Saturday, October 10, 2015

On Yer Bike...

Back to yesterday, Friday was a holiday in this area of Spain and Monday is a holiday in the whole of Spain, so on Friday the campsite was partly taken over by a large group of Spanish campers.  They are lovely people and all that, but are they so noisy!  It's not just the kids either, the adults are worse ... shouting and jabbering away!  They were in the far corner of the site but we could still hear them!  They also (as does everyone!) walk past us on the way to the campsite entrance, what a din as they pass by!

Luckily most of the pensioners on the site are deaf so they go by unnoticed :)

Another observation of the site clientelle is that probably 90% of the poms are from up t' north and quite a few taffies as well.  My theory is that they have a larger disposable income, whereas the southerners are tied up to huge mortgages.  It was the same when I worked on the boats in Sydney, by far the biggest customers in boat sales where those from the western suburbs of Sydney, where the prices of houses were a fraction of those along the beaches and city suburbs.

It could also be that it is grim up t'north and they are escaping!  In saying that though if we were to live in England we would prefer it to be up north ... as long as we could escape the weather every now and again.

Back on track again ... after a night of a few, but heavy, rain showeres the day dawned sunny and warm.

We headed off down to the beach and the prom, along with a few of the retirees from the site.  They plonked themselves on the beach, but we went for a walk instead along the prom, the beach here is not dog friendly, which is doing Bombo's head in!

Some of the villas on the front are just lovely, and very, very expensive ...

Just love a palm tree and an empty beach ...

Happy doggies ...
Bombo ... 'why do I have to site and pose on this wall!  I WANNA GO ON THE BEACH !!!

Elaine taking a break with her best mate ...

After tiring out the boys, we headed back to camp where we left the dogs in the van and got out the bikes. The dogs are fine in the van ... we shut all the blinds and open the skylights.  We are also shaded by trees, so the temperature inside the van doesn't get above 25 degrees.

The cycle track runs along an old railway line and it, conveniently, starts behind the campsite. 

Leaving Benicassim ...

It passes through some wonderful cuttings ...

And runs along the cliff tops ...

Being an old railway line any inclines are very slight ...

There is also a very long tunnel along the route ...

Nowhere near as claustrophobic as the canal tunnels, I really don't like them much!

At the other end of the line is the town of Orposa and a large marina ...

We did a u turn then and headed back.  Elaine did very well to get there and back, having not been on a pushbike in yonks.  She did get aggressive on part of the ride though when a tortoise tried to overtake her ... joking :)

(El here ... he gave me a lot of grief about going slow but my backside was killing me, despite putting a folded towel on my seat.  It didn't help when a wasp landed on my head either .. I went to brush it off and it stung me!!  Paul reckoned if I was going faster it wouldn't have been able to land!  Hmmm.....)

Once back at base we cooled off by going for a swim in the pool, we were the only ones in it.

When we returned after our swim we noticed a Spanish family walking around our van saying something in Spanish and gesticulating what we could only make out to be 'a small thing'!!  We soon found out what it was when they retrieved their siamese cat from under the van.  It had escaped from their chalet .... lucky tey found it, the boys would have loved to have discovered a cat underneath the van!   It escaped again later in the afternoon, with the family all out hunting for it but this morning we noticed it was being taken for a walk on its lead!

In the evening I went to the bar to watch NZ vs Tonga in the Rugby World Cup, while El stayed in with the dogs.  There was a massive crowd there of me and a Welshman in the bar but, to be fair, there was a big parade and fireworks going on down at the Playa, so most of the people were watching that.

Tonight it is Australia vs Wales.....Come on you Aussies!!! 

2 comments:

  1. I'm with El on the subject of bikes. We took both with us on our very first trip, and that was the 1st and last time I rode mine - couldn't walk for days after. We have Mag's bike with us here and she enjoys it. But I enjoy even better waving at them all as I pass by on my Yamaha D'elight. The only downside is I can't drink at happy campers' Saturday lunch tapas sessions, which is next on the agenda today. Dozens more Brits due to arrive here for the Winter during next week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are thinking of spending a couple of days at your site before we get to Mojacar, we have booked a flat again in Mojacar.

      Delete