Where's Frankie?

The Boots from Brazil

Tuesday 6th December

Things are going to go very quiet on the blog front for the next month, there will be one or two bits of excitement but it looks like we might be settling down until the New Year.

After leaving Sete (and not paying a euro) we headed off to sunny Spain. We need a beach and we need some sun so the Captain gave her orders and off we rolled.

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Over the last few days I have been quizzed to the nth degree by my Accountant (as she does every year, thank you Penny) and the upshot is, I’m due a hefty tax rebate so it looks like some of you are going to be working longer and harder than you were before. One of the consequences of our new found wealth is that we can fritter it away on toll roads. Yesterday we drove 70 miles without motorways and it took over three hours and things got slightly fraught with the helpful comments from “the driving tips department”, today was 90 miles in two hours with a stop for lunch. €21 seems like a big expense but the drive was so much more relaxing.

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The mountains started getting bigger but at no time did we feel that we were going up or down very steep roads.

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Certainly the easiest, by far of the five French / Spanish border crossings that we’ve made. We did toy with the idea of visiting Andorra but then remembered that it might be snowy and we don’t do snow anymore.

We stopped in a large town called Figueres, the birth place of Salvador Dali. We parked in a large car park behind a supermarket on a Saturday night. Just imagine doing that in a supermarket car park in the middle of a town in the UK, By 6pm the cars had all moved off and it was silent until the rubbish lorry came along at 8am the next morning.

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Sunday morning we moved onto St Feliu de Guixols, an aire we’d stayed at two years ago and we knew the Sunday market would be on and Lucy could replace her worn out shoes. On the way we celebrated Frankie’s 50,000 mile with a Mexican wave, we know how to entertain ourselves.

Last time we were here we parked in the overspill car park with another 50 vans, this time that car park has been closed to motorhomes but we managed to squeeze into the official aire. Lucy found her shoes, leather clog like stompers made in Brazil and costing €15. I’ll ever lose her now, I can hear her every footfall.

Because of the large Sunday market most shops in town were open and since it was a free aire and we were warmer than we have been for a couple of days I treated the old girl to a menu del dia. @11.50 for four courses and a beer which we thought was very reasonable. I nearly had tripe as one of the courses but luckily noticed in time.

We’ve been looking for somewhere to settle down for a few weeks over Xmas and the New Year, we know of sites far further south which would be ideal but I am getting tired of all the driving and know that the further south we drive now means the further north we have to drive in January. I’ve whittled the aires in Camper Contact down and there is one 30 miles south of St Feliu so Monday morning we head off that way.

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We took the coast road again, one of the nicest roads I’ve been on, would really love to drive along it in a sports car.

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It’s steep and bendy…

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…and the views are great.

After stopping for a Lidls shop we arrived in Pinedas de Mar. French Lidls advertise a turkey crown with mushroom stuffing for €4.99, we stopped at three and the shelves were bare. Spanish Lidls have a stuffed pork joint so that might be our Xmas dinner or possibly a Spanish chicken. (French chickens €10, Spanish chickens €2.50).

Our aire is 50m from the beach, 200m from a decent supermarket which is opposite a launderette. The site is a bit tired but at the moment there are five of us here and three of us are in Frankias.

Between us and the beach is the railway line into Barcelona which is €9.80 for an adult return ticket, or €28 for an all day travel ticket which includes the city tour buses.

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Look at my poor pasty white legs, I need to get that tan back and this is the right place to do it. We spent a good few hours on the beach reading kindles…

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…and getting fishing tips off this guy. Tip number one, don’t fish here, there are no fish. Tip number two – use some bait.

We were going to give this site a week and move further south but the boss has stamped her foot down and said we are staying here. We’ve got electric and free wifi. Lots of bars and restaurants are open and there is a cycle path to the next town which has a large pedestrianised shopping centre.

4 thoughts on “The Boots from Brazil

  1. Paula

    Hi Mark and Lucy

    Steve and I used to stay at Santa Susanna and cycle to Pindas da Mar. We travelled the rail trip to Barcelona many times – rail fares have gone up they were only €4.80 !! Have a super time xx

    1. Mark Post author

      Lovely to hear from you Paula.
      We’ve looked at trains a couple of times, in France and in Italy and for similar length journeys they were asking €80 or €90 for the two of us, return. We were so surprised at how cheap they are here, would have been even better at your prices. I bet the red wine and beer was half the price as well.
      Keep warm and we’ll see you next year.

  2. Elaine Moody

    Hi Both

    Nick and I had our first overseas holiday together (in fact my first!) in Calella in 1980, I bet it looks a bit different now. Have a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Hopefully see you early in 2017 after you have become grandparents again. xx

    1. Mark Post author

      I reckon it’s still got the same coat of paint it had then, slightly faded and peeling now. We cycled in to Calella today, very nearly didn’t spend any money at all – good day in my books. We will see you next year.

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