Where's Bertie? He's at a commercial Aire at El Saler, just SE of Valencia. It costs €11 a night to stay here (if less than 7m, as Bertie is). A shower is available at an extra cost. Wifi, toilet and service point are included (although the wifi was so slow as to be unusable when I tried earlier). Exact location: 39.38682, -0.33325.
Weather: Sunny for most of the morning, but with high level cloud developing this afternoon. A high of 22 degrees.
Just as we went to bed last night a cat decided that Bertie's engine compartment, or perhaps his wheel arch, was where (s)he wanted to bed down. There was thumping and Bertie rocked around, until Mick grabbed a torch and went out to shoo it off. It could have been worse: I imagine that had we woken in the night to such a commotion, our first thoughts would have been that someone was trying to break in.
The rest of the night passed off peacefully, until my alarm sounded at 0630. When I get up at that hour at home, it's not difficult to creep out of the bedroom and have my breakfast downstairs, so as not to unduly disturb Mick. In Bertie it's a bit tricker, but I managed to make myself a cup of tea with only Bertie's smallest blue LED light providing illumination and had my breakfast in the 'living room' whilst Mick covered his head with the duvet.
He was out of bed and dressed similarly to me by the time I was ready to head out the door at 0830. Alas, his run didn't go well. After such a long stretch without any lower leg problems (having diligently done his exercises every day) his calf went again. I'd like to say I was a sympathetic wife who walked back to Bertie with him whilst saying 'there there', but in reality as he yelped and slowed to a walk I said 'See you later!' and continued on my way.
It was my longest run in a while, but less than a mile longer than two weeks ago. Goodness, it felt a lot harder! It was either just one of those days or (more likely, I suspect) after a few months of running in the UK, I've become unaccustomed to running in warmer climes.
Back at Bertie and having showered, eaten, drunk, perused nonsense on the internet, and packed away, it was approaching 1pm by the time we were ready to make a move and if we'd delayed any longer (to have lunch, say) then there was the danger that we'd have ended up staying put(ish*) another night.
Via a huge Carrefour supermarket (there's a lot to be said for the compactness of a Lidl, but there wasn't a branch with a Bertie-suitable car park coveniently close to our route), we reached Valencia. Well, that was a driving experience and I'm glad it wasn't me at the wheel! Six-laned round-abouts with no directional arrows on the ground and serving two-laned exits made for much flinching and we were happy to make it out the other side and to this Aire.
Given the choice of the two neighbouring sites, we've opted for the cheaper (no electric hook-up and you have to pay extra for showers) and I'm sure it will suit our purposes just fine - that being to catch the bus into Valencia tomorrow for a little look around.
(*About ten minutes before we left a local authority (council, not police) van pulled up next to us and the chap came to the door. Mick went out to speak to him and received a barrage of Spanish. He was just about to explain that he 'no habla Español' when I interjected to explain what the chap had just said. This surprised Mick as my Spanish skills are on a par with his - it's just that I'd caught a couple of key words and seen the gesticulation and thus got the gist of the message: we weren't allowed to park where we were, but needed to be the other side of the wooden posts that were behind Bertie. A bit of signage would go a long way: the area looks like it's for parking and whilst we've been there a total of six other vans, plus numerous local fishermen, have parked in the same area. The whole exchange (not that there was much exchange, as such, due to the language barrier) was perfectly polite and amicable - more of a 'for your information' than a telling off.)
Weather: Sunny for most of the morning, but with high level cloud developing this afternoon. A high of 22 degrees.
Just as we went to bed last night a cat decided that Bertie's engine compartment, or perhaps his wheel arch, was where (s)he wanted to bed down. There was thumping and Bertie rocked around, until Mick grabbed a torch and went out to shoo it off. It could have been worse: I imagine that had we woken in the night to such a commotion, our first thoughts would have been that someone was trying to break in.
The rest of the night passed off peacefully, until my alarm sounded at 0630. When I get up at that hour at home, it's not difficult to creep out of the bedroom and have my breakfast downstairs, so as not to unduly disturb Mick. In Bertie it's a bit tricker, but I managed to make myself a cup of tea with only Bertie's smallest blue LED light providing illumination and had my breakfast in the 'living room' whilst Mick covered his head with the duvet.
He was out of bed and dressed similarly to me by the time I was ready to head out the door at 0830. Alas, his run didn't go well. After such a long stretch without any lower leg problems (having diligently done his exercises every day) his calf went again. I'd like to say I was a sympathetic wife who walked back to Bertie with him whilst saying 'there there', but in reality as he yelped and slowed to a walk I said 'See you later!' and continued on my way.
It was my longest run in a while, but less than a mile longer than two weeks ago. Goodness, it felt a lot harder! It was either just one of those days or (more likely, I suspect) after a few months of running in the UK, I've become unaccustomed to running in warmer climes.
Back at Bertie and having showered, eaten, drunk, perused nonsense on the internet, and packed away, it was approaching 1pm by the time we were ready to make a move and if we'd delayed any longer (to have lunch, say) then there was the danger that we'd have ended up staying put(ish*) another night.
Via a huge Carrefour supermarket (there's a lot to be said for the compactness of a Lidl, but there wasn't a branch with a Bertie-suitable car park coveniently close to our route), we reached Valencia. Well, that was a driving experience and I'm glad it wasn't me at the wheel! Six-laned round-abouts with no directional arrows on the ground and serving two-laned exits made for much flinching and we were happy to make it out the other side and to this Aire.
Given the choice of the two neighbouring sites, we've opted for the cheaper (no electric hook-up and you have to pay extra for showers) and I'm sure it will suit our purposes just fine - that being to catch the bus into Valencia tomorrow for a little look around.
(*About ten minutes before we left a local authority (council, not police) van pulled up next to us and the chap came to the door. Mick went out to speak to him and received a barrage of Spanish. He was just about to explain that he 'no habla Español' when I interjected to explain what the chap had just said. This surprised Mick as my Spanish skills are on a par with his - it's just that I'd caught a couple of key words and seen the gesticulation and thus got the gist of the message: we weren't allowed to park where we were, but needed to be the other side of the wooden posts that were behind Bertie. A bit of signage would go a long way: the area looks like it's for parking and whilst we've been there a total of six other vans, plus numerous local fishermen, have parked in the same area. The whole exchange (not that there was much exchange, as such, due to the language barrier) was perfectly polite and amicable - more of a 'for your information' than a telling off.)
https://agoodwalkunspoiled.blog/2020/01/09/many-hours-without-sleep-and-then-valencia/
ReplyDeleteI recently read this post about Valencia, written by an American who is on his way with his wife to walk the Via de la Plata camino. No parking or driving problems for pilgrims!!
See: agoodwalkunspoiled.blog/2020/01/09/many-hours-without-sleep-and-then-valencia/
ReplyDeleteI recently read this post about Valencia, written by an American who is on his way with his wife to walk the Via de la Plata camino. No parking or driving problems for pilgrims!!
No driving problems for pilgrims, but it is very handy to have our entire house and all of its contents with us!
Delete