Being A Tour Guide

My sister Jackie and niece Hayley have been visiting me this week.

Sunday was Jackies birthday so we went out for dinner at a local restaurant

We have been walking the coast path. 

Going up the hills sightseeing. 

Hanging around in bars! 

The strange things young uns do with photos! 

Up the hills again. 

The weather has been fantastically clear but the temperature has dropped dramatically, no more swimming in the sea this year I fear. 

The beaches have now been cleared of all the sunbeds, sunshades and beach bars. Only the bins and duckboards to remove and thats it until next summer.

I actually enjoy this time of year when all the tourists have left and its just the locals and winter dwellers from up north! 

We also sorted through some of Elaine's belongings, there really  isn't much left, the girls will take back some jewellery, clothing and scarves etc.

However I have kept Elaine's old wig she wore whilst undergoing chemo.

With the mo for movember flourishing I think the syrup makes a lovely addition, it takes years off of me!

Thankfully the American election is over, I really couldnt give a toss about politics, but what does piss me off is the hatred that is generated by these events, the Brexit event also brought out such hatred that I find so disturbing. I blame a lot of it on the so called UK newspapers, what awful rags they are, especially the Daily Fail, Sun, and Daily Mirror.

Bring back the love......

Peace XXXXX 

Tatoo Man

My mate is well and truly back in Oz, well I hope he is, he left last Saturday!

During the week, I have been doing the usual walking the dogs, having the occasional dip, its very warm at the moment!

It is also very windy today!

I also frequented a couple of bars and extended my circle of friends here in Mojacar, its such an easy place to make friends, probably because we are all on the same mission.....not working!! There is a lot more time to interact without work getting in the way, there was no chance of going out in the week back in Oz, now I am out every day and night.  

 I also cleaned up the house as my sister and niece arrive today for a week. The place still looks like a tip but I do try, I dont know how Elaine used to do it, I would clean one bathroom and she would have the rest of the place looking immaculate and everything squared away, it must be a girl thing.

I have been trying to think of a way to remember Elaine in a special way, I have kept a few clothes and bits of jewellery, I have a lock of her hair plus her ashes of course, I have a locket around my neck carrying a very small part of her ashes. But I wanted something special.....I was talking to my mate the landlord and he said why dont you get a tattoo!!! Brilliant idea, so the next day we went up to the pueblo and had a chat with the local tat man, he drew up some ideas and sent them to me today. So at the age of 60 I will be getting my first tattoo to remember one very special lady.

I then got carried away........Joking right!!

Whilst Matt was here on his hols we went for a drive along the old coast road out of Mojacar, its a great road and leads to some lovely deserted beaches where  one can get naked if you fancy it.

I downloaded part of the trip off of my dash cam

Thou Shall Hev a Fishy When The Boat Comes In.

We had a big sightseeing day yesterday.

First stop was the hilltop village of Mojacar Pueblo, then a few more ks inland to Bedar.

Bedar is a lovely little hilltop village frequented by the artistic fraternity.

We then drove up and over the mountain stopping at a remote bar for a swift one. 

In the late afternoon we headed back to the coast.  

Our destination was Garrucha which is a reasonably large town about 6ks from Mojacar. 

Every morning I hear the boats leaving the port and heading down the coast for a days fishing.

They head back into port about 17.30   six boats were out yesterday, they all return to port line astern.

The fish are quickly unloaded. 

Im no fisherman so I dont know what all the different types were. They also had a lot of prawns and squid onboard. 

The fishmarket is right next to the dock, the fish are put straight onto a conveyor belt in baskets, the people in the stands bid for each basket, as the fish come off the end of the conveyor belt they are covered in ice and loaded into the back of their respective delivery vans. 

Its great you can just wander around and watch it all happen. 

By the time it was all over we were getting peckish.

We headed back to Mojacar walked the dogs then headed down the road for a curry.

Rather than being sensible and coming home after the curry we went for a quick drink.....next thing it was 01.30 in the morning!!

It was a most enjoyable day, having my mate Matt here from Oz for the last couple of weeks has certainly helped me take my mind off of Elaines passing, I do still think about her constantly and am always running through the what ifs etc.

It is getting easier, it will be interesting on how I feel once Matt heads off back to Oz tomorrow.      

On The Road Again

Bombo has forgiven Matt for Getting his hand in the way of his teeth.

Last night Matt took me for a Bromance dinner, well it was his birthday.

Today we hit the road again and headed up to my favourite beach, La Carolina.

We are certainly getting some looks, two good looking buff men travelling together in a motorhome accompanied by two little fluffy white dogs! 

Here I am posing in my pink salmon shorts.

We then did a bit of half naked mountaineering. 

Matt leading the way.

Once back at base we went skyclad swimming!

