A Weekend at Our Favorite Sea View Campsite in Cromer
If you’re looking for a perfect coastal escape with breathtaking sea views, then you need to visit Sandy Gulls, an adults-only campsite nestled in Mundesley, just outside of Cromer. Long time followers will know it’s a regular haunt of ours, and last weekend we spent another couple of days there; it’s safe to say it remains one of our favorite spots for a relaxing getaway by the sea!
Friday: Sea Views & Cromer Crab Mac ‘n’ Cheese
We arrived at Sandy Gulls on Friday, weirdly this time separately too, in an effort to utilise daylight hours, Keith and Jazz traveled independently using public transport (and my mum taking him from our house to the closest train station, Diss), whereas I came directly from school with Gandalf. This enabled Keith to pick up a Cromer crab for tea. Annoyingly the public transport let him, and mum who decided to tag along for some sea air on her day off, down and their 1.5 hour journey took over 5! I ended up arriving to Sandly Gulls solo, set up on my own and met them in the pub an hour later! Amazingly despite all this Keith arrived with 2 fresh Cromer crabs. He’s my hero!
Big smile as I’ve just arrived – despite Keith and Mum and Jazz still being en route stuck on the train!
Despite this frustrating start, immediately on arrival, the stunning views of the North Sea re stole our hearts. Every pitch on the site offers panoramic ocean views, and it’s so peaceful—just the sound of waves and gulls in the distance. Being adults only, this site has an air of tranquility that us frazzled teachers just live for!
Solo set up this time! ✅
After setting up, I took a short stroll down to The Ship Inn, a charming pub with one of the best beer gardens we’ve ever experienced. Mum, K and Jazz soon joined me and we reunited and ready to relax.
You can sit there for hours, just soaking in the view of the coastline while enjoying a cold drink. We made it back to the van for dinner, after waving mum off who had to make her way back to Diss via public transport!We indulged in a homemade Cromer crab mac ‘n’ cheese, which was simply amazing. The rich, creamy cheese paired with the fresh local crab was the perfect end to our first night.
Happy to report mum made it back in one piece with no delays too!
Saturday: Pub Crawling & Fish and Chips
On Saturday, after a leisurely early doors back at The Ship (we couldn’t resist those sea views again!), we hopped on the bus into Cromer for a bit of down time. Cromer is a quintessential British seaside town, and our plan was simple: a pub crawl with sea views, ending with some iconic fish and chips.
Our first stop was the Red Lion, which has fantastic views over the cliffs and a fab selection of local drinks. We loved the relaxed vibe here and the opportunity to try some decent drinks..
After a few more pub stops, we made our way to our favorite fish and chips spot, No.1 Cromer. Sitting on the promenade, munching on the freshest fish and chips while looking out at the ocean was the highlight of the day—there’s nothing quite like it!
Sunday was spent having a lovely lay in admiring the sea views from bed, before another wander along the sea front in Cromer. could we resist fish and chips for a second day running? I’ll let you decide!
Why We’ll Be Back
Sandy Gulls is the perfect escape for anyone wanting to recharge by the sea. With easy access to great walks, local pubs like The Ship Inn, and the charm of Cromer just down the road, this is our go-to spot for sea views, good food, and relaxation. Can’t wait for our next trip! 🌊🌞
Today was a “move the van” day, so we were up and on fairly promptly. Happily we managed to buy some local sausages from Hadrians Wall campsite before we left – ideal for bangers and mash tea tonight!
After moving the van along about 30 mins we arrived at Bleatarn Farm campsite (prearranged early arrival 🙏 ) at 11am, before our cab collected us at 11:15 (we’ve mastered a 10 min set up now 💪 ) to take us back to Banks, where we finished yesterday.
Our 8 miles today were fairly bland in views compared to previous days- however we saw the highest section of wall along the whole trail- sitting at 3metres high in its day it would have been 4.5 metres high which is staggering.
We also had some nice countryside views, and lots of livestock fields and farms. We passed 3 honesty sheds with supplies for weary walkers in, with various items ranging from a kettle and tea bags to full blown microwave and freezer ready meals! All very nice but we’re getting weary now as we near the end of the trek!
The weather kept dry for us which was nice- although it was much cooler. It’s lashing down now (overnight) though!
