Tuesday 26 February 2013

Yesterday was a stay put day; although the sun was shining brilliantly out of a blue sky, there was a strong cold wind blowing so the day was spent "indoors", planning our journey home.

So today we've programmed a further run up the coast, again sticking to ordinary roads wherever possible. But the whole countryside has changed to extensive industrial development, including a huge Ford plant just north of Valencia, which we skirted on the Ronda. There also appeared to be quite a number of factories in the ceramic industry. The towns and villages were very ordinary, quite different to what we'd found further south, obviously serving the local industry. 

There was even a shortage of supermarkets: gone were the edge-of-town retail parks and we were well into the day before we spotted a Carrefour in Vila Real, off the main road and a bit of a pig to get to but we managed.

Not quite sure where this was....... Cullera?

So we spent most of the day in quite heavy traffic which was obviously avoiding the toll AP-7 motorway, although the N340 is a very good road.

Castello de la Plana

We had thought we might get to just south of Tarragona but trying to find a water pump (failed again!) and the heavy traffic meant that by stopping time we were only as far as Peniscola. Not to worry as there were several campsites, one of which had been personally recommended so we spent 20mins going round in a big circle (again) trying to find the entrance to Spa Natura Resort, which is a little way outside the town.

Spa Natura Resort

And before you all jump to conclusions it's NaturA, not NaturISTa! (It ain't warm enough for that!)

A very well laid out, medium-sized site with lots of amenities, including a pool and health club. We were offered 2 types of pitch, a basic (i.e.cheap) and a much nicer fully serviced, roomy place, complete with AstroTurf for surfacing! We booked for 2 nights.