The weather is scorching now, and it's going to get hotter soon. Ideally, we should be heading up to the north of Spain, where it's a bit cooler, but we have family coming out later this month, so have put that on the back burner until later.
This is just a small tour on the SE coast to check the repairs done to Cervantes last month are working OK.
We have had 2 taps replaced at a cost of €230 - whoever is supplying these b....y microswitches, that keep failing, is making a fortune!!
Also done was replacing the regulator and hoses from the propane gas cylinder. To my shame, we had not changed it from day 1, which was 10 years ago!! If you need to change yours, don't put it off (like we did) - it's too dangerous, and we were lucky to have got away with it.
We got 2 new, heavy duty leisure batteries fitted by Autocaravanas Navarro 2 years ago at a cost of €500. When they handed the van back to us, they said the batteries needed replacing!! After some questions and an e-mail with the original invoice (with the price on!!), they said they'd charged them and now they were OK. I suspect that in the 8 days they had the van, they were using the power from the batteries, but not re-charging them. We have a solar panel on the roof which kept the batteries charged when Cervantes was in storage for months at a time (outside). At Autocaravanas Navarro they had it under cover, and were using the 12 volt all the time, until they ran the batteries flat. They now won't accept a charge, so are permanently flat, and we're expected to buy another 2 leisure batteries!
TOTAL TOUR STATISTICS
- Distance driven 321km
- Travelling time 5hr 30min
- Amount of fuel used 29litres
- Cost of fuel €49.30
- Average fuel consumption 10.49km/litre 29.64mpg
- Nights away 6
- Nights on electric hook-up 6
- Distance walked 16km
- Days sat in the shade (30°) 6
Thursday 03/08/2023 Home to Los Narejos
N37°45'48.8" W000°49'49.5" ///sunniest.browns.logbook
Área Narejos.
90 pitches, water, electric, showers, toilets, grey and black water drains, €13 per night plus electric (€4 per day). Beach is a 5 minute walk away - lots of bars/restaurants. Great for water sports.
8·5km in 20min
Anyway, we're on hook-up at our first stop at Los Narejos, where we've stayed before - it's just down the road from us, with the beach a 3 minute walk away.
We took that 3 minute walk and had a beer in a nearby bar, watching the kite surfers and windsurfers skimming the sea at breath-taking speeds - no-one hurt up to now!
We're spending a week in Cervantes to make sure that everything is OK for our big tour to Portugal in September/October.
The new regulator for the propane gas bottle has a "primer" on the feed pipe which you have to pump vigorously before you get any gas out to the hob burners. It's a strange system - I can't see any advantage over just turning it on and off - it's just another step to go through for no apparent reason.
The pitches in Los Narejos are huge - big enough for the largest vans, and they are expanding the site to be half as big again.
The onsite café/restaurant has excellent food at a good price, and does a good trade of coffee in the mornings.
A Dia supermarket is a 5 minute walk away, with everything you could need on the shelves, (ice and beer being the main ones!)
It's 30°+ here, but the overhead cover is doing it's job and keeping the sun off, and the temperature down.
There's a fierce wind blowing, and from our pitch here, we can see the top of the "sails" of the kite surfers on the Mar Menor, taking advantage of the strong onshore winds.
The fridge is struggling in this heat, so we've turned the dial up to 5 (maximum) to give it a chance to get down to temperature.
We are a 5 minute walk from the Mar Menor, and a dedicated walkway that goes south for 6km, all by the water. Needless to say, there are plenty of bars and restaurants all the way along the coastal path.
The decision was made that we cooked in Remoskita tonight, so it was chopping duty for onions, garlic and potatoes - the holy trio of remoskita cooking. Plenty of beans and peppers later, we had a meal fit for a king (and queen!)
Friday 04/08/2023 Los Narejos
It was a sticky, humid night where sleep was difficult, not helped by the chatter of the residents of the van in front. Strange that this morning they spent 40 minutes outside and never said a word!
We got a full night's sleep between us - half each! The wind was very strong so the windows were closed, which meant the air was still very hot at 30°+.
I've polished the front of Cervantes, and it now looks brand new - only the rest of the motorhome to go!!
The kite surfers and windsurfers were out in force again today, and watching them at the beach took our breath away - such skill to control the kites, and avoid all the others on the sea. They were sharing the beach with some dogs which are permitted on a short stretch at the northern end.
