Where's Bertie? He's in a municipal Aire in the corner of what, by all appearances, is a supermarket car park, in the town of Osuna. Exact location: 37.23137, 5.09669.
Weather: Cool start in Guadix, but a fine day and reaching 18 degrees on the approach to Osuna.
Not much of anything to report today, but (for my own benefit) I'm going to report anyway. If you missed yesterday's post from Guadix, go and read that one instead; it's far more interesting.
It started with a run along the cycle path then track alongside the dry river bed, then things became a bit of a rush as I got back to Bertie to learn that we had a video call scheduled for 11am. In between times I showered*, breakfasted and nipped out to a cashpoint.
Guadix is not short on banks, and there were many that were closer than the one I visited. However, most banks in Spain charge fees for using their cashpoints, and the last time we withdrew cash in the country (last March), it cost us €7 (we then spent none of that money until we reached Germany last summer, where we could have withdrawn it without charge...). I'd done a bit of internet research last night and found a list of banks that don't levy a fee, hence a slightly longer walk across town. What a different place Guadix was this morning - bustling with people, unlike yesterday when we'd been out and about during siesta time.
The transaction at the bank took a while (was I sure I didn't want the Spanish bank to make the currency conversion for me? Was I really sure? Did I understand that they couldn't guarantee the rate I would be charged? Did I understand that my own card issuer may make a charge?). By the time I had money in hand, a queue had built up behind me. It was good timing on my part, but bad timing on theirs, that "Out of Service" came up on the screen as soon as I was done.
Back at Bertie the video call was completed, and minutes later we were ready to hit the road. Our intention to use the service point was abandoned due to the wait we anticipated (one van using it, another waiting), and onwards to Lidl we went.
With a big shop all stowed, we tarried in the car park a bit longer whilst we ate lunch (eeeh, we know how to pick the best picnic spots...), then onwards for the 2.5hr journey to Osuna. Mick wasn't impressed with the first section of that journey ("This isn't doing the MPG any good at all!" he observed of the loooong uphills), but I thoroughly enjoyed the mountainous surroundings with attractive settlements dotted around.
After huge amounts of downhill, there were many exclamations of "So many olive trees!".
Approaching the Aire just before 1530, the question was whether we were going to find an official motorhome spot free, as I wouldn't have felt comfortable taking a supermarket parking space. Happily, there was.
The rest of the day (bar a short leg-stretch around the block) was spent tapping away on the laptop, but we may well spend two nights here, in which case we'll have a little look around the town tomorrow.
Only photo I took today. Yesterday I snapped a Renault 6 that caught Mick's eye as he used to own one. Today this one caught my eye, as a Renault 5 was my first car.
(*The heating came on at 0600 (because the temperature inside had dropped below 8 degrees) and again at 0715 (on a timer). A by-product of having the heating on is that it heats the water too. So, it made sense to take advantage of having some hot water and, killing two birds with one stone, do something about the state of my hair too!)
Weather: Cool start in Guadix, but a fine day and reaching 18 degrees on the approach to Osuna.
Not much of anything to report today, but (for my own benefit) I'm going to report anyway. If you missed yesterday's post from Guadix, go and read that one instead; it's far more interesting.
It started with a run along the cycle path then track alongside the dry river bed, then things became a bit of a rush as I got back to Bertie to learn that we had a video call scheduled for 11am. In between times I showered*, breakfasted and nipped out to a cashpoint.
Guadix is not short on banks, and there were many that were closer than the one I visited. However, most banks in Spain charge fees for using their cashpoints, and the last time we withdrew cash in the country (last March), it cost us €7 (we then spent none of that money until we reached Germany last summer, where we could have withdrawn it without charge...). I'd done a bit of internet research last night and found a list of banks that don't levy a fee, hence a slightly longer walk across town. What a different place Guadix was this morning - bustling with people, unlike yesterday when we'd been out and about during siesta time.
The transaction at the bank took a while (was I sure I didn't want the Spanish bank to make the currency conversion for me? Was I really sure? Did I understand that they couldn't guarantee the rate I would be charged? Did I understand that my own card issuer may make a charge?). By the time I had money in hand, a queue had built up behind me. It was good timing on my part, but bad timing on theirs, that "Out of Service" came up on the screen as soon as I was done.
Back at Bertie the video call was completed, and minutes later we were ready to hit the road. Our intention to use the service point was abandoned due to the wait we anticipated (one van using it, another waiting), and onwards to Lidl we went.
With a big shop all stowed, we tarried in the car park a bit longer whilst we ate lunch (eeeh, we know how to pick the best picnic spots...), then onwards for the 2.5hr journey to Osuna. Mick wasn't impressed with the first section of that journey ("This isn't doing the MPG any good at all!" he observed of the loooong uphills), but I thoroughly enjoyed the mountainous surroundings with attractive settlements dotted around.
After huge amounts of downhill, there were many exclamations of "So many olive trees!".
Approaching the Aire just before 1530, the question was whether we were going to find an official motorhome spot free, as I wouldn't have felt comfortable taking a supermarket parking space. Happily, there was.
The rest of the day (bar a short leg-stretch around the block) was spent tapping away on the laptop, but we may well spend two nights here, in which case we'll have a little look around the town tomorrow.
(*The heating came on at 0600 (because the temperature inside had dropped below 8 degrees) and again at 0715 (on a timer). A by-product of having the heating on is that it heats the water too. So, it made sense to take advantage of having some hot water and, killing two birds with one stone, do something about the state of my hair too!)
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