Waiting for Anne, Graham and Ben It is now Sunday afternoon, 29 March, two weeks before Easter. Thus A, G & B have got a good deal with Easyjet and Touriscampo (where we are stopped) for a few days in the sun. We have experienced a little expense here with the radiator leaking while we were in Spain. Unfortunately we could not find the leak at the first garage as it was raining hard and so it was all wet anyway. We moved on to a favourite town, Tavira, where we found the garage which solved our problem for loads of euros. This meant that we had to wait around and we used a parking space at Pedras d'el Rei with access to Isla Tavira over a pontoon bridge. A lovely spot with the added advantages ... read more

Traveling East in the Algarve Just popped into the library in Tavira in the eastern Algarve looking for wifi but no power in the laptop so am on a pc. We have had lovely weather up till yesterday when we felt rain again. Other than that we have had unbroken sunshine which has allowed us to make some lovely back roads cycle rides. The ones from Salema to Sagres and to Lagos were delightful. It appears that there is an off main road cycle way all along the Algarve coast from the Spanish border to Cape Vincent. It is not all complete but the bits that are are worth while catching which is what we have tried to do. We are almost at the end of Portugal and so the next stop is either Seville or ... read more

France and Spain ahead of the snow We have met up with some friends in France, near Evreux and near Bergerac. That was really lovely as they were both very pleased to see us again. We also got fed enormous amounts of good food and wine. We were able to give them each some of the new batch of marmalade. When we were in Evreux we were warned of the snow about to engulf northern Europe including England. So we heard on Radio 4 (longwave) about how the snow was affecting the transport arrangements in the south and then the north. We got reasonable quantities but the snow ploughs were out and sorted the main roads. However, we did not get going the next day. Our new battery which Jack helped fit with great difficulty failed ... read more

A Week's Drive from Cartagena to Folkestone We are now almost finished our trip with stays in Folkestone (Lesley's brother and family) and then Guildford (Anne and Graham/daughter and son in law). We set off from El Portus where we entertained Gerry and William from Devon and fellow members ofour Ringwood naturist club. We had popped in to see them on our way to Plymouth for the ferry in December. They had already booked a holiday in one of the cabins at El Portus for a month starting just as we would be leaving. We popped in to see a cycling friend who was on a cycling holiday based in Denia. They were having a lovely time cycling the coast and hills around. But then it was north and north again. The trip went without a ... read more

Stopped in El Portus We spent a very pleasant if cold time travelling down through Spain. Bilbao was a wonderful revelation with the Guggenheim at the junction of the river front and the old town. We stayed out on the coast at Sopelena and caught the metro in to the town. Further south we met a bit of drizzly snow and then rain popping in to Gernika, Zaragoza, Teruel and Almanza. We skirted Murcia and then down to Caragena which is about 10 km away. The weather is fine but now cloudy. It's 16°C at lunchtime. Unfortunately, there is huge hill out of the campsite and so we have not yet put the tandem together. So we do a bit of walking and listen to Radio 4 on the internet in the van. We have ... read more