A good friend I used to work with had been to Benidorm in December 2016 and had spotted a motorhome for sale on a campsite. Following negotiations he decided to make a bid for it. He arranged to come over to clinch the deal in February 2017, which is why we are now headed for Benidorm to meet up with him.
It’s also the time of year when the fruit trees blossom, so a visit to the Ricote valley was also on the itinerary.
TOTAL TOUR STATISTICS
- Distance travelled 520km
- Travelling time 8hr 57min
- Amount of fuel used 49.82 litres
- Cost of fuel used €62.23
- Average fuel consumption 9.54 litres/100km (29.61mpg)
- Nights away 9
- Nights in free aires 3
- Nights in paid aires 2 at a cost of €26
- Nights in campsites 3 at a cost of €63
- Nights in España Discovery 1
- Record price for a night in a campsite €29!!!
Friday 17/02/2017 Home to Villajoyosa
N38°31’04·2’’ W000°13’22·7’’ ACSI campsite, €17, full services, free WiFi
21km in 1hr 44min
We were all packed and ready to go on the Thursday night, so after a Friday morning spinning class we were on our way to Benidorm. Sid was not due to arrive until Saturday night, so we decided to stay south of Benidorm in Villajoyosa in a campsite that only opened in July 2016, so was nearly brand new. Camping Imperium is an ACSI site near to the town and beach of Villajoyosa, and is only €17 per night - a bargain (although when I paid for 2 nights on Sunday morning my card was charged €103!! It’s a good job I looked at the invoice on the way back to the van - it was soon sorted out by the very helpful staff)
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| A good size pitch with water and waste |
An afternoon walk down to the town brought us to the harbour and marina, and a good hour passed for us as we watched the fishing boats unloading their catch.
Pitches on Camping Imperium are big, and each has their own water, waste and electric.
Watch the approach to Camping Imperium here.
Saturday 18/02/2017 Villajoyosa
Up early, we were down in the town for 11am and had a good walk along the seafront. The sandy beach is wide and flat with great views. The promenade along the beach was full of bars and restaurants - almost too many to choose from, all offering great deals on Menu del Dia. We finally plumped for one in the sun with a menu that appealed to us - excellent value for only €11·50 each.
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| A great beach... |
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| ...and a lovely town |
Then back to Cervantes for a laze in the sun with a good book and a hat.
Showers and toilets here were brand new and spotless - the staff were first class and the location was great. I can wholeheartedly recommend this campsite - give it a go, you won’t be disappointed!
See today’s full photo gallery here.
Sunday 19/02/2017 Villajoyosa to Benidorm
N38°32’54·6’’ W000°05’54·6’’ Campsite, €27·50, full services, electric extra
19km in 25min
Sid was staying with his new motorhome in Camping Raco in Benidorm. Glyn had rung round the numerous campsites in Benidorm to try to book us into one fairly near, but all had the same reply - no vacancies. Whether this was because they wanted long-term campers or were genuinely full I don’t know. We decided to just present ourselves at Camping Raco reception and try to sweet-talk our way into staying for only one night.
They told us they had 8 vacancies, so we went to choose our pitch. As luck would have it, we found a pitch only 3 away from where Sid was staying, the downside being that it was a good 10 minute walk away from reception on this huge campsite.
The cost was €27·50 per night, plus however much electric you used (taken from the €10 deposit they took when we paid), so almost twice the price of our previous site, and nowhere near as nice.
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| A small expensive pitch |
The cost was €27·50 per night, plus however much electric you used (taken from the €10 deposit they took when we paid), so almost twice the price of our previous site, and nowhere near as nice.
We are not fans of Benidorm, or of enormous campsites in Benidorm, but for one night to see Sid and his wife and daughter, it was worth the exception.
His van was an Eldiss with a French bed, and was well worth the money he paid for it - a true Yorkshireman.
After discussing his gas, heating and water, we had a good catch-up about times past and thoughts for times future.
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| An excellent van... |
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| ...and one happy camper !! |
After discussing his gas, heating and water, we had a good catch-up about times past and thoughts for times future.
Monday 20/02/2017 Benidorm to Algueña
N38°20’25·5’’ W001°00’33·9’’ España Discovery site
107km in 1hr 39min
Sid and family were heading for Pamplona today, so were looking for an early start. Camping Raco does not let you out until 8am, so it was 8:15am as we waved them off on their first adventure in their new motorhome.
