Thursday & Friday 20-21 February - Castets & Bonneval

Where was Bertie? He spent the night at a Camping Car Park Aire in the village of Castets, at a cost of €13.72, including electricity and wifi.

Weather: Overcast on departure, lots of fog through the middle of Spain, eventually reaching sunshine and, surprisingly, 23 degrees towards the end of the day.

Leaving the campsite at just before 0830, I convinced Mick to use the road he'd rejected on the way in. I'd been along the length of that road on foot and thought Bertie could manage it - which he did, although he could have done without the truck coming the other way on a road barely big enough for one of us!

The morning involved cloud, sunshine then a couple of hours of fog which stayed with us (or us with it) until we stopped in Tudela for fuel (132.9/litre at a full service station) and supplies. When I say 'supplies' I mainly mean wine and alcohol-free beer, although naturally, a whole host of other things fell into the trolley too. In the interests of efficiency, Mick prepared lunch whilst I shopped.

Finally the sun came out and we could enjoy our surroundings as we drove through some magnificently mountainous areas beyond Pamplona and into the Basque country.

The intention was to simply reverse our outbound itinerary, staying at Capbreton tonight. However, the road into the town is still closed, necessitating a detour on some slow roads. So, I had a little look for another Aire nearby, and came up with one immediately adjacent to the motorway 40km further north. The journey time was the same, so it was a no-brainer.

I've long resisted joining the Camping Car Park scheme (more and more Aires in France have started coming under the Camping Car Park banner), but this was the shove needed to bite the bullet. It didn't take many minutes at the machine at the entrance to set up an account, obtain a CCP card, and pre-load it with enough funds to pay for our one-night stay.

With that all done, Bertie was all settled onto a pitch and plugged into the mains by 1645, and by 1700 I was changed into running gear and on my way out the door. Conveniently, the Aire isn't just right next to the motorway, but a Voie Verte also runs straight past it, so promising Mick I would be back within the hour, I tootled off into the forest. I didn't quite judge my turn around point right (as is often the case with me and Voie Verte type tracks, I was convinced the outward leg was all downhill, so I turned a couple of minutes early to allow for a slower return leg, only then to find it was all downhill on the way back), but I did judge right the extra little repeat I needed to add in, and I stepped back through Bertie's door at 17:59:20.

Before we drove into the fog. Must visit this striking town some time.

Not the most illustrative snap, but stunning scenery in Basque country.

Voie Verte - not a patch on the Spanish hills, but always good to have such a convenient traffic-free route available.

Friday

Where was Bertie? At a free Aire in Bonneval. We'd been there before, but Bertie hadn't.

Weather: Sunny and warm until late afternoon when it started clouding over. Rain by bedtime.

I woke up at 5am, but managed to lie quietly until the alarm went off at 7, whereupon I leapt out of bed, chopped an onion and some garlic and put the stove on. I'd just started frying some chicken when Mick finally asked what I was doing. "Cooking tea", I said.

Organisation is key on these long driving days. We set out each morning with two flasks of hot water, so we can make drinks throughout the day without having to wait for the kettle to boil, then for the stove to cool down (so we can lower its glass cover before travelling again). I also try to have some snacks to hand, and it's a bonus if tea is already prepared, or semi-prepared when we arrive at our destination. Stops during the day can then be kept to one or two micro-pauses to swap drivers, a fuel stop and half an hour for a lunch break (we managed to combine the three of those today, stopping at a SuperU in Vivonne, about a 200m detour from the motorway, for cheap fuel before availing ourselves of the car park for a lunch break, and swapping to Mick driving before we went on). It was nearly an unsuccessful stop for fuel when both of us had our preferred spending cards declined - a little concerning until the third card worked, and we subsequently realised that neither of us had enough funds in our 'foreign spending' accounts (this petrol station wanted a hold of €150 before we could fill up; most only want €100 or €120, both of which would have been fine).

The initial intention had been to end the day in Villedômer, but having driven further yesterday I figured we may as well push on further today. Marboué was our chosen destination, but when we got there Google Maps tried to instruct us to make an illegal turn, and the TomTom gave us an instruction that didn't make sense. I knew that Bonneval wasn't much further up the road, so the snap decision was made to go there instead. I remembered having stayed at Bonneval before, but I was surprised to find that it was 9 years ago.

With Bertie settled into a spot, I took myself off for a brisk march around the streets (nowt to write home about), whilst Mick went on a mission to find a patisserie. His mission was not a success. Who has ever heard of a French town without a patisserie?!

There is, of course, such an establishment. We found it the following morning as we left town.

By the time the rain started, we were all tucked up for the night.

The attractive feature of Bonneval

Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th - Cervera del Maestre

Where was Bertie? He spent 3 nights at Camping Ciudad del Ciclismo ('cycling city') just outside of the hilltop village of Cervera del Maestre, at a cost of €19 per night.

Weather: Sunny on Monday then mainly overcast but with some sun on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mid-teens.

Monday

We escaped the campsite vortex! Only 16 nights later than intended when we booked in for 7 nights.

