From one ancient site to the next

Hello everyone,

Our second visit from Pamukkale was to Aphrodisias, a 90 minute drive and it was an absolutely fabulous experience. No bikini clad Russians just fabulous Roman remains, an an amazing example of a stadium. It was completely intact and had seats for 30,000. My picture didn't seem to do it justice but I've just looked on line and they aren't much better.

The gladiator pit

It was incredibly hot and dry but there was plenty of shade from the trees. At the end we visited the museum which gave an insight into how ornate it might have been.

Theatre at Aphrodisias

We then left Pamukkale by train, we booked a taxi and thought we would be taken to Denizli station but we were dropped at Goncali. Our taxi driver sorted a ticket and we had 45 minutes till the train. I spotted a place with tables so we left our bags and walked over the lines to quite a large restaurant. No-one spoke English so using our little bit of Turkish we got a bottle of water , Su, and two freshly made kofte sandwiches. Lunch sorted. The train took about 3 hours and then we were in Selcuk.

Selcuk had a nice feel to it, it is the town nearest to Ephesus but not as well used a base as Kusadasi on the coast. In fact huge numbers of the visitors are people on cruise ships docked in Kusadasi. Selcuk had a nice feel to it and we stayed in Artemis hotel. So far we have been at least three floors up and this time it was four......excellent exercise!! The owner Tom assured us we could "do" most of Selcuk in one day and then one day at Efes (the Turkish name for Ephesus). We later realised that is what most people do, huge numbers of Chinese, Koreans and Japanese tourists on a mission to "do" Europe in as little time as possible.

On our first day we visited the church of St John the Apostle, Selcuk castle and the mosque. The church was originally enormous but little remains, although it is where John was buried. Our next plan was to go to Sirince, a little hillside village to enjoy the view and have a leisurely lunch. It was not to be as the village was full of souvenir shops hiding the beautiful village houses. We did however have Gozleme for lunch in a little family place. Definitely not aimed at the tourists as it had a squat toilet!!

Our Gozleme chef !!

When we got back to town the weekly market was on and the place was full of vegetable and fruit stalls selling fabulous produce, it is when you see this that a self catering option looks attractive. 

Our evening meal was really good, we found a little place with seats outside, with local people and had salad and spicy kebabs with flatbead, fresh, beautifully cooked and remarkably cheap!!

Next day we had breakfast at eight and got a taxi to Ephesus, which was already mobbed, it was very hot and busy. We did manage to do it at our own pace, we hired an audio guide and also visited the terrace houses which are mainly avoided by the big groups. It was truly stunning and the audio guide was excellent, it does allow you to absorb what you are seeing.

Bored tour group

Ephesus

We did a little bit of retail therapy and Chris bought me a beautiful necklace, made of Zultanite, a gemstone from Turkey that changes colour with the light. I love it and I went back another day and bought earrings to match. he also looked at carpet but that is another story for later!!

That evening we made a mistake with our  choice of restaurant, Tom in our hotel had said it was the best food in Selcuk and it had pretty good reviews on Trip Advisor ( not very reliable in Turkey as there is lots of encouragement to write good reviews!!). The setting was great, under the viaduct with a fountain by the side. We were served complimentary soup but our meze starter was pretty average and then we waited 30-40 minutes for our main courses. When they came they were tasty enough and very nicely presented. We decided against dessert and coffee and when the owner brought the bill with a flourish of the hand wipes it emphasised the whole ethos of the place. There is a lovely Geordie expression "fur coat and nae knickers", which sums the place up. So for dessert we went to a cake shop with one table outside and had lovely rice pudding.

With the effects of Ephesus from the previous day we had a later breakfast and I wanted to see the Temple of Artemis, it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There is not much left, the column below makes a lovely nest for the storks. It was a nice little walk out of town and there was a small pond with loads of terrapins.

Artemis temple-well what is left

On the way back we wandered into a carpet shop and Chris succumbed to one of his passions in life buying lovely carpets. His house in Spain has tiled floors and he has already got examples from Turkey, Morocco and Persia. I must admit it was beautiful but you never know whether you are being ripped off or not. It is being shipped to the UK so it will be there in 6-8 weeks. 

On our last night we went to a family run place and had gorgeous meze and Chris had liver, bought by the owner's wife from the butchers, and I had chicken kebab.

