Nicks blog

Tuesday 18th November 2025: Day 50 

Gaudalest to Tabera (P4N#393119), Spain. 

Started the day with a ride round the Gaudalest reservoir.  Lovely ride.

Then moved on to Tarbena

Monday 17th November 2025: Day 49 

Xalo to L’Albir (P4N#138927), Spain. 

Travelling day, but not too far. The plan was to tidy the van, buy wine, visit vet & park up at the free site 5km down the road at Lliber.  

Wine purchased…

The vet visit went well.  Jess ok & to continue on the same meds.

Drove back to Lliber & parked up in a pretty spot.

All was good till late evening when the thunder started.  Jess was really frightened – the worst we’d seen.  After consulting Windy we packed up and drove towards the Benidorm area.  This area seemed to avoid the thunder. 

We parked up in L’Albir in a large tarmac carpark about 1km from the sea.

Sunday 16th November 2025: Day 48 

Xalo, Spain. 

Lazy start then off to the Bodega to look at a bulk wine purchase.  Didn’t look like they were doing samples so we bought 2 litres of each to try.

After spending €19 on 8 litres of wine we had an early lunch. 

After lunch we set off on a bike ride to Calpe.  Unfortunately the route we’d chosen went down the motorway so we aborted that plan and did a circular route back.

After a drink & more oranges we did some jobs on the van – washing up, empty toilet & fill water etc.

Saturday 15th November 2025: Day 47 

Lliber to Xalo (P4N#66324), Spain. 

Sarah went for a bike ride.  Jess & I tidied the van before moving a few miles to the campsite in Xalo.

On route through the town I stopped at a red light.  While stopped got shouted at by a policeman.  He told me to pull over to the side of the road (shouting Spanish & hand gestures & not in a nice way)

Thought i was in trouble, probably for having Jess on the passenger seat. Luckly he just wanted me to move over a bit to allow traffic flow on the narrow street – deep sigh of releaf ! 

Arrived at the campsite with no further incidents.  Nice chilled site & we are put on pitch 4A.  Tight pitches so no awning.

Sarah arrived & we had a walk around the market that was in town. 

English couple on the next pitch were lovely & told us where to get wine cheap – a job for tomorrow.

We had pizza & chips for tea from the snack van on the campsite.  We ate it outside about 8pm. It wasn’t cold & didn’t feel like a November evening 😀

Friday 14th November 2025: Day 46 

Tarbena to Lliber (P4N#123426), Spain. 

After Jess had a restless night and was very subdued we called the vet in Orba to make an appointment.

Nice English speaking guy who upped her heart meds & put her on blood pressure tablets. 

Following that we tried to get in to the campsite at Xalo but they were full that night.  They had availability for the following two days though.

It was getting on so we picked a carpark a few miles down the road to have one night.  We hadn’t got high hopes for this place but it was great.  Quiet with a brilliant view…

Gave Jess a walk round town & had a beer before bed.

Thursday 13th November 2025: Day 45 

Tarbera, Spain. 

Gave Jess a quick walk before cycling a 26 mile loop taking in the Coll de Rates.  A total of 2800 feet of climbing.  Lovely ride on which we met some nice Belgian guys.

We had a lazy evening after that

Wednesday 12th November 2025: Day 44 

Gaudalest to Tabera (P4N#393119), Spain. 

Started the day with a ride round the Gaudalest reservoir.  Lovely ride.

Then moved on to Tarbena

Tuesday 11th November 2025: Day 43.

Guadalest, Spain. 

Woke to blue skies again.  lazy start.  Paid the parking lady for two nights.

Went for a walk around the reservoir.

After the walk we chilled in the sun drinking tea & eating oranges.  Tried to feed some undernourished kitten Jess’s dog food but it ran off.

Thursday 6nd November 2025: Day 38

Dalia, Spain. 

Another day on the campsite.  After some washing and jobs we walked into Dalia for the day.

Had some tapas, walked round the castle & bought a large ice cream.

About 8 mile round trip.  Jess tired.  We played Scrabble before bed. Sarah won.

Wednesday 5th November 2025: Day 37

Punta Negra, Spain. 

Jess woke us at about 3am for a wee. Apart from that we had a good night’s sleep. 

The pitch we had was covered by trees so we moved to a less covered pitch so we could get some solar to charge the batteries.   

We then went for a walk around the rocky headland.  Only a few miles but lots of rocks and scrambling on steep sections. 

