Motorhome trip south for some winter sunshine Spain 2022 - Part 1

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It's been over 10 years since I did a grand motorhome tour, the last time was with my 2 sons (they are now both in their twenties), so this time it’s with my partner Melanie, we’ve done a lot of short trips together in the new van over the past 3 years but we are now aiming to do some proper trips.

With the van packed up it’s back on the road and the start of a hopefully a lot of new adventures.

We set off on a cold January afternoon and headed south for Newhaven port to catch the ferry to France, we camped overnight in a car park next to the port with other vans waiting for the early morning ferry.

The Newhaven to Dieppe ferry takes 4 hours (appx £100 for a motorhome single journey) and on sailing away at 10am it was sunny but cold and after showing all our covid certificates, which were thoroughly checked we headed off for Dieppe.

If anybody read any of my blogs from 2010/11 (see this site for those blogs) then you’ll know that I will write all sorts of nonsense, from where we visit, to the state of the toilets on campsites, with a bit of history and geography thrown in and plenty of useful info for motorhome travellers, so be prepared to be bored to death!

Dieppe has an Aire De Service for motorhomes (as do most French towns), which is basically a large car park with some facilities (fresh water, electric and waste) for £12 we parked up and walked into Dieppe (10 mins) for tea at restaurant Tout Va Bien and stayed on the ADS with around 10 other vans for the night.

Our plan is to head south as directly as possible to Andalusia where the January temperatures are usually in the late teens. We drove to Poitiers via Rouen and Tours and stayed at a small village ADS in Pamproux for the night. The next day we passed Angouleme and Bordeaux on the very quiet N10 road then after a short spell on the A63/E67 toll road we arrived in St Jean de Luz which is just south of Biarritz in the French Basque region and almost on the Spanish border. It was already warming up (5 deg at home, 14 deg here) so we decided to have a 2 night stay at Camping Larrouleta (20 euro per night). This site is directly off the motorway and very easy to find, it’s got good facilities (now the most important thing for Mel are the toilets and showers, she will inspect them as soon as we arrive, she posted a tongue in cheek video of the toilets and was asked to video more and this became Mels bog log) and it has a heated pool which we used. I got out on the bike for 30 miles and cycled to Hendaye along the coast road and through St Jean de Luz which is a really nice port town, we had a couple of warm relaxing days, but it was chilly on a night.



After filling up with diesel (1.34 euro per litre) we crossed the border into Spain, there were no covid checks at all not even a stopping point, so we drove the E05 road south to Madrid. The industrial part of northern Spain looks very run down, grimey, tired and even intimidating, it has very busy roads but once clear of the sprawl you drive through a very scenic alpine landscapes passing by towns such as Tolosa, Ordiza and Beasain and through the Sierra Urbasa. It was misty that morning but through the breaks in the cloud the area now looked really nice. We stopped for coffees near Burgos and the mist had cleared and the skies were now bright blue, we drove on by Aranda de Duero before hitting the busy Madrid ring road and to the campsite.

Camping Osuna is on the east side of Madrid and a 30 minute tube ride away from the city centre (3 euro each way), camping was quite expensive at 32 euro per night but most big city sites are expensive. We went off to do a food shop and suss out where the underground station was then chilled with a beer in the van that night. A very cold night at -3 degrees (Madrid is quite cold in the winter) the ground was frosty that morning but it soon started to warm up and at lunchtime we headed off into Madrid on the L5 underground line into the centre to La Latina station. We wandered around the city seeing the catherdral, the parliament buildings, through parks and by monuments, the place seemed very clean and large areas had been refurbished, we stopped for a beer in the James Joyce Irish pub (there’s always an Irish pub) and after a lot more walking through shopping areas and by more nice buildings we found an all you can eat tapas restaurant which for £12 each was ok but not the best but it did the job.

Up and leaving Madrid after a quick stop over at 10am (-2 degrees) and heading south on the E05 to Cordoba. The road was fairly quiet apart from when leaving Madrid and the Despenaperros landscape was the stand out area for scenery along the route and the 5 hour drive. Our next stop was at camping Abolafia in the small town of Villafranca de Cordoba. The site was quiet with a few German and Spanish vans and it was pick your own parking place so we got set up and as it was now 18 degrees we chilled out for the day and night. The next morning I was out on the bike in the surrounding hills and through some stunning scenery in the Sierras, that afternoon we walked into the quiet town where not much was happening until we reached the main square and the local bar was buzzing so we had a few beers there and a bar down the road with all the locals that night.

