Sunday 29th June

Sunday 29^th June

Like an early morning bailiff the rain and hailstones relentlessly banged on the motorhome throughout the night, hoping to wake us. However its persistence merely blotted out the sounds from the nearby road, so we continued in our slumbers until around 9am when we decided to move on towards Benasque.

The £400 Sat Nav continued with its daily lies until a more forceful approach managed to squeeze the truth from it…55 miles to Benasque and Camping Aneto.

I’ve been a bit surprised at how good the roads through the Pyrenees have been. I’d been expecting slow, narrow winding roads but there are quite a few fast stretches. Yes we’ve had two 10 mile sections that have been really slow but generally we’ve got to our destinations in good time. The N260 stretch from Montanuy to Castrjon de Sos was full of pot holes and quite winding, but this was offset by the fact that there was very little traffic on it.

Eventually we arrived at Camping Aneto around 12 noon. What a great location for a site, the Rio de Estos actually runs through the site and so the site has a couple of lovely stone bridges that allow you to drive over the river to the main camping area. All facilities are excellent and there is free wifi across most of the site. We’d been looking for a site that had good walking routes close to it so we were pleased to find that the GR111 walking route is signposted from the site.

We set off at 1:30 to walk this route. It was a beautiful linear walk taking us about 2 and a half hours to get to the Refuge de Estos at the end of the valley. The Refuge offers sleeping accommodation all year round for walkers, cost between 8 and 16 euros a night. Meals and refreshments are also available although I noticed they were selling small cans of beer for 3 euros! After looking around the Refuge we returned along the same path taking 2 hours to get back to the site (the outward route is 80% uphill). On our return we spotted a huge block of ice the size of a football pitch that must have fallen from the mountains and landed in the river valley.

 The weather was ideal for walking , temperatures around 23c, blue skies with clouds that slowly and elegantly moved over the mountain tops like giant hot air balloons.

Tired and aching we headed straight for the site bar.

Camping Aneto location.

Rio Estos walk, all of the pictures below are of this GR111 walk.

The Refuge.

Saturday 28th June

We left El Bergueda campsite and again the weather was warm and sunny. We were heading to look at two ACSI campsites, The first on Del Cardos looked good in a nice peaceful valley but the other one Nou Camping was close to a busy road and was mainly occupied by Spanish long stayers. We decided to push on to Camping Verneda at Pont D’Arros just outside Vielha. This was a good site with excellent toilet and shower facilities. On the way here we stopped at Llavorsi to watch the white water rafting and to buy some provisions. The route took us high into the Pyrennees where we had some great valley views from a ski centre

The refreshing pool at El Bergueda

Great views from our pitch at El Bergueda

We stopped at Llavorsi to watch the white water rafting.

Riverside at Llavorsi

The ski centre high up in the Pyrennees near Vielha.

View from the ski centre.

Quick stop after ski centre.

Camping Verneda at Pont D'Arross, we even had our own waterfall.

The old Wash House at Castello, the people of the town fought for years for this facility. When it was granted to them austerity measures meant lack of finance caused its delay for another 5 years. Despite the bad times we've had recently I can't see the blue noses Dave, George and fat face Pickles stopping us having clean undies for 5 years.

The Cathedral at Castello D'Empuries.

27^th June

Yesterday was intended to be our last beach day of the holiday but the dull weather with threatening rain clouds put an end to that hope. We move on today and will miss the excellent Mas Nou site. We’d picked the most shaded pitch not noticing the playground and the building next to it that acted like a kids workshop. This we thought was another toilet block and although it was closed it still attracted teenagers each night who re-enacted scenes from Lord of the Flies until midnight. The playground next to it was no better and held similar scenes of carnage and bloodshed as kids fell off swings, scooters, bikes etc. It may seem strange to some folk how someone like my self, from a nursing background can ignore such scenes on a daily basis. However I take the position of a wildlife photographer and let nature take its own course…only the strongest will survive.