It was a bit like Tarifa, but not so bohemian, and a lot more civilised.
After another shop at Dia supermarket, we booked for a menu del dia at the bar/restaurant on the campsite, and were sat at our table at 2pm. The food was excellent, as was the service. We sat inside, having had enough of the sun and wind for the time being.
It was dominated by a man seated at the bar "talking" (shouting) at the top of his voice to the person 1 metre away from him. It was not really his fault, as he would have been forced to walk in a religious procession at the age of 6, following 1 metre behind a car and trailer with 2 huge 1000 watt speakers at full volume. Obviously, by the time he was 10, he would be suffering from acute deafness, hence the shouting.
Back at Cervantes, it was time to catch up with some reading and some sleep, and to take advantage of the wind to cool down - still as brisk as ever.
I'm still plucking up the motivation to clean more of Cervantes - sitting down is still winning!! - I've given in and we're off again.
The temperature has dropped a bit, so it was an evening walk for us, down to the beach via the other adjacent motorhome aire.
It's all solar powered, with a generator backup.
Walking through, we saw this monster motorhome - an extremely big all-purpose truck which looked like it could go anywhere.
Still very loud music from somewhere near us all night again until 4am - not what you really want.
Saturday 05/08/2023 Los Narejos
More van cleaning this morning - I've done a third of it now - can't reach the top and roof!
This morning we walked to Los Alcázares to buy some earbuds (forgotten mine!!) to replace the overnight monotonous "beat" music.
On the way back we decided to have a menu, just past the Arches in Los Alcázares. We were put in the bar/cafe which got busier and busier, and louder and louder. We ended up lipreading each other. On the plus side, the food and drink was excellent and cheap (€15 each for 4 courses and a large glass of wine)
Walking home, we were glad of a following wind (ooh-err), and once back at Cervantes we relaxed in the shade of the van and the overhead canvas.
The weather next week changes daily, so I think we'll play it by ear and if possible, will drive to Cabo Cope, and see if it is suitable to stay there for a couple of nights. There is electric on some of the pitches, but no shade, so we'll have to park Cervantes so the fridge is out of the sun, and we have somewhere to sit! If it is untenable, we'll move on to somewhere where we can get shade.
Sunday 06/08/2023 Los Narejos to Cabo Cope
N37°26'52.3'' W001°29'02.6'' ///sprayers.forums.energies
Autocaravanas Tortuga Mora
30 spaces on sand/gravel, €15.50 per night including electric, black and grey water disposal, free WiFi, showers, toilets, washing machine, 100 metres from the sea.
89km in 1hr 30min
This morning the "music" stopped at 6am - surely there's something that can be done to stop this - there are streets of houses just next to us - how many people are being kept awake?
This is our third night of listening to the music, but we were that tired we must have blocked it out and went to sleep - for a while.
When we checked out, the girl behind the counter was apologetic and that it was from a nearby disco, but said there was nothing they could do???
The aire is brilliant in terms of price, accessibility and having an excellent bar/restaurant - filled with Spaniards from the surrounding areas - not just people from the campsite - that says a lot!!
We had an early departure, and after a trolley dash in Lidl and a top-up of diesel, we were on the AP-7 - it's a pay motorway, and we wouldn't dream of paying under normal circumstances, but the alternative was on an A road with an additional 35kms, which meant the cost was the same either way, but the time to get there was much quicker on the motorway.
The last 3km were a bit challenging with the width of the road and the overhanging tree branches, but we got there in the end.
Once inside, the eccentric owner gave us chapter and verse of where things were and how to do things. All well-meaning, and a good laugh for us at his sense of humour.
After parking, getting level, connecting to mains electric, and getting all the chairs and tables out, we were ready to have a walk about (we were 100 metres from the sea) and explore where we were.
This consisted of a walk along the beach (very rocky with some great rockpools)...
...and a beer in the chiringuito. All the tables were booked for the afternoon, but the sensible waiter realised we just wanted a drink, so could leave the table before the allocated reservation time.
There are some huge motorhome "liners" here, taking up a great deal of room. Goodness knows what the journey was like getting here - the roads are quite narrow for something that big.
We've had to put our mains hook-up cable over someone else's pitch - there was no option.
The van on the pitch would have run over our cable if he had driven out, but he very kindly reversed out to avoid it - thank you.
We have had a cable run over in the past - we had to get a new one!!