We decided that the bus service from the campsite to Cordoba wasn’t great so we left the campsite and drove into Cordoba centre, using the App ‘Park4night’ we found a large carpark in the city centre that allowed vans to stay overnight for free, no services just a parking spot, when we turned up there were around 20 vans already parked and hundreds of cars in this large car park so we found a spot and parked up. It was now lunch time so we walked over the roman bridge and into the old town to explore Cordoba, this was once the capital during the Muslim period and was at one time the 2^nd largest city in Europe, it has changed hands over the years quite a few times and is now a UNESCO heritage site. After crossing the bridge we walked around a corner and into a very large medieval festival site, we had no idea this was on, the festival had loads of local food stalls, artisan craft stalls, music, dancing and a very large bar. We spent the afternoon at the festival and then wandering around the beautiful old town stopping for lunch in the Plaza de San Juan and exploring the back streets around the Mezquita Cathedral before heading back to the van for a siesta. Refreshed we headed back into the old town and had a great night of tapas and drinks in a music bar where the locals were very friendly and even gave us advice on where to visit on our trip, we definitely recommend a visit to Cordoba (The medieval festival is the last weekend of Jan each year).

Even though the car park was busy all night with cars coming we had a great nights sleep and we set off south on the E05 again heading for Seville. It was a fairly quiet 3 hour journey through farm lands with the big mountains in the distance and we arrived just south of Seville in the town of Dos Hermanos and at camping Villsom. This is a busy site as a lot of people visit Seville in the winter (it’s the warmest city in Europe), some of the parking bays are quite awkward with a lot of orange trees around but we managed to squeeze in, Mel made a lovely meal and we had a drink by the van in the now 21 degree heat (30^th Jan).

The next day we did the food shop, Mel chilled out and then I went out on the bike before we had lunch, the afternoon was warm and sunny so we sat in the sun by the van until teatime then we caught the bus into the city centre. Seville is another UNESCO world heritage site and as soon as you enter the city centre there are magnificent buildings everywhere. A lot of the building styles come from the Islamic era and it has a very north African feel to it. Getting off the bus at the Plaza de Espana we walked into town and into the Plaza de San Fransisco for drinks and then onto a great tapas restaurant called El Pinton on Calle Francos.



The following day we went into the city in the morning ready for a sightseeing day, we joined the tourists at the Plaza de Espana on a walk around the complex of this amazing building, well worth a visit, then walked through the gardens and along the river Guadalquivir passing many nice riverside bars. We saw the Plaza de Toros, the Torre del Oro and the Alcazar before we stopped for drinks in the Almeida de Hercules, this was once a main market square and had influences of the many peoples that have ruled Seville, the Visigoths, Muslims, Christians and before all of them the Romans. The old town is full of churches, small back streets, plaza’s, bars, cafes, restaurants and is generally very tidy. Arriving back into plaza de San Fransisco to eat and drink and watching the world go by in the sunshine was a great end to another long day.

Leaving camping Villsom, which is a nice campsite, handy for the shops and transport links it has good facilities, it’s usually busy with all different nationalities who are soaking up the winter sunshine, we headed due south again on the E05 and onto El Puerto de Santa Maria. Another hot (21) sunny day after a fairly short drive we arrived at a very large campsite on the beach front called camping Playa de las Dunas. You could tell it was busy and we were a bit lucky to get a place for 3 nights as we hadn’t booked anything in advance (the reason it was so busy was during Covid no one had really travelled for 2 years so it seemed everyone was now going south as the restrictions were lifted), it was also apparent that this site was full of Brits who were here for the long term. The site has good facilities, is on the beach and is a 15 min walk into town and shops. That afternoon we had a few hours on the beach, in fact we had almost the full beach to ourselves! only Brits sunbathe in February!! That evening we walked into town, it was a mid-week so it was quiet but we did find the local bar that seemed to be the main night spot and we soon realised why when they charged us just 1 euro a pint.

Another sightseeing day and we were off to Cadiz on the Catamaran, a 10 minute walk from the van we took the 30 minute sea crossing into Cadiz centre. Again in February another hot sunny day and Cadiz was a very busy place. Founded by the Phonecians in the 11^th century it has an interesting history and is a great place to wander around. We walk the full circumference of the peninsula, climbing the castle walls, walking through ornate flower gardens, passing the beaches with people swimming and sunbathing, through tiny alleyways and into open sunny plazas and through the old town gates built over a thousand years ago until we reached Plaza de cathedral where we visited the Cadiz cathedral, we climbed the bell tower for amazing views on all sides over the old town. Late afternoon and time for beers and tapas, we found a small family place and had tuna canneloni, mixed pepper croquettes, goats cheese in filo pastry, eggs patatas and ham salad, salmon steaks, finished off with coconut cake and beers, it was lovely, so with bellies full we caught the catamaran back to site and crashed out.

