Spain

33 articles

Nudi Beach – Playa Carabassi

June 6, 2018Lorraine Stokes3 min read

4/6/18 – 6/6/18 – Carabassi/Santa Pola Our next destination was one of my favourites because of its natural beauty, the lack of tourists and its peacefulness. We got a free spot on a piece of unused land (apart from the other happy campers) right next to the rocky coastline with crystal clear water. The landscape surrounding the sea was dry but filled with wild shrubs and trees. I found it easy to meditate and do yoga, and sleeping to the sound of the sea at night was so relaxing. There is a cute little white chapel close by that was frequently visited, and some people would ring the bell outside, we assumed as part of their religious ritual. Both the locals and Police who were present, did not seem to mind dogs walking freely on the rocks and on the little beach, lucky for us as  Marley loved climbing over the rocks looking for snacks and jumping out of his skin when a tiny splash came near him. He made loads of friends which was lovely to see. Although one dog, Sammy was...

Our 13 Year Anniversary – Teulada/Moraira

June 4, 2018Lorraine Stokes7 min read

03/06/18 – 04/06/18 – Teulada/Moraira Every year we remind ourselves of the actual date we got together.. it always makes us laugh as you think after all this time we would remember! We met at our mutual friend Max’s birthday party in London on 3rd June, but her actual birthday is on the 2nd June, which is the reason for our confusion. I can’t believe it’s been 13 years! We’ve done so many exciting things together, our current adventure being one of them. This year, I wasn’t quite sure what gift could actually top this. Then I came across a beautiful villa on AirB&B in Teulada owned by the lovely Wiebke (Vicky).  It didn’t quite feel right staying a night away from the Moho given we’d only been away 5 weeks, but I thought what the heck, it’s too nice not to. It would be extra special as Marley could be off his lead and hang out with us by the pool (something you can’t do at campsites). So off we hopped into the van, and just a 20 minute journey South we...

Brits Galore…..Xàbia

June 2, 2018Dan3 min read

01/06/18 – 02/06/18 – Xàbia When I used to work for a Spanish company based near Alicante, I had often heard the town Xàbia (or Jávea) mentioned as a nice place to visit, so as were headed through that way, we thought it would be a good place to spend a couple of days on a campsite given we had just spent 9/11 previous nights in free aires/wild camping (A new record for us I think) We would have stayed away from the campsite longer but, boring as it may be, we had laundry and other Moho servicing necessitates to take care of. We stayed at Camping Jávea – A large site with tightly pack pitches, and not much privacy between them (Something the vast majority of Spanish Campsites share) our Moho is just over 6.5 meters long and I found it difficult to negotiate some of the bends. The site seemed to attract a lot of Brits and Dutch – many of them long termers (One English couple had been there 18 months.) The swimming pool was excellent and there was a bar and small...

Valencia….the Birthplace of Paella

June 1, 2018Dan6 min read

30/05/18 – 01/06/18 – Valencia Negotiating a 7 lane roundabout was not what I expected as we entered Valencia! Fortunately, the Spanish all seem pretty relaxed when it comes to lane positioning, so long as you keep your wits about someone cutting in front of you at the last possible minute. (It also probably helps being in one of the larger vehicles on the road.) Our overnight stop for the next couple of nights would be about 5km outside of the city centre on a strip of wasteland (Glamorous I know!) about 50 meters or so from the beach ‘playa del cabanyal’ to be honest, it was fine – quiet enough at night, it felt safe and it was free. Plus close enough to cycle in to town to see the sites. There were a couple of other visiting Mohos there during our time plus one that looked like it had been there for some time. Our first outing was Ciutat De Les Artes I Les Ciences (or city of arts and sciences) designed by architects Calatrava and Candela, it it the city’s most...

Benicàssim

May 30, 2018Dan4 min read

28/05/18 – 30/05/18 – Benicàssim Apart from the annual music festival held there in July, we didn’t really know much about Benicàssim. As it turned out, it was pretty nice. Before that however, we had completely ran out of LPG in Alcossebre (Including the back-up tank) so we took a half our detour using the my.LPG.eu app to find the nearest LPG station. When we brought the van, the previous owners gave us a number of adaptors to use across Europe for filling the tanks, but the one we needed today, we didn’t have. Fortunately, the garage had one that fitted, so €15 late we were refilled and cooking on gas…..literally. We decided to use a free aire again found on searchforsites.co.uk – this place was just outside the main part of town and about 20 minutes walk from the beach – it also had free facilities. As there were no other Moho’s on site, we weren’t entirely sure that we were at the right place, but we pulled over anyway and got...

