Mon 25th Feb

Here in Benicassim, near Valencia. Warm and sunny. Walked along the beach and then sat in the sun-chairs. Site's a bit jammed up, but OK.

Came from a site in Pyrenees yesterday which was lovely: mountain views and good walks. We also visited the Dali museum in Figeres, which we had visited 20 years ago. Dali's paintings, sculptures and other exhibits certainly make you think!

Tomorrow we plan to go to our final destination at Mazarron.

Tuesday 20th Feb

We're leaving for Spain tomorrow. The itinerary is:
Wed 21st - stay near Agen(France)
Thur 22nd - stay near Figeres(Northern Spain)3 days
Sunday 25th - stay Benicassim(Near Valencia)2 days
Tue 27 - arrive final destination Marrazon. Site Camping Los Madriles. Site phone no for emergency: 0034 968 1521 51 (whole number to dial from UK)
Will post next blog from there.

Saturday 17th Feb

It's been mild the last few days- up to 17 degrees yesterday. Since the last blog we've had another beach walk, a walk along an old railway line footpath, and a bike ride. Nothing earth-shattering but very pleasant and relaxing.

Wed 14th Feb

Monday was wild and windy. We had an excellent walk along the beach by the raging surf. During the walk, we beachcombed a length of hollow pipe, which we later cut into foot-long sections and sank these vertically into parts of the garden. We then poured Jeyes fluid, a strong smelling sterilising treatment, into the protruding ends of the pipes. Now, have they really lost it, you are all asking? Well, apparantly, moles can't stand the smell of Jeyes fluid, and as our garden is riddled with molehills...watch this space and we will report on our sucess or otherwise in due course.

Today we had two red squirrels in the garden. They went at separate times straight to the nut feeder, which Jane had filled the day before. The feeder has been empty since our last visit two months ago, so they have a very efficient look-out system.

Sunday 11th Feb

We arrived today at the house at Les Moulieres at about 4.30pm, but not without incident. When we were leaving Alconbury yesterday we had a problem with the caravan jockey wheel, but sorted it and then hooked on. Off we went. 200 yards later - going over the hump-back bridge in Alconbury - there was a crash, & Jane said "we've just lost the caravan!". It had come off the tow ball and was now blocking the bridge. The jockey wheel was also smashed. But, apart from that, no harm done.
Anyway, we managed to hook the van back on- this time properly, and thought of a caravan place in St Ives where we might get another jockey wheel. We were in luck because they had one, but the delay meant that we lost our slot on the tunnel crossing. But,OK, we got over an hour later. We had booked to stay overnight at a campsite near Rouen which we couln't find as it was now dark, but did eventually.
We'd arranged with a young gardener across the road from us here in France to reduce the height of a silver birch in our front garden which was threatening some electricity cables. When we arrived earlier we were flabbergasted to find he had decimated ALL of the trees and bushes in the front and the remains of the siver birch now looks like a totem pole.

Some Plans

Our intentions are to leave for France(the house) next Saturday - 10th Feb