Congratulations Sid - hope you made it home in one piece.
We, meanwhile, were headed for an España Discovery site in Algueña where we had stayed before. It has a secure parking area with a great bodega selling amazingly cheap (and great value) wine - what’s not to like?
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| The excellent Bodega Algueña |
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| Marble quarries looming over Cervantes |
We travelled here through countryside that had been mined for its rock - marble. We must have passed a dozen stone factories on our way here, along with many trucks carrying enormous pieces of stone. From where we are in the bodega carpark we can see a stone quarry on the opposite hillside - a very impressive operation.
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| These blocks are the size of a house |
Tuesday 21/02/2017 Algueña to Ricote
N38°09’01·5’’ W001°22’00·8’’ Free aire, full services, no electric.
57km in 1hr 38min
The recent building boom in southern Spain has called for more marble for worktops and floors. As a consequence of this the stone cutters of Agueña are working 24/7 to produce the goods, which is why the noise of stone cutting and processing carried on all night. I dozed on and off all night, but Glyn had a very restless night with hardly any sleep. This will be added to our list of “things that keep us awake at night”.
We awoke (or not!) to a temperature inside the van of 8·8°, and outside of 2·7°. However we had some new thermal microfibre throws with us on the bed, so we were toasty warm. Looking at the elevation map on the sat-nav I saw we were at 550m, which would explain the low temperature.
We had arranged to meet our friends Val and John at the aire in Archena, where we had both stayed a couple of years ago. From there we went on a very interesting road to Ricote, where a new aire is now open and still being developed.
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| Ricote aire - soon to be finished |
Our first approach to the aire came to a dead stop when we discovered a market blocking our road. We eventually turned round, drove up through the village, and came into the aire from the opposite side. It’s still work in progress here, but has the makings of a great aire - fantastic views.
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| A lovely old village |
A word of warning if you are planning to eat here. The town has very few restaurants - in fact only two, one of which is a Michelin starred restaurant with prices to match. We only found 3 other bars, each one with no food, so come prepared with food of your own.
Wednesday 22/02/2017 Ricote to Archena
N38°07’20·9’’ W001°17’40·3’’ Free aire, full services, no electric.
10km in 25min
Last night was “interesting” to say the least. We are 5 metres from a building that holds pigeons - obviously racing them is a very popular pastime here. They must be very valuable, because the 3 dogs patrolling the outside of the building were alert to the slightest noise, which I guess is why they barked for most of the night. This set off the cockerels (which I thought only crowed at daybreak), so sleep was but a distant memory.
Nevertheless we were up bright and early and decided to go for a walk up to the highest point above the town, following a marked route to the old wash-house, through the lemon groves. We thought this would give us a good appetite for a Menu del Dia in the town afterwards.
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| The old wash-house - a long walk with a basket of washing! |
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| The views are excellent from up here |
The views were excellent, and the path well marked with a good surface. A circular walk of 10km took us 90 minutes, and had us back in the town looking for a place to eat.
After trying the only 3 bars we could find, and discovering that the only restaurant was closed on Wednesdays (apart from the Michelin starred one which didn’t do a Menu de Dia, the first item on the menu being "One sparrow, €5 - vegetarians beware!) we gave up and went back to the motorhomes with the intention of preparing something ourselves - disappointing, but not a surprise after yesterday's fruitless search.
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| The only restaurant - sadly closed today |
After a discussion taking in the lack of anywhere to eat and the dogs keeping us awake all night, we decided to leave Ricote and drive the 10km to Archena, where we knew we would find an aire, some food, and possibly get a night's sleep.
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| Archena aire - plenty of space |
Success!! - a great menu in a nice restaurant and a very quiet night.
Thursday 23/02/2016 Archena to Lorqui
N38°04’45·8’’ W001°15’29·0’’ Free aire, full services, no electric.
104km in 2hr 4min
We decided today to go and see the fruit and nut trees in blossom. This entailed a trip up to Cieza, then a drive along a very interesting road - the RM532 which went through the heart of the blossom trees.
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| Trees in full blossom |
Some were in blossom, some were bare, and some were in leaf depending on the variety and location. We saw some excellent sights along the very narrow, twisty and poorly surfaced RM532.
Cervantes took a bit of a battering along the road, but we got some great photos and video of the blossom - take a look here.
