Where’s Colin? He's at the Municipal Aire at Platja d'Aro. We were here a couple of weeks back but today we're at the Aire-proper rather than at the designated roadside parking, because the latter was full.
The perimeter of the parkland, next to the big, free car park, in Girona is about 1.5 miles long and, over our two stays in the town, has proved to be an agreeable place for a morning run. Having only run two circuits yesterday morning (because I was being lazy), four circuits were on the agenda this morning. The added complication/amusement today was that it was market day* with the huge array of stalls filling part of the park's perimeter, as well as various bits of the middle, with another big area turned over to car parking. So, whilst we didn't visit the market as such, we did run through a good chunk of it four times. On the first couple of goes around some of the stall holders were still setting up and there weren't too many people around, but by the fourth it was getting a bit too busy.
We did contemplate staying in Girona another day, but with the cold nights and the resultant running of the heating evening and morning, we decided that a bit of a drive would be good for the state of the leisure battery and that nights on the coast would be warmer.
We weren't much taken with Platja d'Aro the first time we came here and didn't think that we would be back. However, having erred in not staying further south for longer (and not wanting to incur the mileage by returning south for a few days), our options are limited. I actually thought we would be heading towards the UK by now, for a leisurely journey back, but the prospect of cold weather in France combined with the current fine spell here (cumulative chance of rain between now and next Friday: 2%!), has made us decide to stick around until the middle of next week before making a dash back homewards over a couple of long driving days.
With Platja d'Aro being the nearest bit of coast with a free Aire, here we are. And it's a different place to two weeks ago. It's sunny, it's warm and it's the weekend two weeks before Christmas, so the town is bustling. Meanwhile the motorhome roadside parking is packed with German vans and the Aire is almost half and half Germans and Spanish. With tomorrow being the end of the holiday week, I imagine the Spanish will leave (we're staying the full 48 hours permitted). Why the place is quite so popular with the Germans, I have no idea. We've not been seeing them in any quantity elsewhere.
I can't say our afternoon has been filled with fun, but chores are a necessary evil. Colin’s floor seemed to be harbouring half the grit of northern Spain and the laundry bag had outgrown its storage location. Handily, the laundrette was opposite McDonald's, so whilst the washing machine was doing its thing, I got a few more books loaded onto my Kindle (there may also have been a McFlurry involved...).
Both of the public laundrettes we've used in Spain have been similar in being outstandingly clean and tidy
View over to Castell d'Aro, taken from opposite the Aire. That's the view we would have had if the roadside parking hadn't been full (in fact, you can see some of the line of motorhomes in the photo).
(*I would have been pre-warned about the market if I knew my days of the week in Catalan; I had read the road signs on yesterday’s run but had failed to translate them.)
The perimeter of the parkland, next to the big, free car park, in Girona is about 1.5 miles long and, over our two stays in the town, has proved to be an agreeable place for a morning run. Having only run two circuits yesterday morning (because I was being lazy), four circuits were on the agenda this morning. The added complication/amusement today was that it was market day* with the huge array of stalls filling part of the park's perimeter, as well as various bits of the middle, with another big area turned over to car parking. So, whilst we didn't visit the market as such, we did run through a good chunk of it four times. On the first couple of goes around some of the stall holders were still setting up and there weren't too many people around, but by the fourth it was getting a bit too busy.
We did contemplate staying in Girona another day, but with the cold nights and the resultant running of the heating evening and morning, we decided that a bit of a drive would be good for the state of the leisure battery and that nights on the coast would be warmer.
We weren't much taken with Platja d'Aro the first time we came here and didn't think that we would be back. However, having erred in not staying further south for longer (and not wanting to incur the mileage by returning south for a few days), our options are limited. I actually thought we would be heading towards the UK by now, for a leisurely journey back, but the prospect of cold weather in France combined with the current fine spell here (cumulative chance of rain between now and next Friday: 2%!), has made us decide to stick around until the middle of next week before making a dash back homewards over a couple of long driving days.
With Platja d'Aro being the nearest bit of coast with a free Aire, here we are. And it's a different place to two weeks ago. It's sunny, it's warm and it's the weekend two weeks before Christmas, so the town is bustling. Meanwhile the motorhome roadside parking is packed with German vans and the Aire is almost half and half Germans and Spanish. With tomorrow being the end of the holiday week, I imagine the Spanish will leave (we're staying the full 48 hours permitted). Why the place is quite so popular with the Germans, I have no idea. We've not been seeing them in any quantity elsewhere.
I can't say our afternoon has been filled with fun, but chores are a necessary evil. Colin’s floor seemed to be harbouring half the grit of northern Spain and the laundry bag had outgrown its storage location. Handily, the laundrette was opposite McDonald's, so whilst the washing machine was doing its thing, I got a few more books loaded onto my Kindle (there may also have been a McFlurry involved...).
Both of the public laundrettes we've used in Spain have been similar in being outstandingly clean and tidy
View over to Castell d'Aro, taken from opposite the Aire. That's the view we would have had if the roadside parking hadn't been full (in fact, you can see some of the line of motorhomes in the photo).
(*I would have been pre-warned about the market if I knew my days of the week in Catalan; I had read the road signs on yesterday’s run but had failed to translate them.)
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