Author: travurple

Monday, A new charging cable was delivered for Rog’s bike, but unfortunately that didn’t solve the problem, so a replacement battery was delivered, result, problem fixed!

Tuesday, Rog was in need of a haircut, so this time went to a barbers on the main tourist road, Chaweng Beach Road, a more expensive hair cut!! It’s all about the fade!

Wednesday, we set off on the newly fixed bikes, towards a waterfall in the centre of the island, had to negotiate a ford, thankfully not too deep, we did stand and watch a couple of cars and scooters go through before attempting it ourselves!

But then the serious uphill started, the bikes did really well, but couldn’t get us all the way up, and the electric bikes are so heavy we couldn’t pedal them up without their power. We enjoyed the ride despite not making it to the waterfall.

The sky was also getting darker and darker, so we stopped off for coffee, and were really lucky with the timing, it absolutely threw it down whilst we were having coffee, and just about stopped as we got back on the bikes.

Lunch at a stunning restaurant called Kewin’s, serving fresh local fare, both the fish and beef curries were wonderful.

Thursday, back on the bikes to the north coast again, this time for a beach walk. But this beach had a really different sand to the other beaches, this was large sand grains almost pebbles, which made it really difficult to walk on, so we didn’t get far, before yep you guessed it we stopped for coffee. (Other drinks are available and Nic has never had coffee!)

Friday, was a bit of an admin day, cancelling our free Amazon prime membership, we’ve watched a few TV programmes on the smart TV. Rog had some KLM/AirFrance air miles to use before they expired at the end of the year, which we have not managed to use on a flight, so bought a solar charger!

There was an amazing storm overnight Friday into Saturday morning.

Saturday we awoke to no running water, the landlord arrived within the hour and fixed the water pump and reset fuses in the junction box following the storm.

The rain continued most of the day, we did manage to walk down to the beach for a massage in the local massage ladies newly constructed hut! I think we’ve funded a good proportion of it!

The bikes were supposed to be collected today, but that never happened.

Sunday, we checked out by 11am, the host was really kind, as it was still raining and gave us a lift down the road to a cafe we had booked for brunch.

Then we flagged down one of the endless supply of taxis, for a ride to our new hotel, about six miles away in Lamai. The Villa Nalinnadda hotel, is adult only, includes breakfast and spa treatments. We have a beach front villa… well it is our wedding anniversary, 19 yrs this year!

The hotel does not serve dinner, so we ventured out in the pouring rain to the nearest bar/ restaurant that the hotel owner had recommended. A few cocktails and local food, all for a very reasonable price….. we sat outside under the shelter of the roof above the bar, and despite the wind and rain, and being the only customers, we had a lovely time.

A relatively quiet week this week, a few outings on the bikes, mainly down to the beach for a morning walk and a drink somewhere. Nic is creating a league table of Mango shakes.

Spend most afternoon’s back at the villa, watching lots of wildlife from the pool, bird, butterflies, squirrels and the odd lizard.

We’ve managed to identify a few of the birds using the Thailand national parks website, so we think we have seen:

• Black Bellied Malkoha

• Black Capped Kingfisher

• Red Headed Honeyeater

• And Lots of “Little Brown Birds”

Friday evening we went out for a couple cocktails on the beach at Chalala Samui Beach resort, which is currently topping the mango shake leader board, and served a mojito of distinction.

Then we headed to Federico’s Italian restaurant for dinner, a nice meal.

The rear tire on Nic’s bike deflated by the time we got home, messaged the guy, who came out on Saturday afternoon and dealt with it!

Then Rog’s bike was not charging properly, so currently waiting for that to be sorted!

Sorry only one photo this week.

As you’ll have noticed, we had a week off blogging last week, so this one covers the last two weeks.

The main reason for the week off was that we have had lots of rain and therefore not done a huge amount. Can’t complain it is the rainy season here in Koh Samui, so we expected some rain!

Having said that, in the last two weeks we have managed to do all the following:

Cycled to the north coast of the island, thank heavens for electric bikes, to visit the “Big Buddha”, yes it’s a Buddha which is big !! It’s on a small peninsula, with the obligatory collection of tourist shops. Rog bought a new T-shirt.

