Thursday 24 November

We cycled to the town’s weekly market. Kev had forgotten to take a backpack so we couldn’t buy too much, not that there was that much you would want, but the fruit and veg was great and really cheap.

On Friday we cycled back to Oropesa with Wendy and Mick to see the local sights. We went up to the castle, had a look at the bull ring, the chapel of the virgin de la paciencia and some really old well where they used to wash their clothes. We then cycled to the Marina and back along the beach, stopping for a drink on the way.

Friday night is Tapas, sangria and entertainment night at the site, today it is Flamenco dancing.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty quiet, just lazing around in the sun, you know how it is, lol.

Monday  we went for a walk on the beach and then a cycle to the supermarket, Tuesday we cycled to town to the hardware store to get some bits and pieces. The cycle to Oropesa town takes about 25 mins each way.

Wednesday we went for a walk to the Gardens at Oropesa del Mar, with Ray and Pam, another really nice couple that we met. Oropesa del Mar is the area we are staying in. It’s a really built up holiday destination for Spaniards but due to recession a lot of the new apartments are lying empty, it is going to be the place to go apparently. There is a building full of models of the plans they have for the area, if there is ever enough money to build it all. Anyway the gardens were really nicely done with lots of mosaic seats of all shapes and sizes, fountains and a stream with fish, swans and ducks and some peacocks running around.

Thursday is market day again. Kev went to Rays in the afternoon to sort out some stuff on the TomTom but when he switched it on it just started switching off and on again. Friday we spent the whole afternoon trying to download the TomTom again but to no avail it was dead. That decided it we would leave on Saturday to buy a new one.

Saturday, up early, packed up and checked with the receptionist where was the closest place to buy a new sat nav. She called one of the big supermarkets at Castellon and they confirmed they had them. Off we set with directions on the back of a postage stamp, or so it seemed. Anyway to our surprise we got there no problem,  went in bought the new sat nav and did some shopping. Bought a Christmas tree and tinsel, lights and baubles, you know the essentials. Then we went to Lidl as Kev has found that the beer there is only 22cents a can, yes you guessed he had to buy 6 packs of 12. Back out to the van, set the new sat nav and away we go. Now this is where the griswald moment starts. We were travelling along about half a mile from Lidl when the new sat nav was saying turn right then I heard a voice from the depths of the door pocket saying turn left. The bloody sat nav was working again after we just forked out 148 euro’s for a basic TomTom. You can imagine the air was blue in the van.

Somehow the new sat nav had not asked if we wanted to avoid the toll roads so we ended up going south west round Valencia on the A7 motorway. Just after leaving Valencia a car crashed on the opposite carriageway. We were first to stop at the scene. Parked on the hard shoulder and ran across the road. Kev was slowing the traffic down and trying to clear the debris from the road and I got the two occupants out of the car and called the emergency services. Both the woman and teenage girl were able to walk away from the car. Some other drivers had stopped and once we knew the ambulance was on the way we crossed back over the motorway and carried on. We were both a bit shaken up by the whole thing. We carried on to our destination of Gandia. We stayed here for two nights and are moved on to visit an old workmate of Kev’s at Gata de Gorgos. 

Had a really nice relaxing two days with Marlene and Joe at Gata de Gorgos, where we were made very welcome. They have two very big Bassett hounds called Morag and Hamish who loved sticking their slobbery chops up Kev’s shorts. Blossom was about 1 foot to tall to fit through their archway into the drive, I’m sure when Joe heard Kev was coming he had the archway lowered so Kev couldn’t get in. We then moved to Guardemar del Segura to meet up again with Mick & Wendy and after two nights here we are today going to Benidorm.