We’re staying at Bleatarn farm which so far has been wonderful. The farmer’s 12 year old daughter had us mesmerised this evening as she helped her dad build a shed next to our pitch which became her “Honesty Snack shed”. We watched her fill it with goodies, make and attach her signs and it was very cute! We commented to her and her dad how impressed we were with her entrepreneurial spirit and they asked if we had any suggestions of items. Currently it has milk, bacon, tea and coffee bags, pot noodles, crisps, hair bubbles etc etc. We said blister plasters- to their great enthusiasm! 10 mins later the girl came and knocked on our van door in the rain and brought Keith a box of blister plasters from their family medicine box. How cute! We were both weary tonight but that little act of cuteness and entrepreneurial spirit gave us a much needed lift!
The end is in sight. Will our legs and blistered feet hold out! stay tuned! 🤞
PS the sausage and mash went down a treat!
Day 9
Bleatarn Farm to Burgh on Sands
14.5 miles on the wall path today
Only 8 miles to go tomorrow!
I can’t believe it! We’re almost there!
Today we marched like a Roman army to Beaumont to the w of Carlisle (12.5 miles) to find our end point for today which was a pub was closed! So of course, we carried on for another 1.75 miles practically in our knees to get to the pub in Burgh on Sands where we received a very warm welcome indeed.
Today’s route was relatively smooth and flat. The first 6 miles flew by and we were crossing the M6 and skirting Carlisle before we knew it.
From Carlisle the route became green again, following the river Eden through fields of livestock and up and down river gauges. The humidity today was high which made it hard going but we skirted the rain all day which pleased us hugely.
Reaching the pub was a wonderful moment and we quickly sank a couple of pints each!
Radio Taxis provided a chariot back to Gandalf at Bleatarn and we were soon tucking into a delicious campfire stew which had been cooking in the slow cooker all day.
Tomorrow is the last stretch of the Hadrians Wall path. We’ve got a move the van morning first so stay tuned to see how we get on!
Day 10 (or 9.5 as I like to call it!)
Burgh on Sands to Bowness on Solway
8 miles
An early start beckoned as I’d promised Keefy a bacon and egg bap before we departed on what we hoped to be our last day of the walk.
Breakfast delivered, van packed away and then off we went towards Bowness on Solway, what would be our final point of the walk.
We’d pre booked Bowness on Solway camping and they let us onto our pitch early, which enabled us ti catch the 10:30 bus back to Burgh on Sands where we finished yesterday.
By 11am we were walking our last 8 miles on the trail.
We were exhausted but anticipation and excitement kept our legs moving. The first 4 miles was along the road we’ve driven along, but the route followed the course of the Roman wall still and the views across the Solway Firth were lovely.
We passed Drumburgh castle which although looks more like a farm or Manor House, sits on the site of a tower which would have been on Hadrians Wall.
As we neared the end I could feel my emotions bubbling up to the surface. How possibly had we made it this far- my foot problems have been non existent this entire walk. How can that be? Keith has mammoth blisters but soldiered on. How did he do it? Jazz- our OAP dog showed no sign of his age whatsoever and was still pulling us into the pub with the energy of a version of himself from the start of the walk! How the heck did we walk for 10 days solid in Northern England without needing our waterproofs once? I’ll never know but I’ll be forever grateful that this moment in time was able to happen and that the plantets aligned to enable us to complete this epic adventure.
We simply had THE BEST TIME and I’ll always be so proud of what we achieved!
When we turned the corner of course I sobbed and sobbed. We spent the afternoon in the pub cheering on others who had finished and sharing the excitement of those about to start.
We didn’t think much at all to the campsite. It was overpriced – £30 to park in the car park and extra £7.50 for electric. The showers were good but dirty. And don’t start Keith off on the door to the loo block which wouldn’t close and the squeak of it in the wind kept Keith awake for most of the night! He closed it at 4am, unable to bare it any longer but of course whoever next went in let it swing open again!
However all those things aside, the location was perfect and we had such a great time celebrating our achievement in Bowness on Solway.
Logistics for this stage below 👇
Logistics
Day 8
Move van to Bleatarn Farm campsite
£25 pn with hard standing, EHU and water.
Showers and washing up area
Honesty snack shed on site
➡️ cab to Banks
Sproul Taxis £35
There are cabs closer in Brampton but two out of the three were on holiday which meant the only one working was full days beforehand
Airbus 2000 cabs came recommended for this stretch.
