Saturday evening.

By the time we got back from Vera we were knackered and all I really wanted to do was lie down and have a rest, but we had agreed we would go out and listen to some Music and we couldn’t let people down. The fact it was only Jaki and I was irrelevant.

So we quickly got changed and headed down to the Bus Stop in time to catch the Yellow bus along the Playa, getting off just before Lemoni Roundabout, thus named because of Calla Lemonar (I assume) but we call it that because there is a restaurant called Ramo de limon situated right on that roundabout.

This place holds a place in our hearts.

When we first came to Mojacar (in about 1996-97) the instructions we were given for finding our newly purchased time share at La Parata said. “Turn right at Lemon roundabout”.

There was then a frightening drive up the hill to the La Parata complex in the dark. It is steep and winding with several hair pin bends which are now protected by barriers but then, they were exposed to the sheer drop on one side.

We had reviewed the entertainment on offer and decided to head for a bar we had never visited (and probably never will again) called Cowboy Kennys where a Roy Orbison Tribute act was playing.

Now I had some reservations about this venue, primarily because anything with ‘Cowboy’ in the title is obviously suspect.

‘Cowboy Builders’ & ‘Cowboy Plumbers’ comes to mind.

I mean, who in their right mind would buy a car from a showroom that called itself ‘Cowboy Car sales’ so going to a Restaurant that called itself ‘Cowboy’ raised some concerns?

As we approached, we could see there were some tables set up outside, most had Reserved signs on them, and there was a small amp, a mike stand and about 37 miles of cables, laid out on what was the improvised stage. Clearly we weren’t going to be able to sit outside and have a beer whilst watching the entertainment.

So we went inside, ordered a drink and sat at a table just inside the door where we could hear the music without being able to see the stage.

There was country music playing over the loud speaker and a rather strange guy dressed in black Stetson, Black full length leather jacket and cowboy boots, with spurs, sauntered in like a gun slinger, shook hand with jack Law who was slouched at the bar, with three fingers of red eye, and then went back outside.

Of all the times I needed my camera it was then. But I had left it on charge as the battery was flat when we got back from Vera. Jaki had her phone but she hasn’t any Roaming Data so she can use her camera but cant send or receive without Wifi. So I was unable to get a shot of this guy but he did cut quite a pose. This octogenarian dressed like Lee van Cleef.

The waitress came and asked us if we were eating and we agreed to look at the menu.

Now, without going over ‘old ground’ most of you will know I’m on healthy eating regime so Cowboy Kenny’s ‘Bar and Que’ menu wasn’t ever gonna be high on my priority list, but we were starving and having studied the menu, we thought we could navigate to some thing at least reasonably healthy. My Bad.

Jaki with burger and chips

The actual menu itself wasn’t printed with the visually impaired in mind and with the limited lighting inside the building I found it hard to read. Then I found the layout a bit confusing.

I chose my meal from the section marked ‘Wraps” rather than the section marked ‘Burgers”.

I thought I had chosen a BBQ Chicken breast Wrap with Salad.

What I ended up with was a Breaded Chicken fillet in a Burger Bun with Chips and Coleslaw!

Jaki fared slightly better in that her Chicken was breadcrumb free. A small victory.

It was a bit of a disaster but we ate what we could. I smothered mine in some spicy sauce that was brought to the table(presumably to smother the taste of the food) but even with that addition, it wasn’t very good.
Now Ive promised not to review our dietary choices in these blogs but this one did warrant a mention in that it was everything I try to avoid. Sorry Cowboy.

I learned on Facebook this morning that ‘Kenny’ has gone off to America to compete in a BBQ cooking competition. Good luck with that Kenny.

Then from some where behind the bar, maybe even from the Kitchen appeared the man himself.

Spot the real Roy Orbison

‘Roy Kelton Orbison’ strode out into the sunshine wearing a black wig, a black suit and Black sunglasses. In certain lights, with your eyes closed, he looked just like Roy Orbison.

It’s a bit like Elvis impersonators. They only ever do the ‘Fat Las Vegas Elvis’ and never the leather jackets and Blue Jeans singer of his youth.

I went outside to get some photos (my intention was to snap the guy in the cowboy outfit but I couldn’t get him).

Roy was singing his own composition called “Crying” which is one of my all time favourites, (especially the version by Don Mclean) so i decided to take a little video. Sadly I’m too tight to pay WordPress for the full package so I cant share the video with you, you’ll just have to trust me.

Roy Orbison is known for his ‘distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads’. Sadly as I video’d our imposter he tried to hit some of the more ‘Complex and Powerful notes’ but what came out sounded like someone had run over his toe with a trolley.

It was awful. Which was a shame as until then, he had pulled off the illusion reasonably well.

We chose this as our cue to leave and slipped out of Cowboy Kenny’s and said farewell to the man in Black and rode off into the sunset.

We galloped across the prairie to Ankara where the All Ska’s were delivering a predicable set to a packed house with almost as many people sat on the sea wall. Usually there are groups of people in Ankara that we know and its nice to say hello but on this day we didn’t recognise anyone. Though strolling along with his ever faithful dog was an old friend Jack from the Bowling Club.

Our next port of call was Hola Ola one of our favourite venues, though its a bit Marmite with the ex-pats. Some dont like it. Its ‘too Spanish’ and there is a suggestion that the Spanish get preferential treatment over the Brits, but that isn’t my experience.

It is a busy bar and the staff work incredibly hard, particularly when there is a popular Spanish band playing (Like we saw there a week or two ago, It was rammed to the gills and getting to the bar let alone getting served was a nightmare).

Luckily it wasn’t too busy for Odyssey on Saturday so we bought a drink and watched the band for an hour or so in relative comfort before our last port of call, Cosmos.

Now this little beach side bar has a French influence and offers a predominantly Veggie menu, heavy on fish dishes. It’s slightly more expensive than most places but you pay for the venue which is mellower than some of the other beach bars along the playa.

We bought a drink and sat watching the Surf as the Sun went down.

It was a fitting way to end a very busy day.

.

A little light rain

1st May

I’m sat watching the rain fall through the open door and the smell of fresh rain is intoxicating.

I can hear distant thunder vibrating in the hills behind the house and all the birds, which I was cursing earlier for making such a din, have vanished.

soaking 2022

This time in 2022 we were in the campervan staying at El Cantal Campsite and it rained non stop for 3 days. The camp site was awash.

This year the site appears to be almost empty as it has been sold for redevelopment ( they really need more apartments and Hotels) so as campers leave, they aren’t being replaced.

It’s been a lovely sunny morning but the forecast said rain due about midday and they were right.

RMT Hat

Now i know we didnt come to Spain for rain (even though they desperately need it) but its warm enough to have the doors open so we are sat reading and listening to the drumming of the rain on the tiles outside.

I woke up early this morning but felt good. I had slept well so I was keen to get up and make some Tea. Sue had given us a hand full of English T bags last night when we called to see them.

They kindly lent us sheets, pillows, Pillow Cases and Duvet covers so we didn’t have to carry them on the plane. So we went down to collect them yesterday evening. We obviously stayed and had a drink and a catch up.

However, I fear they had an ulterior motive.

It seems they wanted ‘Someone’ to stay in their apartment for a Month in September whilst they were away. I know, It’s a shitty job, looking after a beach front apartment for the whole of September (when the weather is perfect) but hey, some one has to do it.

As no one else volunteered we felt obliged to offer.

So we will just have to come to terms with the fact we will be here again at the end of the Summer.

Bummer!

The landlord of our rented house is Dutch and I think they must be a Nation of Coffee drinkers as there is all the Coffee making paraphernalia to make your own filter coffee. When we first rented, there was no kettle and we had to buy one, which lives here permanently now.

