We left the campsite at Javea this morning – we were a bit sad to leave the area as – in our humble opinions – it was the best place so far. It has something for everyone – there is the family oriented Arenal beach and then further along the beach there are lovely, isolated beachside restaurants. Then further down in Javea itself it is different again – very beautiful and plenty to do. It is a top spot and one which we would thoroughly recommend anyone to come to for a holiday … oh, and it had a high live-ability factor for us too !
Anyway, all good things come to and end and we thought we had better get on the move again! We decided our first stop was to find ‘Scallops’ Restaurant at Arenal beach, for brekkie. Our mates, Jo and Simon, recommended it to us but we couldn’t find it last night (hence our having Indian instead!). If you go there for dinner they give you a voucher for breakfast! It was a lovely place and the food was ooooooh, so cheap! Great service, great food and a rose garden too!
As we made our way up the coast, the scenery was pretty spectac. but the photos never do it justice !
Amazing villas in these hills … but as one of our camping neighbours reminded us … “what do you do when you want a pint of milk? You gotta come all the way down …”!!
Wiggly, windy roads again today … I’m glad Paul is on the outside !
Our destination today was Denia (not too far!) and as we reached the outskirts I noticed a ‘W’ on the autoroute map (thanks to Adam and Sophie’s Autoroute map) … which means there is a ‘wildcamping’ spot there. The ‘W’s are a bit hit and miss, we have found, but when we got to this one it was in a good spot … good enough for Paul to abandon the van and run into the water for a quick dip (still with his crocs on, mind you .. it was pebbly!). This was our stop …
We were thinking of staying for the day (and night) but decided to carry on a bit. Sammie was checking out the water .. “I think I will go for a dip”, he said …
“Nah” said Bombo … “it is way to rocky for us, forget it”…
“Oh, I dunno, I’m still tempted …”
I wasn’t at all tempted! I did go for a paddle but it was well pebbly, so I watched the goings on from the van steps…
On the way out, we saw quite a few deserted villas. This is just one … really big places – just left to rot .. such a shame and such a waste …
Coming into Denia … big marina there …
Denia looked nice enough but a ‘normal’ working- looking town, so we carried on driving through and stopped to check out campsites in the area. The campsite we found promised us a ‘lovely, floral site, on the beach, with a pool and wellness centre’ so we plugged in the coordinates and set off!
It was at this point that we heard a bit of a bang and suddenly heard William (cat) meowing frantically. I went back to sort him out and found that the drawer in the bedroom had come out and fallen on top of him in his bed on the floor !!!! Poor little boy .. he wasn’t physically damaged, probably a bit of concussion though! I decided to sit with him for a few minutes ! While I was in the back with William I missed our passage into Valencia and also missed these young ladies sitting at the side of the road …
Paul managed to get a quick snap of them, while driving. Funny how he can be good at multi-tasking when he wants to be ! We have actually seen them a couple of times before … they sit at the side of the road – flaunting their … wares ! Sad, really … must be very desperate
Anyway, after all that excitement we got to the campsite, which is called ‘Kiko Park’ … it looked very up-market when we got to it. Very fancy looking ‘recepcion’ but it took the chap about half an hour to check us in – that was hot work! The campsite looks like it is trying to be a ‘high end’ establishment, proudly displaying its wellness centre and spa and very modern looking pool. We were kind of surprised it was in the ACSI book, at first … looked way too flash for discount camping, at first impressions!
After we checked in, we parked up … here we are in our little spot for the night …
We took Bombo for a little walk down to the beach (Sammie was too exhausted by his earlier indecisions). The beach sign didn’t say ‘no perros’ but it was too hot for him really, so we took him back and then went back to the beach ourselves. Here is yours truly …
Nice, sandy beach. We went in for a dip…the water was actually not too shocking – temperature wise ! I was a bit reluctant to go any deeper than waist height though as there was so much plastic and crap floating about. I went on a collection mission and got a sizeable amount of plastic sheets and plastic bits, which I took to one of the very many beach bins ! I also thought I could smell sewerage when I was in the water (I’m sure it was just a smell from the marina) … but not very appealing all in all !
I also noticed quite a lot of ‘fag butts’ on the beach – it makes me so mad that people are so pathetic with their rubbish. It also amazes me that no-one ever picks up any of the rubbish right in front of their faces. I know we don’t like ‘other people’s rubbish’ but I reckon if everyone picked up at least one bit, the world would be a better place! I always make it my mission … if there is a bin in sight … to pick up any rubbish along the way – it kind of makes you feel like you have ‘done’ something!!
So – we went to Plan B … we went to the pool instead! There were a couple of free beds, so we plonked our stuff down and went in the water … it was really warm. I really like getting into warm water but I do worry that it is possibly not the most hygienic of conditions for a pool ! Anyway, we had a quick dip and I noticed that a lot of the grout around the tiles was black … at the same time as I felt the tiles under my feet were a bit slimy !! So – Plan C came into play … shower and sunbathe for a bit ! Here is the boy, doing just that …
… and me !
We thought after such a strenuous day we should go for a beer, which we did … to a little bar down the road. When we came back we noticed that the pool was FULL of kids … local kids that we had seen walking past the bar … ! Very odd for a campsite pool but I guess it is the only one around! Paul saw them leaving later in the evening, heading back to a block of flats close by.
Anyway, we will be moving on tomorrow! A Scottish chappie told us to go to Valencia so we will go and check it out soon!
This is where we are now … Oliva, Valencia … the land of the oranges …
Where we stayed:
Kiko Park, Oliva, Valencia
Coordinates: N 38o 55’ 58” W0o 5’ 51”
Nice looking campsite. Tidy enough. Paul had to fight his way through hedges to plug into the electric-also needing a very long lead! The showers are a bit old and manky, but functional. The beach is nice and sandy but the water has a lot of rubbish in it. The pool is potentially unclean! The spa and wellness centre closes at 2 pm. The restaurant at the side of the campsite looked pretty exy, with ‘menus del dia’ priced from 18 Euros up ! Wifi is 8 Euros a day … so we didn’t!
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