Denbighshire 15 - it's facts time August/ September 2013 Trip

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Suzy is sitting on the drive, parked up,partially cleaned but waiting for a bit of attention. We have been back now for two weeks and it seems odd to have all this room around us. After a month of living in a shoebox it seems wierd to be home. And it doesnt take long to want to be on the road again.

Since we have arrived home we have partially cleaned Suzy but plan a big clean tomorrow. She is grubby from all the dust that was thrown at her. Out will come the carpets for a good hoover, the fridge and the cooker will get a clean and everything will be finally emptied out. Somehow you just dont feel like doing it sometimes. And moving house has taken over our lives with visits to houses to try to find somewhere to live.

The weather has changed dramatically since we arrived home. We have missed the heat of southern Europe. Never thought I would say that .We have never been lovers of great heat but as we get older it seems more appealing. The mornings seem darker and the nights drawing in. It feels more like Autumn here with the leaves changing colour, leaves are falling and the signs of Autumn are all round us. The hips on the trees turning red and orange, the gardens full of the jewel like fuschias with their maroon and purple pendant flowers that look like drop earings. The curtains are closed before 7 and it's only a few weeks before the clocks change and winter really seems upon us. Oh to overwinter in Spain or Portugal. All of a sudden it feels rather appealing. Especially as our weather is going to turn to snow again early this year. The Gulf Stream isnt where it should be and the forecast is snow next month. .

We bought a house or at least got well on the way to buying one but that fell through due to a poor survey. During the hot and dry summer the trees at the bottom of the garden had gone in search of water and undermined the foundations. We have been spending time trawling through estate agents brochures and nipping back up to Derbyshire to view another three. The choice is limited and we are waiting for our buyers to have their survey done. On Tuesday they were not bothering. Today they have changed their minds. More worry now for a few days until that comes through and hopefully will be OK. It's a worrying time and we have tried to take our minds off it by thinking about our holidays next year and taking stock of what happened this trip.

So it's facts, facts and more facts.

We travelled 3931 miles over the holiday. Average diesel consumption according to the computer 25.9 however this should work out when the brim to brim figure is recalculated. Driving travel time 80hours and 9 mins. Diesel costs £70 in Britain followed by 776 euro and 88 cents. Rather a lot of money and sometimes you can spend time thinking about the cost but its the only way to travel so we have to grin and bear it and treat diesel like a necessary evil to be put up with and a means to an end.

Weather it was colder the first week as we travelled down through France and also colder on our way home. In between nothing but wall to wall sunshine- approximately 33 degrees every day. One night of rain. None of the thunder or lightening we normally get sometime during the holiday

We stayed at 21 campsites of which three were Portugals Orbitor sites, two were municipal sites, one in a hotel grounds and two in Britain both Caravan Club sites . We stayed on one aire. We spent £25 on the camping club site on the journey out and £24 for Poolsbrook on our return. We spent 404 euros and 4 cents on camping in France, Spain and Portugal. Most were ACSI sites with a few municipal sites.

WiFi was probably not quite as good as we found it in Croatia. A number of campsites provided free WiFi which ranged from excellent to absolutely awful with poor connections. We spent 16 euros for WiFi in the campsites where it wasnt free. We also used the Toggle SIM in the IPad.

I washed clothes 5 times during the holiday. This meant I needed a washing machine every 4 days. The cost varied from the cheapest at 3 euros for a wash only to the most expensive at 5 euros 30 although that included washing powder. Without the powder the dearest came out at 5 euros.

Food. We found more supermarkets in Spain and Portugal than we did in Croatia but only a few were the big french style chains. Mr Le Clerc had made inroads but they were never where we wanted them. Most other supermarkets were small but with a reasonable selection of food. We saw a few Lidl along the way. Most of our spend was on supermarket food and coffee and cakes most mornings. We only ate out a handful of times during the trip.

Tolls. In France we have so far paid 57 euros and 11 cents for the journey down to Spain and 150 euros for the return trip. That has given us food for thought. Perhaps next year our journey will have to be through Germany where the autobahn are free . This was paid through our Liber -t electronic little gizmo in the window . In Spain we saw few tolls approximately 8 which we paid by taking the ticket from the toll booth and paying the other end when we exited the motorways. The total for Spain came to 51 euro and 99 cents. The tolls in Portugal were paid via the Via Verde box and came to 127 euros which included renting the box, the tolls plus the return postage to Germany. We paid an extra £20 to change our train ticket home plus £2 for using the Dartford Tunnel on our way home.

As is usual these days we are more selective with what we go to see. If it doesnt float our boat then we just look outside and move on. We paid 90 euros and 50 cents entrance fees and for a boat ride on the river at Porto. We make use of the discounts for over 65's when we can.

Transport costs - These include bus fares and a boat to Belem. For once we didnt use a train or tram. 46 euros 60 in total.

Sundries which included presents,candles in a church clothes and our latest collecting craze fridge magnets £80.50 cents

I am not even going to try at a total spend at the moment as it probably will be wrong. So many receipts dont find their way home and even trying to write notes it is easy to forget.

Best campsite by a country mile Municipal Tomar. Worst campsite Orbitor Lisbon. Best memories Tomar and Castles of Castille and Leon, the trip up the Duoro river, Mortagne Sur Gironde and our night on the aire and the return to Belem with all its memories. Least favourite place or perhaps most disappointing Salamanca and Obidos . Biggest surprise Tortilla Patatas which became a breakfast favourite. Best meal definately Guines on the way home and the one we ate at lunchtime in Tomar.

Would we go again - undecided. There is much to see further north along the coast which should be greener. The Carmino de Santiago looks interesting and there are still more castles to see in this part of the world. But we miss Italy and our Italian fix so maybe next year we need to get back there.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Looking forward to your next trip
Great summary. I'm sure you'll decide to do it again and we will eagerly await. Sounds like lessons were learned. Thanks for sharing.