So, when we arrived yesterday they had kindly left us a few provisions.

Some semi skimmed milk ( a good bet when you dont really know peoples taste), some bread (white sliced). Some butter and a box of English T bags.

But the T Bags were horrible, (Sorry Paul).

When i visited the shop this morning they had this brand of T Bag in the British section so I suspect people think this is what we drink?

Unfortunately the temporary supply Sue gave us last night was fast running out and i needed a fresh supply, so I got ready to walk down the road and pay a visit to the local supermarket.

This is an interesting shop as its the only Supermarket between Garrucha and the Commercial Centre in the middle of Mojacar. So it’s handy.

Since we were last here they have had a revamp and the stock is almost exclusively targeted at English (UK) clients, with a range of familiar items. They were also one of the few supermarkets to be open today as its Labour Day and a National Holiday here in Spain.

I went with the intention of getting some basic breakfast provisions to tide us over till we could get to one of the bigger supermarkets but Jaki had a much more important agenda.

Shampoo and Shower Gel.

This apparently trumped anything else we might possibly need.

When I got to the shop it offered almost all the basics, but as I’m still trying to watch my weight (I had a bad diet day yesterday with a 3 course meal at lunchtime and a Pizza and Crawfish Tails for supper) so today I had resolved to be ‘on it’.

There was Yoghurt but it was the flavoured Yoghurt so loved by over weight Brits. There was bread, fresh ‘wood oven’ baked bread, but when i asked (using Google translate ) if they had Sour Dough, they said No. [Pan de masa fermentada]

However when I was browsing the isle’s I came across a loaf that looked to be slightly more healthy than ordinary bread. It had grains and seeds in it and it was reasonably low carb at 38 grams per 100g. so I bought it.

To my surprise when I got home and translated the writing on the wrapper, it was Sourdough. Result!

I bought a bottle of Extra virgin Olive Oil too but that wasn’t such a good buy. When i went to put it away in the cupboard there were two full bottles, one at least was what we left last time we stayed.

On the way home from the shop I stopped at Dani (a small Cafe come shop that has a great balcony) where I had a cup of Coffee and i couldn’t resist buying some huge Tomatoes.

The Tomatoes and coffee came to €3.

We sat on the front porch and had our first breakfast in the sunshine.

Luckily we had finished by the time the clouds started to thicken and the thunder rumbled in the distance.

Now we are sat indoors.

jaki is once again in conversation with Motorway.

She has been trying to sell a van for about three month’s now but Motorway seem completely incapable of managing this. They have lost paperwork, e mails and communication with their customer service department in South Africa (?) is almost impossible.

Despite explaining things repeatedly, they phone every few days and ask the same questions once again.

Avoid them at all cost.

We plan to meet up with Dave G later this evening for a Curry but I suspect the rest of the day will be spent avoiding the rain.

Pre Travel Nerves.

28/4/24

You would think by now we would be good at this pre travel preparation malarkey, yet we are still suffering the ‘Pre-travel anxiety’.

We fly at 6.30 Tuesday morning, so it’s an early start.

Usually I wake up about 6.30 and I’m up and about by 7.

But you can bet your bottom dollar (When someone says “bet your bottom dollar,” it implies that the person would wager his last remaining money on the chances that the event in question will come to pass) on Tuesday, when the alarm rings, I won’t want to get up.

My mate ‘Pete’ has offered to drive us to the airport so he will be here about 4-4.30.

He will now have a credit in the bank, so next time he needs a lift to the airport I will be his first port of call.

You still have to be at the airport a couple of hours before your flight. You can leave it to 40 minutes, but who wants to be in ‘Panic Ass Mode’ when you’re starting your holiday.

The drop off is annoying. Bristol Airport charges a ridiculous fee for a 10 minute drop off and they have made it so you aren’t allowed to pull in or stop anywhere in the airport or, which is odd, on the roads leading up to the airport.

If I’m honest, I would much prefer to be driving down to Spain. I kind of like the journey by Ferry.

It feels like the adventure starts as soon as you leave the house.

I used to be a bit scared of the Ferry crossing given I’m prone to a little ‘Mal de Mer’.

Now, I’m not so bothered, as long as I take a couple of travel sickness pills, I’m OK.

But this year we have chosen to fly, which is a whole new ball game.

I think Its gonna work out cheaper, the flights were £360.88 return for the two of us. Where as the Ferry crossing is £683 then you have a Cabin on top.(extra couple of hundred quid).

We used to book a Two Birth cabin when we were younger but that offers a bunk bed arrangement and neither of us are up to climbing onto the top bunk these days. Now we book a 4 birth cabin, which offers two single beds, on the ground floor. Its more expensive but much more comfortable.

We did, some years ago book reclining seats but it wasn’t very comfortable and we got very cold during the night. Also, Jaki’s snoring woke up all the people on deck 6.

I like the little cabins. They remind me of having a ‘Den.’

When I was a kid we used to dig a hole in the ground, which was always much harder than it sounds as we didn’t have proper tools, no spades or shovels. We dug with sticks and our bare hands. Then we went on the hunt for some corrugated tin sheet. There was always plenty lying around and when you lifted it, you often found a few slow worms too.

Once the tin was over the top of the hole, we back filled it with soil and if we were feeling really clever, we put the turf back in place.

Then we went on the hunt for old carpet or more often than not, an old rug which we laid out in the bottom of the den. All very cosy.

Come Bonfire night, for some reason we used to build our bonfire on top of the Den.

We would hide in the den to make sure other gangs didn’t come along and steal our fire wood or even worse, light our bonfire prematurely. What surprises me now is that no one ever got roasted alive having been in the den when it was set alight by kids from another street.

Some richer kids might have had ‘Tree Houses’ but we never even had a tree where we lived. We had our first tree when we moved to Sea Mills where we inherited a Cherry Blossom. My Bother and me were so excited. To have our own tree that we could climb whenever we wanted was a major status symbol.

But I still love a good Den.

I think that’s why Blokes love their Sheds, it’s just an extension of the child hood den.

Jaki has been packing and repacking suitcases for about a week now and gives me regular commentaries on which clothes she has decided to take and which have been discarded.

Did you know, the only clothes she has that are suitable are ‘cream or Black’?

Who would have thought it!

Currently we are weighing the cases on the bathroom scales. I did buy a suitcase weighing device but you had to hold it up in the air whilst the Suitcase swung around like a pendulum. It was great for the biceps.

The small Case has come in at 18.5 Kilos and the big one, 20.3 kilos, so we should be Ok.

I have been making a list of last minute jobs which need to be done before we leave which includes:

Locking all the windows. Locking the garden gates. Locking the garage. I’m hoping Pete will put my black bin out on Wednesday evening and bring it in again on Thursday.

One unusual job I did this week was to find a Foster Home for my seedlings.

When I came back from Spain last yera I brought home some seed from black Tomatoes that we bought and ate there. So I wanted them and put them on a heat mat wit a grow light above ( this is all stuff I had from when I grew Micro Greens during lockdown) and they all grew.

But now I needed someone to look after them whilst we are away.
It’s no good asking Georgia. Last time I appointed her Head Gardener she killed all my 20 year old Bonsai Trees as well as all my plants in pots and those in the Green house.

Steve offered to help but he worries too much. Last time I left some Chilli plants in his care, the Chillies were fine but he was a Gibbering Wreck when we got home.
Cary is a gardener and I did drop some up for him to look after but he has Tomato Blight so they can’t go out in his garden.

I advertised on the local Face Book gardening site and a lady in Chipping Sodbury offered to Foster them till I got home as long as she could keep some.

