing.......found a Dometic engineer in Norwich time and eventually replaced everything on the fridge except the carcase and seemed to have it working...it was a brand new fridge by now. However, when we came to switch it on prior to loading up and leaving for Spain it certainly wasn't anywhere near cold. Frantic phone calls to our man in Norwich finally isolated the problem to having the winter covers on the ventillation ducts which was preventing a satisfactory airflow.....normally the covers go on in October and remain in situ until the spring but it seems the very large fridge we now have only requires vent covers when the temp. is below 10c. as there is a large gap between top & bottom ducts. So they are off all the time now and the fridge works and this may have been the problem from the start.
Stop me if this getting too technical.......

Down to Folkestone 6th.Jan. and through the Tunnel on the 7th at 07.50. Weather cloudy all the way to La Suze s/Sarthe (Lemans) and next day to Bordeaux. The continued work on the N10 seems near to completion and depressingly we passed a large Toll Station being built so more expense there next year. Decided to continue past San Sebastian where we have stopped before as we were making good time, and onto Vitorio Gasteiz, capital of the Basque country. Adequate but subsequently noisy aire in town but nice tram ride to historic centre which is worth a detour. Salamanca the next night where it was warm and sunny for the first time but the mist, cloud and drizzle returned the next day all the way to Zafra, another new stop on the route. Scrubby Aire in the showground complex but for some reason we followed 2 german vans round the back to find a quieter but more vulnerable place to park. Turned out ok but I still don't know why I let the Gf persuade me to go there.. Mist and fog next day down to Seville where we stopped for to top up the gas bottles (LPG is not readily available in Spain and the closest to Conil are Jerez & Seville, so best to fill up whenever possible) and then the sun came out as we passed Cadiz and arrived Conil about 14.00. Refueled, stopped at the supremarket for fresh supplies ( 2litre wine up from €2.17 last year to €2.70 but the usual Rioja down from €1.79 to €1.64 and Cruz Campo beer on offer at €1 for 2 550ml tins.)
Conil looking good, La Rosaleda fuller than it was this time last year and lots of old faces. Spent Saturday & Sunday getting straight after 7 days of travel (GF very tired & weary). Obviously without P&M to partner us in the Wed. quiz we had to find new blood and were happy to find Paul & Caroline, neighbours last year, had also just arrived and were happy to team up. Came 4th out of 22 last night with 39/50 and the winners only scored 41/50 so we are in the right zone...I said that the ribbon on the VC was purple but the Gf overruled me and that the Road to Istanbul was not a Hope&Crosby film otherwise we would have tied for 1st and we know how bad that could be for us..... 

Here we go Again.

January 17th 2013

Well there's a bit of catching up to do as I left this in the wilds of Croatia with a distinctly poorly member of the group who was having a great deal of trouble driving, on account of gear changing with his right arm being agony....alert readers will have spotted that he drives a lefthand drive vehicle, so there's a lesson to be learned.
From Croatia we had planned to visit Venice, always a pleasure, and we pitched up at a very pleasant site at Lido di Jessolo. P&M went straight to the hospital where x-rays revealed a detached muscle and he was told to rest it and take pain killers. We ended up staying for 11 days at Lido as the sun was shining, we were on the beach and Venice was a short ride away on the ferry which we could cycle to or catch a bus, and the local farm shop across the road had an excellent selection of fill-your-own-bottles of wine at €1.25 a litre and they would also fill 5 litre wine boxes as you waited, so a few of those came home when we left. Had 2 trips into Venice which was heaving with visitors even at the end of September and it is surprising how much a day out in Venice can cost, even if you go prepared. Eventually D&M set off home first as M. wanted to go shopping in France (?) and they had to have the dog vetted, followed by P&M a few days later who were going to be driving on the motorways very slowly and resting inbetween. If they got into difficulties we would not be far behind and could help out.  
We left Lido on Oct.8th and after all the sunshine had a rather miserable trip home getting colder and wetter by the day. Started at Locarno, over the Simplon Pass to Lac Leman, Bad Sackingen on the Rhine and then following the Neckar river - stopping at Rottenburg, a visit to the Porsche factory at Stuttgart (where we had the best meal of the whole trip), Eberbach for 3 days to visit Heidelberg and onto Trier. Apart from the day we went on the train to Heidelberg, the weather was cloudy,misty, drizzly and cool and we should have stayed in the South for longer but for wanting to help Paul in case of problems. We also had a week longer to stay as when rebooking after the kidney stone episode we added another week for some reason.So we stayed at Spa in Belgium for 2 days which was more than enough and then a night at Gravelines where the fridge finally packed up before  catching the ferry home on Oct.19th.
Great trip, lot of fun, destruction of preconceptions re Croatia (ie. not a land full of murderous bandits waiting to rob, plunder and sell our wives into slavery), marred by P.'s accident which curtailed our journey somewhat and setting off for home too early when the sun was still shining. Will definitely return to Croatia again and continue down to Dubrovnik, probably giving the Istrian coast a miss next time.