After getting the campervan serviced we left the next day for Belgium. Rather than trying to get up in two days we left a little later in the morning and took three days to get there.
The second night we stopped behind a church just an hour or so from the border.
They had a lovely memorial to WWI.
We crossed from France to Belgium without seeing a border – the road in the photo below is in France, and the church is in Belgium.
We arrived at the camperground in Zwalm before noon.
The fluffy white cat was still there – its deaf and has one blue eye and one green eye and is very friendly.
We headed the next morning to Kwaremont on the route of E3-Saxo and found a nice place to park just out of the town. They’re erecting a VIP tent and have a large flat area for campervans – likely for another race later in the week.
We walked down into the town – there were a bunch of folks enjoying a beverage in the town square.
I went into the nearby church, which was nice, if a bit gaudy inside.
The first racer arrived around 4:30 – Mathieu van der Poel…
…followed by Pederson, then Ganna. Van der Poel ended up winning in style.
The trip back to Spain in late June was pretty good and we made it in two days as usual.
We stopped not far from the border before crossing over to buy some sheep cheese from a local producer, and it was delicious.
Getting back to good weather was great, and having the sun shine every day was wonderful. We had a few high winds, and as usual have been dealing with water issues.
We ended up getting the tanker truck up to top up the pool, and also the lower tank as getting water from the co-op is kind of hit-and-miss at times.
We thought we were going to lose a bunch of the new oleanders but we got the water delivery just in time.
Also, the pump from the lower tank to the upper died so we had to get a new one – the new one was defective so had to be exchanged for another one, and that one only lasted a week or two. Luckily the store we got it from is very kind and took the pump back and we got a different kind from another store.
Then the pool pump wasn’t working, but fortunately it wasn’t the pump that died, just a ‘condenser’ that was cheap and easy to replace.
Colin and I both had a health issue – he had a UTI and spent most of one day at the hospital to get a test, then wait for the results and get a prescription for antibiotics. My illness was similar to what happened in the spring and I wondered if it was covid, or perhaps a sodium deficiency – many of the symptoms are surprisingly similar. In any case I was tired and had no energy for several days but luckily it passed and I seem fine.
Max seems to like it at the house as he can easily jump over the wall and go exploring. He has three favourite places to go – up the steep hill to the east of the house, up the track past the neighbour’s house (he gets their dogs barking so we usually know if he’s over there) or else down on the rambla.
We don’t Iike it when he goes on the rambla as he has to cross the road to get there but he almost always comes running if he hears me whistle.
The Tour de France was better than usual, and Tadej Pogacar won in very convincing fashion, with Remco Evenepoel coming third overall. Then the Olympic time trial and road race were both won by Remco – it was great to watch!
Saying goodbye to my fur-baby we once more had to return to France for Colin’s prescription.
It was quite funny going through the tunnel on this route – leaving sunny Spain and several km later entering foggy France.
Having enjoyed the sheep cheese so much we got some more on the way back, this time a more mature/robust one.
We took a slightly different route than when we came down, following smaller roads rather than taking the peage so we did see some new sights along the way, including some interesting roundabout displays…
…as well as some roadside statues…
Arriving back in Mansle we were glad to find that the almost constant rain we experienced in June had finally given way to nicer weather.
Progress on the garden is moving along – our wonderful gardeners come about once a week and we just keep getting more oleanders and geraniums and having the watering system extended.
We both got haircuts again in Chirivel – mine is the shortest it’s ever been and I love it! The park across from the hairdressers is actually very lovely and has lots of interesting sculptures, including a carving in a large dead tree.
We’ve gone out for lunch a couple of times – the last time in Los Cericos I got the grilled calamari and was it ever delicious. I fed little bits of it to one of the bar cats – they’re usually kept outside but the small female snuck in and mooched off me. She’s just a kitty herself but is already pregnant so I figured she could use some extra protein.
Work on the house is also progressing – our carpenter has done some work on the doors to prevent wind and rain from getting in, and also has painted the french doors. Things are looking good.
Water is, as usual, a bit of a challenge. We ended up once again getting the tanker truck to deliver the other day – he topped up the pool and filled up the bottom tank in no time. Not cheap, but at least when we turn a tap on or flush a toilet water comes out – seems like a luxury!