I’m hoping Money, Cards and Passports are still OK after our Madrid trip but I have had one eye on our trip to Thailand which we have booked for January next year. [I’ll go into that in more detail later but just so you know].

I have been following several instagram accounts and I have loads of places to visit, loads of restaurants to eat at and some interesting accommodation to consider.

I have also been keeping an eye on some web sites that track airfares and Google flight tracker has proven quite useful. The random fare I chose to Bangkok on 21st October ( my pretend bIrthday Treat) was £1148 but is now £1267.

I have also down loaded an app called Pruvo which tracks you Hotel bookings. So let’s say you book a room on Booking.com with the option to cancel without charge. Prove will let you know if that same room is available cheaper before you actually have to pay the balance.

If you remember, I cancelled our room in Madrid and rebooked it a few days before we were due to go and saved several hundred pounds.

Well there are plenty of these Apps on line and there may be some better ones, but I am going to give this one a try.

Anyway, maybe time to give it a rest now. I have to get the Pork in the Oven for dinner as Jaki still can’t lift as her arm is in Plaster.

Traveling. 16th Sept 2018

So thats it, the hardest part is over.

We’re sat in our little Hotel room (Pension Provenzal) on the beach road, in Mojacar after about 60 hours traveling.

We chose this as a cheap over night option as it’s convenient enough, being beach front but there is a lot of traffic noise.

They seem to take Health and Safety seriously which is why the water in the shower is only warm and the bath seems to be stolen from a dolls house, its so small.

The décor is like staying with your aged aunt, lots of flowery stuff and nothing matching.

But the beds are comfortable, it’s clean and there is a restaurant which seems to be linked to a Chiringuito across the road on the beach. One of the staff is constantly running across the road, dodging traffic clutching a plate of salad or a bowl of chips.

We ate there on the evening as it was convenient but lots of the menu was unavailable and I suspect they are running things down for the end of the season.

What we had was Ok though, a swordfish steak and chips for me and Sardines for Jaki, plus a bottle of organic wine for 40 Euros.

There is a bus stop right outside so if you wanted to get around it is very convenient.

Admittedly most of the time we were on the Ferry we didn’t have to do much, but we have driven about 700 miles in the last couple of day’s with a slight shudder on the steering ( I think might be caused by my new tyre not being balanced properly) which started to drive me mad.

We made good time today (Monday) arriving much earlier than expected. The actual journey isn’t really that long ( total about 10 hours) if you discount the traffic entering Madrid.

We first came across traffic about 70-80 Kilometres north of Madrid on the A1.

We we’re flying along with the cruise control set at 70 miles an hour (just under the 120 kilometre speed limit) when we came upon some heavy traffic. This gradually got worse until it became stop start, and that lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

We missed a trick when we were offered the option of crossing the reservation and traveling down the contraflow on the opposite carriageway.

Those that did kept up a steady speed almost all the way into Madrid.

Those of us that were too chicken to risk it, sat in traffic the whole way!

By the time we got to our overnight hotel (La Parada) it was dark and we were knackered.

So we weren’t best pleased when they tried to make us pay cash for our room despite having paid in advance to Booking.com.

I suspected there would be an issue when I booked.

It said the Hotel didn’t accept American Express but that I could pay Bookings.com up front, which I did.

(I’m desperate to spend £1000 on my new Amex card then I get 5000 extra Avios points).

The reception guy was adamant the Hotel didn’t take Amex (it was, he said too expensive) and they never took payment in advance.

I showed him the email from Bookings.com .

But he couldn’t read English so it made no sense to him.

Luckily he phoned Bookings.com and spoke to their help desk, when he handed me the phone I was able to give my booking reference and the Pin number to the lady and she assured e we were paid up.

The lady spoke Spanish so I handed her back to the night porter.

After a lot of walking around and a series of one arm gestures, he approached us and sheepishly apologised, telling us everything was ‘OK’.

We were so knackered we couldn’t be bothered with showering and all those niceties so we dumped our cases in the room and headed for the bar.

We’ve stayed here before so we knew the kitchen would be closed but they have some great Tapas options so we went for two Bacon and two Chicken sarnies (well, Jaki left the choice to me and I wasn’t gonna be having anything fancy at that time of night).

Two glasses of cheap red wine and we were made up (Jaki ate both her sarnies which upset me some what) and we were off to bed.

The Ferry crossing wasn’t very memorable.

The weather was calm and life onboard was mainly eating and sleeping.

We took a huge bag of home made sandwiches, some rather nice scotch eggs, crisps, snacks and a selection of miniature bottles of wine which we guzzled at various stages throughout the trip whilst sat on our bunks. The dog in the cabin next door howled incessantly whilst their caring owners sat in the bar or restaurant. However, it would have been far more sensible to have taken all red wine as the white couldn’t be kept cool so didn’t taste great.

We did manage to get a glass of ice from the bar which helped with the tin of pre mixed G & T that jaki greedily kept to herself, telling me ‘I probably wouldn’t like it’.

We also helped ourselves to some boiling water from the coffee machine in the restaurant with the intention of making a flask of tea to take with us but the flask leaked and then it smelt of stagnant water and no amount of washing would get rid of it. That ended up in the bin.

The only luxury we allowed ourselves was Sunday Lunch.

A roast Beef extravaganza, French style. In fact they gave me two huge slices of beef some great chips and a pile of peas all smothered in pepper sauce.

Sadly the beef had absolutely no flavour and the pepper sauce had never seen a peppercorn so it was filling without being tasty.

I had tried to down load a few things from Netflix to watch on the way but when I went to view it had failed to down load due to ‘an error’ so it was reading or nothing.

I keep meaning to down load some podcasts or spoken word books to listen to in the car but as yet I haven’t gotten around to it. Jaki suggested we get some CD’s at the charity shop and listen to them, so that’s our mission this week.

Back on the road this morning we avoided the direct route from Ontigola, (Aranjues) as that has toll’s.

I’m gonna do some home work and look at the difference’s between the routes and see if there is a saving worth the additional travel time?

Instead we headed for Valencia then changed direction and went through Albacetti where we visited George Morris some years ago when he was teaching there.

The road was fairly flat and straight and apart from a stop to fill up with diesel there wasn’t much to break the boredom. The fields this time of year seem to be full of dead sun flower’s, their heads drooping in scorched rows.

The ‘soldiers of the wind’ (turbines to you) were doing their thing. Row upon row of them.

As we got further south the weather got worse and it got very hot and threatened to rain.

However, when we hit Mojacar the sun came out and it was a really pleasant evening.

Mike, the apartment owner had phoned and we agreed to meet him this evening and he will show us all that we need to know, then he can be away early tomorrow.

We walked up there this afternoon to see if we could find the house. We didn’t have the house number but we did have some random photos so we played detective.

The complex is just up from the beach road, just about at the limit of my range until I get my new knee, hopefully next year. Any further and I might struggle.

So now Jaki is catching up on her sleep and I’m trying to remember what I’ve done in the last couple of days and make it sound interesting enough that people will read it without dozing off.

How did I do?

Hello…….

Beware of things that fly. Mojacar. May 2018

So it’s the last week and we’ve started packing things away ready for the journey home, which starts on Saturday the 19^th May.

I had hoped to have some where booked for next September but so far, we have nothing.

Our banker was Pierre Vacance who had on two occasions agreed we could rent a three bedroom apartment for €575 a month from September but when we went in this week to pay a deposit there was a different guy in reception and he told us .

“No Posible”.

The problem being that September is still classed as a ‘Holiday’ let month where owners imagine they will get €600 a week for a property that in the winter period will only make €600 a month, so they hold out in the hope of getting ‘2 bird’s in the bush rather than one in the hand.’

