After exploring our base of El Puerto de Santa Maria one day, the next day we took the small ferry boat across the bay into the relatively small city of Cadiz. A beautiful calm crossing there and back. It was so clear, we could make out the naval ships in the Spanish/American base of Rota, a little further up the coast.
The day started with breakfast of coffee and massive croissants in Plaza de Espana, the main square. Afterwards we meandered through its narrow streets to the cathedral, buzzing in preparation of the forthcoming Easter celebrations.
Massive croissants!
We then headed around the city edges to one of its old forts, for a drinks break. Lunch was tapas in the market before chilling in some cool gardens before getting back on the late afternoon ferry.
Wandering the cityCooling beersA bar in the old fort buildingCats and birds living harmoniously!Tapas lunchThe cathedralThe post office buildingScenes inside tye marketColourful fruits and veg
We managed to look inside one or two churches that are preparing for Easter.
We left Southern Spain and spent 2 days in Zaragoza, a beautiful old Moorish city with a huge cathedral in the city centre. We spent several hours wandering around the town, soaking up the Spanish Sunday atmosphere, a laid back, casual and chilled ambience. The beautiful buildings had a cool look to them in the late afternoon sun despite it being cold and windy.
We drove cross country to the north, passing fields full of snow from the previous week’s heavy storm and snow fall. Outside the temperature dipped to 6c, we didn’t hang around long at the services!
We got up to Bilbao ferry car park the night before our ferry was due to leave, to park “safely” overnight, or so we thought. We were disturbed about 11.30pm by the Guardia (police), checking our truck. A visual inspection seemed fine. David happened to open one of our lockers only to find we had a lodger, who the Guardia very quickly removed by the scruff of the neck and escorted to a “secure location” far away from our lockers ?. We had another inspection at 6am with the Guardia present after we heard our lockers opening again at 4am, luckily no additional lodgers! We then had the trailer scanned before loading onto the ferry for a horrendously rough crossing to Southampton, delayed by 4 hours due to gale force 8 winds!! I have never before been so sick – and no alcohol was involved!!
Being scanned!
Eventually we arrived at a camp site in Bicester, hunkered down and waited for a local repair company to take a look at an electrical issue we had developed. Back in the UK for a few days, it’s cold and windy, raining that horribly miserable light drizzle, and daylight ends at 4.30pm!!! This is not what we are used to….so roll on the warmer climes of India!!!
Whilst in Bicester, David struck a deal with the company that serviced and repaired Samson in the past so suddenly, he has a new home and we are homeless! We frantically packed our contents into the truck and a hire van and put everything into storage. Our son Robin, kindly dropped everything, sprung into action and drove down to Bicester in a hired van, helping us all day to put everything into storage, for which we are very grateful.
Samson has been a fabulous home, he got people talking and looking, looked stunning beside the lakes in Lake Garda and the sea in Croatia and Venice, and would have earned us a fortune if we had charged for every photo that was taken of him ?
However, storage and being unused for months in the UK winter would not have been good for him, and we want a smaller mode of travel for Europe, one that doesn’t require a football pitch sized area to park in to relieve David of the stresses of parking such a beast, so a good move all round.
Sad to see him go, have loved living in him for 5 years, but time for a change ??????
October 2013, trading in our old truck and caravan for Samson!
Samson through the years and locations, in all his glory!!! ❤❤❤❤
We left Split mid afternoon on a Sunday and arrivef at the port, some 5kms away, first in the queue! After all the freight lorries were boarded we headed on, a fairly small ferry boat compared to others, for an overnight trip to Ancona in Italy. We left at 7pm and arrived at 7am, just as the city was warming up.
Leaving Camping Stobrec, Split.
First in line to board!
David reversing into his spot on the boat to Ancona
In place!
Split.
Journey No 1 underway, cheers!
Arriving in Ancona as the sun rose.
On Monday we drove 300 kms across Italy from Ancona on the Adriatic coast to the Mediterranean coast, heading to Rome’s port of Civitavicchia, 50kms north of Rome. We had not slept well on the previous crossing and as the sun was soaring up high, we stopped every 3/4 hour at a service area, had a pee and a drink or lunch, and tried to get half an hour’s nap in the cool of the airconditioned truck! Mid afternoon, the temperature outside had reached 40c!
Service station stop, so hot!!
Next boat, to Spain.
Ready to load….
Now in place.
Second part of the journey, ready to go.
We drove past some beautiful old cities crossing Italy, in particular Narni and Orte (stock pictures below), traditional hill top towns, split by gorges and rivers.
On board, we had dinner in the restaurant, a lay in the next morning (our inside cabin was dark and cool), coffee and croisant for brunch, lunch in the cafe, a few hours reading in the sun on the decks, all very civilised! We had a lovely calm 20 hour crossing from Rome to Barcelona, arriving just an hour late; we were one of the first in the freight section to offload so we hit the roundabout at the junction of the bottom of La Rambla and the port at 7.30pm, peak traffic time! David was very calm and navigated round with the other lorries, and we arrived in Vilanova just after 8pm, in time to pitch up easily, have dinner and a few drinks before a good night’s sleep!
We have had 5 days at Vilanova Park, caught up on our sleep, washing, shopping and chilling, we have had a few afternoons by the pool just reading and watching the world go by. We have been invaded by Irish, French and Spanish families, it seems school holidays start at the end of June for these kids, so we are pleased to be moving on.
Sunday we head inland for a night’s stop in Zaragosa, which is just about half way though our north coast bound journey, then Monday we head up to Bilbao for a ferry crossing on Tuesday morning, landing in the UK on Wednesday. It has been so hot here in Spain this past week, our air con is not working brilliantly, so we are hoping the weather is a little cooler in the UK in July!
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