There are now a lot of motorhomes arriving on the beaches of Andalusia as winter starts to bite in Northern Europe. 

Tonight we have Swedish, German, Czech, French and Spanish neighbours. 

When Bombo Attacks!!

Cadiz was a disaster, not only was the weather atrocious and the bars not dog friendly, we also managed to park up for the night  in probably the noisiest ever motorhome parking spot!!

We didn't realise that we were very close to a nightclub, it kicked off about 02.00 and went on until 07.00. The music was absolute crap, all doof doof. We did manage to get some sleep but were woken by the crowd going home at 07.00  as lovely as the Spanish are, well some of them, they are without doubt the noisiest bastards in the world, add a few drinks and its mayhem!! 

It was also blowing an absolute gale, and pouring with rain, we checked the weather at our next destination (Seville) and it was much of the same. We then checked the weather back in Mojacar.....sunny and 27 degrees, it was a no brainer, lets head home.

It was a nice six hour drive passing through Granada. 

As we got closer to the Sierra Nevada mountains the weather changed for the better.

We arrived home in the late afternoon, we left all the gear in the motorhome as we will go away again soon, as in tomorrow. 

We jumped in the little Citroen to go down to watch a band, bugger flat battery, I have a powerpack so we jumped it and away we went.

It was a good night, after watching the band for a while we headed off to Titos to watch another band, we finally finished up the night in the local chinky.

The car once again needed jumpstarting.

This morning we decided to go and buy a new battery after walking the dogs, this when the horrific attack happened!!

When Bombo is in the car or the van he becomes incredibly defensive of it, whilst I connected the jumper leads to the battery Matt opened the door to start the car, as he leaned in Bombo attacked him and tore his arm to shreds......well he bit him!!  There was a smidgen of blood, I was incredibly concerned but couldnt stop laughing.

Meanwhile a film is underway...

We now have a new battery and all is well.

The rest of the day we chilled, its Matt's birthday today so we went to the beach in the arvo then we went to Maui bar for  cocktails on the beach, tonight we are going out for a romantic dinner......nothing wrong with a bit of Bromance!

Drowning in Cadiz

It was a pleasant day when we left Gibraltar, the marina was buzzing with yachties getting ready for a race.

Our destination was Cadiz as it was only about an hour and a half hours drive away.

As we neared Cadiz it started raining, by the time we reached our parking spot on the edge of the old part of Cadiz it was absolutely bucketing down with a massive storm going on.

Now why didnt I bring any wet weather gear whatsoever, or anything more than shorts and t shirts?

We sat in the van and had a few beers whilst checking the radar for a clear spell, it looked like we were going to get a window at about 16.30. Right on the dot it stopped raining so off we went with the doggies in tow.

It was only a short walk into the centre and it looked a fascinating place.

The rain had kept all the locals and tourists indoors.

About 20 mins after we set off the rain was back with a vengeance. We were getting soaked so it was time to head into a bar, the first one was OK as I dont think they spotted the dogs under the table.

We decided to head back to base stopping at a couple of Spanish bars on the way, no chance Cadiz isnt dog friendly, we were turned away from three bars and arrived back at the van very very wet and cold.

The poor boys were shivering so I turned the heating on and dried them off.

We decided to stay in for the night as its still belting down with rain.

Our plan for tomorrow was to head towards Seville, but the weather is looking awful so we may have to reconsider.

The rain in Spain doesn't always fall on the plain! 

A Most Excellent Adventure

After yet another full english in the van, this time cooked by Mattie we headed off to the rock leaving the dogs in the van. I had checked the weather and it was going to be an overcast day , which was good for leaving the doggies behind.

We wandered through the streets, deliberately not going in any shops!

We found the Trafalgar graveyard which is the final resting place of some of the casualties of the Battle of Trafalgar.

For some strange reason we decided to walk to the top of the rock!!

The views going up were stunning. 

The moorish castle, not moorish as I want some more but built by the moops moors in 1500s 

We walked higher to the WW2 tunnels but the tours were all fully booked, so further up the rock we went.  

Mattie having a rest. 

The views were superb, it would have been even better on a sunny clear day but I dont think I would have made it if it was hot! 

Next stop was the Great Siege Tunnels, we spent about an hour walking through them. 

After that we headed for the summit, I would have to say its the hardest thing I have done in years.

I wasn't out of breath but my legs started to turn to jelly.

We met a lot of the monkeys on the way up and had to squeeze past some of them on the narrow steps.

It is a fantastic view once you get to the top. 

It was still quite misty so we couldn't see Morocco. 

After resting up the top for a while we caught the cable car down.

Once at the bottom we stopped at the Lord Nelson pub for a couple of pints and dinner.

We had a clear run back to the motorhome, back across the runway. 

We are moored up in the marina, these are our neighbours. 

We will head off tomorrow, just not sure where yet!