I would bet good money that 50% of Pierre Vacance will be left empty in September, but they still prefer that to taking a cheaper rental.

As a result of this unwanted news we’ve been back to visiting the estate agents to see if anything new has come on the market.

We had 4 viewings with Blue Sea Villa’s last week but nothing was suitable, in fact we had already discounted 2 of the properties so I don’t know why they took us to view?

Lots of places are way up the hill and it will mean I have to drive each time we go out. I don’t drink a lot but it’s nice to be able to walk out and get a beer now and again without worrying.

So we revisited BSV and spoke to the guy behind the desk who shrugged a lot and said ‘come back when one of the other staff was there’ (even though there were 4 other staff in the office) so we turned to leave.

Then another guy came after us and asked what we were looking for and said they had a property they thought might be suitable. There was a lot of chat about it but no one could find the property details and when they did the photos weren’t up to date.

Its amazing how many estate agents have told us that over the last few days.

However, they agreed to send us the photos via e mail and if it looked suitable we could arrange a viewing.

To date we haven’t heard anything from them.

NB: As I was typing this blog an e mail came in asking if I’d received the information they sent yesterday and it looks like they sent a series of Jpeg images but didn’t say where the place was or how much they wanted in rent, so were still no better off. Since then we called in the office and Wendy explained this was a long term let (11 months) so wouldn’t really be suitable for us at this stage).

Yesterday we wandered down to meet an English guy who has a 3 bed apartment beach front right at the end of the playa for which he wanted €500 including bills.

It would have been perfect as its a big place, nice and clean with a well equipped kitchen and three bedrooms but its on the third floor and there is no lift, plus there is no parking outside, so getting shopping up the stairs would be hard work.

As we were leaving he asked me if ‘I was in the Job’ and it turns out he’s ex Plod from the Met and recognised me as either a copper or a Fire fighter. How did he do that?

He said it was the Limp. Apparently all ex-Fire fighters have a limp.

Afterwards we visited yet another Estate Agents, one we haven’t visited before (we didn’t know he was there though George say’s he’s been there for 20 years) and he said he might have some thing suitable. When we told him our budget (€600 plus bills) he withdrew most of the properties which he was hoping to let to us at about €1000 for Sept, slightly less for Oct and then winter rates for November.

However, he did give us lots of useful information and we stayed there for a good while talking about the property market in Mojacar. Apparently there are some places, primarily beach front, that are let 90% of the year. Then there are places ‘up the hill’ that can only expect a 25% let each year.

It seems location really is everything.

He did have one property that might be suitable 19 Lomos Blancos for which (after a lot of fiddling and moaning about ‘slow wifi) he found some photo’s.

They were attached to an old email and it did look as if it had possibilities, so we drove up there and had a look.

The property looked OK and the urbanisation was quite pretty with a nice garden and pool. It benefits from being very peaceful as its off the main road.

He agreed to send us the details and a price for the 3 months we wanted.

NB: I have this afternoon received a phone call saying they will send me the details via e mail but as yet they haven’t arrive. After several phone calls he did send photos but we had to ask for additional information like, is there TV and Parking. It was like extracting teeth we had to get each piece of information bit by bit.

I also got an e mail Wednesday morning from Price Brown (the agent were currently with) telling me they had a two bed apartment come in for the dates we wanted in a little urbanisation called Oasis del Mar but they wanted €700 for Oct and Nov and even more for September so that wasn’t any use.

Most agents don’t seem willing to negotiate, they would sooner let a place stay empty than take a reduced rent. If I was an owner I would want to know why?

Our best option to date has been with D & D Estate Agents who showed us a front line, two bed in the same urbanisation ( Oasis del Mar ) at €650 with bills on top and he suggested this could be up to €150 a month.

It was a nice apartment, very clean, in a good location with a pool and underground parking so we agreed to think it over and get back to him by Thursday as we had to Consider the additional expenditure.

It also had a slot meter for the air-con, so you have to feed it 2 Euro coins and I don’t know how good a value that would be and whether it could get expensive?

There was also no additional heating (other than the air con unit) so it might get a bit cold?

He did have another property that sounded interesting.

It was in our preferred location further up the Playa toward Garrucha. In fact the other side of Pierre Vacance, just behind the Butchers.

We know people who live in that street and a lot of the bowlers live around that area so it would be a good venue for us.

However at time of writing he still hasn’t heard back from the owners who are in the UK so we haven’t as yet made a decision.

We waved goodbye to Ivor and Jan today. They stayed with us for two nights.

Ivor is an old buddy from my RMT days.

I remember him primarily because he was always laughing, a real larger than life character and secondly because he never (ever) eats anything green. Which is handy on a date as he’ll never have lettuce stuck in his teeth.

Salad is like Kryptonite to Ivor!

So finding places for him to eat was a challenge.

Definitely nothing experimental, no mystery Tapas or Spanish meal’s of unknown origin.

This was a ‘meat and two veg’ mission.

Luckily we’re surrounded by restaurants, so there were loads of options.

He found the Irish Rover for lunch under his own steam but on the first night he really fancied Fish and Chips.

So after a few drinks we headed up to TWISTER a fish and chip restaurant that has a pretty good reputation.

Sadly when we got there they had run out of Fish.

Can you believe that, a fish restaurant running out of fish?

It’s like the old joke about the restaurant that advertised it could offer any meal.

So a bloke walked in and asked for. “A Pickled Panthers Penis Sandwich.” Which beat them because they’d run out of bread.

So we headed down to Badgers, a well established English restaurant where we knew we would get some thing suitable.

However, when we got there it was quiz night and the place was rammed.

They did find us a table but it was extremely frustrating having to sit through the quiz without being able to answer the questions, especially when we knew the answers.

This got a bit too much for Ivor who couldn’t resist shouting them out between mouth fulls of Pie and Chips.

When the server brought the menu’s she leaned across me, and gently whispered in my ear.

I thought I’d pulled till she said.

“Thanks for the review on Trip Advisor”!

I’d visited earlier in the week and had a Fat Boys Breakfast which l reviewed.

Luckily I gave it a good review as she recognised me and knew it was me ‘Wot dun it’.

It would have been terribly embarrassing if I’d been really critical of their food.

So be warned.

The second night was a no brainer.

El Gaucho for a steak though, when we got there they were obviously busy and short of staff plus the BBQ pit at the front of house was cold and the cooking was being done in the kitchen at the back.

I became more concerned when a lady sent her rack of Lamb back three times. Was my recommendation going to fail?

Luckily the food (as usual) was excellent and Ivor declared it one of the best steaks he’d ever eaten, though Jane’s Kebab was a bit ordinary and they originally served it cold so it had to go back to the kitchen.

A few drinks in Jose’s on the way home rounded off a nice evening and this morning Ivor and Jan’ set off for a few days exploring this part of Spain.

They seemed relaxed and I hope they enjoyed their stay however I’ve since been reprimanded by Jaki for going up to the end of the terrace to read my paper in the sun. Apparently that was rude?

I did pay a heavy price for this misdemeanour. Whilst I was sat there two squabbling Sparrows so intent on doing each other harm managed to fly into my ear with such a wallop! They fell to the ground and I sat there seeing stars.

We also hear that our neighbours glass topped balcony table took to the skies in the high winds and flew over the wall smashing onto the pavement 12 feet below.

Ivor took some good pictures whilst he was here. Getting up at six in the morning to catch the sunrise was a bit premature as the sun doesn’t come up till 8am.

He forgot we are an hour ahead here in Spain!

