Inside the dog shelter, the veterans are free to roam.

The 200k motorhome, the car drives into the hatch at the back. We have one on order already!!!

Morning coffee at the Mirador, the pianist adds to the flavour.

After a while we fell in love with these two as well who's real names are Paco and Sue.

Barbara gets Bartello to beg for treats.

Me and Sharna say our goodbye's.

Thursday 29^th May.

We’ve now had about 30 really enjoyable days here in Javea and although we are reluctant to move on we plan to leave tomorrow and head for another of our favourites Camping Ribamar in Alcossebre. We watched the champions league final on Saturday but I’m afraid the build up to the match was too much for Barbara who ‘accidently’ threw a pint of lager over my new jeans. That certainly put a dampener on proceedings! We got chatting to an elderly Lancastrian couple from Morecambe way who have lived here for 15 years and have a large plot of land in their grounds where they grow most of there foodstuffs. They were really nice and really in to their football, he was a Preston fan who adored Tom Finney. He admitted to being envious when I told him of my meeting with Sir Tom. However we crossed swords a few times as they were supporting Real Madrid.

Our nice ‘routine’ continues with a 90 minute walking of the dogs at the shelter followed by late morning coffee and a swim in the sea. We’ve been eating out at least twice a week and plan to have one final big meal down at the harbour tonight. As Forrest Gump would say “That’s all I’ve got to say about that”.

Ronaldo (L) and Clancy (R)

Thursday 22^nd May

Another morning spent walking dogs at the dog shelter. This time I took a little 2 year old Jack Russell named Ronaldo and Barbara had a 4 month pup called Clancy. Both were really friendly and sociable (as they all have been). However I noticed that Ronaldo seemed more appreciative of strokes and attention so may have actually had some good owners in the past. We later took Sharna and Bartoli out for a walk as well. Later we went for coffees down at the port, read the paper and listened to the pianist. It seems that there is a Festival of the Sea on for three days starting tomorrow with Sponge Bob likely to be present!!

Bartola and Shana with Phil.

A 'cage full' of dogs on a day out!

19^th – 20^th May

Over the last week or so workmen have been resurfacing the roads around the campsite, apart from the noise that starts around 8am there hasn’t been much of an inconvenience. However the winds got up today and as they scratched away the sand and shale of the old surface a lot of it found its way into awnings and caravans. It really got quite dusty. Today also marked the return to our 3 days a week of alcoholic abstinence. This really is a different ‘holiday’ for us …we haven’t been on a beach and we’ve really cut down on our alcohol, something you have to do when you are away for so long. As I keep telling Barbara “its not a holiday, we’re living abroard”. Reading, walking and cycling have taken more of a precedence. Today, Tuesday, saw our return to the dog shelter. We got there on our bikes just after 10am and were allowed to park the bikes in the shelter. We were quickly given two dogs again. One was Bartola a 12 year old Dalmation and the other was an 18 month old Sharpai called Shana. Both dogs were friendly and well worth adopting, we couldn’t believe why Sharna had been over 12 months in the shelter.

After a lovely walk lasting just under an hour we returned to find 6 English people in deep discussion. It appeared that they were planning to take a group of dogs out walking. By a group I mean a cage full of dogs. It seems that a group like this has to go together, if you take just one or two out of the cage for a walk the others attack them when they return. Sounds like a jealousy thing. As they needed two more people to be able to take the group out we volunteered. So we all went off together for another hour. Mine was a lovely mongrel called Linda who had only been in the shelter for 4 months. Many of the other dogs had been there for up to 10 years! It was a good social event with everyone mixing and finding out things about each other, a recommendation for anyone in the area who needs to mix and socialise with other people.

Looking down on Javea from the nearby hills.

The windmills that look over Javea

View from the windmills.

Barbara walking Sool.

Sool and Bacca with Barb.

13^th May – 18^th May.

Throughout this period we’ve visited some of the restaurants down at the harbour area for our evening meals. We also returned to the harbour area on Friday and walked the 3 hour walk up into the hills where we visited the remains of several windmills. We also said goodbye to Dave and Amanda who have been fulltiming in their motorhome for the last 2 years. Having lived in Jersey for many years we were able to chat at length with them about the island and many other topics. We became quite fond of their dog named Fido who had lots of character and a pair of goggles he would wear when travelling with his head out of the window! We’ve noticed recently that we grab any opportunity to stroke and fuss over other people’s dogs, probably because we still miss our Pickles. There was a lovely German family on the site comprising of young parents, 3 children under the age of 3 and a lovely chocolate Labrador.  Embarrassingly we would ignore the kids and make a big fuss of the dog.

When Fido left we had to find an outlet for this attraction for dogs so we walked to the dog shelter about a mile away and offered to walk some of the dogs. With no questions asked two dogs with collars and leads were thrown into our hands. Our fears regarding becoming attached to such dogs were unfounded as both dogs seemed to recognise the ‘contractual nature’ of the relationship …a one hour walk where they agreed, for obvious reasons, not to get too attached to us. It was a satisfyingly ‘mutual’ agreement.  Lovely natured dogs but not exactly stunners (see photies) .