⬅️ walk to campsite
8 miles
Day 9
➡️ walk directly from campsite
We walked to Burgh on the sands
14.5 miles 😮
⬅️ cab back to campsite – we used Radio Taxis
£28
14.5 miles
Day 10
Drove van to Bowness on Solway camping £30 pn without EHU. £7.50 extra for electric.
➡️bus to Burgh on the sands – sporadic time so be careful here. We caught the 10:30 but there wasn’t another due for a few hours! £2pp
⬅️Walk to finish and campervan 🥇
8 miles
On our drive back to the east, it was unbelievable to think of the distance we’d covered!
We popped into Lanercost Priory which is about a 3 mile detour off the wall by foot. It’s made of bricks taken from the wall.
We also went to Vindolanda as the weather was cooler so we could leave Jazz safely in van (no dogs). The site is huge and has a rather impressive section of Roman road. Also it was home to some very exciting Roman finds – the writing tablets. There are 13 on display and more in the British museum which we saw earlier this year. Because of the peat soil here they’ve been preserved incredibly. We thoroughly enjoyed the informative guided tour by the archaeologist there and the museum is very good too. Definitely worth a visit! There is also a section of reconstructed wall to give an idea of height and appearance.
That concluded our Hadrians wall Roman adventure- what a brilliant time we’d had.
Happy to report it is not the end of our summer camping trip though son stay tuned for more updates on what follows!
Today was supposed to be a rest day. It was hard going yesterday particularly in the sun and we all struggled so we decided to have a stop day.
However, we needed to move the van further along, do a few chores and we also wanted time visit the small village of Wall, and town of Corbridge. As we enjoyed a lay in, I was looking at the map and noticing a problem with the bus link and times for tomorrow – Chollerford to Housestead. We only had 6.5 hours between the first bus and last bus of the day yet 9 miles to walk. Originally we would have had Gandalf at the end point as we’d have been moving sites today, but with our rest day, Gandalf would be at the campsite and we didn’t really want to move him. I suggested to Keith that we should consider walking the first 4 miles of tomorrow’s walk, with Gandalf parked at the temple of Mithras and a bus to the start. He agreed this made sense and would still feel relaxed compared to the previous days.
So next thing we know we’re packing up and heading on our way with a plan.
We’d enjoyed our stay at Well house farm, especially our pitch which was overlooking the fields. It wasn’t immediately close to the wall which added miles on for us every day, but we managed accordingly!
So on our way to the end point of today’s short walk, we stopped for a picture stop at Wall, a lovely small village with houses made from stones off the wall. Many of the houses here are listed and it’s very pretty.
We then moved on through Corbridge and stopped for a Quick Look at the Roman ruins of the Roman town. We didn’t have time to visit fully but we snuck a look over the fence 😜
From here we made our way to the car park of the temple of Mithras, had some lunch and waited for the bus back down to Chollerford. The AD122 Bus service runs every 2 hours along this middle section of the wall and costs just £2 for a single journey.
At Chollerford, we got our stamp for our passport as Chester’s fort, then made our way uphill. In fact the path took us mainly uphill today but as such the views suddenly became unbelievably beautiful.
Keith started severely struggling with some nasty blisters so our pace really slowed down, to the point where I wondered if he’d be able to continue.
There was a great stretch of wall at around mile number 3 and we enjoyed a rest and some pics there.
The last mile was a struggle for Keith so when we arrived back at the van in the temple car park we hot footed it to nearby Hexham to Millets to see if we could find a fix. Keith’s boots were really rubbing and so after some advice from the great staff there he’s gone for some summer style breathable walking shoes half a size too big and some lovely soft new socks so hopefully that will improve things for him. We also managed to fix Jazz’s harness which broke yesterday and re stock the non perishables and plasters! So some good jobs done on our day of rest.
I’m still chuckling because in our day of rest we arrived at our next site, Hadrian’s wall campsite at 6pm which is late for us. It’s a lovely site and we have a well landscaped pitch and the sunset was lovely.
I’ve did a load of washing and drying as we’re both running out of sunshine clothes!
After a delicious dinner of Indonesian Nadia goreng with prawns and lots of veg and spinach, and at 9:30pm it was finally time to relax!
If that’s our day of rest, il be glad to be back on the trial full time tomorrow!
