Pera – Sevilla

26/2/16
Pera (Mikki’s Place)
Bursts of torrential rain and wind continue all day… the bar/restaurant is closed because the roof isn’t much good for keeping out the rain when it’s blowing! It’s just overlapping corrugated sheets!

We spent the afternoon reading, hunkered down in the blobbybus!

At 5.30 we wrapped up and headed down to the bar for a WIFI fix and to upload the blog.  For a change, it all worked quite well!  Jackie and Douglas were down there – they were having trouble with a 12v power supply they have, which switches directly to 19v to charge their laptop. Interesting. Nick went to meter it for them, and it does provide the right voltage – worth a look when we get home.   Mikki was carrying Peter the Parrot around, tucked snugly inside her scarf/wrap… it really was damn cold!

Talked her into serving us a couple of drinks before we froze!!!

Andy bought Alfie, his dog, down to say goodbye – we still haven’t seen Linda his wife since the party last Saturday! Had a short and sad Facebook catchup – everyone is still reeling from the sad news about Sue…  Everyone left the bar as the wind suddenly picked up again and the rain came straight through the vents, soaking everything…

We went home to make supper – used the steak for a stroganoff with rice..  Douglas and Nick had been chatting about music and having said we enjoy blues, Douglas popped round with a blues CD for us to listen to… how nice is that? PEOPLE ARE GREAT!   So was the CD… really nice vocal harmonies and great musicians!

27/2/16
Pera (Mikki’s Place) – Mazagon
We woke several times overnight – it pelted with rain and the poor bus was rocking and rolling in the wind all night – not to the blues! We showered, had coffee and stowed the bus – checked our levels – we’d taken the freshwater down to 0% and the waste to 100% – Nick LOVES it when this happens – as if he actually planned it!  Pretty good for 8 days stay – the showers here at Mikki’s are magnificent and hot and of course meant we didn’t use the water in the bus as much as usual.

We say Adios to Pera and Mikki’s Place – like Arnie, we’ll be back!

Out through Pata, Albufeira towards Faro via Almancil – saw an amazing metal sculpture of a Gorgon on a shopfront forecourt… almost talked Nick into turning round and going back…. almost! Saw some stunning wall murals driving through Olhao – one was a very delapidated church with a caved in roof – but every inch of it was covered in crazy bright paint with beautiful portraits of local people! The same artist had obviously been busy on an apartment building gable wall – portraits of American Indians adorned that one.

Met a small cart with ponies enroute to Manta Rota – Aire 113 – it was packed full, but we saw some vans parked in an adjacent carpark so went there for lunch – strolled to the beach over sand dunes on a boardwalk.

Unfortunately pooch not allowed on boardwalk OR beach 🙁

Enjoyed a fab lunch of fresh prawn salad – we shopped en-route too!

Chatted to some Brits who had just spent 2 weeks wildcamping at Isla Cristina – La Atille.  It sounded good, so we thought we’d check it out…

We need some LPG so we’re going to Ayamonte for gas and then we’ll try out hand at wildcamping we think. Having programmed the navvy to take us to the gas station, we arrive and it’s shut. Bugger. We decide to sod the gas and head off to camp.

The bridge which marks the border between countries was big… it was also swaying in the wind!  The cables were singing and swinging all the way across!  I didn’t like it at all!

Entering Spain was nice…. we left the motorway and took a bit of a detour:  the sound of bells on a bend should have warned us; the goats were moving along to be milked…

Gertie and her mate Ethel were bringing up the rear:

And then……….. “LOOK OUT ETHEL”!!!

We got held up by a couple of Harleys that were even slower than a herd of goats lol!

We drove up and down at La Atille and couldn’t find anywhere to park…. wildcamping failures we are!   On the bright side, it’s still early and we’ve decided to keep heading east.

Barkworthy Nick quote: “I like Spain – all the oranges – it’s like Christmas, late, with balls!” Hmmm yes Orange Balls!

We saw a CEPSA garage with LPG so decided to try again. Still won’t fill, and Nick got a cold burnt hand into the bargain….. all I can say is it’s a good job we’re not using the heating at the moment.

Took a passing picture of a statue at Huelva, well it was meant to be a picture but ended up videoing it… Lindi fail!

We decided at lunch to head for Mazagon on the coast – what a pretty place! We’re parked in the beach/Parador overflow carpark – with 5 others.

Not a great pitch, the bus is tilted over sideways a bit – but we’ve had a lot of laughs as we keep losing our balance whenever we stand up!  The air suspension thing is great in one dimension (pitch) but ineffective for yaw… ho hum… the rules say no chocks for wildcamping!

28/2/16
Mazagon – Seville

We took a walk along the beach yesterday before sundown, and played with Bert – what a beautiful place!

All the camping books decry this place as a 1 or 2 rating – because there are no ‘facilities’ here for campers….. erm, that’s because we shouldn’t be parked here?

So glad we did – beautiful hill down to the beach, lined with eucalyptus trees – it’s stunning.

Very windy but sunny – the sand being blown across the beach making some amazing almost geometric patterns, quite unlike the ripples you expect to see!

It’s only 4 degrees this morning but bright with a howling cold Northerly wind. Inside the van it’s T-shirt/vest weather but step outside and it’s hat coat and scarf!

Bert had a run with Nick on the bike whilst I cleared up last night’s devastation – I made tapas-y things and fried stuff, and the poor little cooker looks disgusting! (note to self – don’t try that again).

All fixed up we had a tortilla for breakfast with some spicy tomato sauce from last night, and a little fried egg on top! The moka pot takes a hammering and we prepare to set off for Sevilla!

Nick’s been playing with the gas again and concluded the solenoids on both bottles aren’t functioning, and one of the non-return valves is jammed…. apparently….

I’ve found a canalside site in Sevilla which is apparently only 20 minutes from the centre – if it’s full we’ve decided that on this trip, we’ll reluctantly give it a miss and head due south for Sanlucar de Barrameda.   We do find other aires en-route, but they are full of French campers who are usually in Morocco this time of year – not quite the deluge that has been reported – but enough to make a difference to popular aires that are usually quite empty – they’re now pretty full!