Slightly inland from Peñíscola I'd seen that there were six or seven free Aires. On the plus side, almost all of them offer electricity (either for free, but you have to go and get a token from a local business) or for reasonable rates (again, via token). On the downside, they offer electricity. Our observations over the years have told us that free Aires with free or cheap electricity tend to attract people who stay for longer than is permitted. Given the token system, and without lots of negative reviews saying it was hard to get a spot (plus our experience inland in the Sierra Morena last year where we got a spot at every with-free-electric Aire we tried), I was optimistic. 

My optimism was misplaced! Bertie toiled up the hills to Cervera del Maestre to find all 5 places taken. I didn't have an immediate plan B and after contemplating the map I was concerned that we could spend the whole day driving Aire to Aire, not find a spot, and end the day further S than we wanted to be (having started with the northernmost of the options).

It was Mick who finally asked the obvious question: 'Is there a campsite nearby?'

It turned out there was, and less than 2km away, albeit we drove the best part of 8km when Mick declined to attempt the road involved in the short route. 

I don't think I've mentioned thus far that we have barely seen any other British vans since arriving in Spain. We may have seen one every couple or three days when out and about (amongst a sea of vans of other nationalities), but there had only been one other on the campsite and we never did see anyone home, so we've not spoken to another Brit since leaving the UK. So how funny that as we left the main road to approach the campsite (which probably only sees three or four arrivals a day), we found ourselves in a convoy of three vans, all British. 

From the campsite entrance looking across almond trees in blossom (lots of those in these parts at the moment) to the castle-topped village

Looking the other way down to the massive dry river bed (in the first snap you can see the causeway we'd driven across to reach the campsite)

From the castle 

I'm not sure you get the depth on the photo but there were six layers of hills visible.

Village street

We took a stroll up to the castle in the afternoon, where an information sign told us it had been 'purposely built to stop the unstoppable advance of the Christian troops'. I assume there has been a retrospective view applied to that information!

Tuesday

Having reached the peak weeks of training, I had a big week of running on the agenda this week, starting with 16k on Tuesday. Being in such a hilly area 'running' is a very loose description of what I did, but I had a whale of a time in the local hills. So much more runnable than the Sierra d'Irta, with lots of dirt tracks, housing a whole network of biking & walking routes. I did opt for one 1.4km section of technical single track, but being steeply uphill, I was never going to be running that bit anyway. 

Into the hills 

Lots of routes

A trig point, and with a path to it!

View on the way back down

Getting back to Bertie I opined that I could happily spend a few weeks in this area, exploring lots of local paths. 

As for the campsite, it makes the one in Peñíscola look like outstanding value (€13 there vs €19 here). The facilities in Peñíscola were always clean, tidy and well maintained (with a constantly tinkering Maintenance chap) - and there were two facilities blocks, so nobody had to walk more than a minute to the nearest. In Cervera the toilets/showers, which are slightly grubby and wanting of maintenance, are in the restaurant building, which is about 250m from the camping area. Not the end of the world, but you certainly don't want to get there and find you've forgotten your towel! The plus sides of Cervera are water taps on each pitch, WiFi that works all day long (probably because at the moment occupancy is really low, with only around 20 or so vans each night), and hot water at the washing up sinks (at the last place everyone just went into the toilets to fill up their washing up bowls).

We had initially booked in for 2 nights, but before I embarked on cooking tea this evening, I strolled up to Reception to extend our stay for another 2 nights, telling them that in reality we would probably stay through the weekend. 

 

As for tea, it was chicken and chorizo tonight - a Spanish inspired dish with plentiful garlic and served with crispy cubes of fried potato. Finishing my plateful, I observed that it just wasn't as tasty as it usually is, but I had no idea why not. The moment Mick said "I know why", it struck me too. I'd forgotten the chorizo bit of the chicken & chorizo! (I've also been known to serve Chick Pea Stewy Thing without any chick peas, so I have form in missing out the headline ingredient). 

 

Wednesday

As I ran down the hill yesterday, amounting to around 400m of almost continuous descent, I knew it was probably ill-advised. It's been a while since I ran such a continuous and steep downhill. I woke this morning with sore quads, glutes and hamstrings. Fortunately for my current purposes a fast march is as useful to me as a run, and I only had 5km to cover today so a late afternoon 5k march it was to be. 

First though, I was going to loosen up my body by taking Mick for breakfast at Mati's - one of three eateries in the village and the one with the best reviews. 

We could hear the hubbub as we approached and inside was full. There was, however an outside table, so we went in to place an order, whereupon a table immediately became free inside. 

Elevenses, with obligatory table of old geezers beyond. Unusually, there was also a table of women in this place. 

We timed our visit well - just as everyone else was finishing up their sandwiches/toast/glasses of spirits, so we got the atmosphere of the rush, followed by the peace after everyone else left.

I never did get my afternoon walk. I got tied up doing some work, then our plans underwent a swift change. 

Mick's mum was taken poorly last week and on Wednesday afternoon we decided it was time to head home. I did offer to chuck Mick on a plane then drive Bertie back myself, but the decision was to drive, so an itinerary was planned, our Chunnel booking moved*, and our bill at the campsite paid so we could make an early exit on the morrow.

(*insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but we are now crossing the Channel on the Sunday at the end of half term which is eyewateringly expensive when booking at this proximity at almost £400 (vs £145 if we'd had the leisure to wait until Monday). We will count our blessings at securing a crossing as most of the day was sold out.)