Up in the hills

After another night of gales on Friday/Saturday, it was all calm again in the morning. So we left Val and Bernard to do the town and we set off in the van to the hills in search of a good walk. We found the Tourist Information Centre in el Desert de les Palmes as we knew there was a walk from there, and got a much better map than we had found on the internet or at the campsite. So off we set in glorious sunshine, but with a gentle breeze, up and up on a rocky sandstone path. We enjoyed the lovely views down to Benicassim, Castellon and the sea as well as over the various rocky peaks. With lunch under a shady tree on the way, we climbed to the summit of el Bartolo, the highest ´mountain´ in this group at 700m. There are several radio masts on the top which we can see from down here and the chap in the Info Centre had told us that one of them had been blown over in the gales on Thursday. As we reached the huge cross on the top, we could see the fallen mast in a bit of a mangled heap on the ground. We could see that work had already started to attach stay wires to one of the remaining small masts. The way down was rather steep and rocky, but we were soon back at the van ready for our cuppa. A very enjoyable day.

Today has been hot and sunny again, so we decided to spend the morning on our pitches and have brunch. Bernard does some of their cooking on a "George Forman", a little electric grill, so he was in charge of the sausages and bacon, while we were eggs, mushrooms and beans. This afternoon we took our "Kings Game" down onto the beach. It drew quite a crowd, but of course we made our worst shots when someone was watching! Two well-matched games, score Ann & Bernard, 1 - John & Val, 1.

One of our neighbours here with a large motorhome, also towed a trailer with their Smart car on it. John has been admiring it (the Smart car) since we arrived and Alan has said many times "I´ll take you out for a spin some time John". Later this afternoon, he did. It was a fun experience but had to take care over the bumps (and there´s lots of sleeping policemen around here) as you´re sitting over the back wheel. Reminded him of our Fiat 500 back in the late 60´s.

Time to go and put the kettle on, so will continue in a day or so.

Love to all, A & J

PS Although we always try and change the time of publication it doesn´t always work. So if it says 12.10 or the like, don´t you believe it!!!