Explore europe in a campervan

Well, that was an unexpected 24 hours.  We slept well but had a knock on the van this morning to be told by a fellow camper that we had a flat tyre.!  Sure enough the front near-side tyre was totally flat.  We weren’t exactly sure where the jacking point was so I called Ruddocks in the UK who converted the van.  By the time I got the information (on the suspension by the wish-bone behind the wheel) we had help in the form of the Belgian man who runs the site we were on.  He loaned his scissor jack and his experience, along with some physical help when we weren’t getting very far.  It’s not really much different to changing a car wheel – except the wheel’s much heavier and it takes a bit more brawn to pump the jack up!  (We do have a jack by the way, but it’s a standard Mercedes ‘bottle’ type and looks much more difficult to use).

The other surprise was that we found ourselves driving mountain roads on the way to the camper stop in Alfaz Del Pi, near Benidorm, from Peniscola.  Already Spain is proving to be rather more hilly than we had anticipated – neither of us having visited the mainland before – but these were full on mountains and we thought we’d left mountain driving behind in the Alps!  Unfortunately it was a little dark at the time and slightly misty so there’s no pictures of what must be stunning views on the right day.  We took the road VERY slowly and carefully and eventually arrived at our destination even later than we’d anticipated.

The stop for the night was a ‘camper stop’ called Camper Park Costa Blanca.  Not a full-on campsite, but a large gravelled area for about 40 motorhomes, with electric hook-up, toilets and the opportunity to use showers for €1.  All this for €12 which is about half the price you’d pay at any campsite.  Unfortunately these are rare in Spain, unlike France where there are around 1200 ‘aires de service’.  We were very lucky that the attendant stays in a van onsite so was able to let us in when we arrived rather late, and pointed out the various facilities including fresh water, and toilet and used-water emptying facilities.  The huge added bonus was that the site had wi-fi access for no extra charge!  Some of our morning was taken up changing the wheel but we spent some useful time researching the next leg of our route.

The previous night we had headed, with faith in our new motorhome areas book, to Peniscola, on the coast between Tarragon and Valencia, where we had some details of an area where we could park.  We weren’t sure what to expect but were pleasantly surprised to find that, although we had to pay €8, the site was a designated area for motorhomes, with waste-emptying facilities, fresh water and electric hook-up.  It was only about 150 yards from the beach, although it wasn’t really beach weather unfortunately – a bit overcast, and had apartments and hotels nearby.  We hoped to finally find some internet access and we were in luck.  We were in a hotspot for a service provider called ‘akiwifi’ and were able to buy a prepay voucher from a hotel next door for €18 giving 500 minutes access which seems reasonable.  As our main mission had been to find wi-fi we spent a good few hours catching up online the following day.  There seems to be some coverage in most areas in Spain so it looks like a promising way to get online every couple of days.

In a roundabout way that leads us to right now….  Whilst looking online for our next destination we came across a blog site by a British man called Richard, documenting his trips in his motorhome from the UK, through France and Spain to Morocco over the last 3 years.  It includes some great information about places where you can possibly free-camp, and pictures and details of the various places he has visited on his trips.  Using this experience we chose to head towards a town called La Manga where we hoped to park overnight for free and that’s where we are now.  La Manga is a huge peninsula covered with hotels and apartments – imagine Sandbanks, but 5 times as long!  We thought we’d never reach the end but eventually we faced the steepest hump-back bridge I’ve ever seen - so steep there was no way we could cross it in the van and there was a nice quiet car park next door so we‘re here for the night.  Tomorrow we’re going looking for a shop selling fishing hooks and some advice about sea-fishing.  Simon bought a rod in Lloret de Mar and has visions of catching fish for our dinner every night!  Then it’s further down the coast until the sun comes out and we can stop for a day of relaxation and sunbath

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.