Day 6 on the wall, our favourite yet! Temple of Mithras to Caw Gap 10 miles on the wall, and 12.3 miles in total I’ve lost count of how far along the wall we are now but know we’re past half way!
Today has just been exceptionally awesome! We took a bus from near to the Campsite up to the temple of Mithras and then walked all the way back.
The weather was cooler which really helped and Keefy’s new shoes were basically miracles in disguise. The views were amazing and we absolutely whizzed through, going up then down and up and down again.
Most of the time we had the wall alongside us today and we passed the devastation of sycamore gap, I had a few tears I must admit, before getting cross with the amount of people there!!
We deviated off path for a mile to grab a beer and a local gin or two at Twice Brewed. At the point we had the option of busing back to campsite or walking and we decided to make a start on tomorrows miles by walking back. A true testament to how much we’ve loved this section .
We visited Housesteads fort. Jazz has been a superstar grabbing a quick nap at our two mile refresher stops.
It’s just been a wonderful days walking!
And we are so glad we did keep going as we feel so proud of ourselves. It’s hard to put it into words the atmosphere on the wall. Every time we meet someone else doing the trail it’s like a little pocket of loveliness. A five min chat, comparing notes. It really picks us up and we’ve met some really interesting folk!
Day 7 on the wall Our campsite, Hadrians Wall campsite (which is lovely by the way!) to Banks 12.75 miles walked in total and 11.75 on the wall No idea how far left but we are very close to Carlisle and today we left Northumberland into Cumbria!
We are bushed! Today was hard. Really hard and we (I!!) nearly opted for an early finish today less than half way. The first 5 miles were just so hard! But- we managed push through (Keefy was a champion support 😘) the route took us over some remaining. Crags but not quite as steep or nasty as yesterday’s.
We mainly travelled on Farm land filled with sheep and cows and we were on high alert tick radar!
The scenery today was just gorgeous. Lush green rolling hills. Lots of cattle and sheep. A suspected tick in Jazz’s paw thankfully turned out to be a false alarm. 2 packets of wine gums, flapjack, cakes egg butties, 6 litres of water and even some Northumbria rum. It all kept us going today!
Logistics 🔽
Day 5
Chollerford to Temple of Mithras, Carrawburgh– 4.4miles (You could do further than this)
➡️ Move van to end point of walk. Ours was Temple of Mithras but originally would have been Housesteads Fort. Catch AD122 Bus back to George hotel Chollerford. Bus runs every two hours with the first being around 10:15 (check times here) £2pp
Day 3 on Hadrians Wall walk. Today we walked 10.5 miles! 7.5 of those on the wall walk- 3 getting to and form the walk from our campsite. 60 miles left to walk!
Scroll down to end for logistics for these two days.
It was always going to be a fiddly day today and we almost got a cab to save those 3 extra logistical miles but we persevered, saved £26 and we’re both proud of ourselves! This morning started with us packing up Gandalf and leaving High Hermitage Caravan Park, moving a few miles along the wall, re setting up at Wellhouse Farm campsite, and then pounding 1.6 miles in 30 mins to get a bus to where we finished yesterday; Heddon on the wall. [logistics for this stretch below]
Thankfully the owners at Well house Farm had allowed us to arrive super early which helped our plight today and by 10:15 we were plodding down to the bus stop, just in time for the 10:54 bus to Heddon on the Wall.
From there we rejoined the national trail and walked 7.5miles mainly following the old military road. The scenery has suddenly become very beautiful and we enjoyed the rolling hills of Northumberland on both sides. We saw many parts of the wall in various forms and followed the Vallum ditch for quite some time too. It’s been good to be finally on the proper course of where the wall once stood.
There is a large field a couple of miles in which has a Roman fort underneath (Vindobala). Keith sent the drone up whilst we had our packed lunch and a can of Tennant’s, before making our way further.
The pub when we arrived, The Robin Hood Inn at Wallhouses was a welcome relief as it marked almost the end of today’s hike (other than the 1.7 miles back to campsite!) and we enjoyed a couple of drinks including a pilsner brewed there before continuing to home Gandalf. There were loads of walkers in the pub and we really feel like we’re part of a wider community. It’s wonderful! We also met loads of interesting people to have a quick natter to today.
Double cheese burgers and mac n cheese with a homemade potato salad completely hit the spot for tea and we’re loving the field views from our campsite.
