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Published: November 15th 2015
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Sitges is a town on the Mediterranean Sea, which is the playground of the rich of Barcelona. It’s promenade is flowing with immaculately dressed and styled people, going to and from champagne and oyster bars on the beach to expensive hotels. Wait until we arrive…..
The journey south went smoothly with no interruptions. Cusco the Chief Spaniel slept soundly and Wendy the Navigator spoke at me for the two hours, so all was well with the world. Even the sat nav took us directly to the campsite and we found a pitch immediately. I congratulated the day for behaving with a few well-earned cans of beer. The only thing that could break the spell would be Cusco wakening up, demanding attention and to be taken for a walk.
The spell was broken when Cusco woke up, demanded attention and to be immediately taken for a walk. Having never been here before, we did not think he would know if there was a beach or not. Sadly, we had not taken into account a spaniel’s innate talent for sniffing out the sea from at least 30 km away. He knew dear readers, he knew. Off he dragged us, down the
main road, over the railway line, turning right, left, right again, then straight on and there it was. He grinned at us. On beaches in Spain there are always signs saying no dogs allowed. The Spanish tend to pay no notice of them, so we don’t either!!!
After a long while of running, swimming, sniffing, urinating, running some more (that was Cusco, not your correspondent by the way), we dragged the crazed hound from the beach and wandered in to the town. Indeed, the promenade was flowing with the beautiful people but as Cusco could smell the sea, so I can smell beer, so we just barrelled through them to a bar!!! Sitges has an old part of town, which is packed with rambling lanes and streets with enough shops to keep Wendy happy and bars to keep me happy. The camp site had a great flamenco evening that we went to with Les and Sylvia where copious amounts of alcohol were consumed.
We spent a pleasant few days here, until the beautiful people finally formed a lynch mob and we decided to head further south.
The next stop was to be a town called Cambrils and
after turning the key in the ignition, we set off in Claude. A few hours after setting off, we arrived – that is the nature of journeys these days. The sun was shining against a deep blue sky and I got the impression that we were going to have a relaxed time here, but a couple of days later something strange happened. The skies began to darken, the wind picked up, small children and animals could be seen throwing themselves into the raging sea!!! What was happening??? Was it the arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse?? Not far off, it was in fact the arrival of my family. Planes from Glasgow and Newcastle had brought them here. Your correspondent was hoping that their hotel would be some distance from his campsite – possibly Paraguay.
It was based on their recommendation that we visited here. They had spent several holidays in the town and had always enjoyed themselves and the description sounded suitable for our purposes. A car was hired to assist enjoying the surrounding areas. A trip was taken into the nearby hills, to a small town called Mont Blanc. This confused the hell out of the
sat nav who tried to take us back to The Alps rather than a mere 45 minutes away. It is a very, very old town with beautiful buildings made from local stone. Homemade pastry shops seemed to attract the attention of the family, so I scanned the area and saw a bar. Four to be exact, set around the small plaza. Ushering them out of the shop, I herded them to sit down and order drinks.
On the other side of the plaza, we noticed people starting to gather, many holding big bunches of white and purple balloons. A man started handing out a song sheet and a microphone was set up to be used. We asked what was happening and it transpired that a young girl had been murdered here a year ago, and this was to be a remembrance for her, with her family reading tributes, then singing her favourite pop song and then releasing the balloons which were of her favourite colours. It was very touching.
There were two celebrations to be had with the family. Firstly a Christmas barbecue as we would not see each other then. Presents were swopped, with your corresponded delighted
to see that there are a Broons and an Oor Wullie annual this year. For those of you that do not know what I am talking about in the previous sentence, it is down to the fact that you are not lucky enough to be Scottish. Sat in the warm sunshine was just like December in Scotland!!! The second celebration was for Wendy’s 50
th birthday and they had provided a special gift. They were going to look after Cusco for the day, while we took the train to Barcelona for a Segway tour of the city!!!!!!
Yes dear readers, we were going to be racing around the streets of Barcelona on a set of wheels with only a stick to hold on to for survival. Needless to say, everybody was convinced this was going to be the end of me. Maybe I would go under the wheels of a bus, perhaps I would zoom off the harbour wall to the murky depths, possibly collide with any number of objects. I was very nervous indeed. I had no worries that Wendy would be extremely competent but had many doubts lingering in my mind.
On arrival, we were given safety
helmets to wear. These were the only bits of safety equipment supplied. I had been hoping for a parachute and an anchor as well, but with hard hats on and five minutes practise, off we went. The key to driving a Segway is having balance, so straight away I knew I was in trouble as it is not a talent I have. There were six of us in our group, all in line and I kept to the back, just behind Wendy. Our instructor kept telling us that the maximum speed is only 12 kmh, so I thought if things got out of hand, I could merely step off the machine. Physics was never my strong point at school.
We zoomed around the gothic area of the City, along the sea front and promenade and past many museums. You will be surprised and pleased to know that I was not involved in any accidents or the like and got back to the start in one piece and without a scratch. Wendy on the other hand was involved in a collision with a young Italian girl in the group. Wendy insists that the Italian was at fault for driving too
close, but as Wendy had been wound up by the girl and her antics all the way round the tour, your correspondent reckons she just took her out!!! It was a great day and lots of fun. Despite leaving Cusco for the first time since February, we needn't have worried. He had such a great day with Moira that he hardly noticed we had gone !!!
The days in Cambrils were spent with family walking around the town, lunching in bars that they had visited before and watching fishing boats return from trawling. With their help we managed to get to know the layout of the town very well. Cusco was very impressed by the beach and spent many hours on it. Another day out took us to Tarragona, a short journey up the coast. This is a wonderful city with a rich Roman heritage and many remaining buildings and a wonderful amphitheatre. You could spend hours wandering around the streets and still want to go back the next day.
Then suddenly the week was over and it was time for them to go home. A great time had been had with them and our livers would certainly
be pleased of a rest!!! As they flew out, a motorhome named Reg was making his way south to join us with two special guest stars . . . . find out who next time around!!!!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Wonderful scenery
Nice shot