By now you may be of the opinion that I don’t like Spanish kids or their parents…that isn’t true. To provide some balance to my observations there is a young Spanish couple with a two young boys, one of whom has Cerebral Palsy. Each day they stop at the fountain in front of our motorhome and let him sit next to it. He places his hands over the fountain so that it squirts all over his face and body, for the 10 minutes he does this he roars with laughter until they take him back to their caravan to change his clothes. Such incidents can’t be filmed or photographed, however the image will still remain with us and is somehow a representation of how most Spanish families display love, caring and good communication skills within the family environment.

Last night we also returned to Castello D’Empuries and had a meal there whilst watching the footy (Germany v USA). It started to rain and it was the first time I’d seen a tv set working in the rain. Eventually the waiter moved the umbrella’s over the screen but ignored me as drops fell into my Salmon. On the way back Barb spotted another dog shelter down a dirt track, thank god we’re moving.

We left Mas Nou around 9:30am and got to El Bergueda campsite at Guardiola de Bergueda.  It was hot and we had a short 1 hour walk and then a swim in the pool. Later a 3 course meal in the bar (no chips with the main course?) still a good site.

26th June

24^th = 26^th June

Monday night was a noisy affair. Apparently the feast of St John the Baptist should be celebrated by a) staying up all night b) setting off fireworks c) jumping over bonfires!

Unfortunately the first two were evident throughout the night and again unfortunately we never saw the final one. However the following day most Spanish families enjoyed the day by the pool or at the sea and then went home as late as they could around 8pm leaving the site nice and quiet and occupied by the retired Dutch, German and English couples.

We continue to visit Rosas nearly every day,  Empuriabrava is closer but is a resort without any character, its only redeeming character being the marina and boats. Its probably a 60’s resort with no old or medieval buildings just lots of wide avenues and tacky shops and bars.

Anyone going to Rosas from this site has to go past the airfield, and the tennis club in Empuriabrava and take the woodland cycle path through to Rosas, the main road is not an option.

Castello d’Empuries is under 2 miles from the campsite and probably the nicest option for a drink or basic meal. There are probably half a dozen bars/café’s here mainly situated in the old square or close to the Cathedral

On the Festival of St John thousands wait patiently to be baptised in the Bay of Rosas.

23rd June

22 – 23^rd June

It wasn’t a bank holiday Monday after all……….it was a bank holiday Tuesday! The feast of St John the Baptist, and because it falls on a Tuesday they all have the Monday off as well. On this and other journeys through Spain I’ve often heard people say that the Spanish don’t want to work. This isn’t entirely true its just that the Apostles don’t want the Spanish to work.

 So we had a couple of nights with some noise from the playground that is completely quiet around 9pm but then comes alive with kids on bikes, scooters, tiny tots pushing dolls prams, footy matches and last night we were entertained by a 10 year old gymnast doing all kinds of twists turns and back flips. Eventually the adults turned up just before midnight to take the little darlings home.

Sunday we rode to the little town of Castello d’Empuries, a delightful little place built around a medieval town. As it was Sunday we popped into the church to see for ourselves how the Spanish show their gratitude to St John the Baptist for granting them these two days of rest and rejoicing…..it was empty!

21st June

21^st June

The longest day, well it was for the gangs of kids who stayed up playing on the nearby playground until just before midnight. How the atmosphere changes on some Spanish sites at the weekend when loads of noisy Spanish families turn up. The ‘problem’ does seem more apparent when you get on the Mediterranean side of Spain. We were so tired we did get off to sleep ok but the gangs of kids tearing around on bikes continued throughout Saturday. I have written to the Spanish Medical Board suggesting they put Ritalin in school water supplies.

We got out early today and headed north of Roses to look at the coastline there. It was up and down hills and very hot. We shouldn’t have gone so far in the heat, clocking around 25 miles. We found some nice quiet bays but the off road sections were really too difficult even for mountain bikes.

Let’s just hope it’s a normal weekend and not one with another bank holiday Monday!

The world junior windsurfing championships were being held in Roses.

This was one of the easier sections of the trail north of Roses.