Last night (Saturday) we had the choice of the Hull v Arsenal FA cup final or the Spanish League title decider between Athletico Madrid and Barcelona. We went for the Spanish game and watched it down by the harbour. All  the bars were packed, there were loads of Athletico fans with flags and hats, a great atmosphere with most bars providing about 4 tv’s for outside viewing. The atmosphere was tense throughout the game and we sat next to a rather reserved elderly chap who ended up stood on his chair and screaming in delight when the full time whistle went and Athletico were declared champions. A good night all round and more to follow next week with the two Madrid teams in the champions league final.

8th May - 12th May

Moraira Beach area.

Looking towards Calpe from Moraira.

Thurday 8^th May -12^th May

We’ve gotten ourselves into a nice relaxing routine that consists of a morning walk to the harbour where we have a coffee at a bar overlooking the sea. We sit here for an  hour reading the morning papers supplied by the bar and listening to the excellent pianist.

From here we walk along the sea front down to the Arenal beach area (more modern and trendy) where we have another coffee and cake returning via the supermarkets where we do our shopping. A total walk of about 4 miles. After our lunch we do our 20 lengths of the camp pool and then lie in the sun for an hour or two. Reading and listening to the radio sits in there somewhere between all of that. Sounds boring but its really quite nice and we also meet some interesting people along the way like the German guy a few pitches away who is a bit of a hippy having travelled most of the world and was telling me of the dangers of travelling in South America. He was made up the other night when he caught me cooking with a ‘pinny’ on. He asked what such a garment was called and the following day reminded me of his new word ‘pinny’. He works in advertising and we talked about the excellent tv series Mad Men.

Sunday we went to watch the final match of the season at the Lancashire bar, it was full of Man City fans so the tv had city v West Ham on. However the owner got another tv set out and positioned it outside so like ostracised lepers we sat watching Lpool v Newcastle. It all worked out as expected and  I made a point of congratulating the city fans whilst warning them of what to expect from us next season. We downed a few pints that afternoon and decided to head to the infamous Scallops of Javea… where the offer was a 4 course meal with a bottle of wine per head ….all in all 13 euros each. Barbara thought the 2 bottles of wine was compulsory and consequently made great inroads into the second bottle. The food was bland….I didn’t think you could get a cardboard copy of a cod on a plate! When we got the bill we received a free voucher for a full breakfast each (Barbara was very disappointed that this didn’t include “another 2 bockles of wine”.

We returned to the site via a ‘very long and winding road’.

Today Monday12th May we cycled to Moraira another resort about 10 miles from Javea, it was a nice enough town but quieter than Javea. Light rain is forecast for tomorrow morning but overall the weather is set for mid 20’s most days.

5th - 7th May

The walk that starts at the harbour and meanders into the surrounding hills.

5^th May – Wednesday 7^th May.

The good weather continues and we’ve been told that it hasn’t rained here since November…should I  have said that? I don’t intend to put too many pictures on here over the next few weeks as we’ve covered most of the area in previous blogs.

We continue to enjoy it here and keep finding new areas to visit.

This morning we sat having coffee at a bar listening to two Americans talking to a Spanish couple about their trip to Spain. Although they were from California they couldn’t get over how beautiful Spain is. I suppose if you are selective in where you visit then you could describe parts of Spain as beautiful. They also described Javea as very pretty…not a phrase I’ve actually thought about in relation to Javea, but as we sat in the morning sun watching the weakening Mediterranean waves throw themselves onto the beach set against the backdrop of a glistening turquoise sea I could see how the word ‘pretty’ could be ascribed to the harbour area.

The processions, bull runs, cycle races and fireworks are now over so the fiesta crowds have now gone leaving the town a lot quieter and more captivating. We walked to the far end of the harbour and found the marked footpaths that take you up to the hills that enclose Javea. Up and up we went and with the option of a 18 kilometre walk we chose to just do a short 90 minute stroll around the lighthouse area, good views and a great opportunity to take pictures. We intend to return on a cooler day and complete the longer walk.

Granadella Cove

Wednesday 3oth April – 4^th May.

We settled well into Javea and this was helped by some excellent weather with each day being cloudless and in the mid 20’s. Even though we’ve been here twice before it’s a place that you can revisit time and time again with its numerous bars, café’s and restaurants and a town that is really three separate parts. One night we ate down at the lovely harbour area and then we tried the old town. Last night we went and watched the Everton v Man City game down at the beach area.

Most days we spend walking or cycling, reading but we always go for a swim in the excellent camp pool around about 4pm.

Thursday was a bank holiday for May day and Thursday must have been a local fiesta day as everyone was off work. On Thursday evening we watched a procession go through the town with 3 brass bands walking alongside the walkers. Lots of girls/women were dressed in traditional dress and there seemed to be quite a few dressed as the May queen although I thought Maybe queen might have been more appropriate as some looked a little like Lilly Savage. The following mornings and evenings fireworks were set off in the town.

Yesterday was a glorious day so we cycled eastwards looking for some of the quiet bays in the area. We discovered the beautiful cove at Granadella, unfortunately as it was Saturday it was a little busy. We returned to the site after completing 17 miles. Some time next week we intend to cycle to Moraira.