On the evening of Tuesday 8th we went to “Loy Krathong” the Festival of Lights at the local lake, where “Krathong’s”, small floats made from cross sections of palm trees decorated with flowers and candles, are floated on the lake.

There was also the night food market, selling everything you could want from kebabs to cup cakes. We purchased from a few of the stalls for dinner.

We ventured south for the first time on the bike, down the coast road, lots of hills but the bikes coped. We went to Lamai beach, from the clean up operation that was under way, they had also celebrated Loy Krathong there too.

Rog had to test out the local doctors to treat an ear infection 🙉, £85 for a walk in consultation and 7 days worth of three different pills!! We just hope the locals get it cheaper.

Then the rain started, which gave us some time to become “savings rate tarts” moving some of our cash around to get the best interest rates (4% 12 month fixed with Nationwide Building Society and 2.25% instant access with Revolut) Every little helps!

We also had time to finalise more travel plans for next year, and deal with more flight changes!! Thanks EasyJet.

It rained just about non stop for 4 days!! We finally had to go shopping by taxi as we were running out of stuff!

Finally the rain stopped enough for us to get out on the bikes again, we headed north again to Wat Plai Laem, an interesting temple complex (see photos)

Then a coffee stop at La Fabrique a French (ish) cafe.

Friday 18th, we cycled up the hill near the villa to see where it went, we got as far as the local golf course before the road ran out and turned into a small track, which we decided not to do on the bikes, so turned around.

That night we went out, a couple of drinks, one at the “chill out bar” at a beach hotel 250bht for a cocktail (£6), we moved on to the Bamboo with happy hour cocktails for 99bht (£2.65). Then on to Siam restaurant for dinner. Rog had a jungle curry and asked for it a little spicy, but not too hot, it was spicy🌶🌶🥵.

Saturday, we went to Klao Hua Jook Pagoda. The hill up to it was so steep we had to leave the bikes half way up and walk the rest of the way! It was worth the effort, it had a fabulous view over the island, we could see most of the bits we had cycled and the airport.

Spent Monday & Tuesday pottering around on the bikes, up towards central Samui hunting out the deal for a boat trip to Angthong national marine park!

Wednesday, up early to be picked up at 7:15am for the trip to Angthong, despite agreeing to be pick up at the international school, just down the road, as it’s easier to than find the villa. The driver still didn’t make it to the school, luckily another couple were also waiting and they got a call, the driver was further down the hill!

After 3 other stops at hotels to pick people up, the minibus head to the Nathon pier at the northwest of the island, to meet the boat. We’d chosen the big boat trip, rather than a speedboat, so there was about 40 people on the boat, so not too busy.

It was 1 1/2 hours to the first stop, quite a lumpy journey in places, some of our fellow passengers did not have their sea legs with them. There was a lot of them trying to sleep with heads on rucksacks on tables in front of them ! Our first stop was the highest of the islands for a trek to the summit, to see all the islands spread out before us. A steep trek, up mainly rocky steps, in the humidity and heat, tough going, but worth the climb! Nic made a tactical decision to stop at level 5 ( of 6) as the last bit of the climb was in full sun, and did not look as if it would improve the view by much! While Rog made the last climb Nic shared her water with an Austrian who had slipped and bashed an ankle on the last part of the climb. He was very grateful as he had to make it down again, in flip flops, before getting it strapped at the first aid tent !

After the descent we had bit of time on the beach, luckily there is always a little shop selling cool drinks which were very welcome. Then back to the big boat, by long tailed boat, for lunch, a good spread.

Then kayaking, a double kayak for us, around the coastline, between rocks, through a short tunnel/cave.

Another steep trek to see the emerald lake, This time up staircases, more like ladders! But again worth the effort. We rewarded ourselves with ice creams after this one.

Then back to the boat for the return trip, lots of fun watching people trying to make, and carry, hot drinks on a lumpy sea journey!

Thursday, another beach walk at the north end of Chaweng beach. Stopped for drink under the shade of a huge tree. A 5 star mango shake for Nic, some of them have been a little disappointing in the more touristy cafes! More shopping on the way home, had to go to 4 shops/ market stalls to get everything we wanted at a reasonable price.

