Our 2018 European adventure

We left Cabot de Gata on the morning of the 15th and headed for Los Alcazares. We had heard about a new site there where all the electric was produced by solar power, and because it had only recently opened if you stayed for 6 nights then you only paid for four. Bargain. We were still intent on reaching Benidorm before starting our return to the UK sometime around the 26/27th Feb.
Now this is where it all changes.....rapidly. about 20 minutes out we received a phone call that put us in a real pickle. We had seen a job advertised the previous week and had sent off our CV's, the call was inviting us for an interview on 20th February! We checked into the site and went to a nearby resturant for a bite to eat and discuss our options. Cut our trip short by 2-3 weeks or decline the interview for a job that we were quite keen on. Insanity won out over sanity and at 5pm we were in the nearest vets getting Tess checked over and wormed ready for the return to the UK. We spent the evening looking over routes and stops in order to be back in Birmingham the evening of the 19th. Just shy of 1500 miles in 4 days in a motorhome averaging 56 mph means driving for around 6-7 hours a day! Ok so let's make Zaragoza our night stop one the first day. It came and went, and we still had daylight and weren't asleep at the wheel. Sure we can find somewhere around Pamplona, but that came and went and still we drove on. As it got dark and the roads became more and more winding we decided to find an aire and pull over for the night. On checking the map we were about 5 miles from the French border.

The following morning we crossed into France, finally, after being stopped and the motorhome thoroughly searched by the gendarmes and a drugs dog. Satisfied we weren't drug smugglers we were back on the road. The rest of the journey passed in a blur of toll roads and short stops reaching calais on the evening of Monday 18th. We managed to get on an earlier train, ours was booked for the following morning, and arrived in Folkestone around 8pm. A quick stop at a local chinese takeaway and the night was spent wild camping at Farthing common before returning to Birmingham the following morning.
It's a shame that we had to cut our trip short, especially now that we aren't even sure that we want the Job we came back for! But the whole European adventure has been incredible. We were unsure how our trip would go having never taken a motorhome to the continent before but it was a real eye opener seeing how geared up the countries we visited are for motorhomes. Most of our trip was spent on aires and wild camping with only about 3 weeks spent on sites.
We travelled over 4000 miles in 81 days and are even now planning a longer trip for the end of this year, Brexit and the powers that be in the European union allowing of course.

If you have read this blog we thank you and we have learned much while doing it. We will continue to add to it through out our travels in th uk but are really looking forward to Our European Adventure 2019.

We didn't leave Calahonda on Monday as expected, we did in fact stay until Wednesday. It was difficult to leave as there is so much to do in the area and some of the bars and restaurants are fantastic. Monday we found a small nature walk just a few minutes from the site and after wandering around for an hour or so crossed over onto the beach and discovered a fantastic beach bar called lunar beach. We had to sample a few beers with lunch, mussels seaman style. Fantastic.

We will definitely return to Calahonda and as for Los Jarales, the site is ok if a little tight in places and the number of long termers do make the place look a little untidy. That aside the facilities were always kept clean and the showers were probably the most powerful we've used during our travels. It is also in a good or for exploring locally and further afield.
Wednesday saw us move east to Roquetas de Mar for an overnight stop. The parking area is next to the beach with lots of open park land. We took a walk around town but found most of it to be shut. Even the large hotels were closed. Still it was a nice view for the evening even if we did have to deal with 50kmh winds.
This morning we have moved about 1 1/2 hours along the coast to Cabot de Gata. Again the parking area is right next to the beach and it's another one of those towns that has lots of housing but no people. If it wasn't for the 20 or so motorhomes parked up the place would be a ghost town. Still we did manage to find a bar on the sea front for a beer or two and tapas.
We may stay a couple of nights or move again tomorrow, the problem we have now is that there is still so much to see and we are rapidly running out of time.

True to our word Monday morning we left Benalmadena and headed back along the coast to Callanhonda. Before I continue if you are ever in Benalmadena try out El Naranjo resturant. Service is second to none and the food? They do a meal deal. 2 steaks, salad and choice of potatoes with a bottle of wine all for €17 per person and the steak was amazing.
Anyway I digress, we rented an apartment here about 11 years ago and wondered if it had changed much. Booked into a site called Los Jarales just off the busy A7 and although the road is very busy the site is OK. Only a few minutes walk to the beach and, it seems, an endless supply of bars, restaurants and markets. We have been visiting places that we went to previously however the was a bar 2 minutes walk from the apartment we stayed in. The bar is still there but has changed drastically. It was just a little beach bar but is now a place of fine dining with a great atmosphere. We lunched on the paella yesterday and it was very good.

