The Road to Marjal

Recently our lives have been a bit hectic to say the least. I thought retiring would mean lots of doing nothing, going out, laying in etc. I was beginning to think I had been robbed..

Most of you will know that we have a hair brained plan to build a truck and drive around the world. The first stage of such a journey is to get rid of all the baggage you can, so it was decided that we would sell the house and go to Germany to source and build the truck.  I always knew that all the various stages would be on a tight time schedule and the chances of it all coming together were none.

Just to make things even tighter we had a change of plan and decided to squeeze a few months of holiday in as well so we set our sights on Spain.

A week after we moved out of our home we were heading south with all our worldly goods on our backs like a snail. ( Except for the 5 van loads we dumped on our daughters )

We didn't get too far and pitched in at Canterbury for our first stop to meet up with our great friends Andy and Lorraine.  If you haven't been there, put Canterbury on your list, its a great place for a weekend.

Canterbury Aire

Yes I know it looks like a car park and I would be pushed to argue otherwise, but it was cheap and close to town on the Park and Ride.

Early Monday the 27th Feb we were on a ferry and then heading south through France

This was it, the first stage of our new life and it was raining.

Aire at Chateaudin

We knew that Spain was a long way so several stops were factored in. The first night we stayed in a French Aire ( Motorhome stopping area ) on the banks of the river Loir at Chateaudin, South of Chartres on the N10. We were ready to stop as we had had the obligatory " getting lost " in Rouen.

Pat spotted this stop by chance and it's definitely one to remember.

We were parked on the right of this shot just out of view.

The next day we munched through the miles and spend a fantastic evening with our old friends Eric and Jan who are renovating a fantastic collection of barns in a small hamlet near La Rochefoucauld in the Charente region of France. we have been their many times and always seem to take a different route. Well thanks to "Mr Garmin" we excelled this time and did the last 30 miles on single track roads. The next day when we Eric gave us directions to a major road about 1 mile away. We wish we had seen that  the day before.

From here we hot footed it down the Pyenees to stay with an old work mucker at his new home in Araujuzon, near Pau.

Tony and Lynn Clarke gave up life in blighty 2 years ago and for their sins decided to dedicate their lives, souls and bank balances towards the renovation of a fantastic old farm house. They are well on the way but still have a lot of work to do. A great night was had and we thank them for their hospitality.

Knowing that we had a very long  journey ahead of us we got up late and set of just before lunch. !!!!

After about  1 hour we stopped for lunch at the foot of the Pyrenees on the French side. The pressure was now on if we were to make Zaragosa in Spain by night fall. After about another hour eagle eyed Pat saw one of those little camper stop signs nailed to a tree pointing along some little lane . Lets have a look we decided, so we followed the road up and up and up and even more up into the heart of the mountains.     The bends got tighter and snow was heaped up at the side of the roads. I was really proud of myself when we got the end of the road. I remember thinking to myself how well I had done and what a brilliant driver I was as we pulled into the coach park next to a massive french coach.

The Zaragosa plan was abandoned and we decided  to stay here the night. I think it was one of the most beautiful peaceful locations we had ever stayed. We were over 1000 meters above sea level in a snow covered valley in the heart of the Pyrenees  . We were probably the only humans for miles around.    

Zaragosa flew by and we drove a long way towards our elusive destination of Marjal Camping , near Alicante.

A last stopover was required and the only place we could find that was open was a small site in "Puzol" near Sagunto.We were both very tired and when we pulled up outside our hearts sank, It looked like a dump. A quick bit of research revealed tat we had no choice but to use it.

The main avenue in the site looked like the high street Mumbai. The Spanish have a habit of creating what looks like shanty towns from old caravans, sheets of plastic and corrugated  metal. It also looked abandoned like a scene from a nuclear disaster film. The large murals of graffiti were especially inviting.  Anyway the touring section at the rear wasn't that bad after all .

The next day we made it to Camping Majal. This site, near Catral.  is brand new and is absolutely huge . 

We met with our friends from Motorhome Fun and have now set up home for the next month.

despite its newness and lack of greenery it is a fantastic place and the facilities, pool and spa are second to none.

 

So far we have immersed ourselves in Spanish culture and ate in a couple of English Bars.

I think a separate blog entry all about it will follow soon 

 

Anorak Corner

 

Aire in Canterbury     N51.26146     E01.10032

Aire in Chateaudun    N48.11230     E01.32828

Aire in Pyrenees         N42.90999     W00.61923

Camping Pucol           N43.927         W04.3922