Where's Bertie? He's at a municipal Aire in the town of Archena. Exact location: 38.12248, -1.29375
Weather: Foggy start, soon burning off to give wall-to-wall sunshine. Low twenties, but feeling warmer.
It was a surprise, in stepping out of Bertie's door this morning, to find ourselves engulfed in dense fog. We continued on our ways regardless, heading off in opposite directions, Mick to run the cycle/walking track around the town, me to head down to the river. I soon had beads of moisture dripping off my eyelashes.
This was as I finished my run. The fog had been denser when we'd set out.
The usual post-run activity of breakfasting was postponed as we quickly packed away, used the service point and drove a couple of kilometres to a petrol station. An odd choice of location for breakfast, you might think, but this petrol station is on a big plot and sandwiched in between the petrol pumps and the extensive car washing facilities is a glass box the size of an ISO container, inside of which is a laundrette. Thus, whilst the machines did their thing with our stinky running gear, we relaxed in Bertie over breakfast. If we'd felt so inclined, we could have shopped at the supermarket next door too. It's a much better way of doing my most disliked chore than the usual walk or cycle to a laundrette then waiting in an uncomfortable plastic seat.
Of course, we could make laundry always this simple by going to a campsite or commercial Aire every couple of weeks. There are various reasons why we don't do that including: 1) it makes it feel like laundry is really expensive if we're paying for a campsite just because of the laundry need; 2) in my experience the machines in laundrettes are usually more efficient (both in terms of speed and cleaning ability); and 3) I've more than once been thwarted in doing laundry at a campsite or Aire due to the level of demand for the machines. The one advantage of campsites is that you can generally hang your laundry out to dry, rather than being forced into using a tumbly drier.
Anyhoo, laundry was done, the SatNav was set and we took another of those mammoth drives: 6km upriver to the town of Archena.
The Aire here is the most pleasing we've visited yet. It doesn't have that feel of people having taken root here, and the surroundings are easy on the eye:
View from Bertie's windscreen
More little rocky hills behind Bertie
The river (complete with weir) is also just behind Bertie...
...and between us and the river is a smart promenade.
The map of the town displayed at the service point also makes the town look interesting, although our walk around this afternoon didn't reveal anything overly noteworthy. It seems a sprawling sort of a place where, unguided, we wandered extensively seeing many a backstreet and a few main-ish-looking streets, before returning along the river.
We'll hopefully be happily entertained here for a few days, then we've got a couple more places noted down to visit before we reach the Mazarrón area. In amongst all that, we could do with finding a campsite or Aire with electric hook-up (principally because our window vac, which we can't plug into our 12v system, needs charging; the floor vac's battery is only still going because I usually lament the state of the floor for a good three days before I do anything about it). Referring back to my earlier comments about being averse to visiting campsites purely to do laundry, we have similar feelings about the need to charge things (moreover, even if we were going to a campsite or Aire with electric hook-up, which will undoubtedly happen at some point in the trip, electricity is often an optional extra that we would usually decline). Having managed for the best part of 9 years without a power inverter, it's feeling like it might be time to think about the pros and cons of investing in one.
Weather: Foggy start, soon burning off to give wall-to-wall sunshine. Low twenties, but feeling warmer.
It was a surprise, in stepping out of Bertie's door this morning, to find ourselves engulfed in dense fog. We continued on our ways regardless, heading off in opposite directions, Mick to run the cycle/walking track around the town, me to head down to the river. I soon had beads of moisture dripping off my eyelashes.
The usual post-run activity of breakfasting was postponed as we quickly packed away, used the service point and drove a couple of kilometres to a petrol station. An odd choice of location for breakfast, you might think, but this petrol station is on a big plot and sandwiched in between the petrol pumps and the extensive car washing facilities is a glass box the size of an ISO container, inside of which is a laundrette. Thus, whilst the machines did their thing with our stinky running gear, we relaxed in Bertie over breakfast. If we'd felt so inclined, we could have shopped at the supermarket next door too. It's a much better way of doing my most disliked chore than the usual walk or cycle to a laundrette then waiting in an uncomfortable plastic seat.
Of course, we could make laundry always this simple by going to a campsite or commercial Aire every couple of weeks. There are various reasons why we don't do that including: 1) it makes it feel like laundry is really expensive if we're paying for a campsite just because of the laundry need; 2) in my experience the machines in laundrettes are usually more efficient (both in terms of speed and cleaning ability); and 3) I've more than once been thwarted in doing laundry at a campsite or Aire due to the level of demand for the machines. The one advantage of campsites is that you can generally hang your laundry out to dry, rather than being forced into using a tumbly drier.
Anyhoo, laundry was done, the SatNav was set and we took another of those mammoth drives: 6km upriver to the town of Archena.
The Aire here is the most pleasing we've visited yet. It doesn't have that feel of people having taken root here, and the surroundings are easy on the eye:
The map of the town displayed at the service point also makes the town look interesting, although our walk around this afternoon didn't reveal anything overly noteworthy. It seems a sprawling sort of a place where, unguided, we wandered extensively seeing many a backstreet and a few main-ish-looking streets, before returning along the river.
We'll hopefully be happily entertained here for a few days, then we've got a couple more places noted down to visit before we reach the Mazarrón area. In amongst all that, we could do with finding a campsite or Aire with electric hook-up (principally because our window vac, which we can't plug into our 12v system, needs charging; the floor vac's battery is only still going because I usually lament the state of the floor for a good three days before I do anything about it). Referring back to my earlier comments about being averse to visiting campsites purely to do laundry, we have similar feelings about the need to charge things (moreover, even if we were going to a campsite or Aire with electric hook-up, which will undoubtedly happen at some point in the trip, electricity is often an optional extra that we would usually decline). Having managed for the best part of 9 years without a power inverter, it's feeling like it might be time to think about the pros and cons of investing in one.
I have similar thoughts about dishwashers - the most emotive subject on the planet - there are those who are totally anti and those that do have them all have their own version of how to use them which when it clashes with friends and acquaintances seems to lead to maniacal outbursts out of all proportion to the subject. But going back to your point, whatever else, they do a better and more hygienic job than any human.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that if I disclosed such detail (and I'm looking furtively over my shoulder as I type this, in case anyone is listening) a lot of people would be horrified to know that my method of doing laundry when on the road involves throwing everything, no matter what its colour and what type of fibre, into the same load in the machine. I'm thinking that eyebrows would also be raised at the fact that I can do a whole day's worth of dishes using less than a litre of water. (On that subject, I was chatting to someone at the service point yesterday, whilst they were filling their tank, who mused "Don't you find that you get through huge amounts of water? We're always having to refill." I blamed a lack of hygiene for the fact that we can make half a tank last at least a week.)
DeleteBravo!
ReplyDelete