Cala Montjoi.

Looking down on Cala Montjoi

Looking down on Cala Rostella.

Friday 20th June

20^th June

Well there’s a shock…England’s second defeat in the group stage. Well at least we might be able to look forward to watching the magical manoeuvres of Suarez if Uruguay progress and the determined pleas of ‘Frank Spencer’ (Roy Hodgson) as he heads for the Labour Exchange a week Monday crying that he’s “been ‘avin some trouble”, and like Frank surprisingly someone will give him a job even though he’s never had success in one. It was nice to see the Germans, the Dutch and the Spanish support England last night in the bar.

Anyway today we left Pals after a really great week, it’s a quiet place with a handful of bars, restaurants and campsites built around a large golf course with the usual golfing apartments, a little more classy than L’Estartit which shares the same 9 mile beach. A place we’ll always come back to.

Similarly Rosas, where we arrived today at around 11am is another place we’ve visited often. We are staying at Mas Nou Camping, a 4 mile bike ride into Rosas but close to the amenities of Empuriabrava. A clean well laid out site with excellent amenities and some good offers for stays of a week and more.

The weather continues to remain around 26c sunny and clear skies.

A giant of a man on the giant screen.

The quality of the photo matches the quality of the performance. It was the end of the game, the crowds had moved on but Barb remained, in her favourite position in front of the telly..... with football on......and a giant screen......every moment had to be savoured!

camping inter pals

Beach restaurant Platja Pals

Platja Pals

Platja Pals

Inter Pals site pool

16th -18th June

16 - 18^th June

The weather is now settled at a comfortable 25c most days although we’ve had cloud and downpours in the evening. On Monday 16^th we cycled into Pals old town and walked around the medieval buildings. We went down to the northern end of the beach and found a closed bar that we’d previously used for wi fi. We managed to get on to the internet there and catch up with events.  Basically our evenings are dominated by the world cup and most nights we watch the 6pm match and the 9pm match at the camp bar big screen. The 3 days a week abstinence from booze is now under threat as we discovered that beer is cheaper than mineral water at the bar!. We’ve decided to stay a little longer here and make use of the 7 nights for the price of 6 offer.

The beach here is quite attractive and I’ve been swimming about 3 times a day, the water is definitely warming up and on Monday we had some big waves that were throwing themselves on to the shore….kids (and big kids) were having a good time riding these.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we headed for L’Estartit on our bikes, as the crow flies a return trip of about 14 miles however after we’d zig zagged around the paddy fields and negotiated a few rivers it turned out that the return trip was around 35 miles.

L’Estartit is basically a pack ‘em in, feed ‘em, water ‘em and tan ‘em resort. Having said that it has an appeal about it…a clean beach and nice sea front and if you rummage through the cheap bars and beachwear shops you will find something to write home about.  We decided to eat here and found a great restaurant on the waterfront called the Kon Tiki. For 16 euros each we had probably our best meal of the holiday, 3 courses with the main dish being fresh fish comprising of both fresh salmon and hake.

15th June

15^th June

In the afternoon it clouded over and later in the evening we had a few downpours. We watched the Uruguay v Costa Rica on the giant screen but as the site bar closes at midnight we had to walk the 200 metres to a bar where we watched the England v Italy game. Disappointing result…when you’re 2-1 down is it a good idea to take both strikers off and replace them with midfielders? Hodgson couldn’t win a raffle!!

We woke up around 9am still tired after our late night finish at 2am. It’s a nice sunny day a little cooler at around 25c. We took a short walk towards the golf course and found an overnight parking place for motorhomes. Some shade there but no services. Coffee near the beach and updating blog.

The priceless 'dogggy in the window'.

"The best pitch on the site".

14th June

14^th June

After 4 great nights at Llafranc we decided to move on to Pals. Our final night at Kims Camping was spent in the bar watching the world cup opener between Brazil and Croatia.

We got talking to an older couple from Northern Ireland who’d been coming to this site for the last 32 years!