Chris and his 7 year old best buddy Mehmet

We left Selcuk on our journey north and got a little minibus to Izmir, one hour away and then a second one to Bergama and we got dropped right outside where we are staying. We are in Gobi pension a family run little place on the edge of town. It is spotlessly clean and our room is spacious. Bergama is ancient Pergamon and has a history at the beginnings of medicine.

We visited the Asclepsion today and tomorrow will see the Acropolis. It is the least touristy place we have visited and has a nice feel. Today we had a lunch of local food , meat and vegetable stews with rice all for 10TL , about £3. 

At breakfast this morning we met a couple from Canada who could have been our mirror images, retired early with public sector pensions, a yen to travel and a recently purchased camper van. We made an instant connection and talked to them about the possibilities and opportunities that house sitting can offer.

For me the anticipation of seeing Istanbul is mounting, I'm just about "ruined" out and am looking forward to an entirely different vibe and style of architecture. Then our last week will be back on the Turquoise coast .

So till next time, hope you still enjoy reading about our travels.
Take care

Norma x

Turkey........all mezed out!!

Professional shot!!

Mud mud glorious mud

Travertine steps

Roman gateway

Hi everyone, we are on our latest adventure in Turkey. We got here last Monday but the first week was just chilling in a cheap hotel in Calis beach near Fethiye. It was much posher than our usual backpackers hostel/hotel and of course the target market was the one or two week holidaymaker looking for cheap alcohol, English breakfast and Sunday dinner. Our hotel, Rosary Beach , served Turkish food and at £150 for a week half board was pretty good value.

We mainly lazed around the pool but did hire a scooter to see Capa Coy a deserted village where Greeks were ousted after the second world war and no-one else has lived there. We went over to Oludeniz, which I hated, busy, smelly and the Blue Lagoon nothing like the fabulous photos. We also went on a fairly hairy trip towards butterfly valley, very slow going up but fast coming down.

We took a tour to Dalyan, spent a lovely day on a boat, got thoroughly manky at the mud baths and ended it on a lovely beach, with hundreds of others.........

Monday we set off on the local bus to Denizil then on a little dolmus  to Pamukkale. We are now back in our comfort zone of a family run hotel, plain and simple. Today we visited the site here which is a mixture of tavertine terraces and the ancient Roam city of Heliopolis, where Philip the disciple was martyred. My word of the day is incongruous, the tavertine terraces and ancient Rome, the bikini clad women in a Muslim country where the mosque rings out the call to prayer, the tranquility of the start of our day to the masses of humanity half an hour later. It was mobbed by large groups of Russian tourists with the telltale armbands of all inclusive resorts. The Roman site was fascinating and very large and it was much too hot to see all of it.

Tomorrow we head off to Aphrodisias, yes, you guessed it linked to Aphrodite herself. There is a complete Roman theatre there.  Then Thursday we are getting the train to Selcuk to visit Ephesus. I know it will be busy but we will be spared the bikinis.

This is my first visit to Turkey and the people seem very warm and genuine. We are trying to learn a few words but it is very difficult. It is hot and dry but cool at night and at the coast we were on the shaded side of the hotel. Here we have air conditioning which you need in the daytime.

The food has been good, Meze as most of you will know is a selection of salad/dips which start a meal. In the hotel in Calis there was a great selection every night. Lunchtime today we had delicious Gozleme a very thin bread base stuffed with spinach and cheese, the lady sat crossed-legged rolling dough with a thin stick and got a perfect round each time!!

Tonight we had a mixed plate for starter then I had stuffed aubergine and Chris had liver. Breakfast is bread, cheese, local olives, tomato and cucumber and either boiled egg or omelette. We overheard some other English guest at our last hotel complaining that the breakfast was Turkish and not English!!

Till next time
Take care
Norma xx

Update from the UK before heading off again.........

Hi,

I can't believe it is nearly two months since I last wrote my blog!! Very remiss of me and if I write about everything then it could be a long one so thought I would just do some highlights.

Our northbound trip went well and our 2 night stay in Tordesillas was fabulous, the old part of town was lovely and we visited the convent de Santa Clara,   http://www.clarisastordesillas.es/ if you want to check it out. You get a personalised guided tour and it has some fabulous architecture having started life as a Moorish palace. Spain has such a wealth of hidden gems. We then had a night in a fairly ropey campsite in Gijon, although the food for a late lunch was lovely. Little did we know this was our last night in Ruby....