The fridge stopped working on the drive here. It worked fine on hook-up, but when it should have been on engine power it was not working. The leisure batteries are dead, and I now realise that we need 12 volt electric (battery power) to power up the fridge, irrespective of the power source - engine, hook-up or battery.
Monday 07/08/2023 Cabo Cope
We're 30 metres from the sea where we are parked. The sound of the waves crashing onto the rocky shore was the only noise we heard last night - absolute bliss!!!
We woke after a lovely night of sleep, and decided to take a walk to the nearest town of Calabardina.
We walked on the road to an old, fortified tower, then took a walking path, parallel to the road, into the town of Calabardina.
It was quite a small town with a lovely beach with plenty going on: aqua-aerobics in the sea, and many more activities near the shore.
After a coffee in one of the 2 cafes, we decided to walk back using the paths on the side of the huge, overpowering hunk of rock which dominates the coastline here.
Surprisingly, the paths were level, wide enough, and gave us great views over the valley and beyond, before we reached the fortified tower.
We decided to walk along the beach on the water-sculpted soft rock, and the even softer talc-like bed underneath.
About halfway along the beach, the shoreline was black, with a shiny black deposit all along the outcrops and sand. It probably came from the discharge of oil tankers which come ashore at Aguilas.
We attempted to have a shower in Cervantes last night - the shower tap does not work!! The only thing we can say is that it was working when Cervantes went in for the other 2 taps to be fitted!
Tuesday 08/08/2023 Cabo Cope to Lo Gea
N37°51'44.2'' W001°01'57.1'' ///backlog.flank.wags
Country Camping
€20 per night including electric for 6 vans, black and grey water disposal, washing machine, shower, toilet, restaurant and bar, WiFi.
121km in 1hr 55min
A quick e-mail to Pepi this morning, and she's made space for us for tomorrow at 9am.
It's a 2 hour journey from where we are now (morning rush-hour to Murcia city), so we decided to leave here today and drive to Country Camping, which is 30 minutes from Autocaravanas Navarra.
I was under the impression that the fridge would run on engine power on our trip, but the 12 volt was nil (the alarm light was flashing due to zero charge in the 12 volt leisure batteries), and because of that, the fridge turned itself off, so was defrosting all the journey.
I did not know this happened - so we do need a leisure battery, whether you use it or not - the fridge will not work without it!
We're the only motorhome here now, and the restaurant is closed today, and there are no bowling competitions, so we have the place to ourselves.
The drive up from Cabo Cope to Country Camping was smooth and uneventful, making the most of an empty motorway.
The toll cost us €5.75, which is the equivalent of the cost of extra diesel we would have used if we'd not used the toll road.
We hope the motorhome will be fit for use after tomorrow, so that we can plan our next tour to Portugal!!
Wednesday 09/08/2023 Lo Gea to Home
97km in 1hr 44min
We set off early, after thanking Graham and Jo for their hospitality and letting us stay for just one night - they realised the position we were in, so a big thumbs up to them.
The traffic was average for this time of year - not too crowded, and a "saner" kind of driver - sometimes we are gobsmacked by the nature of some drivers - I guess it's not just here - it's all over Europe.
We were early to Autocaravanas Navarro, and we parked outside at 9:15am. Everyone seemed to come on scooters, and the door was open at 9:20!
Diego is our brilliant go-to mechanic and is all-round superb at everything.
We explained the 12 volt would not stay on - the 2 batteries, only 2 years old, would not hold a charge, so he hoiked them out and replaced them with a single battery which I think will be plenty for us - we are on mains hook-up for 95% of the time, with just the odd "wild camping" night.
Diego moved the Solar Controller for me to a place where I could see it - prior to that it was at the very bottom of the cupboard holding the battery, which I couldn't see at all.
At first, when the engine revved, the voltage stayed the same, so Diego took every fuse out of the controller - no change. He then took the 50amp fuse out from under the driver's seat. where the engine battery is, and lo and behold, the massive 50amp fuse had melted from the inside out - not good. He swapped it for a good one, and we were up to speed again.
The shower tap was apparently a lost cause - full of calc and now not working at all, so another one is on order - Burstner shut down for the month of August, so we must wait until they open again before they can send a replacement tap.
It's nice to be back home, and we're now gearing up for our daughter, husband and 2 children coming in 3 weeks - yeah!!!!
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