Blowin' in the Wind

Saturday 28 March – Tuesday 31 March

On Saturday we travelled about 50 miles to Camping Eden in Peniscola, which will be our most southerly point in Spain. This means we have left Catalunya and are now in the region of Valencia. Still windy, but glorious sunshine. It's a huge site and almost full, as it's the start of Easter week. We had a low-key day, relaxing in the sunshine, getting the lie of the land and catching up with some chores.

We unashamedly admit to people watching and that is causing some amusement here. There are very few Brits on the site and most of the rest (Germans, Dutch, Swedes, French, Spanish) appear to be long-termers. Their groundsheets are pegged out to cover every last inch of their pitches in front of their 'vans and then refilled 5 litre water containers warn of anything hazardous, satellite antenna perhaps, guy lines, bike storage tent etc. Wind breaks complete the set up, one with a sign hanging on it, saying “hello neighbours” in German. We have seen one lady sweeping her groundsheet and an elderly gentleman pulling up weeds!

While here we cycled northwards along the sea front from Peniscola, which is predominantly hotels and restaurants and merges seamlessly with the next town, Benicarlo. More of the same. However, we did venture further than this towards Vinaros. Once we had left the touristy area, we began to see a more rural Spain, passing by fields of vegetables - artichokes, cauliflower and cabbages). There were some properties for sale and we got the feeling that some of the land belonged to those, as it looked rather neglected. We saw orange trees, still bearing some of their fruit, but with much of it lying on the ground going to waste. The quality of the soil is variable, some a mixture of sand and rocks so that you wonder how anything would grow, some looking more “improved”. Lines of small irrigation pipes shadowed some newly set plants in very neat rows.

A walk into Peniscola old town, a 2 km stroll along the sea front in the opposite direction to Benicarlo, was another “must do”.

To our minds it was pleasantly warm, despite the huge bank of cloud which refused to budge during the whole day, tantalisingly leaving the patch of blue sky behind it in the distance. The Spaniards, however, thought otherwise, and were well wrapped up in jumpers or even coats and must have thought we were mad in only t-shirts.

On the way we passed this fantastic sand sculpture

After a quick look at the port area, we browsed the steep and winding little streets of the old town, where there are innumerable restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops until it was time to find somewhere for lunch. We had an excellent menu del dia, choosing a paella for the main course.

Then on to have a look around the castle, which is undergoing some restoration. It was well worth the Euro 2.50 each (a reduced rate for over 60's!) for the views alone.

View of the port area (left) and North Beach (right) from the castle

But there were also explanatory boards in several languages, which made the walk around the buildings all the more interesting, and not even a mention of a guidebook! After leaving the castle area, we noticed some gardens below, and found that the entrance to these is included in the ticket to the castle. They comprise mainly date palms but our limited Spanish and various tethers told us that this is where you would find the Bird of Prey Sanctuary. Nothing happening today though.

Once back at the 'van, the wind picked up and later in the evening we became aware of a warm, pink glow resulting from a beautiful sunset. The wind had blown the bank of cloud away at last!

Tuesday 31 March: Today's THE DAY and what we came here for. The sky is an unblemished blue, the sun is blazing and it's really hot. The 'van thermometer tells us it is 27.5 deg C outside and 30.5 deg C inside. Thank goodness for the wind!

So we have not ventured far; the shop (200 metres), the toilet/shower block (50 metres), the rubbish area (15 metres),the tap (3 metres). And the chairs have been used quite a lot!

But we did stir ourselves towards the end of the day and go to the beach across the road to paddle in the sea.