We used the new LD ferry from Gijon to Poole, much cheaper than the Brittany one, oh and what a crossing!! It was blowing a force 8 across the Bay of Biscay so we just stayed in the cabin taking plenty of travel sickness pills. Still it saves the drive through France and we have 20% off our next sailing due to our complaint about a rude member of staff!!

I stayed a couple of days with Chris, caught up with his sister and mum and then headed home to the North East. In my first week back it was action stations as Amy and Carl moved from their flat in South Shields to a house in Boldon Colliery. It was just like on auto pilot from my years of masterminding moving staff .around in my old life of work!! The house belongs to her dad so he is now also her landlord. Amy also started a new job at the Care Quality Commission and loves it.

Chris and I put Ruby onto Gumtree and she was sold the next day to a lovely couple from Edinburgh and then we found our new van......Henry the Hymer. This is him wild camping on Grisedale common!!

Henry the Hymer

 

Inside Henry!!

We bought him just before Easter and then had a little five day trip to work out what was what and to check out that everything worked on the road. We caught up with John and Lyndis near Appleby on a very basic site but one with fabulous views of High Cup Nick......once the cloud cleared. 

He is 20 years old, left hand drive, automatic and well looked after and thanks to the German engineering everything still works . Most importantly this is a van with a fixed bed in the back YEH!! There is much more space and we had a good time checking it all out, the bike rack was a bit of a pain but Chris has sorted that. We have fitted ( sorry Chris has fitted) a new bigger leisure battery to allow us to do more wild camping and we are off again today for a little tootle.We have found a storage place where we can pay monthly as it will only be in for short periods.

I'm just back from a week in Spain, flew out with my lovely friend Vicki for a week at Chris' house. We had a nice week, weather was fabulous and we had a trip to the beach and then on her birthday we went to the thermal baths for the day. She loved the house and the area and I could happily have stayed!!  While I was away Chris did a cycle ride, Corbridge to Twice Brewed then to Carlisle, caught up with Adam , got the train from Carlisle to Corbridge and then cycled back to home.


We have had a strange time at home, Chris' aunt, who he lives with here in the UK, was ill with labyrinthitis and was confined to bed and then the house for about a week. She is usually so active and was so frustrated at having to be looked after. She is back to normal now and much happier, at the weekend Chris' friend from his schooldays was visiting and she was in her element fussing over the two of them. 

Imogen has had an emotional couple of weeks, her and Phill have parted after nearly eight years together. She is staying in the flat and has had wonderful support from her friends and family. She has a busy time coming up with a hen party, Paulo Nuttini and then a quick trip to Spain.

I've managed to catch up with a number of friends and we had a lovely family BBQ on Easter Saturday.

We are off today to Penrith to get a bit of walking or cycling, catch up with Chris' "grandchildren" and then back Saturday to sort the final bits of packing for our six week trip to Turkey and to catch up with Carl on his birthday on Sunday.

We head off on Monday and hope to do some walking on the Lycian way. We fly to Dalaman and have the first week near Fethiye and then using bus and train we will travel and see Ephesus, Troy and Gallipoli.  Istanbul is Chris' favourite city in the world so really looking forward to seeing it, and then our final week we will fly back south and spend a  lazy week in Kas where there is good diving and snorkelling, and if the sea is not too rough, a bit of kayaking. 

Then we are housesitting in a lovely little village called Allendale, in the Northumberland dale of the same name. We are there for two weeks looking after two dogs, it is an area I have walked in before, it is very remote but beautiful.

Then hopefully we will head off to Scotland, nothing planned just wander north to the wiggly bit at the top!! 

After that no concrete plans but some thoughts but more of that next time........

Take care

Norma xx

Heading home...........

Hello again from a very sunny Spain.

Earlier this week in the afternoon it was 35 in the sun and 28 in the shade!! Thankfully we also had two days with rain and some low cloud-hardly enough to soak the ground but I’m sure the almond trees appreciated it.

We have only 6 days left before we leave Gijon on the ferry for Poole so want to enjoy the good weather. Chris got back last Thursday and I managed to get all of the jobs done that were needed, finished painting the window grills and the back door and got a new window fitted and the chimney sorted. Even sorted out the replacement lampshades etc .........Phew what a week! 

