There's a sign on the back of our van -

Venture before dementia

Says it all

Sun, sea, sand.......

You can see why folk flee the cold of the UK to the warm sunshine of Spain and Portugal. Even though it gets cold at night - down to 5 or 6C - the days make up for it. Today we both got a bit sunburnt!

Moving on tomorrow to a site that will hopefully allow us to visit Gibraltar, something we both said we wanted to do at the start.


Nobody posting comments?

Map of the local area

It was again clear blue sky yesterday (Wednesday) but there was a strong cold wind blowing across from the Atlantic and although the temperature in shelter was around 17C, the wind made it too cold to sit outside.

However today the wind has dropped and once again it's shorts and t-shirt time!

Now half way through our intended time away, it's time to contemplate where we go from here. We've plans to meet friends over the next couple of weeks so we're stopping here at Tafira for a couple of days more before moving on to Gibraltar. After that we're planning to hop along the coast eastbound, stopping off for a few days wherever takes our fancy.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

You sometimes have to stop and take a reality check

Africa 15km

It is early February and we're strolling along a vast sandy beach in shorts and T-shirts, barefooted!

Whitley Bay beach. Not!

The surrounding countryside is stunningly beautiful, although the weather helps.

Rio Jara campsite plus backdrop

We are at the very southernmost point of mainland Spain (and, for that matter mainland Europe),overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar with Tangiers just in sight. We did consider a day trip- they are on offer from Tafira - but our travel insurance doesn't cover us and you know what will happen if we do.........

We wandered back to the van for a welcome cup of coffee and counted our blessings. Thankyou HSBC!

Monday 4 February 2013

Time to move on. We decided early on that we would like to visit Gibraltar so our general planning has this included. We had also heard, however, that taking the van across was usually a load of hassle so we thought we would just walk across and use the bus whilst there.

So from El Puerto de Santa Maria we took the coast road further south in brilliant sunshine, although it was very windy, stopping off at a Lidl to top up supplies again (because we have limited storage space we are tending to shop every couple of days - there are plenty of supermarkets about).

Barbate

Just before Barbate, whilst travelling through a Nature Park, we stopped at a picnic-type parking place which was the starting point for a 7km coastal walk - and also made a nice wild-camping spot, as evidenced by 2 French vans parked there.

On checking the map we discovered that it was off this very coast that the Battle of Trafalgar was fought (the point you can see in the photie is Cape Trafalgar) on 21 October 1805

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar


Continuing along the coast we were eventually forced to turn inland to avoid a National Park. As we headed towards the main road we were confronted with a valley full of literally hundreds of wind-turbines, all in lines and all spinning merrily in the strong wind. We bet people around here don't pay much for electricity!

Our pitch at Camping Rio Jara

Our route was taking us to Tafira, which is the southernmost point of mainland Spain. As we were in no rush and there were several campsites along the road, we changed our minds and checked them out, finally deciding on Camping Rio Jara which is about 3km NW of Tafira. This medium size site (150 pitches) was almost empty so we had our choice, finally choosing one with sunshine all day long but reasonably sheltered from the wind and booking in for 3 nights.

In the distance, North Africa

And it was from here that we had our first proper view of the coast of North Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar.

Rock of Gibraltar

Walking down to the beach and turning to look east, we espied a mountain looming up over the horizon.

The Rock of Gibraltar.

Our next stop!

Sunday 3 February 2013

I very much regret to report that today has been fine, warm and sunny all day.

Again. 

However, the wind has gone round to the north and freshened so despite the sun, except when sheltered, light jackets were the order of the day. So we took a walk north along the coast to the next settlement, Port Sherry – yes that’s its name. We passed several café/bars along the way, being enjoyed by the locals who apparently come to this area on Sunday mornings to socialise, including one set among a grove of trees and nick-named Robinson Crusoe by our site neighbours, due to its somewhat rustic appearance.

The seafront at Port Sherry

El Puerto de Santa Maria used to be, and still is to some extent, a shipping port for sherry and there are still several bodegas in the town which also offer guided tours and tastings. Port Sherry is really a holiday extension to the town with a large marina overlooked by a row of restaurants/bars (where we took a coffee break) and backed by a large modern hotel and quite a few holiday apartments and houses. It also has its own small beach (see photie) and is reached by a coastal pathway and cycle track.

The beach at Port Sherry

The beach is overlooked by what first appears to be a sea wall, but on closer inspection turns out to be the remains of a fort, first used to provide cross-fire protection across the bay along with the fort at Cadiz. It was later used as a base for the siege of Cadiz but is now pretty well derelict except for its contribution to the conservation of the coast against erosion.

The beach with the fort across the bay

Once back at the campsite, we settled down to relax but despite deploying the windbreak, it was too fresh to allow sitting out in the sun in comfort for very long. So a little planning and start packing up the van as we are moving on tomorrow – not sure quite where yet but further south.  Watch this space!

Roast pork for tea!

Saturday 2 February 2013

It rained during the night!

Still, keeps the dust down.

Lazing on a sunny afternoon

Friday 1 February 2013 - Day 25!

Just checked the diary to find we've been away over 3 weeks, yet it feels like much less!

Yesterday was another lovely day so we stayed "at home" and sunburnt, planning to go to Cadiz today as the forecast was not as sunny. It went misty as the sun went down and today woke to a thick sea fret, which concerned us as the plan was to use the ferry across the bay - however we were assured that it was still running so an early start and walk round to catch the 1045 catamaran.

Welcome to Cadiz

It did turn out brighter (and warmer) very quickly and we spent a couple of hours wandering round the old city.

Where are we?

Attractive buildings abound

There are lots more photos, we've just included here some of the better ones.

Cathedral Santa Maria

A picturesque square where had lunch

Although quite a compact city, it was never going to be possible to see it all on foot so we caught the site-seeing bus for an informative and relaxing way of seeing the major areas of the city.

The Cathedral 

Playa Victoria - one of the main beaches

The tour lasts an hour - you can hop and hop off at one of a dozen stops round the city and the ticket lasts 24hours. We stayed on and did the complete tour in one, before a late lunch.

Feet not being in the best of condition and with the skies clouding over, we decided to return to El Puerto de Santa Maria again by the ferry although we could have used the bus or train for a different perspective.

One of the ferries.

"Our" beach from the catamaran

A much nicer return trip before walking back to the van for a nice sit down and a cuppa!

A lovely city, we're glad we took the time to do the "touristy " bit.