He might be a master with the Lumix camera but he cant work an alarm clock and he had no idea how to use a fly swatter, trying to poke them to death with the handle isn’t the best method of pest control.

After they left we spent some time revisiting the estate agents to confirm what was on offer.

This was exhausting work as they don’t give you a package with all the details, they tell you a bit, then show you a bit on the screen, then talk some more, then send you some photos via email but without the name of the complex.

All very confusing.

By the time we got home we were ready for a Siesta on the sun beds but this was disturbed by some one down on the street shouting.

“Marge, let us in. Marge”!

Clearly Marge wasn’t having any of it as the shouting continued.

Then a hail of pebbles rained down all around us.

When I looked over the wall there were two old guys stood in the flower bed ready to launch another salvo over our ramparts. They appeared to be having a wonderful time till I asked them what they were doing, then they looked very sheepish, like naughty school boys.

It transpired they were from next door and had been in a bar where they got completely blathered. Their wives had walked off and left them to it but had taken the keys to the gate, so the two Curmudgeons were locked out.

The women were clearly in no hurry to let them back in so they had taken to throwing stones in order to attract attention.

Unfortunately they were so pissed they got the wrong balcony and I was subject to some sort of barbaric stoning.

Surely that’s a bit harsh even for being rude?

That evening we decided to use up all the food in the Freezer so we defrosted some Prawns and the last of the Bass Fillets. Jaki decided to boil some  new potatoes to go with it and put them in a pan of water on the stove.

Then she went out on the balcony and made a Face time Call to Georgia.

This must have gone on longer than planned or the conversation was so enthralling she forgot about the spuds and I suddenly smelt burning. When I got to the kitchen it was full of black smoke as the water had completely boiled away.

When I carried the charred remains out onto the balcony I was admonished for letting it happen.

Apparently I ‘should have smelt it sooner’!

Funny old life isn’t it?

Driving from Mojacar to Alicante Airport. Friday 13th April

Just a quick factual blog for anyone who is considering driving from Mojacar to Alicante, perhaps to collect some one as we did.

I left Mojacar at about 6 pm and drove to Alicante Airport in just over 2 hours, even though I maintained a fairly steady 60 miles an hour using Cruise Control.

It was I think, around 220 Kilometres door to door and almost a straight run up the A7 to Murcia then A70/ E15 at Elche, and off on the N338 for the last few kilometres to the airport.

We only noticed one sign to the ‘Aeropuerto’ on our journey and this could easily be missed so be mindful.

There were a lot of HGV’s on the journey up but very little in our direction on the way back though there were still loads going in the other direction throughout the night.

When we got to the airport we followed the signs to Arrivals Parking and there was a big multi story car park right opposite the terminal.

We drove in, took a ticket (on the wrong side for British car’s so good job Jaki was riding shotgun) and parked on level 3.

I suggest you make a note of your level and the parking space number as it can get confusing.

It might be easier to park on level 4 as you have to go up to that level to access the walk way across to the terminal. Once there the arrivals is down a short escalator and departures is up.

If you intend to eat I suggest going up to departures where there is a slightly bigger choice though it is still limited. We had a Chicken Wrap in Burger King at €4 each and although expensive it was bloody lovely.

Food appears to be very expensive at the airport with a sandwich costing €5.25 each. If you can, bring your own food or stop just outside the airport. There is a Motorway services about 6 Kilometres out which i suspect would be better value?

At the terminal signage was clear and simple with the Ryan Air flight from Bristol on time.

We waited at the gate and watched the Stag and Hen do’s arriving rather noisily and often the worse for wear, on their way to Benidorm and other such places.

My Daughter told us her flight was full of groups of young men who were pissed and making a hell of a din all the way. Not a very pleasant experience as Ryan Air force people to sit separately so she had to sit next to this mob.

However, they arrived safely and after paying €4.40 for parking at the machine just outside the lifts (we made sure we had plenty of Euro Coins) we were on our way again.
The hardest bit was getting back out of the airport complex in the dark but the sat nav (Co- Pilot) worked perfectly and we soon found ourselves cruising down the Autopista back to Mojacar.

We were very tired when we got back to the apartment but the kids were starving so we had sandwiches for supper and were in bed by 0100hrs.

If you have to do this trip, don’t panic.

It is relatively simple, easy to drive and cheap enough to park. Even in the dark

Just avoid the food prices unless you really want a Burger King Whopper, then, Go For it.

Rainy weekend in Mojacar. 18th March 2018

Another wet weekend in Spain

The dream of moving to Spain and having year round sunshine, or at least pleasant weather has been shattered.

To be fair, most people are saying the same thing.

“We’ve been out here 14 years and this is the worst we’ve known it”.

Well that doesn’t help.

When Jaki and I went to Vietnam they had the worst weather they had ever experienced and we had to re-arrange our schedule as 32 people had died in a Typhoon (or was it a Hurricane) the week we were due and we didn’t want to add to their misery by having us bimbling around getting into trouble.

So, Spain you should have known!

It’s not like we hadn’t done our home work. We checked the weather on a daily basis since last November and everyone was in agreement, they had wonderful weather right up until March, when we arrived.

We did expect some rain, and from past experience, we knew it could get a bit breezy, particularly late afternoon but we thought having an apartment we would be in a position to ride it out in comfort.

Well, thats not the case.

If I said.

“HEATING & SEATING” you would understand.

Lets do HEATING first.

When you come out to Spain in the winter you will need to turn on the heating at some point so you need to know what’s available and is it suitable?

The heating here (as in most rental apartments) consists primarily of an air conditioning unit that can also blow warm air.

However, the unit didn’t work at all in the first week and even though it has now been repaired it isn’t really up to the task of keeping this rather large apartment warm.

It also makes a hell of a din (as does next door when they have their heating on) with a vibration that travels throughout the building and is most prominent in Jaki’s bedroom where it shakes the wardrobe doors.

So, when I get up in the morning I cant put the main heating on as it wakes her up.

There is a little coal effect blown air electric fire which if you have turned up fully can defrost the first 6 foot of lounge space but isn’t very good at heating the whole room.

Primarily most of the hot air travels up the open plan stair case to the landing which I guess is a great design feature in the summer when its hot but is a disaster at this time of year. The obvious solution would be to partition off the stairs and have a door at the bottom but this part of the house is already very dark, there is no natural light, so it would make that issue much worse.

Option three (If you ignore wearing your coat in door’s or wrapping yourself in blankets) is the portable calor gas fire which is quite effective but is an unknown cost (how much will they charge us for a refill of the gas) and is in my opinion a slightly risky appliance.

If you rent one of the house’s in the country you might be lucky enough to find one with a wood burning stove and that would make a hell of a difference.

If like us, you want to be close to the beach and all the amenities, you will like as not have to rent an apartment (unless you’ve got some serious money to spend) and some of the more modern ones have English style central heating with water filled radiators, though these are the exception to the rule.

The other disadvantage is that the modern developments are either further back from the beach (definitely not anything classed as front line) or in Vera Playa which is gorgeous but offers very few amenities. There are bars and restaurants but not as many as here in Mojacar and they may well be closed out of season.

They also don’t have a very good or frequent bus service, so if you are relying on that as your primary means of transport it could be problematic.

If staying warm isn’t a major concern there is a huge nudist resort on Vera Playa which attracts thousands of people from all over Europe.

The thought of all those dangly bit’s blue with cold does little for me so Christmas at Vera Nudist Beach wont be high on our to-do list.

SEATING

The second major issue for us is seating.

What is provided here is old fashioned, rather ugly, in need of a good clean and down right uncomfortable.

If you have to spend a rainy Saturday and Sunday in doors watching repeats of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ on Dave (which seems to be very popular here) then you really do need to be sitting comfortably.