The chimney was booked for Monday and they said they would be at the house at 8am, and it was blowing a Hooley. They rang to say they would be a bit later and it was about 10 when they arrived by which time the wind had subsided a bit. I’d cleared the stuff in the front room and covered everything with dustsheets. The first job was to remove the old chimney, which had been fitted out through the wall with a 90 degree joint. It was absolutely full of black gunge, the cause of our dripping on the walls. The first attempt at getting up through the roof was amended when they hit a cross beam but the second attempt was fine. They worked very well and were remarkably tidy, except for the incident when they broke the new glass lampshade, and so we now have a new chimney that goes directly up from the wood burner and the fire is so much better. We’ve cleaned up and repainted most of the mess outside so the house looks so much better.

On Wednesday Paco came and fitted the last replacement window so now the house is so much cleaner, less dust than previously and no rattling in the wind. Once he had left I cleared up and then on Thursday morning got the house sorted before I set of to collect Chris from Alicante airport. I’m not sure why I bothered as within 15mins he had stuff everywhere-but it is his house after all. It is good to have him back though.

On Sunday we did a fabulous walk for about four hours, up the hill past a half finished building project and then along the GR252 for about 90 minutes until it joined with the waterways walk. Then a long slow climb and back down to Casas Nuevas. It was beautiful and clear and most of the time we were on our own, until we heard a car and it was a couple of birdwatchers from Murcia City. One of them spoke excellent English and he was from a language school in Murcia, married to a Cuban girl.  We had a good long chat and they headed off in search of some birds. A beer was very welcome when we got back to the village. Lunch was octopus and liver to start and then “cordero a la brasa” lamb oven baked with potatoes and tomatoes. Dessert was a bit of a disappointment, but then Juana Maria has been ill this week and she normally makes homemade puds.

As you know our trip to China was postponed but now that Chris is free to travel again we have been thinking about what to do. We did toy with Sri Lanka, on our list for a while, but the weather is a bit unpredictable in May/June. However we have decided on a short trip to Turkey, we have an outline which includes some of the major must see spots like Ephesus, Troy, Gallipoli and some walking on the Lycian way. We will end with a week on the coast for some diving, snorkelling and possibly some kayaking. We head off on 19^th May and get back to the UK on 26^th June, about five weeks in total.

We have decorated the front room this week and poor Chris spent the best part of seven hours painting the ceiling, it is covered in patterned tiles and the smoke had made it very grey. It was well worth it, the room looks so much better. The two sofas look like new too after I removed the covers and washed them. The advantage of the good weather is that they dry so quickly.

I’ve planned our route to Gijon, we will drive on Monday to just south of Madrid and then to a place called Tordesillas and stay for two nights. The campsite is on a riverside and the local town sounds interesting with Roman and Arab influences. Thursday night we will stay near Gijon avoiding any last minute problems with getting the ferry at 1pm on Friday. I’m trying to avoid looking at the forecast as sailing is my least preferred form of transport and the Bay of Biscay can be notoriously choppy, we have a cabin and plenty of travel sickness tablets. 

When we get to the UK we will stay with Chris’ sister and I have booked a flight home for Monday 24^th from Southampton, Chris is staying on in the south for a while and then heading back to Cumbria to see Adam.

Take care

Norma xx            `

Spain warts and all!!

Hello to everyone and for my friends in the UK I am so glad to see that the awful flooding seems to be abating although the disruption and work will go on for some time. I was fascinated watching how the Dutch deal with the situation and you can’t help thinking it isn’t rocket science and we just need to appoint a team of Dutch experts to advise the government!!!

Life here in Spain continues on and Chris now has a flight booked to return on Thursday 6^th March.  It is a good job I like my own company as I have spent all of the time on my own.  We got back from our trip to find that there had been some change to the satellite which provides our UK Freeview and we had only about a dozen channels, and no BBC, Channel 4 etc . Life doesn’t seem right without the BBC news!!  The people who we use were so busy it was last Saturday before we had the dish adjusted. Thankfully they arrived in time for me to watch the England v Ireland rugby game, and what a game. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the match and so pleased with the result.

At least living in a village means there are people around and a daily routine and of course everyone knows I am on my own which results in regular conversation about when Chris will be back.  I still go down to the bar most days as it has wi-fi and it saves a 22k round trip to Pliego.

