As always they all look great despite the years. Must be Spanish living.
Dont know where Paul was – probably doing a speech!
Celebrate!
We made it!
Just doing the obligatory selfie when the family turned up! Great timing.
735kms
Managed to get 735 kms just north of Cordoba in one day. So only 2 hours drive tomorrow to Nerja.
Need to be there for Bro’s 70th birthday celebrations!
So much for preparedness
Deep joy. Get off the ferry and fire up the boiler on diesel mode and Error 122 then Error 120, 130 and 140.
So no heating unless hooked up to electric point. Ie campsites.
Later the 122 went away leaving only 130. Ended up refitting g the electrical connections to the boiler and it worked.
No harm done- apart from stress!
Got to be done
Got to remove the boredom of the ferry trip – have a wine or two – that’ll do it!
Got to admire their efforts of the Xmas lights aboard ship.
Bumpy ride
Seriously rough ride to Santander this time. 6m swell.
But the Kwells worked a treat and had no sickness.
Less peeps on the ferry this trip – maybe the cost of living crisis. Wonder what we will be putting up with next year!!
Getting prepared
So we are planning and preparing for our trip again this year in “The Van”. I’ve got it totally perfect for this years trip with everything working, filters changed, serviced and belts changed. Even the parking sensors are working properly now.
Now just got to pack and finish the last bits and bobs to leave Pink Beach. We have a serious alarm system installed now and with regular inspections from trusty Richard, I’m personally very happy with the world.
So off to Maria and Sootys for xmas then away to Portsmouth for the Santander ferry. Here we go! ⛴️
Now just got to pack and finish the last bits and bobs to leave Pink Beach. We have a serious alarm system installed now and with regular inspections from trusty Richard, I’m personally very happy with the world.
So off to Maria and Sootys for xmas then away to Portsmouth for the Santander ferry. Here we go! ⛴️
Friday 17th February – End of The Trip…
So the return ferry was actually booked for Thursday 16th due to set sail at 8:15pm and dock at 7:15am Friday 17th UK time BUT – as there are currently strikes – we received a message from Brittany Ferries on Wednesday afternoon advising that the ferry had been pushed back to 9:30am today (Friday 17th) – docking at 5:20pm – which makes it a really late finish to the day – as we have to drive from Portsmouth to Southampton to catch the ferry as Dave booked the wrong one 😐. So we’ve decided to sleep in The Van for another night – in the car park adjacent to Pink Beach when we finally get back – gone 9pm tonight…
Summary – well I actually REALLY didn’t want to even come away on this trip – for all kinds of reasons – BUT I have been pleasantly surprised (and at times delighted) and have ended up having had a really good time. We were talking about it last night in the bar – and we both have…
It may not be a dead-cert annual event – but it will definitely be repeated in the not-too-distant future…
So now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and prepare for the 2023 season – 5 weeks and counting…
So Adios 🇪🇸 y 🇫🇷 Au Revoir Mes Amis for now 👋😘❤️ xxx
Thursday…
We have a group of bikers who book all of Pink Beach for a weekend every September and their leader had just put a message out to them about this year’s trip so I took a dozen or so calls & texts whilst wandering around St Malo on the Wednesday afternoon and Thursday (for me) (as it was cloudy & dull) ended up being an admin 💻 day popping their bookings into the system, contacting them re ferries, taking payments, booking ferries ⛴️, etc. Dave cycled 🚲 into town to get some supplies & said there was a little bar…
So later I showered & got ready and we took a little walk into the village centre – the bar was cool – it was multi-purpose and also sold magazines & tobacco. We were there for a couple of hours and it was the meeting point for all the locals. They all seemed to know each other and were really friendly…
I had some (not very tasty) leftover liver pate from a couple of days ago so I Googled what I could do with it then made some pasta !!! Onion, garlic, pate, celery, mustard, pasta and sherry !!! And served it with the fresh bread 🥖 that Dave had been out to buy earlier in the day – and (although it may sound weird) – it was scrummy !!! (if a little rich…)
We knew we had an early start so I set the alarm ⏰ for 6:50am (which is actually 5:50am UK-time and WHAT kind of a time is THAT ???), Dave went to sleep and I watched Wednesday’s Coro (well most of it… I also fell asleep… 😴)
Dinner At Le Lion D’Or (The Golden Lion)…
Twinkly lights & candles adorned the place, it was all very up-market, our waitress had excellent English, was very attentive and took our order. She then delivered a bottle of Muscadet along with some complimentary little biscuit things (which looked like mini Yorkshire puddings) with tuna pate accompaniment (which we had in St Malo in 2017 because I just looked it up on The Blog !!!)
Dave had entrecôte 🥩 with a sauce, salad & fries but I wanted my poached egg on top of a chicken salad – which I got – & it was PHENOMENAL !!! THE best (warm !!!) chicken salad 🍳🍗🥗 I have EVER had – with the runny egg and warm potatoes & tomatoes, lovely lettuce leaves, etc. served with gorgeous fresh bread & their speciality butter. YUM 😋 !!!
We then strolled the 5 minutes back to the bus stop (a little the worse for wear) and caught the bus 🚌 back where I then whooped Dave at two games of Rummikub 1️⃣ (just before he fell asleep 😴)
