Oldies On Tour

Thursday 5th October

Another good night and being Thursday, it’s Crib day at Jim and Hazel’s, we always enjoy these days, but not ‘till 1000hrs so time for, yes you’ve guessed it, “wear the buggers out,” though no doubt they will find their way into the swimming pool, again!!!

Along with our fellow players, we all arrived and started playing and it wasn’t long before there was a “splosh” as two dogs were swimming after a ball!!!   There were 6-dogs here today but only our two were water dogs, the others looked-on in amazement.

After crib Christine and I had been invited to stop-on for a swim and lunch; my the swim was most welcome, far nicer than the sea as far as I’m concerned, though Christine prefers the sea!!!   Naturally it wasn’t just the four of us enjoying the pool, no, there were three dogs in with us; Roxy is not into water so hides away from the pool.   Our swim was followed by a nice lunch, probably ate too much as we are out to dinner tonight as well!!!! Tomorrow is weigh-day and the weight read-out won’t be a “pretty sight”, of that we have no doubt 😡😡😡

Refreshed and with full stomachs left to get ready to visit Sue and Frank for “cocktails” before heading to a new restaurant in Campoverde.

The one thing I “do” miss about living here are the evenings, the ability to sit out whilst the sun goes down and stay out without having to “fetch” a coat.   Tonight is one of those evenings; cocktails by the pool in the late afternoon sun followed by an excellent dinner at the new, well new to us, place called “Ameli bar and restaurant”; we had heard good reports but until “you” try it, you don’t really know: All I can say is “they were right”, 3 of us enjoyed fillet steaks and they were cooked to perfection and melted in the mouth.

We started early as Frank now likes to be tucked up in bed around 2100hrs but not tonight; tonight we were having fun and his bed-time came and went without notice!!!!   Whilst there we also bumped into Penny and Keith so agreed to meet for coffee on Saturday.  

Tonight we were parked back outside the dog park so Christine headed off with TT & R, their last walk of the day, whilst Sue went for the car then gave me a lift until we caught up with Christine.   Being late by now, I joined her for last part.

We had a very good night with Sue and Frank, thank you and until the next time, au revoir 

Wednesday 4th October

Had to be up early this morning as we have 2-Dental appointments, 0900 & 0930 hrs in the village; It’s a long way to come to visit the dentist, but first we needed to exhaust the dogs, again; they will be so fit when we get back!!!!

We moved Rosie into the centre of the village and strolled across the road into the dental clinic and punctual.   I went if first and emerged half an hour later with one new filling and an inspection; all good ‘till the next time.   Christine was hot on my heals and emerged half an hour later having had an inspection and clean, no filling!!!!

Next we visited the pharmacy to buy drugs that are unavailable without a prescription in the U.K.  followed by a visit to Tracy’s card shop and coffee with tostada and Soberano😁😁

Beach time now, but before heading back to the “salinas” carpark we stopped at the DIY car wash, Rosie was looking quite sad and dirty. Having fed the machine with lots of coins I covered her in their soap or more precisely “pink foam”, it’s supposed to sort out mosquitos; don’t know how!!! Anyway after I rinsed her down i wasn’t too impressed with the finished result, the dirt is too ingrained so it will be me up the steps with a bucket and sponge when we get back.

Back in the Salinas, we now headed off to the beach with two balls, a ball thrower and two chairs.   Tonight we are out again so the pooches need to be tired.

After about an hour or so sitting in the sun and cooling off in the sea, and two dogs looking like drowned rats, we headed back to the MH.   Today we are in a good position, we have time and plenty of water on board so took the opportunity to enjoy showers, though we’d been in the sea most days, “there is nothing like a shower”!!!   

It was now time to head to head back to Campoverde as we have been invited to Hazel and Jim’s for dinner and crib; really looking forward to that.

Tonight we had intended to stop at the bottom of their road with “seco” both sides of the road, but once we arrived we realised it wasn’t as flat as we originally thought; anyway that’s for later!!!

We had a really nice evening, good food, good wine, good company and some exciting games of cribbage; chaps against the girls, and the winners were . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !! All this time our two dogs, being totally worn out were no trouble and joined Roxy and Beth on their bed.

