The journey begins.

I would be seriously annoyed if after paying all that money we ended up outside especially given what the weather can throw at you in the Atlantic.

Only been outside once on the Calais to Dover route on a relatively calm day at it took ages to get the bleeding salt off the motorhome :mad:

It actually not to bad, I just leathered the windows and mirrors to make sure they were clean, but it was probably only a force 5 when we set off dropping to a 3/4.
 
You’re fortunate it isn’t the manic bedlam when they load the motorbikes it is sardines and worse.

Also the ‘free ‘ wifi got me a huge bill from 3 as onboard wifi is not within the free roaming areas. I argued and got the money back, but I’d be more careful if there was another occasion.

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You’re fortunate it isn’t the manic bedlam when they load the motorbikes it is sardines and worse.

Also the ‘free ‘ wifi got me a huge bill from 3 as onboard wifi is not within the free roaming areas. I argued and got the money back, but I’d be more careful if there was another occasion.

Wow that looks busy, I switched my mobile data off and just used there WiFi.
 
We have stopped over at Valladolid on a free Aire with facilities to refresh the water supply and empty the waste, we then stayed over at Salamanca, what a gorgeous place, well worth a stop over. We then went to Caseres in Spain, again some fantastic history, very enjoyable, we stayed on a campsite that provides each pitch with its own personal washing room and toilet facilities, it was like having ensuite facilities with free internet, it was €18 for the night including electric, the wife got all the laundry done, although the dryer was not good so we ended up putting a washing line up. Soon dried in the 18° temperature.

From there we crossed over to Portugal and stayed the night on a free Aire in Evora, enjoyed fabulous Portuguese hospitality in a lovely restaurant, again a Fabulous town with plenty of history. The only downside was there is like a builders yard next to the Aire and the bloody guard dog was barking non stop, if I hadn't been drinking the Vino in the restaurant I would have moved the van elsewhere.

We then left there and went to Beja, not the nicest of towns and I didn't fancy staying over, so we headed to the Algarve, we are staying at a campsite about 10km outside Albufeira, it is set in the country side just a km from the local town, €6 a night,it is called motorhomefriendsalgarve.com, fabulous welcome from Pedro who showed us all around, gave us tips for walking and cycling, has a party room you are more than welcome to use and organises things to do during the week, every Saturday he organised a barbecue with lots of home made cakes and as much as you can eat and drink for €12.50 a person, also free bingo. He even allows you to use his VW 9 seater minibus for two hours a week free, you just top it up with fuel, there is also internet available, if you want electric it is an extra €3 a night. I just wish we could stay longer, but unfortunately have my son flying into Malaga on the 8th February.

This is our first time abroad as we only purchased a motorhome in August, I was a bit apprehensive at first driving a right hand drive vehicle on the wrong side of the road, but I can honestly say it is easier driving in Spain and Portugal than it is back home, the roads have a lot less traffic for starters and the condition of the roads are far superior to ours, I have never yet seen any sort of a traffic jam, we are loving our experiences so far, we tend to spend a number of nights on free Aires and then have a night on a campsite. It has been totally stress free. Loving it thus far.

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Enjoyed our stay at Albufeira, although it wasn't as I imagined, we then headed just down the road to Vilamoura and had a look round the marina complex, throughly enjoyed this as a previous boat owner, must restaurants were closed though until February, I can imagine it's an give of activity in the summer.

We then headed of to Alcoutim, somehow we managed to get lost and took the long route, it was slow progress as we were up and down hills, but the views were breath taking, it was there equivalent to our national park. So instead of just taking over an hour, it took us over two and a half, buts thats the beauti of traveling in a motorhome, you can just pull up, admire the view and stick the kettle on.

We eventually arrived at Alcoutim and stayed on the Aire, there was all the facilities included two electric hookups, it used to be free but from January it is now chargeable, in the morning a municipal worker came round and gave us a ticket, it was €8.40. but be warned if you stay here bring some good ear plugs, otherwise you will get a ride awakening at 5.00 am when the cockerels brake into song. We had a wander around the village, it's a bit neglected in places, it could be such an attractive place with a bit of effort, buildings needed whitewashing and some nice flower hanging baskets putting up.
I saw several municipal workers in uniform doing nothing except twiddling there thumbs, only one was actually doing a half attempt at sweeping up, the others were drinking coffee at the bars and chatting, yet there were dog shite on the pavements that could have been picked up, but just left. Further up the Hill there were three more municipal workers one with a strimmer, and one with a brush, brushing the grass off the pavements, when a blower would have had more effect and used less manpower, the other was caving, stood about picking his nose and watching his colleagues.

My impression of Portugal from what I have seen is it is slightly backwards from its neighbour Spain, the roads are in worse condition as are many of the towns, it seems that the simple life runs here, not that there's anything wrong with that, at times I wish my life was more simple.

When we woke up the following day the sun was shining so we had a walk up to the castle, you have to pay an admission fee, I was charged the over 65s rate, must have had a bloody hard paper round as I'm only 56, I obviously had to correct them. It was interesting looking around and these have a museum within the grounds with some interesting articfacts that were before BC. We then walked down to the river that separates Spain and Portugal, there is a boat you can get for €2.50 return so we went across to the Spanish town, what a difference it was too, very well kept, alit smarter in appearance too, the buildings were perfectly painted and the streets free of dog dirt, I can only assume Spain benefits greater from the EU grant system than its neighbours, either that or they spend it more wisely.