We are struggling with this and Jaki in particular is getting neck ache and then head aches if she sits on the settee too long.

Its also very gloomy as there is no natural light so SAD sets in after a few hours and you are forced despite the weather to venture out.

I suspect there is a risk to go out and ‘have a drink’ as means of overcoming long tedious periods of boredom brought on by bad weather.

Let’s be fair, most people come here for the weather and expect to be outside more often than not, so if you can’t get outside, what is there to do apart from go drinking?

If you sit in any of the bar’s you will soon notice the Regulars. The ex-pats who like a drink.

They also like to smoke and if you sit (even outside) in a bar for very long you start to smell of fag Smoke.

They tend to sit in the same places, usually in the same company but quite often alone, staring into space for hours on end.

We spent an good hour talking to a guy who drinks in the bar below us.

He told us of his life before coming to Spain, how he ran a shop in Glastonbury, bought and sold Vinyl records and was heavily into Jazz music. He also hinted at a broken marriage, bankruptcy, drug abuse and some mental illness ?

It was an interesting story, poignant and slightly sad.

A day or so later we saw him in another bar and said hello, but he didn’t recognise us and preferred to sit with his head in his hands nursing a coffee.

Ex Pats could not survive here without British TV and we have spent far too long watching TV for my liking. Ive even started watching the One Show which I usually hate with a passion but we are an hour ahead of the UK so 8 pm here is 7pm in the UK and if the One Show is the best available, then you have to watch. This may well demonstrate just how bad early evening TV is in the UK if this is the best worst option.

We even watched Casualty this week end.

Amazing to see Charley and Duffy doing the same thing they did 30 years ago and the new young student Doctor was now the master surgeon!

I remember back at the beginning when the crew and actors of Casualty used to park their trucks in the yard at Temple Fire Station and would often come up and eat Cheese-On’s with the lads on duty.

That was when Casualty was a cutting edge programme that dealt with the real political agenda of the day and challenged the Government on a range of issue, especially around the NHS and 999 services. Last weeks was just Pap. It was just another soap with romance and personal relationships as the main theme.

We tried our best to get out over the week end, Bowling Saturday morning whilst it was still sunny. Then we did some shopping at the Mercadona in Garrucha.

Later the Rugby was on TV and the plan was to go down to one of the bars which show sports (probably the Irish Bar across the road) and watch England stuff the Irish in the last match. However, for some reason we started watching Scotland France and didn’t realise the England- Ireland match had already started.

By the time we realised and switched over, the damage had already been done.

The thought of standing in an Irish Bar and experiencing yet more humiliation was too much so we finished watching in the ‘comfort’ of our own apartment.

Afterwards neither of us felt like going out so we battened down the hatches, cooked some rather nice Chicken breast marinated in Herbs and spices and wrote Saturday off.

Sunday morning seemed fine and Jaki set off on her power walk up the beach in full sunshine.

I took the bike and went off in search of some off road trails which I found just behind the football stadium mid way between Mojacar and Garrucha though I forgot to turn STRAVA on initially so I didn’t map the route but it was about 12 miles round trip and it took me across some interesting though perhaps not attractive countryside dotted with wild flowers.

Jaki Text me to say she was now heading back to Bar BLU for coffee at about the same time I decided to turn around which was lucky because it started to rain and by the time I got to Bar Blu it was pissing down.

By the time we’d finished our coffee the rain had gotten heavier so I made a mad dash back to the house. I did offer to drive back and collect her but she was happy to finish her walk in the rain.

By lunch time we were stir crazy and decided to go out and find some Sunday lunch. There are two bars within spitting distance that offer a British Sunday Lunch but when we looked at them one was completely empty and the other was rammed full of people intend on getting as much Lager down them as they could in between stacking their plates as high as possible with Cabbage at the Sunday Carvery.

Neither option appealed so we went into a little restaurant that looked pleasant enough even though it only had two other customers.

Jaki went for the meal of the day starting with Carpaccio (very thinly sliced raw salmon) and a Pork in Roquefort sauce which was very good though a bit Blue Cheese strong and chose Coffee as a desert instead of Strawberry cake.

I went for the Hamburger served with chips and Chilli which was very good but gave me really bad indigestion later.

I made the mistake of sharing a bottle of wine with Jaki, which was the most Ive had to drink in months and afterwards I was in no fit state to go to another bar where they had live music.

Jaki forced me to walk along the prom in the rain, insisting it would make me feel better.

It didn’t Instead I felt exhausted and miserable. Like one of those family outings to Burnham on Sea when the weather is awful and the highlight of the day is sitting in a Fish and Chip Cafe with steamed up windows and blue checkered table clothes.

In the end I rebelled and threw myself petulantly onto a very wet bench over looking the Sea and refused to move. It was like being a rough sleeper without the Special Brew.

In the end Jaki relented and let me go home where I led on the settee and watched the FA Cup match between Leicester and Chelsea.

Jaki who was so against coming home fearing I would fall asleep, led on the Sofa and dropped off immediately!

So, its now Monday. Its a bit overcast and its not very warm.

It looks like another day of staying in doors and coaxing as much heat out of the fire as we cant get though Jaki says the forecast is predicting full sunshine between 1300- 1700 so if that holds, were going to go up to the bowls club and practice our shots.

If not, I’m back to sulking!

Settling in to Mojacar Life. 8th March 2018

B

What a difference a day makes,

24 little hour’s.

Brought the sun and the flower’s,

Where there used to be rain.

How true lyrics can be.

The last few day’s have seen the sun come out, the high wind’s die down and the temperatures start to climb. In fact, everything in the metrological world is back where it should be. This last week has been completely out of character for this part of Spain and most people haven’t known weather like it in years.

 

Today we drove up to Mojacar Pueblo to get some fresh produce from the farmers market, mainly veg but we were in need of some fresh herbs too and we sat out on ‘Plaza Parterre’, a small square in the old town and had a cold drink in the sunshine. 23º Was rather pleasant.

 

The markets not the best, the fresh produce section is small though a couple of the sellers are local farmers wives who have dug stuff up that morning to bring and sell. One lady even works out prices on a piece of paper with a pencil that she licks. Haven’t seen that in years.

The rest is Market Crap. T shirts, fake sun glasses and plastic stuff, all sold by north africans who presumably make enough of a living to avoid going back to some where less welcoming.

Yesterday we drove up to the bowls club to re-join and found they had a big celebration match taking place with several local teams playing. It was the 4^th Birthday of Mojacar Bowls Club and they were celebrating. There was a hell of a good lunch put on and the Hotel Marina Playa (that manages the club on behalf of the council) had cooked Paella and a seriously attractive Cheese cake.

Sadly Jaki and I had eaten breakfast just before we went out so we weren’t able to indulge, but that didn’t stop everyone else. Boy these guy’s know how to eat.

Our health has improved dramatically too.

Though we are still hacking away in three part harmony now at least little bits of lung tissue are being dislodged and discarded which leaves room for fresh new growth. There is a horrible ‘feeling’ in my lungs which has over the past week caused a ‘feeling’ of nausea in my stomach. This has meant I’ve eaten very little, drank almost no alcohol (the bit I did try made me feel ten times worse) and I’ve not wanted to do anything or go anywhere. Sleeping has taken up most of my time.

I’ve had to force myself out of bed in the mornings (with the apartment having almost no heating the bedrooms aren’t very warm so getting up is a bit of a challenge anyway) and then I fall asleep whilst drinking my first cup of Tea, nod off whilst sat on the Loo and have to take a nap during breakfast. Luckily, with the weather so bad there was little else to do so we simply slept around the clock.

