Back in the UK, kind of

We'd left ourselves a nice gentle drive from Haro to Santander, ready to catch the 6pmish ferry. Only the weather really didn't want it to be that easy. The day before looked a lot like this:

with even bigger waves off the Irish coast. Our ship, the Salamanca, stayed cuddled up in Rosslare until things calmed down a bit then left to bring some Irish travellers over to Spain. This delay meant our departure time was changed from late afternoon to 1am the following morning. Not an ideal time really. So, we did the short drive to Santander, filled up with cheaper than the UK fuel, went to the nice bay at the north-east of the town and had a walk then a very good dinner (which should have been on board the ferry of course). Still, it gave us the chance to test the Maremondo restaurant which was way better than the 4.0 rating on Google would suggest. We then had the fun of several hours in the port waiting on the arrival of the ferry:

We were very happy to see it arrive, we kept propping our eyeballs open and luckily it wasn't too cold to simply sit in the car, tinker on the internet, listen to music and think kindly of the weather gods and how they can change plans so easily. After boarding, we just retired to the cabin and tried to sleep through the many and varied announcements that have to be made rather loudly before departure.

The trip was a bit bumpy and as the passenger load was light anyway, the Club lounge was very very quiet. We rather liked that I must admit. 

Our arrival time at Pompey was a tad tricky too - instead of late evening, it was early morning, just in time for us to clock the horrid traffic that has to fight through the never ending roadworks on the M27 as we head towards Southampton. Why go that way - well, we had said that we would take Mrs Toddler to the hospital for her eyeball checks that afternoon. In desperation, we hid in a Costa store to let the worst of the M27 mayhem subside and then braved the motorway madness.

A few days later we returned to the poor ignored boat and we discovered that Netflix had sent a slightly worrying email:

They obviously know something we don't.

As well as reclaiming the boat, taking the little Brompton bikes out for some exercise and remembering how all the systems on board work, we did a little maintenance too.

The battery to battery charger that keeps the bow thruster / windlass AGM battery bank charged up from the new domestic lithium bank had failed ages ago. This was the second one of the new generation high capacity Victron devices to go pop in that location. There were a few wild guesses from various technical folks as to why but nothing concrete, apart from the obvious "they are not very good". However, the one doing the same job for the stern thruster battery bank had been fine. The Maricom guys had provided the new charger and two new fuse holders. These were duly fitted:

together with the little black on/off switch you can see in the image. This lets us turn the device off when we might be using the thrusters or windlass in case some strange back feeds are upsetting the rather delicate device. Again, the aft one has been fine and we've not used the windlass since the original charger was fitted. A mystery.

The Xmas season loomed so work on maintenance things was suspended and we lapsed into hedonistic mood again. Such a tough life.

Teruel, Logrono and Haro

Heading back "up country" from Altea we took advantage of our experiences from last year and stayed in Teruel at the Parador there. We'd visited during a rainy day (not atypical for the place) but this time things were dry if chilly. It is over 900 m above sea level after all. The central square and buildings are pretty ornate:

and the Parador itself isn't too shabby either:

We had a couple of nights there, allowing one full day in the city where the crew found a rather nice little clothes shop and a few tempting items. It also gave us two chances to sample the good food on offer in the Parador. Our next move was to Logrono and we are so glad that we visited. The capital of the Rioja region, tucked on the banks of a river and on the pilgrims route (the Camino de Santiago) it had history and culture in spades.

We'd rented an apartment for 3 nights and could have happily stayed for longer. The apartment had undercover parking in a garage but the bays and turning area were rather tight. Luckily for us, one neighbouring car had clearly not moved in ages and was not capable of doing so, allowing us to cuddle up rather close and personal with it. We don't think the rather decaying BMW 3 series minded too much.

In Logrono there were the expected series of lovely buildings:

and on our first night we did something very out of character - went to a pizza place in Spain. It had rave reviews and they were spot on. Run by a German couple who hailed from the former East Berlin they served up some great flavours. As you can see, the quantity was ample too so the crusts were sacrificed after a while:

Kind of a waste but we didn't want to explode on the walk back. Va Bene was great, good food and a chance to speak some German too and learn a little about life in the old east of Berlin before the wall came down. 