After a few days in Callanhonda exploring the beach, bars and resturants we have hired a car and explored further afield. Yesterday was a local outdoor market and the Marbella (really don't know what the draw is with that place. It's busy, the beach isn't great and I just can't see the attraction). Today we spent the day in Mijas village. Much nicer than I remember and after walking around most of the day we ate in one of the restaurants in the main square. The Del Dia was salad, lasagne and ice cream to finish. Food was very good and plenty of it and all for the sum of €9. Tomorrow we will explore the open market a few miles away in Mijas Costa.
Going to stay here until Monday, probably, and then who knows. We have about 3 weeks left of our trip before we have to start heading back to the UK.

I have been keeping a loose track of our expenditure while we have been away, out of interest more than anything else, and here are the main items.
We have travelled about 2,500 miles and spent the following (roughly)
Diesel €511, camp sites €364, bulk gas (cooking, fridge, heating) €17.50, groceries €513, alcohol €217, meals out €476 and car hire €75. Total €2,173.50. I'm sure if we had spent 2 1/2 months travelling in the UK at this time of the year we could have pretty much doubled that total.

The 2 nights we spent at Lantejuela saw the weather change drastically with heavy rain and really high winds, the first night I even thought of getting up at 3am to turn the van into the wind it was that strong. So yesterday it was time to literally pull the plug on the free electric and move on while the winds were at a manageable level. We headed to Antequera which had another aire with facilities for water and waste, which we needed to empty/replenish. It's sited on the car park of a sports stadium with shops, bars and resturants all within walking distance. It's definitely worth a walk up the hill to the castle that's sits at the top of the town as the views are pretty spectacular. Reminded me of the scenery from "assassins creed" for the old gamers out there. We had lunch at the little bar opposite the aire before retiring to the motorhome mid afternoon. It's next to a main road and the traffic was constant so we decided to move again to a park 4 the night spot just 10 minutes away that was listed as woodland views next to a lake....better scenery. Off we went but when the sat nav said 'you have reached your destination' there was no camping spot to be found! Jayne checked Google and found another just 15 minutes away. This time a small car park in the hills. Nice views, however it was so sloped there's no way we could have avoided rolling out of bed. It was getting towards late afternoon by now so we thought that we would bite the bullet and head for Benalmadena which was our next destination. Couple of hours on and we arrived at the car park of Paloma Park pretty much in the centre. What a great location, the park is fabulous with woodland, lakes, cafes and a myriad of animals roaming around. Only downside is there's hordes of cockerels which, at 4am are pretty tiresome. Thank God for earplugs.
Today is Sunday and we have walked along the front and down into Torremolinos. The sun is shining and it's very busy but we found time and space to enjoy coffee and lunch overlooking the beach. The marina here is amazing and if anyone has a few million euros that they are not using I wouldnt mind a place here.
So after 2 nights here we are thinking of trying to find a site close by for a week or so where we can chill out and maybe rent a car to explore the area in more detail.

3 nights at camping Taray was enough time to get sorted with laundry and what not, even managed to do a few miles on the road bike. Met a Brit called Alan who works at the site and was a mine of information, not only that but he has contacts with so many useful people. If you ever stop here make a point of chatting with him. This morning saw us head for La Puebla de Cazalla just south of Seville. An aire that has all the facilities including free electric. It only has room for 11 vans and as you can guess when we arrived it was full of Dutch and there was no room at the inn! Quick search and 20 minutes away was the town of Osuna which also had a free aire. When we got there it was a supermarket car park and although it had dedicated parking spaces for motorhomes we decided again to move on. Another 15 minutes and we arrived at the town of Lantejuela. As you pass out of the town the aire is on the left Hans side. Well I say aire it is more like a camp site except there is no one here. It's flat and well laid out and still had the old electric hook up points. Time for a coffee and relaxing after a days driving.
Just sat here wondering if any of the old electric points worked, long shot I know but it's just a case of Rollin the cable out and then rolling it back in. Well would you believe it we are now working of mains voltage. It's bizarre. Even has a number of stone built bbq's. It's a great stop over and tommorw we will continue to head towards the coast, Malaga, Callahonda and Marbella.