It was tough today at times but the foot is still behaving and we’ve enjoyed it lots!
Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
Day 4 on the Wall
East Wallhouses to Chollerford
10.5 miles walked today,
33 along the wall in total.
51 left to go!
Today was tough as we climbed steadily most of the day before a last descent into Chollerford. The path followed the route of the wall all day, and also the old military road so we had a bit of background road noise today all day. Some nice scenery though and cracking weather!
Lots of stiles! Jazz got fed up of them after a while but his little legs did ever so well!
Two surprise beer stops cheered us up- one in the middle of our days walk, at a coffee house who wisely has some cold bottles of beers behind the counter and then another at the end in the picturesque George hotel. This was a particularly nice surprise as online research suggests this wasn’t a bar so we were aiming for half a mile further up the road and off the wall
It wasn’t until our taxi back to camp that we realised how far we’d walked today! It was a morale booster when we got to a couple of great bits of wall towards the end of todays miles- although Keefy enjoyed pointing by out the Vallum ditch most of the day today too!
Tomorrow is a planned rest day, mainly to let Jazzy’s paws recover for a day. That’s our excuse anyway! We’re not in any rush to get to the end but we do want to get to there so are happy to be not breaking any records and slowly plodding along!
Met lots of lovely people again today! We’re loving it!
Delicious chicken, spinach and potato biriyani for dinner perfect 🤩
We’d enjoyed our stay at Well house farm, especially our pitch which was overlooking the fields. It wasn’t immediately close to the wall which added miles on for us every day, but we managed accordingly!
It had clean facilities if not a tad dated. There are lots of seasonal pitches here and two separate areas. We were happy in the grass paddock area as we had more space around us.
£25pn – felt a fair price . Included electric
Logistics 🔽
Day 3
Heddon on the Wall to The Robin Hood Inn (Wallhouses)
10.5 miles in total- 7.5 miles on the wall
24 miles walked so far on the wall. 60 left to go!
This morning we got up early and moved the van a little further along to Well House Farm Campsite http://www.wellhousefarm.co.uk. With prior arrangement they allowed us to park up from 10am.
We then walked 1.6 miles to the bus stop for a direct bus back to Heddon on the Wall where our last stretch finished. Bus runs once an hour £2pp single fare. Dogs free
The alternative was to get a cab pick up direct from the campsite and drive us to Heddon at a cost of £30 – Hexham cars.
We walked back to Robin Hood Inn and half a mile or so beyond, until we turned off the wall to walk back 1.3 miles to the campsite and Gandalf waiting for us.
Campsite £25pn
Day 4
Started walking at 09:30 from campsite.
1.2 miles walk to rejoin wall.
Then approx 9.3 miles along wall path to Chollerford.
Pick up at 4pm (which we delayed an hour to 5pm) from the George Hotel which has a lovely garden terrace bar, plus good food menu overlooking the bridge.
We started at Segedunum which was an interesting place to visit and even saw the end part of the wall which I wasn’t expecting!
It’s time to start the walk!
Today’s walk took us through from the old ship building areas of Newcastle into the central hub of the city. Under all of the bridges and along the Tyne River for most of the way.
We detoured off the path in the centre for a pint in the oldest pub in Newcastle the Old George Inn, which is reported to have had Charles 1 regularly visit during his stay in an open prison nearby. It dates from 1582.
It was an easy and pleasant walk. We finished at a Sicilian bar (Liosi’s) on the banks of the Tyne
We had left Gandalf at Barry and Alison’s (check bottom of this post for detailed logistics of the day)
and Barry picked us before reuniting us with Gandalf and us heading to our first official
The campsite is nicely set out and we’ve gone for a fully serviced pitch. The only downside is there is one shower per gender and it’s quite a large site. However it’s clean and hot water so we will just factor than in in the morning!
Day 2 of Hadrian’s Wall walk
Elswick to Heddon on the Wall
9 miles on the wall path: 67.5 miles to go!
Today we awoke early and had a slow but calm start to the morning. Packed lunch made, Gandalf chores ticked off, at 09:50 our Uber pet arrived for the journey back to Elswick, Newcastle. We were back on the wall path by 10:20am!
We walked along the river and then through some parkland heading out of the city. We detoured off the path to see some Roman turret ruins at Denton and even walked a little way on the old course of the wall. there is now a housing estate over this area of town but many of roads have roman inspired names.