Logrono had a really good museum covering the history of the Rioja region. We were unsure about wandering round but many exhibits had English translations and it was so well done. We spent way longer in there than we expected to and learned a lot (which, due to our age, we've probably already forgotten). At the end of the exhibition was some more modern stuff which we struggled with. Being total Philistines, things that are described like this rather felt like the Kings / Emperors new Clothes:

It is not Google translate that makes the original unintelligible to us by the way. The Spanish folks felt the same. 

Our next port of call (really that should be wine of call as it is also in the Rioja region) was Haro. We'd stopped briefly last year and met up with Norman, Julie and the hounds at a campsite they were staying on. This time we had a couple of nights in a hotel to see the town properly. A little failure on our part to thoroughly research Spanish public holidays meant we arrived on the Feast of the Immaculate conception. How could we not have known that?? 

This meant that pretty every place in town was shut - especially the better coffee spots. We walked around the town and finally found one café bar open. We just went in. As you would. Here is the Google review score and one comment for you to enjoy:

You probably enjoyed that more than the captain enjoyed his grim Café con Leche. Fortunately, they could not mess up a bottle of still water for the crew and the chunk of cake we shared was, well, at some time in its' history, cake. The place had a collection of "older gents" who were clearly regulars inside. We think it opened as a man creche as they would have had nowhere to go otherwise.

Things perked up the following day and a good wander and lunch out made for a good day. The town hall type building:

houses a few barrels showing the range of local Bodegas in the immediate area:

We wanted to do a tour around the Muga operation but the only tour on offer before we had to leave was a Spanish speaking one. We had to save that pleasure for another visit. One pleasure we did enjoy was lunch at Sabair. Excellent food, attentive service and not much more expensive than the Altea set menus at lunchtime. Nice website too - have a look at their offerings Sabair website link .

Some excursions

Whilst in Altea, you have Albir right next door, a simple and gentle walk along the sea front away. Just past Albir is a rather pleasant walk out to a lighthouse that the Toddlers had done many times during their visits to the area and they told us we should follow in their footsteps. We obeyed and were glad that we did:

Some nice views back to the towns from the walk as you wind your way towards the headland and lighthouse:

and up to the old Lighthouse building too - although it did look like a long way off and up which seemed to put off a few walkers:

Whilst we were enjoying blue skies and kind temperatures, we spared a thought for folks who might be on the ferries from Spain to the UK / Ireland. This was the wave height forecast:

Not something we would contemplate tackling in a huge ferry, let alone in our Nordhavn. Fortunately our home berth is pretty well sheltered and any ripples on the surface of the marina are not too significant.

Walking along the breakwater at Altea you get to see what is a pretty small and very very busy marina there. We needed our boat fix:

The pesky cloud things you can see in the picture were a brief aberration luckily and normal service was resumed the next day.

Although Altea is lovely and we spent many happy hours walking the waterfront and sampling the local cafes, we felt the urge to try out a few interesting local towns too. Guadalest was the first pick, strongly recommended by the lovely lady who owned our rental apartment.  The drive up the scenic winding road gave some wonderful views, as did the walk up to the castle:

with the castle, church and some buildings perched at the top of an impressive hill:

From there, you get to view the lake come reservoir rather nicely:

The local school children had their artwork on display in the school window. This was pretty typical of the offerings (please excuse the reflection of the serious looking captain, we could not avoid that grim bit of the image):

One child's handiwork really stood out amongst all the others:

and we do worry about him a little bit. The parents must be so proud.

The only disappointment of the trip was that most of the café places had a very bad Google rating and they lived down to it as well. Sad how touristy places don't need to try very hard. However, the little town itself was lovely apart from one shopkeeper. We wandered into the shop through the open door for the crew to look at some tops. Place was empty. Then Mr Shopkeeper came in from the street and in Spanish told us to "bugger off as he was closed". Not sure if that is an exact translation but the way it was said suggested those words. Proper sales prevention guy.

On the way back to the coast, we were kind to the car and stopped to wash off the dust using a pressure wash facility in a garage. It cost less than 20% of the equivalent time and service here in the UK. Depressing really.

Back on the coast, the crew found a new canine friend in Albir:

We felt that he would be cheap to feed but the grooming might be a challenge. He stayed where he was. 

All in all, a great stay and a most chilled time. We were getting the hang of Spanish life, if not the language. 

