Camping Villamar

 We’re on a different campsite this year, and at first, we really weren’t sure. It’s further out of town, and most people here own a caravan and awning with a permanent pitch. Some live here all year, some have their home in the UK (it’s almost exclusively British people here) and come out for holidays, but we are the only people we have seen in a motorhome, here temporarily.

It means when we first got here we were a bit taken aback with the look of most pitches, they have a frame around the caravan and awning that is covered in sun screen black netting (understandable, but not pretty), they take up the whole pitch, so it feels more enclosed than the usual site we stay on that is mainly motorhomes and touring caravans.

However, it has the most fabulous club house, shop, spotless amenity block with amazing showers and everyone is incredibly friendly. It also has a laundry room where there has always been free washing machines (unheard of on a campsite - it’s usually a free for all!).

There is nothing better than getting the laundry done, a hot shower and hair wash, then sitting in the sun while the washing and hair dries.

Although for us, it has been hot and sunny, it’s clearly not warm enough as the outside pool is closed, so if you fancy a swim, it’s the indoor, heated pool. Such a hardship! 

We’ve been here just over a week now, and it has really grown on us. It’s lovely and quiet, everything is incredibly clean, it feels very safe, as you can’t just walk into the site, there’s a gate with security.

There’s a real sense of community here, it’s clear we are visitors, but unlike many UK sites with caravan owners where our welcome hasn’t always been warm, here, everyone is genuinely pleased to see you, checks you are having a wonderful time, chats, shares ideas and generally welcomes you to ‘their’ holiday park. 

We’ve got used to the location now, we used to go out to eat most nights as we needed decent food as the campsite we were on offered a rather limited menu. Here, it’s wonderful - ok… perhaps not as many vegetables as we’d like, but plenty of salad, and hot freshly cooked food at very reasonable prices. 

There’s a fair few choices too. With a bottle of wine at 5.20 Euro, you can’t go too far wrong. 

We've yet to explore much further as we are enjoying chilling here, but we have ventured out on our new eclectic bike and I survived the journey (I am not a confident rider!).

I’ve been learning embroidery, having been inspired by the Heritage sewing project I took part in at home, and have found it really meditative. I'm not great yet, but I'm really enjoying it. I’m certainly better at it than I was at crochet!

Ian has been learning how to design for and use a new machine he has coming once we get home and his next Hurdy Gurdy design is coming together. So all in all we are keeping busy in our home away from home.

Of course one of the reasons we come here is to see Justin and Jamie. They are such lovely people who have no idea how incredibly talented they are. We went to see them perform, and they have really changed up their show and it’s fabulous (unlike some of the shows we’ve seen!!!). I think I’ll tell you about those in another blog - there is much to say!

Pip and Joy at Cassa Foster

We always have the warmest welcome when we head to Villamartín, it’s beginning to feel a bit like home from home and we always look forward to visiting. As I said previously Ian’s favourite Spanish citizens live here and although he does look forward to the human company, we all accept the pooches come first! Luckily he really isn’t too allergic to Pip and Joy, so although he can’t stroke them, he can spend time with them and play catch - new balls provided, of course.

For those of you who are new here, Vickki and I were at school together, we weren’t best friends, but of course we got on really well, our school was small, and everyone knew everyone. A few years ago, when I mentioned on Facebook we were in Benidorm, Vickki got in touch to say she was living not far away and we should visit. We are both so glad we did. Although a bit camera shy, hence the lack of photos, we always have a fabulous time with them both. 

This time we stayed for several days, joining their brilliant friends group at the bar, explored a few more restaurants and generally wound down after the journey. Ian offered his tech support skills and saved the day for Vickki and her precious files.

It’s funny how as you get older, spending time with people you enjoy being with becomes so much more important than doing stuff or having things. Thank you so much for having us Vickki and Darren (and Pip and Joy) all being well, we’ll be back next year!

It’s only a couple of hours drive (at our speed) from Villamartín to Benidorm, and it’s a pretty journey. Blue sky, turquoise sea, green olive trees and orange groves line the road and before you know it you have the familiar Bull and then Benidorm Island comes into sight… and the next stage of our winter retreat begins.

AgyVan 2 and her first big trip

It's been a long time since I blogged, and I know I didn’t finish the Irish trip. Sometimes life takes over and other things become a priority, but here we are, off in our beautiful new motorhome (she’s Agy Van2, and she's made life so much easier!).

As many of our trips do, we started with a trip to see family, dad is still doing incredibly well and at 94 is as sharp as ever, even if his body may be failing him. 

We saw so many family members in the short time we stayed, but managed to take almost no photos, so here are the few I took, prompted by my lovely sister in law Air, who is a Facebook whizz!

As we were getting ourselves ready to head south again to get the ferry an unexpected message came through to say with very strong winds expected across Biscay our ferry was delayed by 28 hours, so a quick reshuffle was necessary, and we managed to visit my big brother and his family for an overnight stop rather than just a couple of hours, which was a real treat as we don’t see each other too often. Luckily Emma took a photo (sorry Lexi you were at work). It also meant on this trip I managed to see all my nieces (which is just fabulous!).

Our ferry delay meant a long wait at the ferry port with a departure time of 1am. Everyone else seemed to be there early too. No chance of early boarding sadly! Thankfully I remembered to take a photo of where Agy Van 2 was parked as those ferries are huge and we were tired! Finding her again 2 days later needed a little planning and forethought.

Once again we had chosen to travel Brittany ferries from Portsmouth to Santander. It’s easy, comfortable and with a cabin and lounge access, feels like a mini cruise. Fortunately as we boarded our cabins were ready and the lounge stayed open. A bowl of homemade vegetable soup and a glass of rose (the best option on board) was just what we needed before bed.

Considering the delay caused by a huge storm, we couldn’t quite believe how fabulous the weather was on our sailing. By the time we woke up the next day we were met with blue skies and a wide flat tranquil sea, and this stayed with us throughout the trip- perfect.

The food on board in the lounge is delicious and with a 2 night sailing, plenty of time to try the stinky cheese, hearty soup, salads and meaty casseroles. The wine is free with meals, so we did partake of a little, although obviously not too much as we had a long drive ahead of us as we disembarked. If you asked my favourite food on board, I would have to say the freshly baked Madeleines. They are sublime. How I managed to only have 1 all trip… well… I will never know! 

On disembarkation (at 6am!) we were warned that the border checks had been extended due to the new fingerprinting immigration rules being rolled out. However this is Spain and it was Sunday morning and quite rightly the Spanish border force were not up for all that hassle. After a very short queue our passports were stamped, we were waved us through with no checks - a first for us, we are always searched. So before we knew it we were off!

As is often the case at this time of year  Northern Spain is snow capped, beautiful, and as it was a Sunday the roads were empty as we drove south east. Once we got past Madrid the scenery began to slowly change and the grass got greener, our first big black bull was spotted and the orange groves came into view (along with the awful plastic that gives us tomatoes all year round).

By 6pm we’d reached our destination for the next few days, with special permission to park here, and Ian was very excited to see his favourite Spanish residents.