Friday, the weather was predicted to be awful, but it turned out to be not so bad, so we had a massage on the local beach, for 300bht each (£7.20 each) for an hour.

Saturday, the weather was terrible, it did not stop raining all day.

Sunday was not much better, it rained most of the day! We know we are not going to get any sympathy for the bad weather !! At least it is still warm here.

Monday, again we walked around Chiang Mai, strolling through some areas we had not yet visited, and some areas we had. It is nice to spend some time in the same city seeing it at different times and on different days, as it is always changing.

Tuesday, we checked out of our accommodation and headed to the airport for our flight to Koh Samui ( or Ko Samui – they use both versions) with BangkokAir, self labelled as Asia’s boutique airline ! It was a standard airline, £50 each for an hour and half flight, and we got fed!

Met our prearranged pick up, as we where not entirely sure the exact location of the Villa, so got the host to book us a pick up! A large minibus just for the two of us, expensive on Thai terms, but still not too bad.

The villa is lovely, in a secluded location, near an international school, 10 minutes walk from the beach. We have lots for room and a pool.

We headed out to find the local 7/11 shop to buy some basics, it’s only a convenience store really, Thai style so everything pre packed, microwave meals, but we got enough to sustain us until an adventure to a larger supermarket.

Also made contact with the electric cycle hire company, to tell them where we were so they could deliver the bikes on Wednesday, however the owner of the company delivered them that afternoon as he had to drive past on the way home. They are electric bikes, but not as we know them, they are not the UK pedal assistance bikes (when the motor will only go when you are pedalling), these ones will just go on the electric motor, easy, if a little scary the first time on the road, but we are getting used to them.

Wednesday, headed out on the bikes to a larger supermarket, a “Lotus hyper market”, a bit of a strange store, a mix between a cash & carry and a department store, but we managed to get more supplies. Shopping is going to take a bit of work and further investigation! Nic loves a catering challenge!

Walked to the beach in the afternoon, a bit of a sad walk, past a few derelict buildings, but nice once on the beach.

Thursday, showers predicted most of the day, but we did manage a walk locally and were lucky not to get wet.

Friday, another rainy day, whilst in the pool spotted a 4ft monitor lizard sitting on a rock sunning itself, thankfully it was on a rock down in the stream that we overlook and not too close.

Saturday, took the bikes out again, to the far end of the beach for a walk, more resort hotels! Then home via another supermarket, a western style supermarket, even selling Waitrose products!

Back in the pool we saw an interesting bird, after much internet searching we have decided it was a Greater Racket Tailed Drongo.

Sunday, a local walk this time, investigating possible tour options, this morning we read that the national marine park we wanted to visit is closed all November and most of December, but as it turns out it is not closed as it has had a good long rest due to Covid, and the government didn’t want to close it again this year, so the panic to do the tour on Monday, being the last day of October was averted.

As we are now in this villa for 5 1/2 weeks, our future blogs may get a bit repetitive with, walked to the beach, took the bike out, went shopping. We’ll try and do something a little more interesting occasionally 😂.

Monday, having conquered the Bangkok Metro & Skytrain last week, we decided to try out the local buses. Heading for the Royal Barge Museum. After a really interesting walk from the bus stop to the Museum, along some narrow residential lanes we discovered that, despite what the website said, the Museum was closed due to the high flood water.

We were then sold a long tail boat trip around the canals by a local fixer. With the deal struck he wanted the money, then he would get the boat! We finally agreed he could have half the money when we saw the boat, and the rest at the end of the tour! So his mate was called to bring the boat, which was fine so we did an hour tour up the canal, which was great!

Tuesday, we checked out of the accommodation early and headed to catch the train for the 11 hour journey to Chiang Mai, an interesting journey, lots of standing water around Bangkok. A really busy train of only 3 carriages, we had seats, but not the best leg room as they were near a bulk head. Arrived in Chiang Mai an hour late, jumped a taxi to our new accommodation, which is our cheapest to date, £60 for the week! and it is OK, basic, a little dated, but clean and perfectly adequate for our needs.

Wednesday, we walked around the Chiang Mai old town, within the canal, had dinner at the night market which cost us about £1.50 each!