It was time to leave Portugal and head to Spain, we have enjoyed the hospitality of Portugal, the locals were very friendly indeed and made you feel welcome, we will return to explore some more next year, the majority we met could speak English too. We have stayed overnight in Heulva, it put some rain down in the night, we are parked on a big carpark near the Christopher Columbus exbition that I'm going to see this morning, there is also a botanical gardens at the same spot and a Monastery which we also hope to look round.

We are hoping to set off from here to El Rocio, heard many things about it, it maybe a mud bath though if it rained as heavy there, might only be a flying visit, from there we are then heading to Seville. The weather is supposed to be sunny from Saturday, so hopefully it will be the last we see of the grey sky for a while.
 
Jealous, wish we were there!!!
Awaiting birth of 2nd 2019 grandchild!!!
 
Some of the pictures from El Rocio today, I was told about this place from a person at the Hereford Meet, it's a little Gem, a the streets are sand and everyone gets about by either horse or Horse and carriage.Theres also a fabulous bird sanctuary, you can go on tour on large 4 wheel drive buses that go into the wetlands.

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I completely new to this Hobby myself and so far have not found it stressful, you just follow the instructions from the ferry staff, non of the motorhomes were fasted down on the open deck and it was a bit rocky, I must admit I was nervous and kept checking that they weren't moving. But they must know what they are doing.
Handbrake on and leave it in gear , please!??
 
We reluctantly left El Rocio heading to Seville, we stayed on a recommended Aire near the port, it was only a short cycle ride into old town Seville, we ended up staying two days and throughly enjoyed all that the city had to offer. We then headed of to Jerez Dr La Frontera, we stayed for two days here at a motorhome dealership, it had full facilities for €15 a night and they also managed to repair my water leak, very good service. We did a couple of tours of sSherry and Brandy manufacturers including tasting sessions. But the high light for us was to do a tour of the Royal school of equestrian art, it was €11 each for the tour then you could spend as long as you liked watching them train the horses and riders, again throughly enjoyed our visit, we then did a 90 minute drive to Gibraltar, we are stopping on the Aire at La Linea on the marina €12 a night, it's right next to the airport of Gibraltar so you could easily cycle in, we opted to go into Gibraltar on the scooter and thank goodness we did as the queue's for cars coming back over the border were horrendous, were as scooters and bikes were allowed to skip the queue's, shame really as I would have been tempted to take the motorhome across to fill it with fuel, it was 0.93p per litre. Were going to have a clue of nights here before moving on.
 
We have moved on from Gibraltar and found some free parking in Marbella next to the Cepsa fuel station on a large plot of land that was covered in sand, it was over looking lovely beach that had a toilet open 24 hours and also you could fill a container with fresh water from either the tap by the toilet or there were showers on the beach, had a very quite night there. I've posted a couple of pictures, from there we set of to Sierra Nevada, fabulous drive, took us around 3 hours, the views were spectacular. It was very busy today as there was an event on, tommorow it will be nice and quite, it was that hot up there today, so much so that I ended sitting outside on one of the terraces in my teashirt, enjoying a few cold lagers at €1.50 a pint and tappas at €1 each. We have arranged our ski hire to start from tomorrow along with our lift pass, the skiing conditions are excellent, it last snowed on the 2nd February.

We are presently parked on the Mountain of Sierra Nevada, there is no longer any electric hookups unfortunately, we are staying at the upper carpark called Los Penones along with several other motorhomes. There are toilets less than 50 metres away and also a ski lift and a cafe. Fantastic spot and views, it is currently 4° outside but we are lovely and cosy in the motorhome though. I will post a video on motorhomer as not sure how to post one on wild camping. Oh and best of all it seems to be free, there is a shuttle bus that also runs down into the main ski resort of Pradollano, it cost €1.90 or you can buy 5 tickets to use or €5 for 5 days travel.

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We have moved to a ACSI site near Bea's De Granada, we tried to book general tickets for the Alhambra Palace at €16 per person, but they were all sold out until the end of February, so we opted to buy tickets for a guided tour at €70 for today, unfortunately they cancelled on us at the last minute.

Lucky for us on the Wild camping site someone mentioned about a site in Bea's De Granada who can normally get Alhambra Palace tickets when no one else can, so we thought we would give them a try, sure enough they have got us tickets for tomorrow that also include entry into other places of interest for €16 each. We caught the bus from the site to Granada today at €1.80 per person, takes about 35 minutes. We then bought a two day ticket on the road train that allows you to hop on or hop off at the various sites of interest that it goes around, these cost me €12 each, but if you are over 65 the price works out at €6, a bargain. The site is very clean and on numerous levels, internet is €1 for seven days, great find and fantastic views.

The weather has been hot today and similar forecasts are in for a few days so we will probably spend 3 nights here, two sightseeing and then 1 day chilling in the sun, before heading towards Murcia.

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