We had a swift drink at the Vallum pub which resembled a social club but had very cheap prices! Before rejoining the path onto a disused railway line towards Newburn.
Here we rejoined the river path, not before having a drink along water row.
Once we pulled away from the river once more, the path climbed over a golf course and up a hill to Heddon on the Wall where we got to see great views and a wonderful stretch of wall.
This marked the end of today’s walk, which with the detour up to Denton took us to 11.5 miles today so naturally we had a drink in both pubs in Heddon- The Swan and The three tuns. It had been a great walk and although we are tired, we are looking forward to the next bit each time.
We left our van at our friends house and got the metro in to Wallsend (£7.60 for two singles) and a lift back to them afterwards. However before we realised that was an option we had planned to park near to Liosi’s Sicilian Cafe and bar (Elswick) off of Scotswood rd (The A695).
Plenty of free and safe looking parking and close to the Hadrian’s Way path.
*it is possible to stay in a motorhome/campervan in the carpark of The Swan in Heddon- providing you eat in pub. We chose not to as we knew we’d want a shower and for us in our vw this wouldn’t be appropriate in the car park of the pub!
UBER pet pre booked at 10:00 from campsite to Elswick (Liosi’s bar and cafe). £28 and 20 mins journey.
We could have travelled via bus which would have been:
10 mins walk from campsite to PIPER ROAD stop. Catch 684 Tynedale Links to THROKLEY ROAD stop. Change bus and walk 5 mins to NEWBURN ROAD SAINSBURYS. Catch bus to WILLIAM ARMSTRONG DRIVE- MONARCH RD
(1 hr 5 mins total- £4pp single)
⬅️ Transport back to Gandalf the VW Campervan ⬅️
Finish walk at Heddon on the wall. Bus stop opposite THREE TUNS PUB. An hourly bus (658 Tynedale links) comes to PIPER Road – a 10 min walk back to campsite (although our driver kindly dropped us outside campsite gates!)
Gandalf is sat up on the cliff top, about a mile outside of Whitby with sea views ahead and we can even see the Abbey. We’re nestled at Whitby Holiday park– somewhere we visited way back in 2010 in our first ever Motorhome. The appeal to return was the sea view pitches and despite it being a last minute booking, we were pleased to bagsie the last premium sea view pitch on site for a couple of days to kick start our summer 2024.
At £41 pn, it’s verging on the most expensive site we’ve stayed on, but we decided to have a blow out as the forcast looked good and we really fancied a sea view within walking distance to the very delicious Whitby Brewing company!
On arrival therefore we were a bit ticked off to discover that the holiday park implements strict parking guidelines – even more rigorous than C&MC and that we’d loose out sea view immediately because we had to park with our living area on the left even though we were on the end of the row. This unfortunately meant that the whole of the front of our van – which is blocked off by our screen protectors when on site had the sea view and the view out of the sliding door went straight into the side of next doors caravan. Our view when on site is out of the back so ideally we need to reverse in! Not such a problem on a normal rate site- but to pay £41 pn and not get the view was galling. Luckily, after a bit of negotiation with the site they agreed and allowed us to reverse in. We wouldn’t have suggested it if our living. Area would then have opened onto someone else’s pitch- Don’t get me wrong- I understand the need for rules like this and I’m sure for every considerate camper there are 2 or 3 non considerate campers. For people like my dad and stepum who have an A class continental van, this would be a huge disappointment because if you’re booking to stay on a premium sea view pitch but then have to reverse on – which is what they’d have had to have done- their a class windows would have been the wrong way around! I think the site is designed for caravans rather than motorhomes / campers.
Aside from this gripe, the site met our needs- the location is excellent and the showers, whilst a little dated, were clean and provided ample hot water.
Our first night was literally spent just chilling in the van. We did have a leg stretch up to Whitby Brewery – approx a mile along the very good quality coastal path. This section is flat and accessible and affords terrific views of Whitby abbey.
The views of Whitby Abbey from the brewery are excellent too. We both enjoyed a couple of Whitby lagers and I had a Whitby gin.
Once back at Gandalf we enjoyed a fish bbq before an early night.
Thursday dawned with beautiful blue skies. We had lovely lazy morning before decided to don our walking boots and head for a wander down the coastal path south of Whitby.
