30 Jan 2013

Alicante, the coastal strip & internet.


"Oh I'm sorry about this Tanya." I said as we once again started to pass by more depressing Spanish Costa seafront esplanades along with their obligatory sea facing high rise blocks of apartments. I suppose they are not all bad and If you stop, as we did in Ste Pola, and walk around a bit some are quite nice. This however was gone 5 O'clock and past the time for Tanya and I to be looking for a perch for the night.

"It's my fault Tanya, I should not have spent so long trying to find a beach side parking slot."

There had been a wide beachy type area just south of Alicante where other motorhomes were. We stopped there for lunch and 75 year old Vanna, a German fulltimer like myself (including small dog) helped me with his very fancy sat nav locate the garage, which turned out to be only 5 minutes away, where I could once again top up my gas bottles. I was really quite pleased at how Vanna and I got on seeing as he spoke only German and I only English and our communication was about finding a Spanish location! However; I decided to push on once gas bottles were replenished as the beachside site was by a busy road plus a rail line. A whole night struggling with German/English language impasse was not too appealing either despite our earlier sat nav success.

This need to move on from company, or the crowd, was especially so after the two nights and days we had just spent up in the mountains between Xabia and Cocentaina. Such beautiful terraced hillsides with nothing but agriculture, small villages and the Spanish rural population. Most importantly though; this high country contained ample places to park Sadie where we were alone, with virtually no traffic, and certainly no other motorhomes. Tanya was free to roam and we could together walk the innumerable tracks leading inwards and upwards through the terraces yeilding ever more spellbinding views the higher you got. We even found the odd castle and beautifully adorned hilltop church.

Consequently it was now a bit of a come down following this coastal strip and being met with signs phrohibiting 'Acampacar' at every reasonable stopping place. This was coupled with more than frequent sightings of 'Guardia Civil' (A type of cop that carries a 'not nice' reputation!) riding about in cars or on motorcycles. The message it gave me was;  'you will get moved on if you stop and yes, we do know it is January and not high holiday season and we do'nt care!'

The problem was soon solved with a decision to move inland a little way just past a huge complex of 'Salinas' (salt producing lagoons) where a conveniant bit of scrubland presented as an ideal spot for the night. We were just in time for the beautiful sunset to flood Sadies windscreen while to the side and just down the lane we watched a big artic lorry being loaded with medium sized potted Palm trees. I wonder where they are off to?
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Internet & wi fi seem to be a bit more hit and miss here than in France. I was in a cafe yesterday and logged on to their wi fi. Or to put it more precisely logged on to their router which was not connected to the internet. I had a go at explaining this to the guy behind the bar whose total command of the English language comprised the words; 'No problemo mi amigo!' Delivered, I have to say, with a beaming smile indicating that indeed, connected or not connected it was .... 'no problem' ..... to him. I gave up in the end and left feeling a little peeved as this was the second so say, internet cafe where this had happened.

The real problem though is as I am getting older I cannot be bothered with the difficulties around these, so say, essential modern day technologies. For example; the TV is now not working. I think it is because I need to change to another satellite which involves entering new numbers somewhere into the satellite dish control box. Out comes the instruction book and after ten minutes of reading a dawning realisation that I was losing the will to live finally persuaded me to stuff all back in the cupboard and put my music back on, which I enjoy more anyway. What better than good music and the Terrific View from Sadies panoramic 3d colour with no adverts front windscreen.



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