Our agave flower is nearing its end – the ‘trunk’ is starting to bend a bit and sometime soon it’s going to break and the main plant will die. At least we’ll get a lot of seeds for replanting.
The cherry tomato plants are going crazy, and it looks like they’re all different – nice round orange ones (that might turn red) as well as oblong ones that look slightly striped (kind of like miniature watermelons).
The main part of the centre of Albox has become car-free and it’s lovely to walk around – the fountain is very pretty and it’s much more relaxing not having to dodge cars.
There have been several unfortunate accidents with the little birds. We’ve found at least four of the poor things on the terrace – they likely fell out by mistake as they had not got their feathers yet so couldn’t have been learning to fly.
We’ve located and destroyed three wasp nests so far – not huge ones but they seem to be very aggressive. They like to get water from the pool so they’re very annoying in the evening when we go for a swim.
We had a nice day trip to Villaricos on the coast to visit Ann and Ernie. Having lunch at the restaurant next to the pool was excellent – I had homemade Thai fish cakes along with a roasted goat cheese salad – very tasty.
Shortly after the fifth TA stage had passed we took off from Gualdo and headed northeast towards Osimo. They cover about 85 km from the south before starting a large circuit where they go through each place three times.
It was starting to get dark as we approached the town of Offagna when we saw our Belgian friend’s bus and another campervan in a field, but when we pulled in the campervan guy came out and told us that the owner was not accepting any more campers.
We continued on to the town and a bit further, pulling into a very large area just off the road where we stopped for the night. It had gone very quickly from dusk to dark and we didn’t want to get too far off the route.
In the morning we went the couple of km back to the town and almost immediately pulled into a nice large area just down from a sharp corner on the route.
Having some time we enjoyed yet another excellent cappuccino at a cafe right across the road, then explored the town a bit.
The town is dominated by a 15th century castle, and there are many interesting and slightly odd artworks around the upper old section.
The coffee shop was doing a good business as people gathered for the race.
Each circuit took about 50 minutes for the racers to cover and each time they passed they were more spread out. The first time they passed the first and last riders were only 3 or 4 minutes apart but on the last circuit they were over 16 minutes.
There was initially a small breakaway followed shortly by the entire Jumbo team keeping Roglic safe at the front of the peloton.
Van der Poel was in the middle, but faded as the race progressed.
Cavendish and Sagan were there too, but several minutes behind.
Once again we watched the end on GCN then, having opted to not go to San Benedetto del Toronto for the final stage we booted it back to Trevi, arriving in the dark but happy to have made it all the way.
The next day was a nice drive back to Papiano, taking the back roads from Foligno again. As it was Sunday, which is ‘visiting your relatives’ day in Italy there was nowhere to park near the house so we made the decision to try to turn around down a small road near the bell tower. This turned out to be a very foolish choice as the road was quite steep and the turning area a bit small. After spinning out trying to back up the hill we parked for a bit, and I walked down and across up a farm road. Around the corner at the top I encountered a very friendly woman, Monica, who was busy pruning her olive trees. She spoke a bit of English, and understood that we were stuck – she said she would call her husband to bring his tractor to pull us back up. The main question she had for us was ‘why???’ – good question!
We went back to wait for the husband when Colin gave it one more try to get out ourselves, and thankfully, after much spinning and smoking of the front right tire, actually made it! I went back to Monica to let her know we were ok, then headed to the house – much relieved, but feeling very stupid.
We did two loads of laundry, and each had a hot shower – very nice after so long roughing it.
On our way out of Papiano we did, of course, stop at the bar to have a quick drink and say goodbye to Antonio – he was very sad, as we likely won’t be back in the area until maybe next year.
The drive to Trasimeno and the aire on the lake didn’t take too long and we settled in for an early night.
Feeling a little better we began to slowly make our way again, going a little bit south to Orbetello.
It’s kind of an island, but has three different ‘causeways’ connecting it to the mainland. We drove to the northeast corner and the small town of Porto Santo Stefano, which seemed to be a fairly prosperous place.
It had a lovely boardwalk and lots of cafes/restaurants, in addition to being both a fishing port and marina – also had some rather nice yachts.