On Saturday, the weather was lovely, and I walked up into the Parque Sierra Espuna. It is one of the good things about the house, it is on the edge of the park and you can walk from the house. I walked about two hours and the views were stupendous, a lovely clear bright day and some lovely little colourful birds dotting around the pine trees. 

On Sunday I put my bike on the back of Ruby and set off to Cehegin, about 35k away, I parked up beside the via verde and cycled 22k to Bullas and back. Then I got changed in the van and went into the old town as it was the monthly artisan market, there was a group of men in pink trousers, wearing bright shirts, wigs and coloured glasses singing in the square. The songs were so fast I didn’t understand much but it added to the atmosphere. I then stopped at a little tapas bar and had a glass of wine and a lovely prawn, smoked salmon and artichoke tapa. I drove back and had lunch in the bar, the rabbit and snail paella was lovely as always.

I started painting yesterday, prepared the bars and did the first coat on one window and am hoping to make some more progress today. I have to wait till about 12 to start as it takes till then for the sun to get to the back of the house and although the weather is nice it is chilly out of the sun.

Although life here is very chilled and relaxing I still get the odd occasions of frustration with the Spanish. One of my bugbears is the supermarket!! In Mula there is a branch of Mercadona, not quite on the scale of the UK hypermarket but a decent size. Yesterday two women, who were clearly shopping together, had unloaded their stuff onto the belt-not even half a trolley full-and it took about ten minutes. First was the laughing and joking with the guy on the checkout then the utter surprise that they needed money to pay for it, minutes searching for a purse, meanwhile none of the food had been packed into bags. When it was my turn he apologised, maybe my face showed my frustration, and I explained in the UK the concept of the supermarket is very different it is a place you go and the checkouts are really fast , none of this chatter!! I just shrugged and said , yeh but this is Spain.

Now on one level I have plenty of time and should just relax but it is an example of a trait that I find difficult from time to time. The Spanish have no real concept of other people around them, at times it manifests itself as a type of arrogance, sometimes as rudeness . There is not much use of please and thank you and I get odd looks when I bump into people and say excuse me!! If you watch Spanish people in bars and restaurants they bark at the staff and are very impatient!! At least they have an etiquette about queuing, unlike the French, which involves asking “quien es ultimo”, who is last and then you know who to follow and as the next person comes into the bank, pharmacy (two places that always have BIG queues) you say “soy ultima”!!

I also find it fascinating that the butcher’s shops all have chairs for the queue, but if you watch the proceedings then you are grateful for the chair. First you choose the type of meat needed for the dish you are cooking, and then work out how much you need, how you want it cut and wait while the butcher prepares it. There are no window displays, usually some large pieces of meat in the fridge in the shop and then the bulk of the meat is in the back. A much more interesting way to get your meat than at the supermarket!!

Back to Casas Nuevas-with photos!!

Tuesday 18th February 2104

Wild camping in Olvera

Part of my birthday tapas trail

Couldn't resist taking this guy complete with leiderhosen and braces in sunny Spain!!

Blossom and a bit of last year's crop

10k of almond blossom 

Hello again, another week another change. When I last wrote we were near Malaga. We stayed there till Thursday and enjoyed cycling along the coast, although the headwind was pretty strong. We used the local buses to Torres del Mar and I had a long overdue haircut, I was starting to look like a shaggy dog. On Sunday we got the bus to Torres del Mar and had a real treat, a Chinese meal, which maybe sound odd to some of you but “foreign food” is not very prevalent in Spain and it made a nice change.

We got the bus into Malaga, what a light and airy old town, fabulous wide streets and we had an interesting trip to the Picasso Museum, which I enjoyed. Well laid out and interspersed with 12 other artists. We had a very simple but tasty menu del dia for 7 Euros 50 cents. While we were in Malaga on Wednesday Chris got a call from his son to say his ex wife had been re-admitted to hospital and we knew we needed to go straight back to the house in Casas Nuevas. Sadly she died on the evening of Thursday 13th February.

Chris went home on Sunday and is with Adam now, I have spoken to him today and the funeral is next Friday 28th (the crematorium in Carlisle is closed for a week). This was not unexpected and we have been very flexible with our travel plans to ensure he could get home fairly quickly. It is part of the reason we postponed the China trip too.