Altea happy time

Having really enjoyed a week in Altea last year with the lovely Tina, we had booked an apartment for 10 days this time in a similar area. Only shortly before our arrival we had a curt note via Booking.com to tell us that it was "no longer available". How nice of them. A hurried search for an alternative that was free for the specific 10 days really turned out well though. The building was just off the main road through town so a bit noisier but was about the most comfortable and certainly the best equipped of any we've rented. Right down to a wide range of herbs and spices in the kitchen. It was owned by a Swedish lady who had escaped to the warmth many years ago and originally it had been her home, that really showed.

Below us was a Dutch call centre operation - loads of Dutch people here both visitors and residents (the half-Dutch crew felt quite at home):

However, when you look closer at the sign, it becomes less appealing:

Gorillas in a call centre? Who knows. Spookily, the place shut down overnight during our 10 day stay there. Maybe too many customers had been mauled?

One massive benefit of the revised location was that it was around a three minute walk to Differens. A rather nice coffee come breakfast come lunch place that we'd discovered and enjoyed last year. Although it felt bad leaving a fantastically equipped kitchen in the apartment, only getting three minutes of exercise and then flopping into a chair, we did so. The Captain enjoyed a rather good local beer with lunch:

whilst the crew enjoyed some still water. Just not as much. Waterfront walks were frequent, warm and enjoyable with the view towards Albir:

We felt very sorry for one lone swan that had obviously been in a bit of a scrap with something so we named it "wounded wing":

The good news is that old WW seemed to be recovering and even started using that leg again. Trying to phone Spanish swan rescue was well beyond our "Dos Cafe con Leche" type of language skills.

The local supermarket (around 4 minutes walk away) had a few strange offerings:

No comment needed.  On the whole, we just enjoyed the sun, views, chilled lifestyle and great walks:

even the view from the apartment was OK: pool, some sea and we could easily check on the car in the gated private parking area:

We settled into the lifestyle rather too quickly and rather too well. A walk up to the main church through the old town is a must do, so we did:

and once more admired the power / wealth of the church in Spain:

even if the congregation looked a bit sparse that day! Worth the hike for the even better views towards Albir:

and towards the Morro de Toix in the other direction:

We also found a new and rather good Belgian owned and run café for the compulsory coffee and cake stops. Por Flavor was excellent. The joint owners were ultra friendly, let us practice our Dutch (crew) and German (both of us) and delivered excellent home-made cakes. Here is a Facebook link to their information. They deserve to do very well indeed.

Denia

After the city delights, we headed to the Mediterranean coast - kind of a must do thing after a few days being inland as we were missing the seaside life. We had one night in a very very cheap hotel  on the way and enjoyed one of those "18 euros for three courses with bread, water and wine" meals. Yes, we went big.

Denia was the first proper seaside stop, where we had an apartment for a few nights. A short walk from the rather nice area we were domiciled in took us to the port:

and a chance to go boat spotting. A few UK registered yachts, some pretty ugly fast motor cruisers and unfortunately, not a single Nordhavn in sight. We liked the waterfront area and the views up to the castle that had been rescued, repaired and opened to the public again:

The main streets were pretty typical of the area, wide, tree lined, pedestrianised, clean and all ready for the outside seating café lifestyle:

We checked out the top rated bakery come coffee shop and were far from disappointed. So much so that we needed to check it out the following day as well. Wandering around the town we found the usual mix of interesting buildings and exhibitions that we didn't bother to visit as it was sunny and tempting outside:

We'd seen the UK forecast that was for days of unending rain and grey skies. Although we felt sorry for the boat and knew that we would have some nice green GRP to return to, we were very happy to be here. Despite the hill, we did drag ourselves up to the old castle and were very pleased that we did. Quite a history and some great views back across the port area to enjoy:

together with some back to the old town itself:

Having seen the "cheaper" marina area, we also walked around to the rather posher "Marina de Denia". Designer shops, some strange restaurants, several really tasteless Sunseeker motor yachts and several tasty cars driven by people who thought they were tasty too.  Most were very delusional in our humble opinion The view across to the boatyard gives you an idea of the kind of craft that had been dragged out for maintenance:

We would look like a rowboat amongst that lot. 

Denia was a happy surprise, way nicer than we expected and it had the obligatory Ale Hop tourist trap shop that helped Anne with her Xmas present search. We ended up with a bag full of stuff for her that we had to smuggle back into the UK. OK, just bring back in the very full car, we were not above the customs allowances. 

