Week 24: Lorry, supermarket and dog!
- Feb 15, 2022
- 7 min read
Our stops this week:
3 nights-Camping Altomira, Castellon
6 nights-Camping El Saler, Valencia
We are a little out of sync. The blog normally covers a week, Monday – Monday but Steve only covered 6 nights in the last blog and I did not complete this blog yesterday…reasons why will become apparent as I go on. (Blog on…he he! That made me laugh!!)
So, I know Steve provided maps, routes, and statistics last week-which was great but amused me, as it reflects how our brains work differently…or dare I say how the male and female brain can work differently!
In contrast: lorry, supermarket and dog! As we enter Spain and start to see some of the different areas, my main realisation is that I can speak and understand quite a lot of French. French lessons at school, virtual lessons during lockdown and a few extended French holidays have made a difference and it is only now I realise how much more easily we could communicate in France. I knew no Spanish as we entered Spain and now know three words: lorry, supermarket, and dog!
It was about an hour’s drive to Altomira camping and it has been very interesting looking out the window and seeing the landscape as we drive along. There is clearly a lot more space and land here; compared to what we have in the UK, but it is more rugged, dry and wild. The roads have been smooth and wide; easy to drive with very few potholes and congestion. It all seems more relaxed. The expansive blue sky is glorious, it is not always warm or sunny but the sky is always bright and clear. I don’t know why the sky in the UK so often is grey, low and murky? The Spanish could share a little of theirs…
Altomira was well located for us, with access from the campsite straight onto a cycle path. The cycle network it connects to, covers 2900km, this was a little ambitious with our Brompton’s. However, we had a cycle ride each day and saw the nearby towns, national parks and dam. Each route took us past a local sewage works. This also was interesting. The sewage works is open, not enclosed, and a lot of brown liquid was being pumped out of a large pipe into an open area of water. It seemed it was somebody’s job to stand on a bridge in the middle, with a long stick and move it around-I assume so that it didn’t get blocked. Ultimately, I think he was a poo pusher. There was also a very ornate water feature at the front of the sewage works. See, I’m learning a lot about Spain.
I hate photos and the reason there are loads of my 'rear end' cycling, is Steve uses this as an opportunity to take my picture without me knowing!!!
Having arrived at the campsite, we found our allocated space and parked up to have some lunch. We have seen hardly any English people on this trip but as we were eating lunch one found us! He came to our van door and asked what number pitch we were on and didn’t really finish his other sentences and was not very clear. I said what number we were on, and he said we were not. Steve said he’d come out and speak to him. Steve came back-a little annoyed-it seems we were on the wrong pitch, the one next to us was the correct pitch. There was however someone already on this and they had clearly been there for a while. To cut a long story short…it seems this was our first experience of pitch wars! There were quite a few empty pitches available, but the man and his wife had been given three possible pitch numbers to look at, the other two were free but they wanted the one we were on and for us to move. They did not like the pitch they were on-it wasn’t a nice pitch-but thought we could go on it, seemed to have a ‘squabble’ between themselves at Steve…and Steve just wanted to finish his lunch! Steve’s comment of ‘it’s always the bloody English’ didn’t seem to improve the situation. He said he would go to reception and speak to them and we could swap, they could have the pitch we were on and we’d move to the pitch they were on. But when Steve was in reception the woman came rushing in and said they’d discussed it and decided to stay where they were. Maybe it is not all more relaxed in Spain…
Other aspects of Spanish camping life we are getting used to also. There are a lot of feral cats around and Bear seems keen to play with them, they seem less so. For two days, when I looked out of the kitchen window, I saw my neighbours’ pants. They were hanging on the washing line he had put up. An elder, possibly grumpy man-he never said hello/Ola back when I smiled and greeted him each morning…I suppose I should be thankful he didn’t sit outside in the sun, in just his pants.
Ohh.. and the Dutch couple across the pitch to us, played their accordions each day at between 4-5pm. Bear, known to be a little sensitive at times, seemed to not mind this and it would send him to sleep.