We stayed for one beverage, then as we went to get back in the campervan the local coast guard fellow came up and told me that parking there was not allowed. I explained that we were leaving right then and he was ok with that – he didn’t know we’d already been there for almost an hour.
We then headed basically east as I wanted to see Lago di Bolsena – it was one of the places I had thought I’d go to at the beginning of my very first bike trip back in 2017, but sadly never made it to.
It was a lovely drive and I was glad to have seen it – we had lunch in the campervan on the shore of the lake. Colin’s still not feeling 100% so meals are a bit sparse – at least his are.
Overnight camping was not allowed so after lunch we continued north a bit to the town of Torre Alfina. It has a nice large car-park and a very well-preserved castle from the 1600’s.
We went for a walk and got a gelato cone – a bit sweet for me – then continued on up to the castle.
It seems to be a bit of an ‘artsy’ town as there are wall murals, strange statues and artwork all over.
There was a couple having a photo-shoot at the top of the castle so I had to wait a bit before I could get a shot of the views from where I wanted.
They were pretty nice, especially when I told them I was from Canada, and I took a quick photo or two and then we left.
The drive down to Ostia the next day wasn’t too bad, and we got around Rome without much slowing down. We parked in the same car-park right across from the Sea that we’d used before – there seem to be quite a few campervans that are permanent residents.
I walked to the nearest pharmacy and got a couple of things for Colin’s cold, although he does seem to be doing better.
Up early the final morning and off to the airport. No problem at all getting checked in – they didn’t even ask for a covid vaccine certificate or negative test.
Three flights later – and I’m home! The cat is happy…
Finally a warm and sunny day – I did a load of laundry and hung it on the line, then we decided to take another day trip, this time west to the town of Seron. One of the houses we were going to view was just outside the town and George had told us how lovely the town centre was. As we’d bought the other house on the spot we didn’t need the viewing of the Seron house but we thought we’d like to see the town anyway.
The drive west wasn’t the most picturesque as there’s a lot of industry and gravel pits, etc but the further we went the nicer the countryside got.
You can see Seron from a distance as it’s clustered around a castle at the top of a hill. We drove along the base of the hill but decided not to take the campervan up into the centre as we were concerned about how narrow the roads were likely to be.
Since it was still early we chose to drive south a ways and do a loop back before going home. The road wasn’t too bad as it wound up and up to the summit, with an elevation gain of over 1400 meters. There were quite a few cyclists making the effort and it couldn’t have been easy.
The views along the way were fantastic but there was nowhere to stop and take photos from – a couple of view points would have been great, or even just a pullout.
Stopping in the village of Bacares we had a walk around – it’s not a bad little place, but very isolated.
After our walk we sat down outside the cafe/bar and had a coffee. There were a bunch of birds in cages on the windowsill – the cages are so small the birds can barely turn around in them and they make little noises at each other.
It seems very mean to me – I wondered what kind of bird they are, and if they’re perhaps on the menu of the restaurant, or what else their purpose might be.
The sparrows come and land near the cages – wonder if they’re communicating with them or just trying to steal their food.
After leaving Bacares we stopped partway along the road north and had a nice lunch on a flat wide spot with a great view.
Nearing the town of Olula del Rio I actually got a decent photo of a sculpture that’s outside a museum/art gallery. She’s called ‘La Mujer de Almanzora’ (The Woman From Almanzora) by spanish artist Antonio Lopez.
When we returned to the campground it was sunny and warm enough to actually get the lawn chairs out and sit outside under the canopy. We weren’t out there very long before the wind became too much and we had to wind-in the canopy and retreat inside again. I’ve still been wearing my winter coat and the lighter black jacket hasn’t been out once yet – so much for warm southern Spain!
We’ve now signed some papers at a notary’s giving our solicitor power of attorney to get our tax numbers and other house-related things for us such as sorting out utilities, etc. We also met him at a bank and he helped us open some accounts so we’ll be able to deal with a local spanish bank – things are moving along rather nicely.
Rain, rain and more rain – spending lots of time inside watching YouTube videos. Finally sometime during the night the rain let up and there’s actually a bit of blue sky this morning.