The apartment has good wifi and there is English TV on a satellite system that once you get familiar navigating, work’s very well and we’ve been able to follow ‘Our Programmes’.

At home we like to watch TV together (three of us) between 9-10 pm and we try to choose a series that all of us are happy with. It might be on Netflix but there are some really good drama’s on BBC ( and ITV) which, with the help of replay or record we can binge watch.

Recent favourites have been Requiem, Collateral and McMafia though there are always the old favourites. No week would be complete without ‘Call the Midwife’ (well not since Sophie qualified anyway) and Gardeners World starts this Friday. Tonight in fact!

So once the sun has gone down, we’ve drawn the curtains, switched on the pretend coal fire and watched the Telly.

We’ve avoided the news, hard politics and major documentaries relying primarily on twitter to keep abreast of just how big a Twat Trump has been this week or just how deluded the Tory Party Brexiteers have become.

Though no one in Spain is the least bit interested in Brexit (apart from the expats who voted for it and now realise they’ve shot themselves in the foot). Most Spanish, and for that matter, Germans , Dutch etc think we’ve simply got a return of Mad Cow Disease.

My Mum always said.

“Don’t worry about thing’s you can do nothing about”.

Here in Spain, with a flu bug, that rules out most things.

But, as we’ve felt better we’ve started to expand our horizons.

On the way to Garrucha we stopped at a large complex called ‘Pierre Vacancies’ which we were told offered apartments on a winter rental basis.

For the first time the reception appeared to be open so we stopped and I went inside to make some enquiries.

They did indeed offer winter lets, a minimum of 3 x months at €575 per month for a three bedroom apartment. The guy gave me a set of keys and told me I could look at the apartments, then ushered me through a door at the back of the office.

Once the door closed I found myself in a long corridor (maybe 200 metres ) with rooms on one side and a blank wall on the other. The major problem was the total darkness.

Somewhere I’m sure, there were light switches, I just didn’t know where they were and I found myself stumbling along the corridor searching for a light switch like Patrick McGoohan in the Prisoner..

I eventually found one and realised that I was outside room 119 where as the keys he had given me were to room 307. I surmised I needed to go up two floors so set out in search of a staircase which I eventually found half way down the building. (Ive since been told they don’t let the ground floor in winter).

From here I found a lift and it didn’t take long to get to room 307 which was very nice, modern, clean with a balcony over looking the sea, plus it was about €300 cheaper than the one we were currently renting.

All I had to do now was find my way back out.

That didn’t go well and eventually I came out via the under ground car park, circled the building and re-enter the reception through the main doors.

Not my finest hour.

I also had a push me pull you moment with a Spanish Guy who clearly felt I was taking up too much space whilst unloading my trolly onto the conveyor belt at the Aldi check out.

He pushed my trolley up the Isle and started unloading his items before I had finished unloading mine. Inevitably this meant his good started traveling up the escalator whilst I was still unloading and I ended up putting my goods on top of his, which caused a deal of confusion for the check out girl who had to separate this Pik & Mix.

On the bright side we saw a good band called the Duotones at Bar Manifique on Sunday, they were well worth a watch.

One of the ladies at bowling is a big music fan and follows the music scene out here quite closely. She told us to watch out for two bands, Zimmerman and Los Vegas which she recommends.

There is a Mojacar Music Facebook site which is worth following too.

She also told us she had driven up to Granada for two weeks skiing recently and they had a 3 foot dump this weekend so the conditions were good.

We ate out at La Pika the other night as a sort of treat to see if we felt any better which we didn’t It has a great Menu with some very interesting items like Ostrich and Crocodile but still feeling a bit poorly, I was only interested in Fish and simply cooked fish at that. I chose the Salmon Fillet cooked in Dill & Orange Sauce.

 

Jaki had Prawns in Tempura batter.

Both were Ok, but not exceptional and it was very expensive.

A much better deal was on offer at The Millionaire Bar, Vera Playa. Some times you just want some thing simple. Comfort food. So after our first game of Bowls on Thursday morning we were starving and decided to get some thing for lunch. Sausage, egg and chips was spot on. Nicely cooked well presented, and for €5, great value.

So the days are starting to take shape, with the sunshine allowing us to get outside more, were starting to feel much better.

We called in the Municipal Swimming pool in Mojacar Pueblo and for €7 a day you can use the pool, the Gym, Sauna and all the facilities. For a whole day!

Even cheaper (€20 a month) if you’r over 60, which is great value. The pool is big, clean and its not crowded.

We need to start our cycling regime too.

The bowling cub has lots of social events planned (you know us we cant resist) which includes a lot of eating out in restaurants and inevitably, a lot of drinking, so we will need to ensure we burn off plenty of calories in between times.

More and more Bars and restaurants are starting to open so by the end of the month I suspect most of Mojacar will be in full swing.

Just in time for our visitors to start arriving.

Sunday in Mojacar. 4th March 2018

In the world of Science research they say mistakes and failures are as important and valuable as successes.

So too with our great life style experiment.

So far we’ve tried traveling around Asia living out of a suitcase (not quite back packing but some thing similar) and we loved it but the traveling was tiresome and we longed to stay in one place for a while.

The Camper van was fantastic. The ability to get up and chase the sun knowing you had all your ‘Stuff’ with you. Your own bedding, towels, even your own toilet. And always available. We found some great sites, often close to the beach and, perhaps importantly, we made friends. You cant help it when people next door are doing the same stuff as you, sat outside their van at night having a drink or cooking food. You have some thing in common, a bond

Here in the apartment we have English neighbours who we’ve spoken to as we passed on the stairs, but as yet we haven’t entered into any meaning full conversation with anyone.

The Caravan offered a degree of luxury that the camper didn’t have (though sleeping in the camper was much more comfortable) but to be honest towing it, especially with the bikes on the back, was a nightmare which made every journey far more stressful than it needed to be.

I think if the tow bar had been fitted properly (sorry LNB Tow-bars but despite what you told me, the ball hitch was far too low. The Jockey wheel shouldn’t keep hitting the ground should it)?

Then bits fell off as we were driving, and we sliced the roof open like a ripe peach, you get the impression caravanning just isn’t for us.

What we did enjoy was staying in one place for a long period (Mojacar about 6 weeks) which allowed us to join the local bowling club and sort of become established in the community, if only for a short while.

We developed routines (as some one who has always worked shift’s, first as a Nurse then as a Fire-Fighter) I always envied people with routines.

Those who said they always ordered ‘Pizza on a Friday night’ and went to ‘quiz nights on Wednesdays’. There was some thing solid about that. Not that we ever did it even when we had the chance. We were always so random, even when we were bringing up Georgia, she never had a routine, the poor kid never knew when she would get to eat or go to bed.

So when we rented the apartment for 3 months the idea was to get some routines. Play bowls a couple of times a week, join a Gym, find a swimming pool and swim 20 lengths every morning before breakfast, that kind of thing.

Renting here in Mojacar will we hope give us the opportunity to see if owning an apartment is the way to go and if so, should we buy here?

Its far too early to tell but we are already leaning some valuable lessons.

This apartment on paper looked ideal but I know now that I would not buy this place at any price.

Its too old, too dated and its been messed about with. The wiring has been added to, extended and altered to such a point it really wants coming out and re wiring. In fact the lighting fuse trips at least twice a day so you never know when you will have to walk around in total darkness.

The heating is completely inadequate. This is a big place, all open plan with marble floors and large patio doors which leak heat.

If you are gonna rent a property during the winter season.

CHECK OUT THE HEATING!

Spain can get very cold, the buildings aren’t insulated like they are in the UK and they aren’t comfortable if you have to sit watching Tv covered in Blankets.