After the previous full on day it was time to get some chores done and have a steady day, there were clouds in the sky……….boooo, so we tidied up and cleaned the van inside and out, it even rained for a while that evening but nothing heavy.

Another day in the sun and time to move on, after getting a recommendation from a bar owner in Cordoba we headed to Zahara de los Atunes on the Costa de la Luz. It was just a 1 hour drive and during this journey we filled up with diesel at a self-service garage just outside of town, the price for diesel was 1.17 euros a litre (98p) which was the cheapest so far and will prove to be incredibly cheap compared to what’s to come in 3 weeks time. We were going to wild camp in Zahara but it was so quiet and there were no groups of vans wild camping so we checked into camping Bahia de la platja, which as the name suggests was literally on the beach. This was a small and well presented site with basic but decent facilities and it was quiet so it was pick your own place again, we got set up and as it was Saturday we sat in the sun with a few beers and listened to football on 5 live. That evening after a little siesta we walked the 15 mins into the small resort and things looked very quiet with only 1 or 2 of the bars open, all of the beach bars were closed and the town seemed deserted until we eventually found a tapas bar called La Parda, when we walked in at 8.30pm it was only us and 2 others in the place but it looked nice so we ordered food and drinks, as we drank and waited for our food the locals began turning up and by 9.30pm the place was rammed with no spare seats, they were singing, dancing and clapping and generally having a good Saturday night out, the food and drink was very good and the atmosphere made it a great night out.

Mel’s visit to the showers that morning proved to be rather revealing, as she passed the men’s block the door was open, she just happened to glance inside, there stood shaving in front of the mirror was and old man with just a t-shirt on, no pants, fully exposing his Spanish sausage to Mel, good job she wasn’t filming her Bog Log. We decided to walk in the opposite direction the next afternoon from Zahara and towards a small village called Bolonia. It was a windy day but again sunny and warm and the walk took us through purpose built urbanizations that would be full in the summer but in February were quiet with just a handful of tourists visible. The area was nice and the village has some lovely sea view villas whilst high on the hillsides were some very exclusive looking places. The beach is massive and really nice and the colour of the sea was deep turquoise in the sunshine, after a lovely long walk we chilled for the rest of the day and night.

Moving on east we drove out of Zahara and through the scenic hills dotted with wind turbines which on this day were at full power, after just 45 minutes we were in the southern most town in Spain, Tarifa, we stopped at the Lidl and did some shopping then drove to Camping Rio Jara. I’d been here before at Christmas 2010 and not much had changed. Tarifa is a Kite Surfing hot spot and the winds today were probably too strong as there were only a handful of kite surfers out, there are normally hundreds at a time, we watched from afar and chilled by the van, we walked onto the beach at sunset and could see Morocco and the Atlas mountains 15km away across the straits of Gibraltar, we fancied a day trip across but the borders were still closed due to Covid, another time maybe.

Heading east again and onto the British overseas territory that is Gibraltar. The drive through the winding roads from Tarifa is great but it was still very windy and the van was blown about a bit as we rounded the headland, as you descend off the hills the massive port of Algeciras sprawls in front of you with the rock of Gibraltar in the distance. Once through the industrial area you enter La Linea de la Conception which is the town where the border is into Gibraltar. There is an ADS on the marina in la Linea so we parked up with around 40 other vans and walked through the border check point and into Gib (45 mins). We walked through the main gates of the old town and onto the main street with its many duty free shops, it’s a bit shabby looking in parts but the tropical gardens are nice and the marina area is very nice. We walked along the battlements and military walls and read about the history of the rock from Neanderthal finds to rulers like the Phonecians, Romans, Carthaginians, Vandals, Moors, Nasrids, Spanish and then in 1713 the British, all very interesting. We never used the cable car as it was very windy and cloudy so no point going to the top of the rock and after I got a haircut we went and found a place to eat and drink. It must have been the gloomy windy weather because we were both a bit miserable this day and we spent the night in the van being buffeted by the very strong winds off the Atlantic not giving us much sleep so not a great night either! Hopefully heading onto the Costa del Sol will cheer us up?

Neil and Mel xx

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