This route home is not without its complications. In the low season there are plenty of places to stay in Spain, increasingly so even inland. The exception to this is Catalonia. Sites that open before Easter are few and far between. There are some area autocaravanas but the autovia Mediteraneo route happens to be the way home for the tens of thousands of motorhomers from northern climes who en-masse (like us!) in late March up-sticks and head north.
Our plan was to stay for a few days at Illa Matuea campsite near l'Escala at the southern end of the Bay of Roses. However there are still a couple of days before the place reopens Moreover the distance from Valencia to the northern end of the Costa Brava is 480kms, too far to drive in a single day. Hopefully we will find an area autocaravanas near the Ebro delta, we conjectured.
Things started out well enough, we exited Valencia Camper Stop before 10.30am which counts as almost perky by our relaxed standards. We reached Benicarlo by lunchtime and stopped in the enormous car park next to the Family Cash hypermarket.
It was an opportunity to buy a few more bottles of Spanish wine and some Cava. The store is enormous and shopping took far longer than we planned. Consequently it was almost 4pm by the time we pulled off the A7 to look for the area autocaravanas at l' Aldea.
Officially the place has space for 12 mohos, more than twice that number were parked up in the marked bays and surrounding waste ground nearby. German and Dutch vans predominated. This was not what we wanted. Gill found a campsite open near l'Almadrava further up the coast so we headed for there.
We know the area quite well as we rented villas near here in the mid-noughties. It hasn't changed much, Gill was spot on when she speculated that the site might be near the nuclear power station, it was right next to it! It was also about a kilometre from the 'Circuit de Calafat' racetrack. In reality the place was fine, mainly set up for camping bungalows and statics, but semi-deserted until next weekend. The receptionist reckoned they were fully booked for Easter.
The racetrack's go-cart practice finished about fiveish, it was a pleasant sunny evening so we took a stroll down the promenade linking the site to the nearby village. It was peaceful and lovely in its own way so long as you ignored the nuclear power station we that towered over the beach to the north.
Generally speaking in our experience you rarely come across hold-ups on Spanish motorways though we have never driven around the Madrid peripheral. The only urban areas where we have had problems in the past have been near Murcia and Barcelona. Our trip around Barcelona coincided with the first Saturday of the Easter school holidays we expected delays as we drove past Barcelona. The traffic was at a standstill for miles, on the opposite carriageway luckily. Everyone was heading south apart from a convoy of French, Dutch and German motorhomes heading homewards. They scooted past us every couple of minutes.
On motorways with the cruise control set on 60mph our van turns in a respectable 30.2mpg. irrespective of terrain, whether the tanks are full or empty and the four dozen bottles of wine in the garage. On average we cover about 3400 miles on our winter trips to Iberia, fuel will end up costing about £750. We used to spend about the same on campsites and aires but those have notched up somewhat in the last couple of years. I think we will have spent around £1000 on accommodation by the time we've finished. Using the long sea crossing to Santander in February adds to the total, as does our decision to use Eurotunnel, making the total for sea crossing this trip about £800. So, £2250 for two people to travel in Europe for 60 days, that's ok I think.
After a quick visit to l'Escala Mercadona
we arrived at Illa Matuea campsite mid afternoon. The receptionist recognised us with a surprised "you're back already". Apart from locals with seasonal pitches there can't be many people who book out on the last day the place was open in the autumn and book in the first day the place reopens in the following spring. Situated near one of the prettiest coves we've found on Spain's Mediterranean coast in the low key resort of Cala Montgo, an easy, if slightly hilly cycle ride to the lovely seaside town of l'Estartit; it's one of our favourite places.
In late March the area is still somewhat closed-up for the winter, but it's not deserted. We took a walk down to the beach. It was blustery, but a couple of the restaurants were open and people were having lunch on the terrace, albeit sheltered by clear plastic pull-down blinds and warmed by space heaters.
The forecast was mixed, but next morning dawned sunny and the breeze had abated somewhat. I now had no excuse whatsoever to postpone the reason why we were here. Attempt number three to actually stand up on my stand up paddle board.
It's a bit of a faff getting to the point of even launching the SUP. Folded-up the thing packs away into a big bag with rucksack style straps. Twenty years ago I might have been able to lug it 800m down to the beach. These days I have to strap it to the fold-up trolley we keep in the garage and trundle it down to the sea.
Once on the beach the pre-paddle workout continued. The board needs to be inflated to 1 bar. Getting it to 0.8 bar takes patience and a bit of exertion. The last 0.2 feels brutal. At least getting into my wet-suit was much easier since I bought a two piece. Now fully equipped it was launch time.
It became obvious immediately this was not going to be the moment of my stand-up triumph. The bay was not exactly choppy, but there was a steady swell.
Maybe an experienced paddle boarder would have been able to keep their balance, I felt I had done well to stay on-board while kneeling down. It was good practice in manoeuvring the board in less than flat calm water. It was fun but surprisingly tiring.
Next day was quite dull. We did van stuff like cleaning the interior and drying laundry. We did manage a walk of a couple of kilometres or so up to the top of the campsite and onto the cliff top path. You get a great view of the Bay of Roses from here. In clear weather you can see the Pyrenees, not today, the horizon was lost in low cloud.
Tomorrow it's France. Our tunnel crossing is in ten days time, so not exactly a dash for home. These days we avoid dashing about altogether. Nevertheless, it is the final leg, the trip is slipping away. I am not looking forward to the long haul from one end of France to the other. Maybe next year we will book the ferry to Spain both ways. Once you factor in the fuel cost of driving 750 miles from La Jonquera to Calais, plus nine days of campsite and camping car park fees, then the long sea crossing costs about £100 more than driving. Right now that feels like a price worth paying.