Where's Frankie?

All good things…

12th January 2017

I’m not happy, really, really not happy.

We’ve got to leave here in the morning. We booked in for 26 nights, added another 4 nights but now, we really do have to start moving (pretty quickly) homeward. Just as the weather is getting so warm that I can sit out sunbathing from 9am until 6pm and we have seen the weather forecasts from home. It really isn’t fair.

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Xmas day, visit to the beach with our very own Father Christmas and one of his elves.

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I paddled but ankle deep was far more than I really wanted to do.

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The crazy people went for it though. They looked like a troop of Smurfs when they came out. It might be sunny but that really doesn’t mean that it is swimming weather.

There was a Christmas lunch in the bar but we (joint decision really) had decided that a BBQ chicken with all the veg was the option for us, When I sy BBQ chicken what I really mean was a chicken fillet wrapped around some stuffing but it was really delicious and we had roast potatoes and broccoli. Just enough to know you had had a proper meal without feeling stuffed and unable to move afterwards.

During the month we’ve been on bike rides, mostly nothing serious but yesterday we rode into Sagunt, just a short trip of 14 miles each way. I’m very proud of Lucy Short Legs, at the half way stop going we were told that we would get the train back but that didn’t happen and we had to ride all the way back. 28 miles in all, and she didn’t almost fall off once. The whole point of going to Sagunt was the Chinese restaurant with a menu del dia. The menu itself was a little bit difficult to decipher but starter, main course with rice or noodles, sweet and a drink was €10 each.

Everyday there has been something arranged, whether it be a whist drive or board games in the bar or tapas afternoon or boys against the girls boule. If you want to take part then you do but there has been absolutely no pressure to join in at all.

I joined 5 other campers one day and went into the local primary school to give an English lesson. It was astounding to listen to 10 year olds who can speak English but also understand some very important concepts like opposite, next to and nearby. They really got excited when I shared my lack of knowledge about football, interestingly they liked Chelsea but had never heard of Arsenal or Spurs.

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Heres little poppet waiting for the Three Kings. Moncofa is a very small town so don’t expect too much from the following photos, however it was well worth visiting.

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At 8pm the bells started ringing, (where we are staying the sound of bells only just reach us and are really not obtrusive).

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All the participants of the parade have bags of sweets and they throw them them all over the place and all the kids are scrabbling about. Lucy was like a ferret, here, there and everywhere, wrestling sweets out of the hands of five year olds.

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As far as I can work out, the three kings turned up late at the birth of little Jesus but they came with presents. Tonight is the night that the Spanish receive their gifts instead of getting them on the 25th. The Germans are far less patient than us and have to have theirs on Christmas Eve. That is religion and being European summed up in a few words.

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Now looking back at these photos I may have mixed up Kings with the Night of St James (or someone else), we’ve had a couple of trips into town for celebrations and you know how it is, one brandy merges into another and all of a sudden you don’t know what year it is.

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We both had a great time, had to visit a couple of bars and might even have been near a kebab shop on the way home. All the days have blurred into one here. We only booked this site a week before we arrived, we’d thought about doing somethingl iike this next year but weren’t sure whether we would like it. We have both enjoyed ourselves so much that we are now thinking about staying four months on the rally next year.

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One of the days was a coach trip into Valencia. We managed to avoid (accidentally) nearly all the shops but found a bar near to the market and had a lovely menu del dia and a couple of drinks. The food came to €20 but the total bill was over €55 what with Lucy’s non stop thirst for sangria. 

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There was a beer stall in the market but I resisted and we spent all afternoon in an Irish bar testing the quality of European beers and ciders.

We leave in the morning and are heading towards Pamplona. Then the plan is Bordeaux, Poitiers, Tours, Caen and then Dunkirk. We have a DFDS sailing booked for the 20th but it is a flexible sailing and we can jump on 72 hours either way. It was also £5 cheaper than the P&O sailing from Dover to Calais which doesn’t have any flexibility. 

Next blog, probably from a very cold UK.

14 thoughts on “All good things…

    1. Mark Post author

      Daughter giving birth end of January, one of my renters refusing to pay so having to go to court on the 20th, if there was some way round it I would stay for a few more months. The weather is improving daily.

  1. Marina

    Great blog, interesting to know you enjoyed the rally, we always think it’s not for us but you’ve raised some positive thoughts, might give it a go another year. We’re off on the 23rd to St Malo, then down to Spain so pleased to hear the weather is warm. Enjoy the UK, I shall look forward to your next blog.

    1. Mark Post author

      We have always rallied so some of this is normal for us, but there are some people here who have not joined in with anything and they haven’t been made to feel awkward at all. We have a couple over the road from us and when they arrived said that they live in a small village, don’t mix with anyone, not sure if they will like it and guess what? It really is what you want it to be.
      Thanks for the kind words, I’m a little out of practice writing and I might have had a bottle of wine today. Hope you have a great time, try and absorb!

  2. Giorgio

    Good to hear all is well and Buon Anno, Feliz año nuevo, Bonne année, Frohes neues Jahr,
    You are a linguist now so there is no need for translation.
    Giorgio

  3. Elaine Moody

    Great to hear from you and about your festivities, just to put another day for Christmas in the pot we had ours on Boxing Day rather than compete with the boys in-laws! Really looking forward to seeing you and picking your brains on the boring bits of long terming. E & N x

  4. Chris and Peter

    Oh,oh,oh, we so feel for you! And we will miss the sunny blogs! Or will you keep on blogging from across the Channel! Happy New Year and safe travels!

    1. Mark Post author

      Woke up to snow this morning so it looks like sunny blogs are finished. I will blog but only if something happens, you don’t want to read the boring bits. Happy new year to you both and see you one day on our travels.

  5. Ann and Eric McLaren

    Hi Mark and Lucy, I am so glad you made the Rally in Moncofa and you seem to have enjoyed it and all the little town has to offer. We also did the trip to Vallencia. The journey home with be fun and also takes in many of the places we stayed. Hope it is a little warmer than when we did it in reverse about 3 years ago in mid January, but youth and alcohol are your best friends. Good job you have loads of both on board. Actually its a little warmer here today.Happy travels and Happy New Year.

    1. Mark Post author

      You two really do get around!! Nearly home, only one big incident so far (most likely due to the alcohol) but sitting in the aire in Boulogne tonight and hoping to catch the ferry mid day tomorrow.
      Hope to see you both again soon.
      Mark

  6. Going Nomad

    Great to have met you both at Moncofa. Sorry it was more at the end of your travels. I hope you get your issues in the UK sorted, and maybe you will be on the road again soon. Weather wise, you have missed very little in Spain in the last few weeks. Winter took its grip for a while but hoping that normal service will be resumed soon.

    1. Mark Post author

      Everything is sorted and turned out rather well for me, my court opponent bottled it and paid up in full the week before the court case.
      Travelling home was a bit fraught, but we’re home and waiting for the baby to pop.
      Glad to see that you are beginning to catch up with your blog, I really need to post something soon but I’ve been so busy :-), already run out of all the brandy we bought and have had to start on the red wine.
      We’ve been looking at the weather – what on earth is going on? You’ve had more snow that us!
      Keep travelling and keep blogging.
      One day we’ll meet up again and share some drinks.

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