France/ Spain trip with possibly Portugal.

we’re at gibraleon not a tourist spot comes as a surprise that nothing is open on a sunday shows the level of expectation i guess all chilled and serviced up ready for a few days at the beach at punta umbria lol
 
Interestingly the Lidl in Los Alcazares is open on a Sunday until 8pm. We have only come across supermarkets maybe opening until lunchtime on a Sunday in Spain, and then not all of them. To have one opening that late is rare I think.
 
Interestingly the Lidl in Los Alcazares is open on a Sunday until 8pm. We have only come across supermarkets maybe opening until lunchtime on a Sunday in Spain, and then not all of them. To have one opening that late is rare I think.
Graham,

You know you're getting old when:

1. The first thing you check is the supermarket closing time
2. You get a ticket to a gig, and you ask about the parking arrangements rather than the programme
3. You swap your front row seat for one nearer the toilets 'because of my wee problem' ...
4. You get 'shushed' for spending the first half of the gig saying loudly, 'Well, the years haven't been kind to him/her, and hasn't he put on the weight!'
5. You leave before the gig before the encore to avoid the crush and get out of the car park before the hordes cause a queue
6. Your designer stubble looks like you're waiting for the Home Care Assistant to come and give you a shave to make you look presentable :rolleyes:

Steve
 
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Wr are just north of the border a little town called Beirttiz, on a motorhome Aires 13 euro with unlimited ehu, 5 min walk to the beach and a pleasant 12 deg in the sunshine, gong to have a couple of days here then cross the border into northern Spain

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Wr are just north of the border a little town called Beirttiz, on a motorhome Aires 13 euro with unlimited ehu, 5 min walk to the beach and a pleasant 12 deg in the sunshine, gong to have a couple of days here then cross the border into northern Spain
Biarritz?
Struggled to get a good spot in that area . Are you in the town , or close to ?
 
we’ve finally reached wildcamping heaven just behind the sand dunes at punta umbria, all services completed at gibraleon shopped at mercadona now safely ensconced for a few days A7DEA1F9-8905-4EF6-B994-A100A9F19D0A.jpegE6C345E2-8EB9-4C36-90DF-ADF0BB724455.jpeg2D3A0BA4-E75C-49C6-B713-5C59BD6378E2.jpeg2D44F614-159A-4390-81FC-B929DB8FEB20.jpeg
 
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Interestingly the Lidl in Los Alcazares is open on a Sunday until 8pm. We have only come across supermarkets maybe opening until lunchtime on a Sunday in Spain, and then not all of them. To have one opening that late is rare I think.

Disembarked the Galicia yesterday, the route towards Plasencia and beyond quickly rises over 3000ft. Some snow around but the roads were absolutely fine. Left Scotland to get away from this!
It's not too worrying when you're heading south. Things will certainly improve.
But when you meet it going north..
That's another story..
 
Checked out of Camping Villasol today, not without paying an electric bill first for €47, apparently I've used 125 units of electric in 7 days, we have watched a bit of TV, had the heating thermostat set at 16° and the hot water on eco and the fridge on and maybe the battery charger at times. Apparently with the ACSI card you only get a 4KW allowance free per day, lesson learned it's cheaper to run everything using gas, I do like learning the hard way,Lol

There is a great car wash garage in Benidorm with a raised platform on both sides, so decided to give the motorhome a bit of a wash as it was looking in a sorry state from our journey plus was probably cover in salt. Cost us €5 in total, luckily I brought one of this extending car wash brushes with us, as its only a jet wash, but you can lather the motorhome then switch it off, give us a good brushing and then rinse it in osmosis mode so it doesn't leave water stains.


We are now in Canada Del Trigo were my sister has bought a property, certainly different to Benidorm, only one bar in the village, nearest town is Pinoso which is 10 minutes away. There is a church here that chimes each hour, then two minutes later chimes again, my sister said wait to midnight, it chimes 12 times and two minutes later does it all again. We all went for a fabulous meal tonight, €16 each for 3 courses, but they have a 2 for 1 offer on Monday, so only €8 each, absolute bargain. Tomorrow they are taking us to a place they have found in Pinoso that does English breakfasts, looking forward to it.
 