Thursday, started early when we were woken by an earthquake at 4:36am 4.2 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre about 12 km away. Thankfully there appears to be no damage locally in Chiang Mai.

8:30am we had a tour booked to visit some caves and then kayak down the river. We were picked up in a pickup truck, only 4 of us on the tour, us and a couple of guys from Spain.

Really impressive caves, part of a 400 year old temple complex. The caves were a bit narrow and low in places but not too bad. Saw bats, crickets and huge spiders in the caves.

Then on to the river in kayaks, covering about 8km downstream, there had been some recent flooding as all the vegetation on the side of the river had been flattened. A couple of slightly hairy bits of “white water” but both of us managed to stay in the kayaks, one of our Spanish friends was not so lucky and went in twice.

All in all a good trip out of the city.

Friday, we walked around the parts of the the old city we had not visited earlier in the week. Tried to get some cash out of an ATM which swallowed our card! So had to deal with that, thankfully we had a spare card for that account (Revolut) so no real issues, and managed to get so cash out on Saturday, at a different ATM.

Friday evening we walked out of the old city to a herbal garden, near the university and hospital. An interesting walk seeing all the medics and students, we even passed the Faculty of Nursing. The evening was spent watching the world go by from a hotel veranda, and finding another good local restaurant to eat. The cocktails and beer more costly than the food here!

Saturday found us going to explore the local fruit and veg market, part wholesale and part retail. We were fascinated by the growth in locals shopping on their mopeds, getting as close to the stalls as they could, and driving between stalls to fill their baskets. We accepted free bottles of orange juice, being given away as it is a bank holiday weekend, Chulalongkorn Memorial Day. The juice was cold and very welcome on a hot morning.

Sunday, after another chilled day wandering round the city, we enjoyed a drink at one of our favourite bars, only to dodge a rain shower you understand ! We then visited the huge night market in the centre of Chiang Mai, then ended up sharing a table in a restaurant with a couple of Germans, who had only met up that day on an excursion, and as the restaurant was bus, offered to share their table. Had an interesting chat about traveling! We ended the day with mango and sticky rice from a local market stall, 62p a portion…. Yum😋.

Monday found us spending some time in Manchester before getting the tram to the airport. No problems getting through security and our flight to Bangkok via Helsinki was fine, albeit long!

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon Bangkok time, (6 hours ahead), and had the luxury of a taxi transfer to our apartment in the city. After a brief trip to a 7/11 to get basic provisions, we had some dinner at a local cafe/ restaurant then fell into bed.

Wednesday, we had a lazy day trying to acclimatise and get over the journey. We do have the benefit of a pool overlooking the city on the 8th floor. We also ventured to a local supermarket for more supplies. In the afternoon Nic enjoyed a massage at a nearby spa, and for dinner we headed to a restaurant in a nearby shopping centre, before once again crashing out!

Thursday started with an adventure to find the office to collect our train tickets for the train to Chang Mai next week. The MRT is easy to use, with tickets available from a machine or cashier, and functions just like any other subway/ underground network.
After collecting the tickets, we set off to walk across the city past the Wat Traimit, home of the golden Buddha, then through the Rommaninat Park, to watch the local runners braving the warm temperatures to complete their fitness regimes.
In the evening we went on a tour using electric scooters to get around the flood lit temples and to the night markets to sample the Thai street foods. After some initial trepidation the scooters were easy to use, and we had a blast, as well as some tasty food. Nic even got to don gloves to help make the Papaya salad which was deemed to be spicy by our Thai guides and fellow explorers who were all from India! This despite only having half a small chilli in it.

Friday saw us looking for an Optician to source some contact lenses for Rog. Then another walk back through Benjukitti Park in front of the Queen Sikirit Conference centre, which gave a great view of the city scape across the lake.

In the evening we revisited a restaurant we had been to years ago, run as a social Enterprise, Cabbages and Condoms aim was to make condoms as easily available in Thailand as Cabbages! There are not many restaurants which bring a basket of condoms with the bill, for you to help yourself!!

Since we were last here they have opened several restaurants, including one in Bicester in England, and expanded their local operations to include a cafe, accommodation and gardens all employing local people. The food was great too, especially the duck in tamarind sauce.

