Where's Bertie? He's at an Aire at a Repsol petrol station a few kilometres to the N of Mazarrón. It's free to stay here, with free services, except for electricity which has cost us €5.35. Exact location: 37.62187, -1.34075
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and warm. Little bit of a breeze this afternoon.
Before we left Ricote I'd really wanted to visit the castle ruins, atop a hill overlooking the village, but a short walk across the Aire and back this morning confirmed that my leg wasn't up to it. That made me regret my decision not to nip up on Saturday whilst Mick was working.
We could easily have sat where we were for another day or three, but with Mick's laptop battery dead and his work unfinished, we decided to skip the next intended night-stop and go to find electricity instead. Over breakfast I outlined the three options to Mick and after discussion of the details, costs and merits of each we decided on a campsite which was both the nearest and the most expensive option. Ten minutes later we thought that hauling Bertie up into the hills, just to sit with hook-up for one night, and without the ability to go out and enjoy those hills, was a bit counter-intuitive. Instead we set the SatNav for this Repsol station next to a motorway, which we'd originally rejected on the basis that it only has eight spaces and if they were all taken then we would already have passed the two other options. We figured, however, that few people would want to sit in a position such as this all day (we're on the edge of a motorway and there's no town or village within easy walking distance) and thus there would likely be space.
Even though we were going to stop at a supermarket en-route, Mick nipped up to the bakery this morning in the interests of spending a few more pennies in the village before we left. This huge bun was one of his purchases. It was a cross between bread and cake and had the flavour of almonds and fennel. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to buy another.
With a couple of navigational blips (it seems that every time my examination of the map suggests that there's only one possible way the SatNav could take us, leaving me free to stare out the window instead of paying attention to where we're going, it surprises me again with its ability to choose the most ridiculous route) we arrived here early this afternoon to find just two spaces available. It seems, however, that some of those vans were either late getting on their way today, or had just stopped for lunch, as three have since left and one other arrived.
With our first mains electric in over a month, we wasted no time on arrival with getting things plugged in. That big worksurface in Bertie's kitchen comes in very handy!
Mick has spent the afternoon tap-tapping away on his keyboard, breaking off at around 5pm so that we could have haircuts. The level of breeze blowing by then made the al-fresco barbering all the more interesting. We've both gone a grade lower than we usually do on the clippers (Mick a 2, me a 4), so that's us looking like a couple of thugs for the next week!
Thugs!
Bonus collage of the day, to complete a day of non-standard (i. e. neither 'pretty views' nor 'points of interest') photos:
The story of tonight's tea, based on being unable to resist a short-dated pack of prawns that was going cheap.
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and warm. Little bit of a breeze this afternoon.
Before we left Ricote I'd really wanted to visit the castle ruins, atop a hill overlooking the village, but a short walk across the Aire and back this morning confirmed that my leg wasn't up to it. That made me regret my decision not to nip up on Saturday whilst Mick was working.
We could easily have sat where we were for another day or three, but with Mick's laptop battery dead and his work unfinished, we decided to skip the next intended night-stop and go to find electricity instead. Over breakfast I outlined the three options to Mick and after discussion of the details, costs and merits of each we decided on a campsite which was both the nearest and the most expensive option. Ten minutes later we thought that hauling Bertie up into the hills, just to sit with hook-up for one night, and without the ability to go out and enjoy those hills, was a bit counter-intuitive. Instead we set the SatNav for this Repsol station next to a motorway, which we'd originally rejected on the basis that it only has eight spaces and if they were all taken then we would already have passed the two other options. We figured, however, that few people would want to sit in a position such as this all day (we're on the edge of a motorway and there's no town or village within easy walking distance) and thus there would likely be space.
With a couple of navigational blips (it seems that every time my examination of the map suggests that there's only one possible way the SatNav could take us, leaving me free to stare out the window instead of paying attention to where we're going, it surprises me again with its ability to choose the most ridiculous route) we arrived here early this afternoon to find just two spaces available. It seems, however, that some of those vans were either late getting on their way today, or had just stopped for lunch, as three have since left and one other arrived.
Mick has spent the afternoon tap-tapping away on his keyboard, breaking off at around 5pm so that we could have haircuts. The level of breeze blowing by then made the al-fresco barbering all the more interesting. We've both gone a grade lower than we usually do on the clippers (Mick a 2, me a 4), so that's us looking like a couple of thugs for the next week!
Bonus collage of the day, to complete a day of non-standard (i. e. neither 'pretty views' nor 'points of interest') photos:
Excellent duo photo. I see you have familiar items - perhaps a Dyson vac similar to mine and in the background a Karcher window cleaner, same as mine, and do I see yet another vac? And what is that pink cord about? good job you're not backpacking!
ReplyDeleteJust the two vacuum cleaners. The Karcher is for clearing condensation from the cab windows. The Dyson is a bit frivolous, as I managed for years with a dustpan and brush (which I still use more often than the Dyson), but the Dyson does the job better and quicker.
DeleteThe pink cable was chosen for its colour. We have a box full of plugs and cables, most of which were at one point black and thus it was always a hunt to find the one needed for a particular gadget. So, when I needed a new mini-USB for my old phone some years ago, I intentionally went for a colour that would stand out.
I'm pleased to say that my backpacking electronics are more streamlined and lightweight than this collection!