Jeff: A busy time in Spain part 1

Sorry the next updates have been delayed its been a busy week or so and I will try and add the week in a couple of updates

After a night in the forest near Sitges we headed on to the next town Tarragona where we booked a local camper stop which was someone's front garden but at least it was a protected area for Jeff (as this was another town with some bad reviews) and I know we have to relax about it but I think the stories I have read make me unsure of this area and I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. We then got on our bikes for what we hoped would be a lovely ride to the aqueduct and into town. But we were wrong… the route given by our app took us down some tracks that required a level of mountain biking skill that was way above our level (even though it was supposed to be an easy route). The terrain was so rocky and there were continual hills both up and down and we ended up walking most of it. Once we got to the aqueduct we finally found somewhere to park the bikes up and walked across it and took in the views over the town. We then decided (stupidly) to follow the app and cycle into the town, again it decided to take up a huge hill (after making us get the bikes over a gate and up some stairs). Once we had pushed the bikes up the hill we only had one more gravel path until we hit a real road, which we were soo glad to see. We then cycled into town and walked around to see the sights including the Mediterranean balcony, roman amphitheatre and other Roman relics for a bit before heading into the mobile phone shop as we had an issue with the SIM card we had bought in Barcelona and wanted to see if they could help. Well it was the slowest shop in the world and despite there only being three customers in front of us it took an hour and a half to be served, only to find out we had the details to fix it ourselves in my purse (Rich was not happy!). We decided to then go and get some food to console ourselves after the long day and prepare ourselves for the long ride (uphill) back to the camper stop.

The next day we headed to a nearby national park called Parc Nartual Del Delta de L’Ebre and headed straight for the beach as its been a few days since we were in the sea. However the weather had other plans, it was really windy and while it was great for the kite surfers who were practicing on the beach we didn’t really fancy having a swim in the surf. So we headed to the other side of the national park which hopefully be less windy and got on our bikes for a 30k bike ride around the park to see the different lakes including the lake which was populated by the flamingos. It was a nice flat ride but the wind still made it difficult in places.

The next day we headed to the beach, on this side of the park and as there were two sides to the beach, one side had a calm inlet. We got the paddleboard out to try and paddle the length of the inlet but it turns out it’s a really long way (in the region of 10 miles) and we got about halfway before deciding to head back and get on the bikes to see what was at the end. Well once Rich had got the bikes out and set then up we started the route to be quickly told by the ranger (who came out of nowhere) you cant ride on that section, even though we had seen people riding on it all morning so we had to turn around (as did the people who were further ahead of us. We did need to do some boring chores like laundry so we headed into town to get everything sorted in the late afternoon before heading back to the park for the last evening. The nights in the park are spectacular with the sun sets and the birds chirping away.

The next day we headed to Peniscola which was a little further down the coast and headed to the beach for a couple of hours in the morning, before exploring the town, which is a fortified town and has a castle on the hill. While walking around the town we did manage to find a little restaurant on the sea front which did vegan paella so we decided to have some lunch and decide what to do next. We then walked back to the van and drove inland to Morella which is another fortified town in the hills. The plan was to spend the night at a Aire opposite the town tonight and cycle into the town to have a look around tomorrow.

The next morning was Monday and we cycled over to Morella but we seem to not quite be on Spanish time yet as we were over there at 9 which is before everything opens. We didn’t want to wait the two hours for the castle to open so after a cycle around the old streets and past the aqueduct Rich found a route on that damn app again which took us down some side streets, while they were paved they were fine, until we came across a loose dog who wouldn’t leave us alone and then an angry Spanish old man so we turned around and headed back to the van and decided to move on. We headed back further down south, with some stops for some shopping to a little town called Artana which was about an hour from Valencia which was going to be our stop the following day. Once we had settled in we went for a walk around the Aire which was surrounded by fruit growing and I had to explain to Rich that while the fruit looked green now they were actually oranges which were not ripe yet and very sour to taste (but were orange on the inside).

The following day we plan to drive to Valencia and explore the city before continuing our journey down south but I will write the rest of the update for in the next couple of days.