A couple of nights ago Mo fell out of bed and seemed a bit out of it when I hauled her back up. We think she’s injured something on her right side – if you pick her up in the wrong position she yelps. Nothing seems broken or anything as she’s walking fine, but just a bit tender. She now has pink marks on the back of her head as I’ve been kissing her more than usual.
This morning we took a drive up to the sanctuary – El Santuario del Saliente – a work crew was clearing some of the rock falls caused by the recent rains but the drive was worth it.
The sanctuary is on a promontory with fabulous views of the valley below to the south.
I went inside and it was lovely – a tiled inner courtyard and then the ‘church’ part.
I was all alone and it was a very peaceful feeling – as near a ‘religious’ experience as I’ve ever had.
We stopped at the local restaurant on the way back to the campground and had a lovely lunch of fried calamari. Back at the campground we watched two races on GCN – the Scheldeprijs and then the third stage of Itzulia Basque Country.
We got hold of the estate agents and they managed to book three viewings for us mid-week.
As we had a day before the viewings we drove to the nearby village of Arboleas and had a coffee.
There are lots of brits here but the village was lovely none-the-less (hahaha – just kidding – I love brits).
There seemed to be an extra large number of cats in the village, some of which were quite cheeky – sitting on parked cars, and sauntering by slowly taunting the dogs.
After our coffee we walked around a bit, then got driving again and just kept going. It’s less than an hour to the sea, so we drove past Vera and north a bit along the coast to Villaricos.
We found a large space next to a beautiful sandy beach and had our lunch, then took the doggies for a walk into the town.
The next day we viewed three properties, all of which are ‘country houses’ as we requested but as we drove to the first one we wondered if we’d chosen the wrong category.
Part of the drive to the first house was on a ‘ramblas’, which is a dry river bed – well, dry most of the time other than a few times a year when it’s briefly flooded. The road is maintained and not too terribly bad, but the house was quite remote.
The house had a lovely pool area and lots of rooms but was rather dark inside and other than the terrace around the pool there was no outdoor space.
The second house was even more remote, and badly needed a lot of work before being habitable. The owner was a brit who gave up during covid and basically abandoned the house to the lizards and the elements. While we could see great potential if fixed up, there was just too much to do.
The last house of the day was on a better road, but the house itself as well as the pool, while nice, was quite small – the koi pond wasn’t enough to make up for it.
As we discussed it later and the next morning we decided to look for ‘villas’ rather than ‘country houses’ but had to eliminate quite a few as they were right in a town. We visited the office and had a good chat with George, who is british but speaks fluent spanish.
He helped us narrow down what we should actually be looking for, and mentioned a large country house that had recently lowered the asking price. We hadn’t noticed it before as it had been above our budget at the time, but now wasn’t. Someone was viewing the house that afternoon, and we indicated that we were eager to see it also, as soon as possible.
The next morning we got a call from George – the homeowners were open to seeing us in less than an hour! They had received one offer on the house, and it was insultingly low – they are desperate to sell so wanted to see us asap.
We met Andy, the very nice fellow that had taken us around the other day, and he led us to the house which was about 20 km out of town.
The only hitch was the side road up to the driveway – it wasn’t paved and with the amount of rain recently the dirt road was a bit soft and the campervan couldn’t make it up. As we tried repeatedly to back up and get more speed a tractor came behind us. He realized we weren’t going to make it so pulled back and over a bit so we could back down past him to the paved road and pull over on a conveniently placed wide spot.
We walked the short way up to the house and one of the owners was waiting for us. As we’d watched a video about the house on the website earlier we kind of knew what to expect – and we weren’t disappointed.
After a tour of the grounds, pool area, and the house we had a quick private discussion and made an offer on the spot. It took about two minutes for the agent to get a positive response from the owners and we shook hands on it! And for less than the asking price, which was already discounted quite a bit from the original.
We were in the office later that same day signing the papers and are already waiting for a response from a solicitor to take care of the legal paperwork, etc. We own a house in Spain!!
We were lucky to get a small break in the nearly constant rain and took a nice walk through part of the village.
We could imagine that in better weather the views would be spectacular, and the campground was excellent in so many ways.
We did manage to get our laundry done, but it wasn’t fast or easy. It poured rain all night and all the next day, and after putting the first load in the washer I went down three times before it was finally done – getting soaked to the skin each time.