After saying our goodbyes we headed back to the street with the dog enclosure, quiet, comfortable and a good place to let the dogs exercise

Tuesday 3rd October 2023

Another good nights sleep in El Mahon and the scrub we parked alongside served it’s purpose well and exhausted the dogs, though soon after we started throwing the ball with our new ball thrower, they gave up and hibernated under the van “and” took the ball with them!!!   

Last night we got chatting to a chap in another motorhome who also parked in the same street, he was from Norway and apart from a planned trip to Thailand for dental work, he intended to stay for the winter!!

The order of the day was “Mercadona” for food shopping followed by “Mariana Damascan” for Christine’s nails and somewhere in-between, a visit to a small supermarket we call the “Co-op” for adequate stocks of Soberano and Salt and Pepper grinders.  Then we had arranged to visit Rita and Rodney for lunch.

Driving away from our comfortable spot waving to the Norwegian as we headed into Pilar, firstly parking outside Mercadona where we also took the opportunity to have a coffee before heading to the Co-op and back again for the nail bar.   Whilst Christine was having her nails done I took the opportunity to enjoy a “coffee and a Brandy” next door whilst the dogs enjoyed a fresh bowl of water!!!!

Arriving at Rita and Rodney’s and before we had settled in, the dogs were in their pool much to the astonishment of their two dogs, Lotte and Max.    Unlike our other visits, we had seen these two whilst they were visiting England in the summer, but still great to catch up and have a nice lunch and a few of drinks with Rodney.   He tells me he hadn’t enjoyed a Soberano since the last time we were together; hard to imagine that one!!!

At one stage Rita decided Max should join in with TT & R chasing the ball into the pool but he was having none of it so that was the challenge.   All the coaxing in the world wasn’t going to change his mind so Rita differed to the old, tried and tested methods, she picked him up and in he went.    I don’t think I have seen a dog move so fast, and he was out of the pool in a flash and didn’t go near it again!!!

After a really good social afternoon with entertainment provided by two dogs jumping in and out of the pool we filled up with water and said our goodbyes.

Tonight it is quiz night in the village and I was a guest on Jim and Hazel’s team; 6 of us and we all put our six-pennyworth in and low and behold, we won!!!    I am so annoyed with myself on one rugby question, should have known the answer but “screwed up”; unforgivable👹👹 then back to our”new” spot by the dog park.

Monday 2nd October 2023

After a very comfortable night in our new location in a quiet street adjacent to some undeveloped land where we could run the dogs and the beach across the road with many signs, “No Dogs”, all was well; no visits from officials!!!!!

After a leisurely lie-in and breakfast we headed to Balsicas, there is a large golf shop there that sells particular polo shirts Christine rather likes and wants to get some more.  We also plan to have a menu del dia on the way back.

The “Great Golf Company” is on an industrial estate so parking was fine but we didn’t want to leave the dogs in the heat so Christine went in whilst I parked in a shady spot and again opened the windows and settled down; this could be a long wait!!!!!   But, hang on, here is Christine walking towards me empty handed, why??   Maybe she forgot my credit card!!, but no; Oh dear they didn’t have what she wanted😩😩😩.

So lunch next though it was too early; we “had budgeted” much more time for the shopping, so after a short break in the local petrol station, filling everything up we headed to “restaurante Agrodolores El Mirador”, part of a large fresh fruit and other produce distribution centre; it may sound like a working men’s cafe but the food is jolly good; value for money and a “destination”.  

Though we arrived around 1300hrs, too early for the Spanish and the main restaurant hadn’t opened yet, but as we had the dogs we sat outside, very comfortable and cool in the shade.   We used to frequent this place when we lived here, and was always happy, hence our decision to return.  Today was no exception, a first course, a second course and a desert with half a bottle of wine each was excellent; no change though we thought the price may have altered, but hey, it’s good to be back here.   Eventually I went to settle up and the food was a similar price, €12 but they charged an extra €5 for the wine: Covid has a lot to answer for but we were happy compared to U.K. prices!!!!!

By now we were really hot so headed to the beach carpark we had been expelled from yesterday; well we were only banned from stopping the night!!!   We had a good time on the beach and the dogs had a “ball”, well several thrown into the sea!!!

So after all the day’s excitement we headed back to El Mahon, to the same place as last night and settled down.

