We got away from La Manga this morning having fixed the errant valve that was stopping the air suspension from rising. Floozie2 got a wash, Pixie the MINI was put on her trailer and washed, then had her cover put on and we went to bed for an early night. The alarm went at 7am on Amanda's digital alarm clock, yet the rest of the clocks said 6. Huh? So we sat in bed with a cup of tea thinking we were an hour early and the clock had had a dicky fit, then got organised and were off by 7-30. Or so we thought. In fact Amanda's clock was right and had automatically adjusted itself for daylight saving. It was in fact 8-30!! Non the less, it was a good early start for our eight hour plus journey today.
We set off in rain, which gave way to cloud, then bright patches until by the time we got to Zaragoza, it was lovely and sunny. It was a really good run and the the closer we get to the Pyrenees, the more attractive the landscape becomes. Wide open, patchwork plains of green and burnt umber bordered by hills and mountains still dusted with the last of this winter's snow. Quite dramatic at times.
We arrived at Zaragoza by 4.30pm and found the campsite easily. It's brand spanking new and showed great promise on its internet website. And it lives up to it....apart from one wee flaw. The camping is spacious, well laid out with lovely big pitches and wide access roads. But for some reason they designed the place with the most awkward and narrow entrance that even some fair sized caravan units would struggle to get in. There's also an overhanging roof on the reception which is aleady bearing the scars of missed attempts at getting in. However, the nice lad on reception said we could go in through another set of service gates. When we got to them, he was there waiting, along with a roving news reporting team for TV in Barcelona - or so they told us. Amanda reckons they were 'kids' doing a college project but they looked too old for that. Or has Amanda now got to the age where anyone under thirty is a 'kid'? I guess I shall have to ask when I pay up tomorrow. Anyway, they filmed us coming on to site, driving through, reversing on to pitch with the trailer on (not the best bit of reversing I've done - typical!) and then a poke around inside. They had fun, bone fide or not.
So as the sun goes down, we're both writing away and enjoying the peace and quiet of the site. Depending on how we feel tomorrow, we shall either get on our way or take a stroll into Zaragoza for the day. Apparently it has a lot of history and is quite pretty, so maybe something we shouldn't miss.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Another Floozie2 drama!
Aha! Yet again the best laid plans of mice and men have been sent awry. We were due to set off for France yesterday (Friday) morning, so on the Thursday afternoon we got all packed up and then started to move Floozie2 to another pitch near the exit ready for an early get-away the following day. It soon became apparent that the air suspension wouldn’t rise. It wasn’t long before there was a group gathered around trying to work out what was happening. We tried one or two solutions, only they weren’t. A call to Winnebago in the UK suggested taking it for a run; that sometimes released whatever valve was stuck. Only it didn’t and it was an eventful trip up and down the site with no air in the bags. It was something like Skippy on a boneshaker. So on Thursday evening we plonked her on a pitch, I had a shower and we went around to Mick and Ann’s for a drink and a chat about the next step. As it happens, it was from this delightful couple that we bought Rowleth End; they went on the road after they sold up the same way we did. Mick is a champion fixer with RVs and an amazing fount of knowledge, so he was the first person I went to.
Friday morning, early ( well early-ish) we were under the motorhome trying to work things out. We kept calling Dudleys in the UK and Chris was able to give me information on where to look. We tried everything; still nothing. Then another great chap called Godfrey suggested we called Freightliner (the chassis manufacturer) on Skype. So we did via Godfrey’s computer. I spoke to a chap called Marcus who just couldn’t have been more helpful and suggested some things. We also gleaned a scematic drawing from him, which was sent by email ten minutes later. Now we know what we’re dealing with it makes it so much easier to work out what’s wrong and it would appear to be a solenoid valve which is faulty and not giving the signal to the suspension to rise. So today we’ll have a much closer look at this valve and try and sort it out. With any luck we might be able to free it off and we’ll be away on Sunday. If not we’ll be here for, well who knows how long whilst a spare is sent out. Unless of course we fix it. With the amount of knowledge and talent that abounds on this site, I’m sure we will!