In all it took 5 ½ hours to do two loads, but it was free, and we actually didn’t have much else to do.
Leaving the next day under slightly clearer skies we took the other road in order to avoid snaking our way through the village again. We’d decided to head as far west as we might want a house and work our way back, crossing just into Almeria to start the hunt.
Picking an aire/sosta in the village of Canjayar we went on a bit of a diversion, passing several small mud/rock slides and ending up with a blocked-off road, then realizing we’d gone too far.
We pulled into a place where we could turn around, right after I’d said “what the f*** is that in the middle of the road?”. Well – it was a giant Smurf, very dirty but right in the road – he was smiling but was not budging.
I got out to take a photo of dirty Mr. Smurf when I noticed movement on the hill above me – several large dogs had seen me and were starting to make their way down.
I quickly went to get back in the campervan but the side door has a stupid automatic lock thing and I couldn’t get in. I pounded on the door and screamed but Colin was using the loo and couldn’t let me in. I ran around to the driver’s door and jumped in just before the dogs arrived.
Taking a different route we finally made it to the aire, but it looked very bleak so we turned around and drove further down the road hoping to find a better place.
Luckily Colin saw a campervan sign several miles along at winery/bodega Fuente Victoria so we pulled in to their very large, flat and almost empty parking area.
We got out and went to the bar, asking if we could stay there. The very nice lady said yes so we sat down and asked for two glasses of their red. When Colin tried to pay she said no, no charge and we drank them outside while looking at the excellent view across to the hills. We could see not one, but two distant peaks with snow still on them.
We bought a nice bottle of red and then moved the campervan to a different part of the lot – we originally were very close to another campervan that had three small children and wanted nothing to do with the noise – two dogs are enough!
After a very nice night we took time to decide where we really wanted to house hunt.
We took another look online and zeroed in on an area that seemed to have everything we wanted – lower elevation (ie: warmer in the winter), with several properties with what we consider essentials. We sent an email to a local agent and drove to the general area.
Taking, as we frequently do, the ‘scenic route’ we went past the area where many of the old ‘spaghetti westerns’ were filmed. It was hilarious – ‘Mini Hollywood’ which was packed with cars, followed a few miles later by ‘Texas Hollywood/Fort Bravo’.
We arrived in Albox at a decent time and found a very large flat parking area walking distance to the centre of town. After lunch we took a walk around, and to find the estate agent’s office just so we knew where it was.
There’s a sculpture/display near the centre that bothered me – I believe it depicts a quarreyman and his mule pulling a load up a hill. The mule doesn’t look very happy and it looked very cruel – I know that’s the case today in many places and situations and it’s horrible.
We found the estate agents office and headed back to the campervan for a light dinner. There was a certain amount of activity in the large parking area we were in, but nothing that was too loud or lasted too long, thankfully.
The local church bells chime all night long and are very tinny sounding – not lovely and melodical like some.
Leaving Poggio early we headed to the peage and crossed into France – no border guards or anything so passports and covid certificates put away again.
While we thought it could take up to three days to cross southern France we just kept going. We made it past Narbonne before stopping for the night at an aire/sosta in the marshy area at the western end of Carmargue, next to a salt-water lagoon.
There were a lot a flamingoes but we only saw a few of the horses that are famous for running through the surf.
After a quiet night – despite the thunderous surf and storm, we got another early start. We found a Lidls in Rivesaltes for a few groceries and then a pharmacy in Alenya so Colin could fill one of his prescriptions, then went south along the coast and into Spain.
It was a very beautiful drive, winding around through lovely towns and up and over.
Crossing was, once again, not a problem – this was the border point between Cerbera, France and Portbou, Spain:
There’s a huge railway station and yards, including a hotel and other stuff in Portbou that the Spanish government spent millions and millions designing and building but somehow missed one crucial thing – the gauge on spanish and french railways are different so it’s a gigantic white elephant.
Taking the peage south we made good time and didn’t leave the main road until around Tarragona, finding a nice little aire/sosta in El Catllar.
There were already several campervans there so we pulled onto the car parking area which was empty. Right then a local cop drove up and told us it was only for cars so we had to ask one of the other campervans to move over a bit so we could squeeze in. By morning three more had arrived so the place was really packed – the car park was still empty.