On Saturday we decided to pick a random station on the Sky train line and go and explore the area around it. We chose Pak nam, this took us out to the edge of the River where there was a fair ground, and past the Royal Thai Naval Academy and museum, before we got back on the sky train back into town.

In the evening, we used Google maps to select a restaurant called Monkey Pod, which was another good find. Out door eating in a secluded garden, with bats flying around and once again very good food, including a chocolate brownie, which arrived fresh from the oven in a frying pan with ice cream on the top….yum😋

Sunday had us up early to meet a Thai student who came with us into Chattuchak market, with the plan to help us navigate the market while improving her English, all for a reasonable price. So nice to have someone with us, as it is a huge site to navigate.

Ended the week with dinner and a couple of beers/cocktails at Monsoon bar, accompanied by a two piece band! Doing Mexican and western tunes.

As you may have noticed, we have not published a blog for a couple of weeks, so this is quick round up of what we have been doing. 

Monday 19 September, driving further northwest we visited Cluny in Burgundy, a nice campsite which was half closed down for the season. We walked in to town and visited the Abbey. It was a big complex and the largest religious building in Europe until St Peter’s Basilica was built in the Vatican, there was not that much left of it. There were lots of models and artists impression of what they think it looked like in the various centuries.

On Tuesday the visiting of Burgundy wine producers started with a Co-operative in Buxy. We bought some wines including a 5 litre box for €12.95! the best that could be said about it was “it’s not bad”.

We found a campsite in Cormatin. 

Wednesday, we started the day visiting the Chateau in Cormatin, a tour in French, but at least they gave us a English translation. Unbeknownst to us the translation was done years ago by a friend of Nic’s family, who lived close by and who used to give the Chateau tours in English.

Parts of the interior the Chateau are in their original 16^th state, a very interesting building.

We got back to the campsite just in time to check out at 12noon, and drove on to Lungy and Vire. Both with caves, so more wine tasted and purchased.

Continuing our drive northwest, we spent the day in Colmar, a lovely town!

On to Nic’s cousin near Strasbourg, a great weekend, drinking of wine, including at the local wine maker. We also help pick and press grapes to make wine. So we’ll have to visit again when the wine is ready.

Monday 26 September, we left Strasbourg, heading towards Calais to catch the ferry on Tuesday, back to the UK. Saw a car on the opposite carriageway flip! Not sure what caused it, but thought it was heading our way!

Spent a few days in Kent with more family. Nic went to see the new ABBA voyage. A hologram show which was amazing.

Saturday 1 October, a drive back to Pock to finish our 3,900mile road trip.

Then spent the week packing up the motorhome, repacking all our stuff in parents lofts and garages (thanks again for the storage solutions).

Managed other domestics, eye test, haircuts, cholesterol check (Rog – all Ok), Covid jabs! And a good catch up with family

Sunday 9 October, a cheap train to Manchester, a direct train York to Manchester would have been £42 for both of us, taking 2 hours, a train via Bradford was 20 mins longer and saved us £31, saving doesn’t sound like much, but the Easyhotel in Manchester was £28.

Went to see Dave Gorman (comedian) that night in the palace theatre, a good laugh.

A very quick canter through what we have been up-to in the last three weeks, hopefully we can get back to the normal weekly service.

So, Monday morning started with looking for a garage to look at and fix the Motorhome. The campsite recommended a garage (‘Garage 1”), just down the road, who were not able to deal with Fiats, yep you guessed the Motorhome is a Fiat. So Garage 1 recommended a Fiat garage (‘Garage 2”) in Tarragona, heading back west, the way we had just come, Garage 2, a Fiat main dealer, was unable to help as their service facility is in the basement of the showroom and the motorhome is too tall to fit down the ramp, thankfully they did send one of the mechanics outside to have a look, we think just to check the wheel wasn’t going to fall off, obviously it wasn’t, so they sent us to Garage 3, in Reus, even further back west. 

