Explore europe in a campervan

During the last few days we’ve had my Mum, Bobbi, visiting. Being a biker and well-accustomed to camping at motorbike rallies throughout the year Bobbi was keen to ‘go wild’, but after one night at the campsite we decided to stay put. The advantages were so many with three of us staying in the van….showers, toilets, a pool, internet access, space and wind-shelter for the awning to go up for more living, eating and socialising space. It’s also just over the road from Valdevaqueros beach where we kite, sunbathe and swim. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a long time between posts, but we’ve been busy entertaining.  Sam was with us for 10 days, most of which were spent on the beach, at the pool and relaxing at the van.  Simon and Sam had a booze-fuelled night in town, which almost ended in a long, long walk home.  Fortunately the last bar at the edge of Tarifa called a taxi for them.  They also had a very energetic session of tennis so I suppose that makes up for the night’s excess. Read the rest of this entry »

We picked Sam up from Malaga airport on Monday. Malaga airport was a nightmare; the parking for arrivals seemed to be non existent and everything looks like a building site. In the end Lucy had to wait in the van on the side of the road while I went into the airport to meet Sam. Read the rest of this entry »

Our week of luxurious living in Marbella has now come to a close. We’re back in the van on beach-side parking in San Pedro De Alcantara, a spot that was recommended to us by fellow motorhomers back in Portugal. There is a great place to have a shower underneath an elephant’s trunk on the beach!

Last night we all went out for a nice meal in a quaint village just up the coast from Marbella. The restaurant was packed to the rafters when we first walked past but by the time we’d taken a look at the other restaurants on offer they had enough space to fit us in. It wasn’t easy deciding where to eat but the popularity of this one place seemed like a good enough indicator. It turned out to be a great choice; the food, the service; everything got top marks from me. My main course of pork fillet with mushroom sauce and a side serving of Roquefort sauce was sublime. Definitely up there on my list of top 10 dishes ever eaten! Read the rest of this entry »

This week we’re living the Costa Del Sol life in Marbella! Our friends, Sarah and Dave, have kindly invited us to spend the week with them in their rented apartment. Well the pictures looked pretty impressive, but now that we’re here we can truly appreciate what a great find it was. The resort is called El Soto De Marbella and it’s not more than a few years old. It’s situated almost at the top of what has to be described as a small mountain, rather than a hill, and overlooks a valley leading down to the sea and to the coastal town of Fuengirola. We seemed to continue up and up and it seemed unlikely to have a development so high, but it was worth the drive as the views are stunning and it’s so peaceful and secluded. Read the rest of this entry »

We arrived in Tarifa late in the evening, having spent some of the day shopping in the markets in Quarteira and a stop off at Ikea in Seville. There was really no need to rush straight down to Tarifa so thought we’d try one of the places we had marked on the sat nav as a wild-camping spot on the Costa de la Luz. Unfortunately when we arrived at the marked spot in Sancti Petri La Barrosa it was well and truly closed to motorhomes. There was a chain across the entrance to the rough ground and a sign showing a motorhome being towed saying ‘in all the area’. We got the message but I’d still be interested to see if they really do have the means to tow away a motorhome – especially some of the monsters we’ve seen! So it was on to Tarifa where we were pretty confident we would still have a choice of places to sleep. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re back in Tarifa after spending a few days stationary in Quarteira. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve had a fantastic week’s ‘holiday’ with Jenny and Paul; although for them it probably felt like a working holiday with cooking, washing up and food shopping every day!  We stayed at Camping Albufeira, which was a great campsite –certainly the best we’ve stayed on. The pitches are large and shaded by trees, the sanitary blocks are huge and there are 3 large swimming pools.  The site also has 3 bars, a restaurant, a pizzeria and a pretty comprehensive supermarket.  All in all we couldn’t have asked for much more – except maybe a solution to the ant problem! Read the rest of this entry »

Our good friends Jenny and Paul are flying to Faro on the 5th of June to stay with us for a week. So that didn’t leave us many days to drive from Tarifa to Faro in Portugal, clean the van and check out what campsite we will stay at for our holiday in Portugal. We call it our holiday even though I suppose its not, but when we have visitors it’s the only time we stay a week on a campsite, go out for meals and drink more; so its more like a holiday. Read the rest of this entry »

Although we had collected the now-repaired Flysurfer kite, the weather was not in our favour so we retreated to a campsite to do all the chores that had been building up – toilet-emptying, water-getting, battery-charging and some internet time! We used a different campsite this time – Rio Jara – they charged us €22 which is the low season price. Not the cheapest we’ve used but they had free internet. Most of the Spanish campsites with wifi charge you to use it – around €10 per day! We had a really good catch up with family and friends online, updated the blog and our photos and even watched Sky news. Definitely the best way to spend the day when it just won’t stop raining. Read the rest of this entry »