The next day (13^TH) we drove the 13 miles to Camping Interpals where we were surprised to find that it was a very good site. The guy on reception was extremely friendly and from Uruguay so we had a discussion about Louis Suarez and how good he was. He then offered us “the best pitch on the site with a sea view and a cool breeze”. When we got there it was as good as he’d said. It was now getting uncomfortably hot so we headed to the beach only to find the sea breeze rather hot as well. Walking barefoot on the scorching sand was impossible, so it was down to frequent dips in the sea.

That night we went for a meal and dressed in my orange t- shirt we went to watch the Spain Holland match. The bar has about 3 large TV’s and a giant 4 x 4 metre screen, excellent quality on the giant screen. As usual the site bar was full of orange with many of the Dutch surprised to see an Englishman supporting Holland. I explained that it was due to Liverpools links with Dutch players like Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel ( the disappointing 12 million pound wonder kid). I asked what ever happened to Babel and everyone in the bar was asking each other and scratching their heads…..nobody could remember him although a woman thought he’d “disappeared into the mist”. A great 5 – 1 result for Holland, a good match and great atmosphere. Today 14^th Barbara decided to get up at 7am and do some washing……………does she understand that Englands game is on at midnight?

Last night when watching the footy a Dutchman warned us that two caravans had been broken into in the afternoon.  We put up the two photies of ‘our’ Rottweiler in the windows and put the sounds of a dog growling and whining on a continuous loop through the mini music player.  This was so convincing that when we got down to the beach Barbara became restless and worried in case the ‘dog’ got too hot in the van!!

Pitch at Kims Camping.

Kims Camping Pool.

A rare event, Barb swimming in sea...it must have been warm.

12th June

The last couple of days its been 31c and this is expected to continue until next monday when it drops to 26c.
We took a morning walk around the corner to Callela de Palafrugel and had a lovely swim in the sea. Its warming up nicely now and even Barbara was glad to get in to cool off. Not sure what to do now as Barb is getting restless and worried about where to watch the world cup. So we might  move off tomorrow and go 13 miles up the coast to Pals. To be honest the thought of watching England v Italy never instills me with enthusiasm anyway but when it kicks off at midnight here and finishes at 2am I think its the perfect prescription for insomnia. It looks like an early night for me!

11th June

Looking down on Llafranc from lighthouse observation point.

11^th June

Last night we cycled into Palafrugell main town for some provisions. It was a two and a half mile ride to Lidl. I remembered exactly where it was even though we last visited it about 17 years ago when a five year old Sophie Blundell made an innocent observation.  You see Palafrugell has a very large Muslim community and on this particular day Lidl were doing an offer on large satellite dishes and receivers. For some reason there were lots of Muslim ladies in traditional headwear buying these only for our Sophie to ask “Why are all these nuns having to carry those big boxes”. (no offence intended merely the ‘innocent’ observations of a young child).  What was even funnier was when everyone got them outside none of them would fit into cars so everyone was ringing around for help.

Today we left the camp at 9:30 and set off on the coastal path to Tamariu. The first section was a steep walk up a road to an observation point and lighthouse. From there on it was an exhausting trek in temperatures over 30c along the curvature of a crooked coastal path. This took us through woods and pasture lands eventually reaching the sea and some beautiful little bays. Some steep steps and walks across sea rocks eventually brought us out at the delightful town of Tamariu. From the campsite it must have taken us nearly 2 hours although we were stopping frequently to take photies. At Tamariu we had a cooling swim and a cup of coffee. We returned via the Palafrugell road and a section through farmland this route only took us half the time. Anyone coming to this area should be aware that the Tourist information office provide an excellent free booklet on the coastal paths. The return journey also made us aware of other inland walking routes.

The walk also takes you through wheat fields and meadows with lots of butterfly's.

Most sections are clearly marked.

Secluded bay on route to Tamariu.

Secluded bay.

Great views.

Just outside Tamariu the path takes you over rocky outlets.



Crystal clear waters.



Ideal for snorkling

Tamariu

Tamariu