You can follow this path for 5.5 miles to Robin Hoods bay then transfer back via bus, however since we visited RHB recently we diverted off the path at Hawkser – in time for a quick pint at the pub there. We then picked up the Cinder trail- a great disused railway now turned cycle and foot path back to Whitby. Again the cinder trail is a great way to get between Robin Hoods Bay and Whitby and is traffic free and flat the whole way with lots of cool railway features along the way.
Back in Whitby, we stopped at the Middle Earth Tavern for a quick drink- Gollum enticed us in!
Then Keefy went to visit the Captain cook museum whilst I dog sat in The Quirky bar across the street. Luck was on my side as whilst I was there a group of musicians from Long Eaton also were there doing a jam which was exceptional.
Keefy enjoyed the Captain Cook museum- situated in an old house which he actually lived in. He saw a writing chest that actually went to Alaska with him along with lots of maps and other relics.
From here we made our way down the historic Grape Lane.
We may have snuck into the green dragon for another quick drink- it was very appealing! And Jazz may have woooed the barmaid and ended up getting himself on the doggie wall of fame!
We went down to the lifeboat station to see my Grandads memorial name which appears on lifeboat number 4. I found that really moving/ thanks Dad and Jenny for arranging that he would have loved it!
And then it was time for fish and chips! Hurrah. Brought from Trenches, they absolutely did not disappoint! Mind you we’d walked 10.5 miles by now!
Once back up the steps (actually we took the grade 1 listed road instead this time) we had a quick final drink at Whitby Brewery before making our way back to Gandalf. What a great day we’d had
We had a lovely road trip on Friday up from Whitby to Newcastle.
We’re about to embark on our Hadrians Wall adventure 🤞 so we kickstarted the Roman theme by stopping at Wheeldale Roman Road in North Yorkshire Moors.
We had lunch at Seaham where we enjoyed an hour looking for sea glass. Seaham has a large quantity of sea glass on its beaches due to its close proximity to The Candlish Bottle Works at Seaham which was once the biggest producers of glass in Europe and manufactured glass between 1850 and 1923. The waste glass or ‘end of day’ glass was thrown into the sea (very naughty Victorians !)
From Seaham we continued up to South Shields where we visited the Arbeia Roman Fort, a UNESCO world heritage site. This large site close to the banks of the mouth of the River Tyne was once a strategically important site for the Romans posted up here as it guarded the main flank and sea supply route to Hadrians Wall. Although no original buildings remain, the site has been restored upon original foundations and you get a very good sense of how the site would have looked. It was a dog friendly visit and more excitingly, we got our first stamps for our Hadrians Wall passport!
From here we made our way to our friends house in Newcastle where we were staying for a couple of nights to catch up.
Although we weren’t staying in Gandalf – we enjoyed a wonderful day trip up to Warkworth- we had a lovely walk on the beach and fantastic meal at the Masons Arms. We enjoyed the castle and ice creams in Amble. We even visited the beer festival in Sunderland. It was so much fun and we were looked after a treat!
Don’t panic though, we’re back on the road tomorrow and boy have we got an exciting adventure to share with you all.
Waving goodbye to Merida, today it was time to cover some ground and get north. We needed some cooler weather for us as well as Jazz. He’d been a superstar but it was a bit hot for him really. We decided we couldn’t be so close to Portugal without dipping our toe in the Atlantic. We made our way to Orbitur Camping de Foz, north of Lisbon and south of Porto.
We were happy to get on the campsite as we’d had two days of strip washing and we were desperate for a full blown shower and pamper. The site was quite luxurious – it came with the price tag of that too €37pn, but the beach, just a hundred or so metres walk from the campsite,was spectacular. The temperature as much more tolerable too and it was quickly decided that we would enjoy two nights here to recharge.
The afternoon was spent chilling by the van along with a walk on the beach, and we enjoyed a delicious meal of Prawn Gameretti for dinner whilst enjoying a stunning sunset. It was a shame the pitches didn’t have a sea view and we couldn’t get onto the beach after 8.30pm as they locked the gate.
We had a great night sleep though and woke feeling human again!
Tuesday 4 June
A day off at the beach! That’s literally all we did. We had a full on brunch, a few hours sunbathing on the beach. A lazy lunch washed down with a bottle of red. More chill time on the beach. I finished my book. We napped. It was perfect!