Friday morning, early ( well early-ish) we were under the motorhome trying to work things out. We kept calling Dudleys in the UK and Chris was able to give me information on where to look. We tried everything; still nothing. Then another great chap called Godfrey suggested we called Freightliner (the chassis manufacturer) on Skype. So we did via Godfrey’s computer. I spoke to a chap called Marcus who just couldn’t have been more helpful and suggested some things. We also gleaned a scematic drawing from him, which was sent by email ten minutes later. Now we know what we’re dealing with it makes it so much easier to work out what’s wrong and it would appear to be a solenoid valve which is faulty and not giving the signal to the suspension to rise. So today we’ll have a much closer look at this valve and try and sort it out. With any luck we might be able to free it off and we’ll be away on Sunday. If not we’ll be here for, well who knows how long whilst a spare is sent out. Unless of course we fix it. With the amount of knowledge and talent that abounds on this site, I’m sure we will!
Monday, 23 March 2009
A much needed update!
The last two months have just flown by and I’m sorry that the blog’s been a bit dry, or to be precise, missing! There’s an old song called ‘Busy doing Nothing” and that about sums up our activities in that time. Life here at La Manga has been deliciously lazy. We have done very little except walk Pooch, shop for groceries, eat out a bit and socialise on site. Oh and started dance classes, but more of that later!
We’ll start with the camping here. Caravanning La Manga is big; very big. There must be in excess of 1500 pitches of which a good number now have permanent and in some cases pretty amazing constructions on them. During the winter just about all the touring pitches are taken up by Brits, Germans, Dutch and a surprising number of Swedes, all escaping the bad weather in their respective countries. It’s all very convivial. The Germans have their areas, the Brits and Swedes the same. Our little area appears to be Little Yorkshire as most of our neighbours are from God’s own county. A good number of these folks stay here six months, from October until April, before heading home. Some are always off doing something, others just laze around enjoying the sun, others (mostly the Brits I’m afraid) stands around griping about the weather, their latest ailments or anything else that comes to mind. At times I can’t help but think that they are in a much nicer place than the UK to spend a winter but unfortunately they just bring the same attitude as they have there for a sunny holiday here. They don’t seem to appreciate how much better off they are here. Or is it just the Brit’s favourite pastime; to moan. As I am doing right now! Needless to say we try and avoid these people. At the other end of the spectrum, we have made so friends whilst here, of all nationalities, so more people to visit on our travels!
Twice or three times a day we take Pooch for a mooch around the site and down to the beach. It’s about half-a-mile long this site and we are situated right at the very top. So we’d wander down, chatting to other campers as we go, to the sea and then have a coffee at the bar on the beach. Sometimes we’d have tapas for breakfast. Well, technically brunch by the time we get there. Early rising has not been on the agenda for a little while! They do good Tapas there and a really tasty tortilla patatas (potato omelette). Sat in the warm sun, overlooking the Mar Menor is just bliss.
The caravanning here is sat in a little oasis of green. There are fields to the left and right and a small national park to the rear, so it feels to be in a rural setting. Cabo de Palos is nearby. Once a small fishing village, it’s now a marina with apartments around it. It has a promenade with restaurants on it and is really quite attractive. The coastline from here heading South West is quite dramatic, especially as the sun goes down. After that, in all honesty, the area leaves us cold. It’s pleasant enough and far better than the nearby costa resorts, but everything is relatively new-build developments and just not attractive. Torrevieja, just up the coast is abysmal. Just not our cup of tea at all. There’s no architecture, just concrete. There’s graffiti everywhere and everywhere is scruffy and unkempt. As I keep saying, it not aesthetically pleasing and I’m afraid I like things that look nice! Like France. In fact, we want to be back in France so badly, we’re leaving early to catch the spring there, so this really is my first and last blog from here.