We drove back to the house on Thursday and they say every cloud has a silver lining and that was certainly the case, the almond blossom is absolutely magnificent and we would have missed it had we not returned. I have stayed at the house as Chris was happy to go home on his own, I think he will be back around 3rd or 4th March and then we can have a bit of time before we head back to the UK with Ruby-who needs an MOT in April.

On Friday we were having a glass of wine in the bar when Fernando mentioned there was a special Valentine’s dinner being held on Saturday at 9pm. We assumed it would be fully booked but no there were spaces –although they were expecting about 70 people. The bar can hold maybe 30 but they were also using the dining room of the other bar in the village, which has not really been open since the untimely death of the young owner in a car accident.

We booked our places and set off about 8.45 to have a drink first, the place looked lovely with red and white table settings etc . However, in true Spanish style, two things struck me, there were not lots of tables for cosy romantic twosomes , tables were set for 20 people and in the main bar the football, La Liga was on!!! Our place was in the upper bar so off we trotted and had a lovely evening, we were the only twosome and all of the other tables were big family groups, with children as well.

It was the usual vibrant and loud night and the food was fresh and simply and beautifully cooked. There were seven starters, three plates ready on the table one with cheese, one with jamon and salami and local almonds and one with smoked salmon. Then we got garlicky baby squid, followed by pulpo al horno (baked octopus), then tiny clams, then a plate of prawn based nibbles and finally a plate of luscious fried prawns. We had a bottle of white and a bottle of red wine. The choice for main course we had been told was meat or fish and when Chris said meat he was then offered chicken, pork or lamb and the same when I said fish-I opted for Hake. By this time we were struggling but I managed half of my chocolate pudding and we even got heart shaped biscuits with the coffee. We declined a glass of fizz and staggered home feeling very well fed, and me with my red carnarion, and the total bill was 50 Euros which at the current exchange rate is £42.. Considering the size of this village it is amazing that they can gather 70 folk together and without any advertising, we would never have known if Fernando had not mentioned it.

As a postscript, on Sunday morning I remembered to put my carnation in water, only to realise on Monday that it was not real!!



I am quite happy here in the village, there are plenty of people around if I need anything, and I have Ruby for transport. Although I could have done with Chris yesterday afternoon when I had to remove the remains of a large bird that one of the local cats was devouring on one of the bedroom window ledges. It had been a bit damp and dull, but is due to improve tomorrow. I am hoping to paint the window grills at the rear of the house , they looked terrible and now that the new windows are in they look even worse. It is a long slow job but worth the effort in the end.

Spain and Portugal road trip.......The best laid plans of mice and men!!

Hello to you all,

In mid January we had a lovely couple of days at the house with Alan and Linda, Chris and Alan went to school together. Although they had been in touch by e mail they had not seen each other for about 30 years, you can imagine how much catching up there was to do!!It was also fascinating for me to hear about Chris' antics when he was young. We got out and about a bit and the weather was lovely, nice enough for a tapas lunch in the sun at our village bar. 

We then spent a couple of days sorting the house but we have major problems with the chimney, it is oozing black gunge, we need to find someone to complete replace it.

We set off in Ruby on 25th January and I had roughed out a plan in Spain and Portugal, mixing walking, cycling etc with a few city trips. We spent 4 nights at Los Escullos, Cabo de Gata, Almeria. We caught up with Ken and Marion, who we first met 2 years ago. It was good to see them and we shared a few vinos on our last night. On Sunday I looked at the map and thought north to Rodalquilar looked good and then lunch in Las Isletas. It was a beautiful day, clear blue sky, fabulous sea and then we saw the sign for a 10% hill........Chris made it to the top, nearly dying in the process. Me, I had to get off and push. The downhill was just as scary. We found a bar for coffee, Restaurante Cristol, run by ZZ top!! It was a Harley D spot and Cristol was Mr cool, no chat just coffee and tostado. He was even playing old American Blues!! We then went to Las Isletas and chose a restaurant for lunch, fabulous location right on the Med in the sun but mediocre and very expensive food  51 euros and the service was dreadful!!

Next day we walked to Pozo de Los Frailes, over the fields filled with lovely yellow flowers.The next day we  cycled to San Jose and I got my bike fixed, apparently the gears were all out of alignment!! The lad who fixed it was a cyclist and his bike cost him 8,000 euros-twice the cost of Ruby. San Jose was definitely in winter mode and just when we thought we would have to eat in a tourist spot we saw"The Cafe of the Third age" perfect for two old farts on tour. Salad followed by fried fish and Spanish rice pudding, wine and coffee for 16 euros. 

