Monday 20 February 2023

Monday 20 February - Umbrete

Where's Bertie? He's at an Aire a couple of kilometres away from the centre of the town of Umbrete. Exact location: 37.36889, -6.16812
Weather: Overcast but warm.

My first task having rolled out of bed this morning was to look at the options as to where we go next on this trip. I came up with enough places that, if we were to stay at all of them, and for the maximum 3 nights each, then we would well and truly miss our Chunnel back to the UK at the end of next month. The one I picked for today wasn't for any merit other than that it was close to Seville, so it was an easy hop that would leave us most of the day free to do some work.

With that settled, Mick grabbed his towel and took himself for a final shower before we left, only to return a few minutes later reporting that there was no water, not just in the shower, but anywhere on site. This was a minor inconvenience for us, as we were going somewhere with a service point, but more of an issue for those people in small vans without toilet facilities.

A short while later, we pulled up to the exit, paid our bill (no discount offered for the lack of facilities!) and headed the 1km to our first stop of the day: a supermarket.

The next stop was 5km further on (LPG at 99.9c/litre), then 1km (Decathlon - incredibly we've got four weeks through the trip without visiting a Decathlon. They didn't have the item we went in for, but we still managed to make a couple of purchases), then it was 12km before we dived into a petrol station, with Bertie's fuel light having come on during the drive here. It's a peculiarity in Spain that you'll have a cheap petrol station without a manned cash desk, yet there's still an attendant who will do the fuel-filling bit of the process for you, whilst you stand around wondering why you couldn't just do it yourself. Another kilometre, and at the Aire we arrived.

After yesterday's exertions, various bits of my body are sore today*, so other than walking around the supermarket, Decathlon and a few gentle laps of the Aire, I've not done anything. Hopefully my legs will feel sufficiently recovered tomorrow for us to take a look at the town.

(*The sore quads were expected, and I've certainly had them in a worse state than this. Unexpected was the bruise in the small of my back. I usually run with my phone in a pocket on the side of my leg, but the skirt I wore yesterday doesn't have that option, so I had it in a pocket on the back of the waist band. I've carried it there many times before, but now that I think about it, probably not for any great distances, and whilst it feels like it's held securely and not bouncing, there must have been enough movement to leave a bruise.)

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