10th April

10th April.

In the area around Velez-Malaga and Lake Vinuela.....

Weather: Bright but hazy - stayed dry!



I had an absolutely fabulous sleep last night. I think I was the only one on site and no noisy kids to contend with. I'd made arrangements to go out with Graham and Karen this morning into Velez-Malaga, which is the nearest biggish town to try to buy a set of hair clippers as the aul' mop was begiining to make me look like Wurzel Gummige! I'd just stuck my laundry into the washing machine and had started washing the outside of the van when they arrived, so the van washing was put on hold and I got my ass into gear.

Our first stop was at the vets in La Vinuela village, another nice little Andalucian village; all whitewashed houses and narrow cobbled streets... Poor Troy the rottie is getting his nuts removed on Monday - bless....
Then on to a small market where we had a snoop around the stalls - i bought a jar of hot lime pickle - and then into a little cafe / bar for some breakfast. Bacon rolls - mmmmm........... proper bacon too; not the Spanish streaky stuff which is more fat than meat!

Final stop was Velez-Malaga for some horse and pony feed for Karen and into a Chinese bazaar that seemed to stock everything - and very cheaply. It reminded me of the Pakistani owned cash and carry's in Glasgow where you can buy almost any old tat - made in China - at wholesale prices. I got a pair of rechargeable clippers for 8.50 and also bought a new hose for the shower in the van as the old one had started to leak around the fitting on the wall. 2.50 for the shower hose - about 10 euro in Atlantic Homecare anyone? just shows the mark-ups that go on things. Talking of showers.... the ones on this campsite are some of the cleanest I've ever come across and loads of hot water, so I had a good long soak this morning, rather than my usual: lather up, stop the water and then rinse off as I try to conserve hot water in the van. Showering in Hermione has to be a rushed affair!

Graham and karen dropped me back up to the camping and we sat outside on the restaurant terrace, the devil dog hardly living up to their reputation as he dozed on the tiles, oblivious to all and sundry who passed! We had a few drinks and took in the rays, as the sun had finally decided to grace us with it's prescence. The forecast isn't great at all until Saturday when the weather is supposed to pick up, but today has been passable, with no rain here, and decent temperatures at times.

I headed back to Hermione and decided to cut my hair - probably not the best idea with a few beers in me......
Of course, Sod's Law, the clippers ran out of battery charge half way into the job, with me looking like Limahl out of Kajagoogoo with a really bad 80's mullet! I had to abandon the trim and put the clippers on charge. I finally finished the job off about an hour later. It looks ok from the front and the sides - well, from what I can see anyway, but god knows what it looks like at the back!

Tomorrow I'm planning to move on and will try to get the fresh water filled up, as I've been shown a free camping spot just further round the lake. The only problem about being on site here is that in order to get to anywhere, I need to take the van off site which is a bit of faffing about, get the barrier raised, gun it up the steep hill and hope for the best. As a result, the past 2 days have been pretty lazy, although plenty of sight-seeing has been done courtesy of Graham and Karen.

I see the Dutch motorhome has re-appeared this afternoon, so there are now 2 of us on site. I hope that they're going to be quiet!

edit: left next morning,
camping 34 euro inc washing
Mileage 44750 km.