One of the things we do like around here is the fresh food. The markets are teeming with produce from the area and we regularly see the pickers harvesting crops in the fields. Interestingly, once the farmer has harvested, he will allow you to go and pick what was rejected. Normally there’s precious little wrong with the stuff; just not quite perfect enough for the supermarkets. So it’s quite easy to live off the land here if you want! At the markets, produce is pretty cheap. Just yesterday I got a pile of tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines, peppers, chard and lemons, all from the area, and all for about 7 Euros. Keep us going for ages! The market at Cabo is on a Sunday and generally packed. Tuesday is La Union, about 10 miles away. Pretty big again, but not the same amount of food; more clothes and knock-off DVDs. There is however a fantastic fishmongers in the town and watching the ladies in there is a treat. All the fish is wild as far as I can make out and I just love it. There’s a really lively atmosphere in there.
Cartagena is the nearest big town. It has a fairly nice Marina and some interesting historical buildings, including a Roman Amphitheatre that is now an open air modern equivalent. After that……….. I was back in the car and on my way home within two hours – including lunch.
Interestingly, in the advent of the Spanish Civil War, the authorities built two gun emplacements to protect the port. These are on the cliffs at Portman and Mazzaron and the guns are still there. They are huge and it’s possible to poke around inside at the workings if, of course, you remember to take a torch. Which I didn’t! See the photos!. There are some brilliant views from up here too and you can see the dominant position these guns had. They could lob a shell over 18 km, but were never fired in anger.
I was just going to finish off but realised I haven’t written about our ballroom dancing classes. Amanda wanted to learn to dance and as luck would have it, advertised on site were dancing classes with Heidi. So we went along to meet Heidi, a lovely German woman and a great dancer. Unfortunately only one other couple turned up, which wasn’t worth her while continuing. But she asked if we’d like to join her German group in Torrevieja. We said yes, even though it’s a good ¾ hour drive away. It was a good move. We’ve had so much fun, the group is delightful and all we do is laugh. Oh, and learn to dance. We have got the rudiments of the cha cha, jive, rhumba, tango (our favourite) and quickstep. The waltz still befuddles me. We’ve had eight lessons and this week will be our last, sadly. We will have to practice and find a dance club where ever we go. I also proved to Amanda that I don’t have two left feet and I do have a sense of rhythm (Mrs Wilmore!!).
The other thing to mention, which is of great importance, is Amanda’s new hobby – jewellery making. She is very good at it and I’m not the only one to say so. She did a craft fair in February and had a lot of positive feedback and sold half what she had made. Then someone tracked her down to buy more and commission some pieces. She’s very quietly made up about it and I’m very proud of her! See the photos on the link!
All in all we have had a great time here, we’ve met some lovely people and made new friends. Although the landscape isn’t to our liking the sun and the atmosphere on the camping is. Will we come back? Possibly, but this lifestyle of ours tends to lead us off at tangents so who knows. I would certainly be happy to do so.
We’ll start with the camping here. Caravanning La Manga is big; very big. There must be in excess of 1500 pitches of which a good number now have permanent and in some cases pretty amazing constructions on them. During the winter just about all the touring pitches are taken up by Brits, Germans, Dutch and a surprising number of Swedes, all escaping the bad weather in their respective countries. It’s all very convivial. The Germans have their areas, the Brits and Swedes the same. Our little area appears to be Little Yorkshire as most of our neighbours are from God’s own county. A good number of these folks stay here six months, from October until April, before heading home. Some are always off doing something, others just laze around enjoying the sun, others (mostly the Brits I’m afraid) stands around griping about the weather, their latest ailments or anything else that comes to mind. At times I can’t help but think that they are in a much nicer place than the UK to spend a winter but unfortunately they just bring the same attitude as they have there for a sunny holiday here. They don’t seem to appreciate how much better off they are here. Or is it just the Brit’s favourite pastime; to moan. As I am doing right now! Needless to say we try and avoid these people. At the other end of the spectrum, we have made so friends whilst here, of all nationalities, so more people to visit on our travels!
Twice or three times a day we take Pooch for a mooch around the site and down to the beach. It’s about half-a-mile long this site and we are situated right at the very top. So we’d wander down, chatting to other campers as we go, to the sea and then have a coffee at the bar on the beach. Sometimes we’d have tapas for breakfast. Well, technically brunch by the time we get there. Early rising has not been on the agenda for a little while! They do good Tapas there and a really tasty tortilla patatas (potato omelette). Sat in the warm sun, overlooking the Mar Menor is just bliss.