On the Wednesday morning, I was walking Bear (emptying him of his water too) whilst Steve was emptying the grey water from the van. As I got back to the van, Steve said ‘we’ve got a problem with Gordon!’ Oh no, this has been one of my fears and worries…one of the ‘what ifs’ that went round and round in my brain before deciding if we should give up our jobs and go travelling. An Adblue malfunction message had come on. It said the van needed a service and we had 497 miles left before the engine wouldn’t start. This was particularly odd as we had filled up the Adblue on the Sunday and it was now Wednesday…and we were more than 1,000 miles from home.
We were heading towards Valencia but had decided not to go into the city. We were not that fussed and getting the van parked up and taking Bear in, seemed like a lot of hassle. Bear really can’t cope with busy places and gives up walking like a dog, to hop on his back two legs like a meerkat, whilst pulling like a rhino… Steve looked on his phone and found a Ford garage on the outskirts of Valencia. We headed there. The van drove fine, there were no problems but every two miles the Adblue warning light and alarm came on. Not very calming when already driving on the right-hand side of the road, only knowing the Spanish words for lorry, supermarket and dog and following a SatNav. We arrived relieved… however the garage had closed down. Steve found another garage that we would head to. All the time the milage is counting down until the engine won’t turn on.
This garage was open, looked very official and we could park. Great! I know the Spanish words for dog, supermarket, and lorry. Steve went to speak to reception-he also knows 1,2 and 3, hello, yes and no... After about 30 minutes he came back. Great news, they are really helpful and nice. One of the staff could speak really good English. Steve explained the problem and showed the pictures, he went to speak to the mechanics for us. Just by chance this Ford garage also deals with transits. They can look at the van and have booked us an appointment….for next Tuesday, in 7 days time!!!
Having had no intention of going into Valencia we spent 6 nights at El Saler campsite. We left the Ford garage and went to the nearest supermarket to ‘fill up’ with food, as we wanted to use the van and our milage countdown as little as possible. Not the greatest campsite-it was very squished and quite ‘run down’…however we decided it could be worse and to look at the positives. We had no set date to be anywhere, Gordon wasn’t broken just ‘alarmed’, the sun was shining, we were lucky to find a Ford transit garage, we had an appointment and we had food. In fact, the next 6 days were really relaxed and enjoyable and we had a great time.
The random 'ness', squished approach and 'run down' bits!!!
Opposite the campsite was a nature reserve and access to the beach, less than 500m away. There were brilliant clearly marked out cycle routes and we could cycle into Valencia in 40 minutes. We went into Valencia a few times, went to the beach, ate out, walked Bear and whilst there I submitted my first assessed MA presentation!
The beach and nature reserve area
Valencia and cycling to Valencia
A sun bear...3 photos-click on the arrows.
Ohh and when we turned engine on on Thursday, the warning message had gone. It was also not there each day we turned the engine on on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We decided to still wait for the appointment though, to be on the safe side.
So, the reason the blog is today-Tuesday-we thought we’d wait and see what the garage said. Gordon was dropped off this morning at 8.30am and we had our rucksacks packed for the day. We were not quite sure what to expect but guessed they would want the van for the whole day. This is a little scary when all your belonging/your home is in the van. We were told to come back at 5pm. We ended up getting a taxi into Valencia, Bear’s first taxi ride as there is a big park that goes through the middle of the city, and we thought it was somewhere Bear could cope with and enjoy. We mainly hung out in the park, watched a downloaded program, completed some MA work, entertained Bear and had some lunch. At 4pm we headed back and were thrilled to find out Gordon just needed a software update, all was fine and there was no charge! Bear was shattered from greeting so many people in Valencia, got into his travel crate and passed out.
The meerkat/rhino trying to get to the water, first taxi ride and today in Valencia!!
So, I now know more Spanish words: schedule, opening hours, body workshop, fleet car, we will be with you shortly, reception, car sales and spare parts!!!!
Glad it all turned out for the best and looks like you are having a wonderful time! Love the photos, perfect ahead of Eunice coming in tomorrow for us - will just imagine we’re there with you.
Glad to hear, its all sorted. Great post. Weather looks cracking. Shorts and T-Shirt, I need a bit of that!