Checked out of Camping Villasol today, not without paying an electric bill first for €47, apparently I've used 125 units of electric in 7 days, we have watched a bit of TV, had the heating thermostat set at 16° and the hot water on eco and the fridge on and maybe the battery charger at times. Apparently with the ACSI card you only get a 4KW allowance free per day, lesson learned it's cheaper to run everything using gas, I do like learning the hard way,Lol

On the ACSI/4Kwh of electric thing. Like a number of folk, we carry a Spanish propane gas bottle (ours is Repsol, there is also another brand called Cepsa) and adaptor and hose. We then back feed this through our BBQ point on the MH and use it for space and water heating. Changing them at a petrol station costs typically around €16 or in a campsite, up to €20-ish. It certainly saves on the electricity bill. I think to by the first cylinder is around another €20 and after that it's just like the UK when swapping for a full one.

It might be worth considering if you are staying in Spain for a while and have space to carry it. You can get the adaptor and hose from any decent DIY shop, I guess if you don't have a BBQ point, you could attach the cylinder through your gas cupboard like any other gas cylinder.
 
On the ACSI/4Kwh of electric thing. Like a number of folk, we carry a Spanish propane gas bottle (ours is Repsol, there is also another brand called Cepsa) and adaptor and hose. We then back feed this through our BBQ point on the MH and use it for space and water heating. Changing them at a petrol station costs typically around €16 or in a campsite, up to €20-ish. It certainly saves on the electricity bill. I think to by the first cylinder is around another €20 and after that it's just like the UK when swapping for a full one.

It might be worth considering if you are staying in Spain for a while and have space to carry it. You can get the adaptor and hose from any decent DIY shop, I guess if you don't have a BBQ point, you could attach the cylinder through your gas cupboard like any other gas cylinder.
We have a 11kg refillable bottle this leaves room for another bottle next to it, we did it this way on purpose, rather than having two refillable bottles take up all the space. I picked up a used repsol bottle from out local recycling centre, knowing that it was cheaper to swap for a full one as opposed buying LPG by the litre in Spain. Also if we decided to stay on site for a long time, we know we can just swap the gas bottle rather than driving off site in search of an LPG pump.

In the UK I swap the repsol bottle for a calor one as back up, but in five years I've never needed to replace that one, always managed to make a do with the refillable one.
 
Ah I see. How was your 'lecky bill so high then if you had cheap gas as an option?
 
Ah I see. How was your 'lecky bill so high then if you had cheap gas as an option?
Because I was a numpty and just had everything on electric, thinking it was included in the price, there was no mention that you only get a daily allowance of 4kw. Certainly a lesson learned. 😂😭
 
We have a 11kg refillable bottle this leaves room for another bottle next to it, we did it this way on purpose, rather than having two refillable bottles take up all the space. I picked up a used repsol bottle from out local recycling centre, knowing that it was cheaper to swap for a full one as opposed buying LPG by the litre in Spain. Also if we decided to stay on site for a long time, we know we can just swap the gas bottle rather than driving off site in search of an LPG pump.

In the UK I swap the repsol bottle for a calor one as back up, but in five years I've never needed to replace that one, always managed to make a do with the refillable one.
We use 2 x 11kg refillable bottles and refill when we pass an LPG garage en route to the next site, We can manage 8 days+, depending on the season, on the first bottle, and we rarely stay longer than that in 1 place.

And, being an anal retentive, an honorary Scot and an overall tightwad, I read the T&Cs and then ask at Reception for verification BEFORE I flick the switch ... Of course, by the time I've done all that, it's time to move site again :rolleyes:

Steve
 
Because I was a numpty and just had everything on electric, thinking it was included in the price, there was no mention that you only get a daily allowance of 4kw. Certainly a lesson learned. 😂😭

Oh dear...I see :D

The site we are on is not ACSI no free allowance and units charged at €0.55 per unit. We normally use between 7-8 units a day when on ACSI sites so I am expecting a bill of around the early €40's for our 10 days. The standard pitch is €18 a night so €22ish all in is ACSI territory.

I must admit I had to ask the question when we booked in as they didn't offer the information to me but at the bottom of their map/pricelist it says the EHU rate!
 
At last, we have found the sunshine, arrived at Valladolid about 15.00pm, a pleasant 14 degrees, the aire is in the centre of the city and only 5 euro for 24hrs. it is now 18.20 pm and still light so going to take Roxy for a walk along the river into the centre, maybe some tapas and a beer. Tomorrow we will be on the road again heading for Seville, then not far behind Ken :cool:IMG_20230131_184352.jpg
 
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