Thank proved hot thirsty work so a  beer was needed.  We stopped at a seafront bar for a swift one before heading back to the campsite.

Puff pastry pizza cooked on the Cadac for tea.

Tuesday 4th November 2025: Day 36

Denia, Spain. 

Left the site in Navajas bang on midday after saying goodbye to D&C.

Travelled south to Denia where we’d found a site in town that sounded promising.

On arrival it didn’t so we moved on to the Los Pinos campsite by the beach at  Punta Negra.  Nice site with friendly staff who put us through as OAP’s.

Had a walk down the sea front before bed.

Monday 3nd November 2025: Day 35

Navajas, Spain. 

Went for a bike ride in the area around Navajas.  Lovely ride on quiet roads. 

After the ride we walked Jess down to the river to see the waterfalls.

Then it was beers and Sardines for tea…

Sunday 2nd November 2025: Day 34

Caudiel to Navajas, Spain. 

Travelled from our site at Caudiel to the campsite in Navajas to meet up with D&C.  

Nice site where we put the awning up for the first time. 

Beers and a meal at the campsite restaurant. 

Saturday 1st November 2025: Day 33

Sueras to Caudial, Spain. 

Had breakfast in the cafe then went for a bike ride around  Sitjar reservoir.

Then moved on to Caudial (P4N #505655).   Walked Jess to a bar for a beer. 

After tea Sarah beat me (again) at scrabble.

Friday 31st October 2025: Day 32

Sueras, Spain.  (P4N #32211)

Woke with a bit of thick head after the beers.  Jess had us up twice in the night, probably because she got Sardine bits out the bin. 

After a quick tortilla breakfast at the cafe we went to meet the goat man.  He’s a lovely guy who doesn’t speak a word of English.  He must be well into his 70’s but got the agility of a 30 year old.

He showed us his goats & sheep.

He also gave us some fruit.

Must be nice to live in a climate where you can grow Kiwi fruit in your garden.  The large things are Sharron fruit we think.

Oh should have said the breakfast was two omelets & bread with coffees, all for €6.

After seeing goat man we went for a walk through the hills to Tales.  In Tales we had a beer before walking home.

Earl evening we saw goat man again who gave us more fruit – this time it was Pomegranates. Lovely guy.

Then showers & bed…

Thursday 30th October 2025: Day 31

Suersa,  Spain. (P4N #

A day of two halves….  

Woke up after a great night’s sleep as the sole occupant of the carpark.  Beautiful sunny day after the nights rain. 

We had a plan to move on to Suersa where P4N promised a good free site with a bar on site 🙂   It was only about 40 min journey so not far.  After a detour to Decathlon & Lidl we arrived about 2pm. 

We then went for a walk to a ruined castle on a hill. Interesting walk where we met archaeologists digging at the castle.

Post walk we had a beer in the onsite bar.  We chatted to some Dutch who asked about eating in the bar.  I didn’t understand the whole conversation but  it seemed there is a festival in town.

Sarah then cooked some Sardines for tea which were disgusting & made the whole van stink.

We headed into town to see the festival which sadly involved a bull running around the streets. There were caged areas around the bars where licals looked on.  The bull wasn’t happy – we left. Later we were told that the bull is killed.  So sad.

We made our way back to the campsite bar where we chatted with the locals as best we could.  Seems we arranged to meet an old guy to see his goats at 10am.

After some Patatas Bravas we wobbled home to find Jess had got the kitchen roll used to clean the Sardines pan & shredded it over the van.  After a cleanup it was tome for bed…

Wednesday 29th October 2025: Day 30

Zorear,  Spain. 

The plan was to stay in Eslida (P4N #3001055) but when we got to the site it gave bad vibes & was covered in dog shit. 

We moved on to a site a few miles down the road in an old church yard. (P4N # 301053)

The rain came in the evening.

Sunday 26th October 2025: Day 27 

Santa Pau, Spain. (P4N #428864)

Went for a volcano walk.  We walked up Margareda and Croscat. 

Saturday 25th October 2025: Day 26 

Sant Joan les Fonts, Spain. (P4N #204482)

Concrete car park for motorhomes in a small town. 

Its a volcanic area so went for a walk around the area to look at lava flows.

Friday 24th October 2025: Day 25 

Castellfollit de la Roca, Spain. 

Is a small town on a high sliver of volcanic rock between two rivers.  