Thankfully Garage 3 agreed they could look at it in 20 mins – 30 mins, so in true garage style, they looked at it after 1 ½ hours, identified the problem as being that the brake pads and discs needed replacing and quoted a large figure to do the work, obviously we didn’t have a real choice so agreed for them to carry out the work, which would hopefully be carried out that afternoon. They then closed for a 1 ½ lunch and very diplomatically threw us out, giving us directions to the local “restaurant’. The restaurant was fine €11.50 for the 3-course menu of the day including a drink. So, we kill time and head back to Garage 3 when the open after lunch and sit in their air-conditioned reception all afternoon. At 5:30 they inform us that when fitting the new brake pads and discs they discovered that the brake callipers also needed some repair, and therefore they could not finish the job that afternoon. They agreed to move the Motorhome on to the road outside the garage, so we could spend the night in the motorhome on an industrial estate.

Garage 3 needed to send the brake callipers to a specialist to be refurbished, so another day sat in their reception, not wanting to leave and there was nothing interesting close enough to Garage 3, but this time we were prepared to sit it out, which included books, coffees etc. yes, we got thrown out again at lunchtime, so back to the restaurant for another €11.50 menu of the day. The same waitress was on duty, and today she realised the extent of our lack of Spanish and helped us out with the menu choices, by taking pictures, and using a translation app to tell us about them! Nic learnt a new word ….sandia is watermelon! 

Back at the Garage at about 5pm we were informed the work had been completed for a figure 50% more than the original quote! But needs must and the bill was paid. The only thing they could not deal with was an ABS brakes sensor, so we still have a warning light on the dash board. 

Before we set off on this journey, someone said “you can’t expect to travel for that long with having a crisis” (you know who you are!) the same someone challenged us to go to a specific restaurant in Barcelona. We accepted the challenge but failed to get there because of this crisis!  This only means we’ll have to go back to Barcelona to complete the challenge. 

So after getting back on the road, we set off back east, after the last couple of days, we didn’t get that far before attempting to find a campsite for the night,  the first campsite we arrived at had a high restricted entrance, a strange thing for a campsite looking to attract Motorhomes, so we carried on looking for another, the joys of google maps, which tried to direct us to the next campsite via a very low bridge. Only the second time on the journey we have had to turn around. We finally found a nice campsite, which was massive, it had its own amphitheatre! But we only stayed 1 night as we had other places to be. 

Wednesday, we had a long day at the wheel, driving 5 hours between us, to get to a campsite near Beziers (back in France).  This campsite was a family party site, not our usual choice, but it was near Beziers airport and Nic was flying back to the UK for a couple days, so near the Airport was a good choice. 

Late evening on Thursday Nic flew back to the UK, a free transfer to the airport from the campsite. 

Friday, Rog had an easy lazy day, after doing some “house” work, a nice campsite with our own little shed on the pitch with a private loo and shower.  Just had to put up with the loud entertainment until 11:30pm. 

Saturday, Nic was due back to Beziers airport at 4:20pm with Ryanair, and yes you guessed it, was delayed, the flight left Manchester 2 hours late, then 10 mins from landing in Beziers, the Captain informed the passengers that Beziers airport was closed and therefore they would be landing in Montpellier, waiting for another 2 hours for a bus to arrive, then being taken to Beziers train station rather than the airport (which is walking distance to the Campsite) so a further wait for a taxi, Nic finally got back to the campsite at 11:30pm instead of 4:30pm only a 7 hr delay!! Rog had another easy day, a cycle along the Canal d’ Midi, then sat by the lagoon, a man made beach on the campsite. 

Sunday, started with Nic filling in the Ryanair compensation form, hopefully another €250 compensation.  Then we had a 4 hour drive up to Le Puy (heading towards Lyon),  which included a slight altercation with a car that overtook us and cut in far too early, as another car was coming in the other direction, clipping the front end of the Motorhome, thankfully no significant damage, he stopped and exchanged details just in case. A driver following us also stopped, tore a strip of the driver (in French)  and offered to be our witness of the collision. All slightly stressful but could have been a lot worse.  

We had nothing booked in Le Puy, but it has 2 Aires and 2 Campsite, so we’d be able to get a pitch somewhere. How wrong we were! There was a Renaissance festival in Le Puy, lots of people dressed in costume, lots of motorhomes and not a pitch to be had anywhere, so we left Le Puy and headed another 20mins to an Aire in Beaulieu, which was free in both senses of the word, available & no cost, it even had free electricity. 

Sorry no photos this week. 