Alcossebre

May 28, 2018Lorraine Stokes3 min read

27/05/18 – 28/05/18 – Alcossebre About a half hours drive South of Peniscola is the Parc Natural de la Serra d’Irta, part of the Spanish coast line, which has hardly been touched by tourism. Being a nature lover, I really wanted to go and Dan obliged. We found a free overnight stop in Alcossebre (basically a row of parking spaces) next to the sea which was separated by rocks. Being the only ones there, we waited a while, noticed we were getting a few looks from passers by and then thought, sod it lets go anyway. We went off on our bikes on what we believed to be a 5km ride, and I was pretty excited about the mention of a natural thermal spa at our destination point. There were no cycle paths that we could see, and once we reached the start of Parc we saw how rocky and dusty the road was. We already knew about this, which was why we hadn’t taken the Moho. I hadn’t quite planned for how uncomfortable it was, given I have a road bike with narrow wheels and...

Peñiscola – Yes you read it right..

May 27, 2018Lorraine Stokes4 min read

26/05/18 – 27/05/18 – Peñiscola After we stopped giggling about the name (can you see a theme here…) we checked into Els Daus, a very basic overnight stay/car park with facilities and security at a cost of €8.40 per day. There were no free sites close enough and this was the cheapest we could find. We had no problems apart from our anxieties about Marley potentially going crazy at the crowds of cats nearby. He must have been in a funny mood that day, as he was pretty calm on seeing them, which completely surprised us. We settled in, had lunch and after it was a little cooler outside, we set off along the seafront cycle track towards Peñiscola Castle on the hill. In our opinion, this was the main attraction and focal point of Peñiscola. The ride there was 2-3km. It was very pleasant, however quite touristy along the strip that aligns the beach with many English/Spanish restaurants offering paella and tapas alongside fry ups. The old town is situated around the castle...

A Pleasant Surprise – Tarragona

May 26, 2018Dan2 min read

25/05/18 – 26/05/18 – Tarragona After a few restful days in Sitges, we left without really doing any research about Tarragona, so didn’t really know what to expect apart from the Roman Amphitheatre ruins and the fact that we could park relatively close to there in a free overnight stop – A carpark on a hill overlooking ‘miracle beach’ (Although what was so miraculous about it, neither of us were too sure given the industrial backdrop). We headed to the amphitheatre mid afternoon and as luck would have it, it was free entry that day, sadly though we weren’t allowed to take Marley in with us, so we got as close we could, took some photos and headed up the hill into the town. Lorraine had spotted something about ‘Castells’ (The Human Towers) on our way over. As it turns out this is one of the traditions that Tarragona is famous for – they have  schools that compete again each other with teams comprising all ages – the...

Sitges Bitches!

May 25, 2018Dan4 min read

21/05/18 – 25/05/18 – Sitges e have both been to Sitges twice previously for Justin and Brandon’s wedding and Justin’s 40th, both times in quite large groups (Sitges Bitches). So this time around we weren’t sure if it would feel the same with it being just the 3 of us. We found a parking spot to the north of the town centre close to Sitges Port, overlooking a small beach, playa de la Marina Aigudolç that cost the princely sum of €3.60/24 hours. It was such a stunning location, we didn’t want to leave, but after 3 nights we needed our water tank topping up. There were 2 other Mohos parked up – one either side of us and it wasn’t long before one of our neighbours came to introduce himself and give us the low-down on avoiding fines etc – thanks Pablo 🙂 The first night we had a quick walk around the Marina which mainly comprised expensive restaurants (to our budget at least) and a few boat related shops, followed by dinner in the van...

Beautiful Barcelona

May 21, 2018Lorraine Stokes3 min read

18/05/18 – 21/05/18 Barcelona We travelled to Camping Barcelona, which was pretty much the closest campsite to Barcelona that we could find. One of the benefits was that the 20 Euros a night included a free shuttle into Barcelona, which we took advantage of the following day.  Our neighbours were Austrian, and just could not get enough of Marley who they said reminded them of their late dog. They were very sweet, and super friendly. The site itself was well organised and tight, but neat spaces. They gave a massive info. guide which Dan read incorrectly the first day and took us on a bike ride in the wrong direction to Mataro which was a bit scary, as it along a main road and didn’t cater for bikes. Unfortunately, there is a train track running along the edge of the coast and the mainland, which takes it beauty away. That evening we ate at the site restaurant. Dan had lamb chops and was extremely disappointed by the tiny portion for 15 Euros, I was stuck with Pizza again as...

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