We went for a walk around the valleys before having a few beers in a bar

Thursday 23rd October 2025: Day 24  

Palol de Revardit, Spain. 

I can’t rememberwhatwe did this day…

Wednesday 22nd October 2025: Day 23  

Cadaques, Spain. 

Jess woke us early wanting a wee.  It was before 7am and still pitch black so I headed out with my head torch who’s beam caught a TBW occupant going for a wee too !

After a coffee in bed the sun rose – another beautiful day.   We walked the short distance to Salvador Dali’s house/museum.   Sarah was told the first available tickets were 31st October so we gave up on that idea.

We then went to the local supermarket.  Working out food labels highlighted how shit my Spanish is 😬

We then chilled at the van through the midday heat.  Sarah played Ukulele, I fiddled with things & Jess slept under the van.  

Tuesday 21th October 2025: Day 22

Today was a travel day.  We were moving on from Carcassonne to Cadaques on the Spanish coast.   This is where Salvador Dali’s house is.

The drive was more stressful than normal for French roads around Perpignan.  Probably due to volume of traffic. 

The last few miles to Cadaques was tight & steep.  To top the journey I bottomed the van on rough ground entering the parking site.

The site was a free one for campers & was full.  We had to wait around for a while before someone left & we could get their spot. 

The area is definitely busier than we like but feels safe for the van with so many others around. 

A quick walk around town & home for tea & bed.

Start of text…

Monday 20th October 2025: Day 21

Carcassonne, France.

Second day in Carcassonne. Walked around two areas La Bastide de St Louis & La Cite (again).

We thought La Bastide area would be buzzing with shops & life.  We were underwhelmed & headed off to La Cite which is inside the Carcassonne castle.

The castle is really impressive.

Then back to the van for food & a game of Scrabble that Sarah won 😕

Sunday 19th October 2025: Day 20

Carcassonne, France.

Today was a travelling day from Avignon to Carcassonne.  Our chosen site in Carcassonne was Aire de camping-cars Carcassonne (P4N #36930)

As we couldn’t arrive before 2pm we went to a big Supermarket.  In the carpark was an outdoor Launderette.  The machines were modern (card payment), well maintained & clean so we did all our laundry – washed and dried.

We arrived at the site just after 2pm.  When sorted we went for an evening walk around the medieval castle in Carcassonne.

Truly impressive castle and free to enter.   After a good nosey round we found a bar for a few beers.  It was nice Leffe beer but 4 set us back €30.

Saturday 18th October 2025: Day 19

Homes, France.

In the morning Sarah went for a ride down the Canal du Midi & i looked at the van rear breaks. 

Not sure what’s going on but they seem to be getting very hot.  I jacked the van up and spun the wheels.  No binding at all.  No play in the wheel bearings.  Not sure why they’re heating up but breaks seem OK. 

I then went for a test drive that took me to a boulangerie…

A dam fine tart 😋

Sarah returned & had a walk around Lac Jouarres & into Homps. 

Friday 17th October 2025: Day 18

Homps, France (P4N #312621)

A travelling day.  Villes-sur-Auzon to Homps.

Homps is a small town on the Canal-du-Midi.

Thursday 16th October 2025: Day 17

Villes-sur-Auzon, France.

Today Sarah cycled up the classic TdeF climb Mont Ventoux ! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Ventoux

We celebrated with a meal out.

Wednesday 15th October: Day 16

Monieux, France. (P4N #5948)

Today we travelled to Monieux & did all big walk around the Gorges de Nesque. 

Really pretty walk…

Sunday 12th October 2025: Day 13

Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France.

Woke to a sunny day.  Had croissants from the local boulangerie for breakfast.

Visited the Botte winery for a look round their museum & a tasting.

Good but didn’t get pissed on those portions !  …and what was more annoying was that the German woman next to me kept spitting hers out & pouring the remainder of her glass away !

Noisey second night in the town carpark.  Young scroats playing loud music again.  

Friday 10th October 2025: Day 11

From our campsite Sarah cycled to a new location I’d found at Albertville (P4N #397267). After parking up I gave Jess a walk & quite by accident came across a fine Boulangers…

…well be rude not to 🙂

After Sarah arrived I had a walk into Albertville to the supermarket for supplies & a new 16A euro socket. The euro socket was needed because the one on the our cable had become hot and melted slightly when we’d used it at one of the campsites.