We set off the next day for the bit of the trip I had planned for my birthday, camping in Olvera, in the mountains between Malaga and Seville. The plan was to do the 37k Via Verde de la Sierra from Puerto Serrano , stay the night in a hotel and cycle back to the van. First problem, the campsite was shut but we found an "aire" a place you can park up overnight, this one was at the start of the via verde and had power and water and a bar in the old station. Without a safe place to leave the van we changed our plans and decided to cycle about half way have lunch at Coripe station and cycle back.

Serendipity Day.......When we got up in the morning there was a ground frost but it was clear and bright, so we set off. In the shadows it was -1 or 2. Enough to make Chris feel like his fingers were going to drop off!! When we got to Coripe about 11.30 we decided to continue to the end in the hope we could get a bus or taxi back and then pick the bikes up in the van.A swift beer at the end of the 37k was very welcome and by the end of the day I had cycled 42k a PB!!  

After driving around Puerto Serrano  three times we found the bus station back where we had first seen it-in the police station yard!! A driver was there and he told us the published timetable was rubbish and at 3.20 there was a direct bus back to Olvera and if we were lucky we might get the bikes on?? Our luck was in, at 3.30 in came the bus and we put our bikes in the luggage holds under the bus. 

In Olvera we booked into a hotel Sierra y Cal, a lovely hotel which is run by a small Spanish company and with space to park the van outside. Luxury a room with a bathroom!! , complete with bath-just what you need after cycling. We had dinner in the hotel, my oxtail was yummy and the G&T felt well deserved.Our stay with dinner, drinks and breakfast was £82, which is less than we paid for our New years Eve B&B in Corbridge.

The next day it was pouring with rain and cold so we changed plan again and headed off for Cadiz. We stayed about 30 mins from Cadiz at El Puerto de Santa Maria. We had a lovely day in Cadiz , including posh tapas in Cafe Royalty. 2nd February was my birthday and we cycled about 30 minutes to the marina and had breakfast in the sun. Then a brief rest back at the van and we went out for lunch, starting with wine and tapa in a taberna and then seafood in Romeriji, a famous local seafood cafe. Then finally when we were lost in the back streets we came upon the local rugby club abd had a few wines and tapas as I watched Ireland v Scotland. Finished up at the campsite for chocolate cake and 2 very good brandies.Perfect day. 

Monday we set off for Portugal, for Tavira, for cycling through the saltpans,walking, visiting historic Tavira. Our first stop was at the police camping ground , which I quickly rejected when I saw how manky the toilets were. We ended up on a site in Cabanas and settle down for the beginning of our Portugal adventure. By this time we were ahead of schedule but there was a possibility of a helpx, so we wanted to be in Portugal. 

When we got up the next morning it was grey and rainy and we went to Tavira on the bus, lovely place but not much fun in the rain.  Next day, was grey as well and we went to Faro and had a lovely day in the old town and a nice menu del dia. I looked at the forecast and decided that enough was enough, in a small van it is no fun if you have damp clothes etc so the next day we headed back to Spain. I had made a fundamental error with my planning, usually if we are planning we check out the average weather conditions. With my plan by we got to Porto we would have been in the wettest coldest month!!

So now we are on the Costa de Sol, on a nice little site called Camping Valle Niza Playa, just over the road from the beach. We are east of Malaga and the coastline is lovely we went on our bikes to Torre del Mar and sat in the beautiful sunshine drinking coffee. We've cycled again today and I got my bike sorted, the chain guard had come off and everytime I cycled I got oily legs. We are just back from a trip to a little place I thought would be good for lunch tomorrow-it juts out towards the beach-but it was an Italian and not quite what we were looking for. The upside was we had fabulous pizza, the place is run by Italians, lovely crispy thin crust. Tomorrow we may just eat at the campite. We have no real plans as such, our next stop may be near Nerja. We are here till at least Wednesday as I have made an appointment to get my hair cut on Tuesday in Torre. But who knows, at any point Chris may have to go back to the UK to be with his son Adam, so we are just going with the flow??

For those of you that are suffering with the extremes of the weather , I do hope it improves soon. 
Till next time 
Take care
Norma xx