LLeida and the posh Parador

Our next port of call was an unexpected gem, Lleida. We had a couple of nights booked into a hotel there and so a day and a half to explore the place. It is the capital city of the area and firmly Catalan. So much so that the name Lleida is the Catalan name for the place, not the Spanish one, but gets used even for official purposes. There are the usual mix of interesting buildings, rather nice government establishments: 

and at a hotel, a very interesting take on the wedding car thing:

The city had been fought over many times and had some pretty extensive fortifications built:

During the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s the river became the front line between the opposing forces and you can still see bullet damage in some of the buildings along the waterside. The bombing by the Condor Legion (German forces working with the Spanish Nationalists) of the local school became rather too famous thanks to a high civilian and child death toll. 

Struggling up the hill to the old Cathedral of Seu Vella was well worth the possible coronary issues. A cathedral that had been turned into a fortress too:

As you can see, the weather was truly terrible - a serious shortage of clouds. 

We stayed in the Parador hotel, part of the rather nice little chain of unusual buildings that have been converted to hotels. They seem to have universally good food and staff too. Here is the original courtyard area of the convent that was covered over and is now a galleried area for the bedrooms and a lounge area for the customers:

All in all, pretty impressive. The original building dates from the 17th century and has been very tastefully adapted. Great place to stay:

Well worth stopping off there, hearing Catalan spoken which sounds even more confusing than high speed Spanish to us and enjoying the compact city life. So far, the trip was going well.

Getting Spanish by water and a load of bulls

As another escape from the wonderful UK winter, we'd booked a ferry to Spain and planned some cheap hotel / rental apartment stays that would keep us very amused for a month. After packing way too much stuff, we admired the weather forecast for the Bay of Biscay crossing. Plenty of red in the wave height forecasts:

made us happy to be on a pretty large ferry. They swapped out the ship due to operate the service from one of the normal (Salamanca, Santona) to Galicia. We were very happy to find our cabin was rather larger than those on the "normal" ships and that the bed had morphed into a double, not the two singles we'd become used to with Brittany Ferries. Pretty palatial for a simple ferry really and great for the two nights on board:

although we made it look a bit scruffy with our bags and stuff:

The crossing was a little bit bumpy and a quiet ferry became very very quiet thanks to the weather. Walking along the corridors was slightly more challenging than normal and the Club lounge was pretty deserted:

which worked for us. Having some form of sea-legs from our boating on the Nordhavn maybe helped us survive unscathed and manage the meals provided too.

After a good crossing (well, it was for us anyway) the drive to Pamplona reminded us why travelling by car in Spain is so good:

Empty motorways, lovely scenery, cheaper fuel and decent coffee at sensible prices in most service areas too. Our first stop was Pamplona. Most folks will have heard of it thanks to the annual bull-run madness. Look at this Bull run TV report video link for the full crazy experience.

We wandered happily around the town and of course the bull ring too. Rather different statues than you would normally see in cities:

and plenty of celebration of the long standing but to us seriously weird bull fighting tradition:

The rather odd people who take part get celebrated in some huge posters hanging outside the ring:

We felt that this cartoon was probably more accurate about how some of the participants in the run itself felt:

Enough about bulls. (Note how we resisted using the phrase "a lot of old bull" anywhere in this post - you should be impressed with our self control). The cathedral was, like many in Spain, stunningly beautiful. They were keen to maintain a hushed environment:

and to be fair, the building kind of encouraged that itself. Lots of open mouthed folks wandering about gazing at the opulence:

Not all the beautiful buildings were ecclesiastical though:

and a good wander around was most enjoyable:

The only sad bit about our three nights there was that the apartment hotel we were staying in had some electrical gremlins. None of the power sockets in the kitchenette area worked, no microwave either. Reporting it was a waste of time although the staff were ultra friendly and nice. One day we returned to find our electronic key cards would not work. The two new ones re-programmed by the receptionist also failed. Her master key failed. Yup, we were locked out. She had to find the device they use to configure the lock itself, plug it into the door, re-code it and finally we were reunited with our belongings. 

Mind you, a non-functioning kitchen area forced us to eat out and there were some good, sensibly priced restaurants.... Very interesting place all in all. The best coffee shop in town was still reasonably priced too:

Two excellent coffees for the price of one at Costa in a UK motorway service area. And this place was expensive compared to all those that followed. There were a few....