Sunday 1st October 2013

Another good night but by 0700hrs, 8hrs since the pooches were last let out, Christine took them out and headed down to the beach to watch the sun come up; I waited in the   MH.    After yesterdays rush to the carpark, this morning was relative quiet though I did see a Garda Civil drive in, come past us, go round the car park, and out again.  Soon after that    Christine returned having watched the dawn come up with two “worn-out” dogs, a good job as they will be bored today; a day of visits. 

After breakfast and having cleared away we were just about to head off when this official car with markings similar to the “Local Police” drove straight up to us and out jumped this officious looking uniformed woman and she opened her mouth and a tirade of Spanish was let out and at this point, looking dumbfounded I said sorry, slow down please I only know a little Spanish.   She started in English telling us no one is allowed to stop overnight here and there are signs around saying this.    I apologised and said we were just leaving but you could see in her eyes she was hell-bent on issuing me a fine at which point, the driver got out and sort of took over the situation and accepted our apologies knowing we were about to leave and that was that; evicted from our nice convenient overnight stop, with a beach🥵🥵🥵

Our first port of call was the “El Cafe de Africa” for morning coffee, naturally with a Soberano; we normally use the “Panaderia” but that has closed down, so met up with Frank there, whilst Sue was on the golf course.   It was good to see him looking so well and we had a good old “chinwag” but left things on the table as the four of us are out to dinner later in the week.

Our next stop was Mary’s for water before heading down to the “Restaurante Asia” the Chinese in Pilar de La Horadada; always a good “value-for-money” place to eat and again we were not disappointed.

We said our good byes to Mary then headed off to Torre de La Horadada to meet up with Steve and Daffers;  the first friends i made when I bought a house in their road circa 19-years ago, and still friends!!!   It was a lovely afternoon catching up and we also met up with Wendy and David, the couple who bought my old house.

Having been evicted from the “Salinas” we had to find somewhere else so headed to El Mahon, a small place by the sea where we remember from our time living here motorhomes being parked up for the night.  This is in an area waiting to be developed but the streets are already in place and sure enough two motorhomes were already there, so we joined them and settled in for the night

Saturday 30th September 

In spite of the two blokes waking us up in the night, all four of us had an undisturbed night; well done doggies👍👍

We are not going anywhere today, it is a day of cleaning and relaxing, though the car park is filling up earlier than usual, locals getting their spot for the day.

We had lived in and around this general area and walked numerous dogs around this “Regional Park” over the past 18-years but have never wondered why these salt pans were started, why they are here and their history, so today I’ve done a little in investigative work and I am “gobsmacked”, I had no idea “salt” had played such a part in history other than preserving food before refrigeration and clearing ice on the roads.

Salt extracted from the sea has been produced in the “Salinas del San Pedro Pinatar” for a long time; Excavations in front of these beaches in 1945 discovered ceramics dating back to the Carthaginians, even before the Romans arrived around the 2nd century BC and were used for keeping salt.  Apparently there were many uses for this salt, two in particular around that time, one was to produce “Garum” (a fermented fish sauce condiment made up of macerated Mackerel and preserved in the salt) widely used in the Mediterranean area from the time of the Phoenicians to after Roman times.   The second reason vast amounts of salt was needed around that time was the ritual of “Punic Salt” (conquerors spreading salt on the defeated’s land) which “apparently?.” carried on well into the Middle Ages by the Spanish and Portuguese.  

Salt from this area was discontinuous until the 13th century when King Alfonso X ensured that it was harvested regularly and used exclusively by the monarchy; as a result, the salt flats belonged to the Crown until the 19th Century.  During these six centuries, the Crown had the monopoly of the exploitation and sale of salt, fixing and regulating prices (known as the “salt pond”) and becoming one of the major sources of taxes.   This continued until the law changed in 1879 and the production was commercialised.   Sometimes one never really knows what’s around them and this area is a very good example of that.

After our “chores” we headed onto the beach, found a quiet spot and exhausted the dogs with the ball being thrown into the sea before returning for a refreshing “gin and tonic” and a special meal; Duck breast with all the trimmings and one of our bottles of Burgundy from Chusclan.  I then settled to watch Fiji beat Georgia 17 – 12 and Scotland thrash Rumania 84 – 0 before heading to bed.