So firstly, sorry we have been busy and enjoying ourselves too much to publish a blog last week, so again this is a double blog!

Monday (29 August) as the Metro was suspended due to work on the tracks, we got the replacement bus service, or correctly we should say we got the two replacement buses, which only got us as far as a working metro line, and then we had to get the Metro into the centre of Valencia, which took about an hour in total, so not too bad. And as some of you are probably shouting at this blog, we have all the time and nothing else to do.

The centre of Valencia has lots of interesting buildings, which are reasonably close together so we walked between them all, the market (the largest covered food market in Europe, so we are told), the silk market, various churches and the Torres de Sarranos (see picture)

Tuesday, we had a quiet day on the campsite with time at the pool.

Wednesday, was Tomato Fight day ! because of the closed Metro, we had to get a taxi at 6:15 am to the outskirts of Valencia (actually the carpark next to the cemetery) to get a 7am bus, to Bunol for the annual ‘Tomatina’ festival (the largest food fight in the world) 22,000 tickets to throw tomatoes at each other. Rest assured the tomatoes were not food quality.

We managed to get a spot in one of the squares on the truck route, so we were close, but not too close to the serious action. We also had a good view of the ham at the top of a greasy pole that you had to climb to claim the ham. Nobody managed it this year!

It was a fun day, we had our first alcoholic drink at 10:30am, in our defence we had been up for hours and did only have two drinks! The citizens of Bunol set the tone, with tables outside houses with wine, tapas and family chatter on the go at 9.30am, watching all the tomato fighters arrive. At around 10am all the tables were cleared away ready for the main event. We enjoyed meeting other tomato fighters and getting involved with the throwing of tomatoes which we scooped off the floor as they landed by our feet.  The tomato-y-ist bit was walking out of the village, through where the serious action had happened, the tomatoes and water was ankle deep. We did manage a little hose down before retrieving our bags from the lockers, for a quick change before getting the bus back to Valencia.

Thursday, we left the Valencia Camper Site and heading further south to visit some good friends, who had last year moved from the Isle of Man to just south of Valencia. We parked the motorhome on the road in their estate and slept in the house! On a sofa bed, which was very robust and like a real bed! We also took advantage of the offer of a washing machine by doing 5 loads!

This is when we became too busy enjoying ourselves to write and publish last week’s blog, we spend the week eating, drinking, and catching up. Also other good friends from the Isle of Man flew out for a few days. To celebrate a birthday we went to “Triple Brew’ in a nearby town, which had a menu for the 100’s of beers they served. Rog ordered a taster of 5 different beers (twice!) the most memorable name for a beer was ‘F**k Brunch”. An interesting name and a nice milkshake wheat beer. Thankfully Triple Brew also served really good food.

We stayed with these friends for a week until Thursday, when we started the long drive north, we drove only about 30mins to visit other friends in Elche. After a menu del dia at a local restaurant, lots of food and wine all for 11€. We had a swim in the pool. Later on we got the local bus into town to see the Basilica, the ceiling compartment above the central doors on the bus opened, and the bus driver was trying to lock it back in place, however she could not reach, So Rog fixed the bus, it says something when Rog is the tallest one there! After a brief glimpse into the Basilica as there was a service on, we went to one of the local bars in a quiet square for an Aperitivo. Then back to our friends for tapas to finish the day.

We stayed in the Motorhome on a side road outside their apartment block, which was quieter than we expected. 

Friday, after a quick stock at Lidl, we drove for about 2 ½ hours to just above Valencia, it was actually the same motorway junction as the Caves we visited, but this time we headed for the coast and found a campsite for €10 a night, our cheapest paid for site yet, so we stayed 2 nights, just about on the beach. So nice to enjoy a dip in the sea to cool off.

Saturday we visited the local market, about 10 mins walk from the campsite.

Sunday, we started heading for Barcelona, however en route the motorhome developed a noise with the front wheel whilst braking, so we headed for the nearest town, still 100km south of Barcelona and checked into a campsite, La Noria in Torresdembarra, obviously it is Sunday afternoon, so everything is closed, but they say they can help us find a local garage tomorrow to look at the issue! So Garages permitting we still may be able to get to Barcelona tomorrow as planned, by train. Watch this space!