Its raining! The 2nd time in nearly 7 weeks. August is suddenly ages ago and the last time I bothered to share what we have been up to so with a cup of tea and some chocolate digestives to hand its the ideal time to get on with the blog. Coffee and whiskey are my usual comforters but I am still recovering from a slight misjudgement on how much I had consumed at a quiz night 9 days ago which resulted in a lost day and a nauseous reaction to anyone suggesting anything alcoholic for several days after that. I didn’t say “never again” because clearly I don’t learn! At least I didn’t offend anyone important. Oh we won the quiz.

So, here we are in Spain, Alfas del Pi to be exact. Its not Benidorm its close by, about 3km away which is far enough for me to be assertive about it not being Benidorm. As a child I holidayed twice (thanks for reminding me Theresa) in Benidorm. I have never had a desire to go back especially after watching a couple of episodes of the accurate “Benidorm” program. Denise has never been and has until a few weeks ago never watched “Benidorm”. She has now watched two episodes and decided she need not watch anymore. What are we doing here, I mean near here then. The sun and warmth and the “surely it can’t be that bad can it?” state of mind. Having enjoyed the Portugal rally experience we wanted to spend more of the cold months out of the UK and the Camping and Caravan Club winter sun brochure drew us to here. To be fair the campsite, Almafra, is excellent, 5 star and the near by Albir and Altea mean Benidorm can be avoided very easily. For the much part we have.

Getting here was another new adventure. We were still getting to know Tilly, unsure how towing would be and still getting to grips with the finer points like what does this button do and why is that flashing. We realised very quickly that all the buttons did good things and stuff flashing did not necessarily mean bad things. Towing was a breeze especially with the re mapped engine and increased torque (no idea what that means really but Denise does and its quite important, apparently). We left Derby on Thursday 12th October and arrived at Almafra camping on Saturday 14th October, a day early. There was still plenty of daylight so we crunched a few miles each day although we did about 100 miles more than we planned on the Thursday. The plan was get to the tunnel for our 14:10 crossing, get hugs from Theresa, get to France (loose an hour) drive for a couple of hours and stop. All that went to plan until we got on the tunnel.

In the past we have meticulously planned our journey, now we are more chilled the maps didn’t come out until we were on the train and even then we decided just to follow the new all singing all dancing Motorhome specific Sat Nav. I should point out that I have named the Sat Nav. She is a she and I decided she was Siobhan. Denise as ever protested and as ever lost. Siobhan decided that we should head towards Paris and go around Paris using the “Perryferry” which much to our amusement was in fact the Périphérique. Like good girls we did as we were told and sat in loads of traffic for two hours getting in, around and out of Paris but it was worth it just to keep hearing “Perryferry” constantly. Having left Paris in the dark we wanted to stop for the night unfortunately the next three services were under construction and there was nowhere safe for us to stop. Services No 4 provided what we needed, an easy place to park, facilities and relatively quiet. Not quite the day we expected but still all good no dramas and we were ahead of ourselves.

The morning bought stupid parking and a funny Sat Nav screen…..

The rest of the journey was great, we experienced a first driving over the Millau bridge and new French scenery all in all a lovely journey.

Camping Almafra is a mixed site of residential, long term, touring caravaners and motorhomes (I avoided saying Travellers!). Mostly British and Dutch with a smattering of French, German, Belgium’s and Norwegian. The British long term contingent seem to be mostly Welsh we know this as they seem to have this need to remind themselves of their own nationality at every opportunity flashing flags, massive decals on their motorhomes and caravans and wearing welsh rugby and football shirts all the time. The little road we are on is very Welsh so I have renamed the road  Wembley Way. The other occupants apart from our neighbours don’t know this its just for my amusement.

Of course we have flags up, two in fact a Derbyshire and Kent flag. Soon to be replaced by a flying Santa and a merry Christmas flag.