Some places have traditional central heating with a boiler and radiators.

Others offer wood burning stoves.

DONT accept anywhere that has a two bar electric fire or a plug in oil filled radiator it just wont be man enough.

The lay out of this place is all wrong too. Having lived in it for a week we realise that the longe is so dark, there is no natural light and the kitchen is too small, too poorly equipped and far to dark to make it a relaxing place to spend any time. There is an outdoor cooking area but its too cold and wet to use so until the weather improves, this isn’t an option.

No, If we rented again we would ask a lot of searching questions about maintenance, cleaning regimes, heating, safety etc all of which are sadly lacking here. Yet the letting agents don’t seem bothered.

After our initial complaint and the confrontation with the caretaker no one has called to see if were Ok or whether all the issues have been resolved.

Tomorrow we will go down to the office and speak to the letting agent and see what she has to say but, so far, I do not recommend Price Brown. Though whether they are any worse than the others, we don’t know, all I can say is they aren’t very good.

The other thing we’ve realised is that Mojacar is a tourist place and out of season it has a cancer that eats away at its bones.

Garrucha, the next place up the coast is a proper working port and its alive 52 weeks of the year. Maybe if you are planning to stay out of Season that would be a better option. Even Albir, just up the coast from Benidorm is a nice place and with Alicante just half an hours drive away, perhaps that would be better winter destination. At least visitors could get to you easily.

So we continue to learn, but as yet we haven’t, unfortunately, found paradise but were still looking!

Four nights in Mojacar. 2nd March 2018

So we’ve just spent our fourth night here in Pueblo Diana, Mojacar Playa and it hasn’t been quite what we expected.

We’ve cracked the hygiene issues now and last night we cooked our first home cooked meal of Pasta (not my favourite but I have to concede it was bloody good) tomato sauce, mushrooms and peppers. Plus one or two Bell peppers.

The place is growing on me.

Like staying with an elderly relative. At first everything looks wrong, the furniture is old fashioned, the facilities seem a bit clunky and theres always that funny smell. Old Lady smell. Corn plasters and elastic stockings, corsets and false teeth.

Violets some say?

But after a couple of night’s thing’s start to feel familiar. You don’t notice the smell and thing’s that looked alien start to become cute and interesting. The TV actually works (as long as you don’t mind not having access to Netflix) and that little settee starts to be your chosen seating spot.

So it is here.

The apartment is big and as such it offers lots of space, but lots of space needs lots of heating and the gas, electricity and water are in addition to the rent so there is always the fear that we will be hit with an unexpectedly large bill come the end. However, I don’t intend to spoil the ship for a ‘Ha’peth of Tar’ so were putting the heaters on as and when we need them.

We cant do anything about the banging from next door though. It seems the rental agents forgot to tell us there are renovation works going on so the builders are in there every day. They seem to be knocking down more than they are building, judging by the constant hammering.

Then there’s the weather.

Unfortunately the bad weather affecting the South West of England is in part due to the bad weather we are having here.

Hurricane Emma is coming up from the South bringing really strong winds (Mojacar often has a bit of a sand storm about 1500hrs on an afternoon but it doesn’t last for long) and that is making its way north where it is eventually colliding with the Siberian weather, just above Bristol.

They get snow and we’ve got high winds and drizzle.

So, instead of spending time out doors enjoying 18-19º we’ve been battened down in the apartment with the fire on. Not quite how they portray it on “Get away for the Winter” (BBC at 1600hrs).

The other thing we didn’t expect was to go down with Flu, though I suspect it was inevitable that I would catch it from Jaki given we were cooped up in the cabin and then the car for 48 hrs.

I had Flu earlier in the winter so I half hoped I’d avoid the worst. Sadly that was wishful thinking.

The cough is the worst of it.

The ‘tickle’ is constant and despite how often, or how hard you cough, you just cant scratch it. Jaki has been coughing now since last Saturday and theres no sign of it abating.

My limbs feel very weak, pains in the back of my hands, joints, legs. A ‘foggy’ thick head, blocked up nose and runny eyes. Shivers that require a blanket or yet another trip to bed. And now I’m sneezing. All the classic symptoms.

Man Flu!

NB: Jaki has just told her Mum on the phone that I’ve caught some thing but it couldn’t possibly be what she had as Im not Ill enough!

So, our trip so far has been slightly less exciting than we expected.

The highlight of the day is our walk along the prom at about 1730 when we force ourselves to get out for an hour despite the wind.

The first night we were surprised to see so much of Mojacar closed down, perhaps we should have expected that but we didn’t.

Lots of the restaurants (that are buzzing in the summer) are boarded up or subject to repairs and renovations. It looks very sad and neglected with the wind blowing and the drizzle drifting across the palm tree.

Some of the restaurants and bars that we saw open last year with high hopes and the dreams of investors are closed or for sale. Presumably they weren’t as popular as expected and as such, didn’t make enough money to survive.

Large swathes of the beach road (Carbonares end) look deserted and desolate, run down.

This used to be our favourite part of Mojacar. When we first started coming Tito’s Bar was the centre of the Universe. They rented beach chairs and we heard Manu Chau singing ‘Bongo Bong’ continuously. But over the years we’ve seen it degenerate as one by one the bars and restaurants have closed, primarily because people don’t venture down to that part of the beach.

There are plots where building work had at some stage started and then been abandoned, leaving the scars of the diggers and unwanted materials scattered across the site.

This degeneration is worrying.

Mojacar relies primarily on British Tourists and ex-pats so if they aren’t coming, or not spending enough money, the resort will obviously feel the effects.

We’ve noticed in the last couple of days that the people in the bars this time of year seem to be the drinkers, the smokers and those that are out here as a means of living cheaply. The wealthy, affluent tourist seem to have moved to other locations taking their money with them.

There seems to be a lot of ‘piss heads’ about and no one seems to be bothered.

Last night a lady in the bar down stairs was so wasted she could hardly sit up in her chair, yet all around her people chatted and continued as if nothing was wrong.

Today we made the trip into Garrucha for the market.

In the past we much preferred Mojacar to Garrucha but today Garrucha was thriving. It’s a proper town with proper people. It’s a Fishing Port where the boat’s bring in fresh fish on a daily basis, so the restaurants are renowned for their fish dishes.

Even in the rain, it had a buzz about it.

There were tourists, like us but there were local Spanish people going about their business. In the little Tapa’s bars real Spanish people were eating, drinking and talking (always talking) but no one was ‘Rat Assed.’ It just seemed more wholesome, as if Mojacar has some how slid down the scales a bit and in order to survive has attracted the wrong sort of people.

Fish stall Garrucha

We ate in the ‘Irish Rover’ the other night and although this wouldn’t be my first choice, it offered shelter from the wind and a reasonably cheap Menu Del Dia at €12.

But there was a group of people sat at the table in the corner celebrating a birthday in traditional English fashion, by getting totally blathered. Shouting a lot, swearing a lot and (as they were apparently all Cockney’s) having a good old Knees up.

Except several of them couldn’t even stand up.

The food was pretty average but when the wind got up to full speed it blew sand in through the canvas covers and our food became grittier and grittier.

Eventually we moved in doors and to be fair, the waiter asked if we wanted fresh meals? We both declined as neither of us could face eating any more than we already had.

There are some nice restaurants still open. We have just been a bit lazy, not wanting to go too far afield, but that will change. Some of the good fish restaurants in Garrucha were open and it will be worth driving there rather than walk across the road to the Pizza restaurant.

It will be interesting to watch the resort come to life at the end of March and see if it re-kindles my fondness or whether the damage is done and its time for us to look for pastures new?