The caravanning here is sat in a little oasis of green. There are fields to the left and right and a small national park to the rear, so it feels to be in a rural setting. Cabo de Palos is nearby. Once a small fishing village, it’s now a marina with apartments around it. It has a promenade with restaurants on it and is really quite attractive. The coastline from here heading South West is quite dramatic, especially as the sun goes down. After that, in all honesty, the area leaves us cold. It’s pleasant enough and far better than the nearby costa resorts, but everything is relatively new-build developments and just not attractive. Torrevieja, just up the coast is abysmal. Just not our cup of tea at all. There’s no architecture, just concrete. There’s graffiti everywhere and everywhere is scruffy and unkempt. As I keep saying, it not aesthetically pleasing and I’m afraid I like things that look nice! Like France. In fact, we want to be back in France so badly, we’re leaving early to catch the spring there, so this really is my first and last blog from here.
One of the things we do like around here is the fresh food. The markets are teeming with produce from the area and we regularly see the pickers harvesting crops in the fields. Interestingly, once the farmer has harvested, he will allow you to go and pick what was rejected. Normally there’s precious little wrong with the stuff; just not quite perfect enough for the supermarkets. So it’s quite easy to live off the land here if you want! At the markets, produce is pretty cheap. Just yesterday I got a pile of tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines, peppers, chard and lemons, all from the area, and all for about 7 Euros. Keep us going for ages! The market at Cabo is on a Sunday and generally packed. Tuesday is La Union, about 10 miles away. Pretty big again, but not the same amount of food; more clothes and knock-off DVDs. There is however a fantastic fishmongers in the town and watching the ladies in there is a treat. All the fish is wild as far as I can make out and I just love it. There’s a really lively atmosphere in there.
Cartagena is the nearest big town. It has a fairly nice Marina and some interesting historical buildings, including a Roman Amphitheatre that is now an open air modern equivalent. After that……….. I was back in the car and on my way home within two hours – including lunch.
Interestingly, in the advent of the Spanish Civil War, the authorities built two gun emplacements to protect the port. These are on the cliffs at Portman and Mazzaron and the guns are still there. They are huge and it’s possible to poke around inside at the workings if, of course, you remember to take a torch. Which I didn’t! See the photos!. There are some brilliant views from up here too and you can see the dominant position these guns had. They could lob a shell over 18 km, but were never fired in anger.
I was just going to finish off but realised I haven’t written about our ballroom dancing classes. Amanda wanted to learn to dance and as luck would have it, advertised on site were dancing classes with Heidi. So we went along to meet Heidi, a lovely German woman and a great dancer. Unfortunately only one other couple turned up, which wasn’t worth her while continuing. But she asked if we’d like to join her German group in Torrevieja. We said yes, even though it’s a good ¾ hour drive away. It was a good move. We’ve had so much fun, the group is delightful and all we do is laugh. Oh, and learn to dance. We have got the rudiments of the cha cha, jive, rhumba, tango (our favourite) and quickstep. The waltz still befuddles me. We’ve had eight lessons and this week will be our last, sadly. We will have to practice and find a dance club where ever we go. I also proved to Amanda that I don’t have two left feet and I do have a sense of rhythm (Mrs Wilmore!!).
The other thing to mention, which is of great importance, is Amanda’s new hobby – jewellery making. She is very good at it and I’m not the only one to say so. She did a craft fair in February and had a lot of positive feedback and sold half what she had made. Then someone tracked her down to buy more and commission some pieces. She’s very quietly made up about it and I’m very proud of her! See the photos on the link!
All in all we have had a great time here, we’ve met some lovely people and made new friends. Although the landscape isn’t to our liking the sun and the atmosphere on the camping is. Will we come back? Possibly, but this lifestyle of ours tends to lead us off at tangents so who knows. I would certainly be happy to do so.
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