We have met some very lovely people here by far the best introduction we have had is meeting our neighbours Andy and Angela. They initially parked up one pitch down and behind us, as you do we watched discreetly as they manoeuvred their caravan with precision into place. Once in position the caravan was opened up and the normal getting set up started, the next thing the whole van tipped down on one side. This was caused because both of them went to the bathroom end of the van having forgotten to put the legs down. With the van now in a semi vertical position Denise and I rushed over to check on their welfare, a sheepish couple of faces confirmed they were ok. We left them to it and the setting up continued. In order to get your electric hook ups sorted you have to go to reception and tell them what pitch you are on. Seems Angela did this but was told that the pitch they were on was booked so they had to move!! Poor things its a right mess about, anyway they moved next to us and we are very happy about that as they have become friends and great company.

Angela and Andy tell us they knew exactly what they were doing tipping up the van, they wanted to check if we were suitable neighbours, seems we passed the test. Its funny how things come about, we have loads in common with Andy & Angela, bikers and keen motorhome / caravaners with similar interests – football and an equal dislike of the Benidorm culture. They are kind generous people who have a back story that explains their love of life and resilience. Andy had a horrific motorcycle accident and he is lucky to be alive, but alive he is and with Angela they are inspirational, thing is I am not sure they realise how much. Check their story out here;

Andy and Angela are our quiz team mates, the The Fun Bus Four (a nod to their fantastic van – The Fun Bus) we have won the campsite quiz twice now! We won’t be defending our winning ways as they leave to return back to the UK for Christmas. I am very sure we will meet up again.

We have had some trips out in Andy’s new van, the Fun Bus and Jarjar has been allowed in not only by Andy but also little Sam. Sam is a little rescue dog who loves his Mum and Dad, they rescued him a couple of years ago and their dedication to him has meant he is gaining confidence and enjoying his life, seems he quite likes Jarjar although he does let him know who is boss.

I guess I have been quite snobbish about Benidorm as I have heard many people say “it is what it is” and that is very true. What “is” is, is a place to watch people enjoy themselves, its not always my idea of how to enjoy life but nevertheless that is what is happening. Hen parties, stag parties, senior people keeping warm and enjoying better health and British piss heads. Food and booze is cheap and there is entertainment 24 / 7 even in the off season. I mean where can you get 5 Tapas and a bottle of Cava for 5euros – its not a quiz question however the answer is Tapas square Benidorm. Everything is provided for visitors car hire, scooter hire and most importantly accessibility scooters, single and double seats……..

More to our taste is Albir and Altea, less commercial, more Spanish (apart from Old town Benidorm) calmer with a great promenade to walk along and some super restaurants. We don’t have to travel far and we are in the mountains on empty roads and can explore the terrain to our hearts content.

Theresa has been out for a few days it was great to see her as ever. She flew into Alicante which is about a 50 minute drive from here, the airport has great pick up and drop off facilities. When Tracey and Gill came on our way out from the airport we were paused by the Police while they checked out Dorians number plate, all clear and  we were waved on, phew!

As with all communities the campsite residences and the rally participants are made up from all sorts of people, for me its interesting meeting and getting to know these folks. Sometimes I have difficulty understanding what they are saying, thick Yorkshire, Lancashire and Scottish accents can become indiscernible after a few drinks and especially when there are a gaggle of them. I equally amuse them with my “Queens” English often being advised that there is no “r” in castle and that my pronunciation of bus is wrong! I disagree but I am out numbered so my protest is a little whimper! Wait till Andrew comes he will stick up for me.

The Christmas preparations are starting up and gathering momentum, it will be funny being away for Christmas but some familiar faces will be here and we are looking forward to the celebrations. I will report on them on the next rainy day at which point I might be able to enjoy a coffee and a nice Malt Whiskey …….

Jarjar’s Bits

A selection of photos that sums up our boy.  He is still scared of flies and gets greyer by the day but most of all he brightens our days every day.

Photo’s