There are quite a few hiking/biking trails marked, and also looks like some Roman ruins with an aqueduct in the distance.
Deciding to get away from the coast we took slightly smaller roads and headed west, travelling through varied terrain and changing vegetation – all beautiful in different ways.
Just before noon we saw our first Camino sign while passing through a town – in Spain for over a day before spotting one! After a long day of driving we ended up at a lovely aire/sosta on the edge of the village of Benageber.
It was a bit off the main road that had been very steep with many hairpin turns – as well there’d been a small rockslide that we stopped and cleared a bit so we could get by.
Once again it poured rain all night long, but otherwise was a peaceful place. We got turned around a bit when leaving, looking for a different road than we came in on. Eventually finding it we were glad to not be going down the hairpin road as this one was much straighter and less steep.
There are signs now and then warning of short fat cows from Canada – and they don’t mean me! I know that’s not what the signs mean but they struck me as very funny – I wish I had a sticker of the maple leaf to put on one. We never saw any cows though, short, fat or otherwise.
After a small diversion near Utiel we got going south and on to the village of Ricota that had another nice, but empty aire/sosta.
Another night of unending rain, but again a very quiet area so slept well. It’s a good thing we go to bed early as Henry is a very early riser – 6:00 is a late sleep-in for him, or if we’re very lucky perhaps 6:30.
With not far to go for the day we reached a campground in mid-morning, after passing workmen clearing a mud/rock slide and splashing through several small washouts, then winding our way along very narrow roads through the village of El Berra. We get to have showers and do laundry – luxury!
Leaving the aire before 8:00 we headed north towards Lido de Camaiore, stopping along the way for a fabulous cappuccino at a highway rest stop.
We got to Camaiore in good time and drove along the Lido, passing several of the team buses in the best parking areas.
Most of the parking areas were taped off for the teams and other race officials but we came to a perfect place near the Hotel Joseph.
There were some other campervans there already so we figured it was a good place to stop.
After a bite to eat we went for a walk back towards the start of tomorrow’s ITT – it was a bit of a ways and there were no cafes open or anything. We did enjoy the excercise and fresh air, however.
There are several teams staying at the Hotel Joseph, and the mechanics, etc. are all in process of washing the time trial bikes and everything.
There are all sorts of sculptures and art pieces along the Lido – some of them are quite nice and some of them a bit puzzling.
Also, because we’re so close to Carrara there’s lots of marble – some of the sidewalks are actually made of it!
After a very early night and a good quiet sleep we were up early again. Wanting a cappuccino we walked north this time along the Lido, eventually asking a policeman where a cafe might be found.
Following his directions we shortly were seated outside a very nice, and increasingly busy cafe at one end of a large plaza.
Across from the plaza were more sculptures, and a lovely long pier that was very well made with stainless steel handrails – quite impressive.
There was a fellow playing the harp partway down – I think I even recognized the song he was playing which was something Italian and classical that I don’t know the name of.
The beach here looks excellent – very wide and flat with fine white sand.
For a few hours in the late morning most of the riders were doing re-con of the course, then the police motos and photo motos took their turns.
The first racer left around 2:00 – it’s a straight north ride for almost 7 km, then a hairpin turn and back south to the finish, so each rider passes us twice, once in each direction. I got the Cav…
…a heli – what?? They’re alway sneaking into my shots…
…someone coming from the beach who didn’t care at all about the race…
…Alaphilippe…
As some of the riders finished they slowly rode back to their hotels – sometimes on the race road and sometime on the sidewalk. At one point I looked up and coming towards me was Richie Porte! I waved and smiled (not having time to take a photo) and he smiled back and said ‘Hi’! – almost the highlight of my day. I also got Ganna…
…Evenepoel…
…and Pogacar…
A very fine day of race watching, followed by another very early night.
As some of the riders finished they slowly rode back to their hotels – sometimes on the race road and sometime on the sidewalk. At one point I looked up and coming towards me was Richie Porte! I waved and smiled (not having time to take a photo) and he smiled back and said ‘Hi’! – almost the highlight of my day. I also got Ganna…
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 