Our destination today was Lorqui, a free aire next to the river where we had been once before. There is only supposed to be space for 6 motorhomes here, with the rest of the parking spaces for cars, but when we arrived there was a motorhome in every single parking space! We actually got one of the proper motorhome spaces (nearest the river), and the man driving the council van past us didn’t seem bothered at all.
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| Lorqui aire |
Great weather today at 20°, after some really dirty rain last night - full of “polvo” (very fine sand) which took a lot of work to clear the windscreen this morning.
Friday 24/02/2017 Lorqui to Alquerias
N38°00’24·1’’ W001°02’35·3’’ Paid aire, €13, full services inc electric and WiFi
42km in 1hr
Tuesday of next week is “Mardi Gras”, and celebrations are taking place on various days between now and then, so it was no surprise when a band of approx 25 people started to assemble just next to our motorhome last night. They had various wind instruments and many drums and had come for a practice session for the coming week. We knew from experience that it would only be for an hour or so, and so it proved to be. Spanish wind bands are not always the most tuneful, with, it seems, many newcomers and beginners making up the numbers, but it was only for an hour and quite entertaining in it’s own way.
Our first port of call today was to Caravanas Navarro in Murcia where we bought Cervantes 4 years ago. It was time for it’s 4th and final damp check by the very good technician who has been with the company for 30 years. We had a couple of other questions for him (the seats are wearing more than they should for a van of this age, and there is a small hairline crack in the shower tray, but not all the way through). He did the damp check (all OK) and took some pictures to send to Burstner in Germany on our behalf - great service.
The weather forecast was good, so we decided on an aire in Alquerias, Camperpark Huerta de Murcia, as our stop tonight.
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| Alquerias aire in the middle of the lemon groves |
This aire was one of our first stops when we first got Cervantes, and the aire had just opened and we were one of her first customers - and she remembered us!! On that occasion she gave us a bag of lemons, and Glyn made a lemon posset with them which she gave back to the owner, so that may have had something to do with her remembering us.
A walk into the nearby town of Alquerias soon had us in a bar with beer and tapas. Many bars were closed, and none it seemed were serving Menu del Dia - something to do with the upcoming fiestas I think. However, 2 cañas, boquerones, bacalao, ensalada rusa, caballa and pan for €9 has got to be the best value ever.
The afternoon was spent outside in the sun with a great John Grisham novel on the kindle - perfect.
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| How far away is that camera? |
Saturday 25/02/2017 Alquerias
After a very peaceful night in this excellent aire, we awoke to bright sun and decided to have a picnic by the adjacent River Segura. There is a cycle path along the riverbank all the way to Murcia if you fancy a 10km ride each way - it’s obviously very flat. Our walk took us up one bank of the river, then inland along quiet caminos past some stunning, enormous houses - not at all what we expected.
Lunch was outside a small church in the heart of the countryside. The weather was scorching, so we stopped for a cold beer at a roadside bar where several men were playing the Murcian version of bowls. The pitch was 25 metres long by 5 metres wide, and at the far end a central line of 8 posts, approx 1 metre high with the diameter of a fence post, were balanced on the hard mud floor. The “pitcher” at the other end could only see one post, and the idea was to hurl a wooden ball the size of a crown green bowl at the posts to see how many he could knock over. The more beer they consumed, the more dangerous this game seemed to be, so we decided to leave them to it before the blood appeared.
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| There is great walking and cycling around Alquerias |
Lunch was outside a small church in the heart of the countryside. The weather was scorching, so we stopped for a cold beer at a roadside bar where several men were playing the Murcian version of bowls. The pitch was 25 metres long by 5 metres wide, and at the far end a central line of 8 posts, approx 1 metre high with the diameter of a fence post, were balanced on the hard mud floor. The “pitcher” at the other end could only see one post, and the idea was to hurl a wooden ball the size of a crown green bowl at the posts to see how many he could knock over. The more beer they consumed, the more dangerous this game seemed to be, so we decided to leave them to it before the blood appeared.
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| A superb 16th century ermita |
Back at Cervantes the sun was full, and like many campers around us, we opted to sit, cook and eat outside in the spring warmth.
See today’s full photo gallery here.
Sunday 26/02/2017 Alquerias to Home
41km in 38min
A quick empty of fresh and waste water had us on the RM1 motorway heading home at 11am. A great trip with some new campsites discovered, and some old friends seen. Cervantes has once again been declared waterproof, so we are ready for whatever rain comes our way in the future.
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