Wednesday 5 June
Today we headed to Porto. We found a private car park which allowed overnight parking for motorhomes (under 6m as it was a small carpark) and arrived early. We got a spot, and within 10 mins on foot we were in the centre of Porto, of course – sipping a port!
Porto was lovely! Colourful building lined the river and boats offering trips lined up. There was musicians along the front and people everywhere. We had a delicious early lunch (I had the Porto special which was Francesinha and was AMAZING) Francesinha is Portuguese sandwich, originally from Porto, made with layers of toasted bread and assorted hot meats such as roast, steak, wet-cured ham, linguiça, or chipolata over which sliced cheese is melted and a piper hot sauce ladeled over. It is indulgent but boy was it good.
Needing to walk off our indulgent lunch, we walked up the hill and took in the sites at the top and the views. The cathedral was lovely and we obviously had some port stops on route!
Sadly Jazz wasnt allowed on the trams so we couldn’t ride on those, but other than that we enjoyed a very relaxed day of just bimbling along without a timescale, list of things to see or anything like that. We even retreated to the van late afternoon for a siesta! We were beginning to relax!
Our park for night stopover in Porto.
After a shower – the car park had showers in and the pressure was insane! – we got our glad rags on and went to see Porto as the sunset. This time we based ourselves on the opposite side of the river, the side which is home to the wine caves. As it happened we found a prefect seat immediately, and stayed there all night! It was such a great evening. Port, some tapas, some amazing views and some lovely music from a guy who was playing his Indian flute. It really was a lovely evening and we very much enjoyed our time in Porto.
Thursday 6 June
It was time to really hit the road north today. We were on the road by 8am and by lunchtime we had arrived at the Tower of Hercules, on the northern coast of Spain near La Cura INSERT
The Tower of Hercules is the best preserved Roman Lighthouse in the world. IT holds UNESCO status and there’s no doubting why. It’s beautiful! We enjoyed our visit inside (Jazz couldn’t go in – but luckily it was much cooler so he could snooze in the van!) and climbed all the stairs to get to the top. The views were also lovely. Isn’t it amazing to consider this has been guiding ships since the 1AD.
From The Tower of Hercules, we made our way an hour south to another UNESCO site, this time the town of Lugo. The town hold UNESCO status for its amazing example of Roman walls, in fact they are the only complete Roman walls in the world.
There is a free Aire on the outskirts of the historic area, complete with water and waste emptying so we parked up and made our way into town.
The walls are magnificent but the town area around them is a little run down. It was sad to see actually, graffiti was abundant (although thankfully not on the actual walls) and to be honest, whilst walking on the path on top of the walls at times it felt like we were going through a war zone. The streets inside the town walls have character and we enjoyed a mooch around stopping for a beer here and there too.
The highlight though was doing the walk AROUND the walls you got a great sense of their size and magnificence.
We enjoyed a lovely dinner in Gandalf before an early night. The Aire was nice and quiet and we had an early start tomorrow!
Friday 7 June
We had an early start today, the plan was to get to Bilbao for 1pm, when we’d pre booked a return to England vets appointment for Jazz. Before we waved bye to Lugo, we stopped for some pictures at the Roman bridge.
The vets appointment went really well and we managed to get Jazz’s tablet provided and administered for just €5 which is the cheapest we’ve ever encountered. The vet spoke great English and we were really pleased it had gone smoothly. Link to vets Google here
The weather in northern Spain had really turned by now so we just kept driving and kept driving! By 5pm, we had reached our first stop of this trip, Châtelaillon-Plage, just south of La Rochelle. The weather forecast had implied that this was one of the few areas that wasn’t raining, and it was accurate. Hurrah! We had a quick set up at the aire), and went for a final dinner – at our favourite beach bar/restaurant. We had an early celebration for Keefy’s birthday, and had the most idyllic evening which was a perfect end to our trip.
Saturday comprised of a journey back north to Calais, a hop across on the tunnel and a journey back to Norfolk.
We’d covered almost 4000 miles, had a new clutch, seen some tremendous Roman sites and more. It had been tiring but was a complete success, despite some challenges with dog transportation, heat and lack of campsites in the areas we needed them for Roman sites.
We’d got a belter of a term ahead, but lots more van life summer plans so stay tuned and we’ll catch up again then!
Today we turned our wheels inland once more, this time into the hills towards Ronda. We had a fairly slower start to our morning as we only had a short journey to complete, we headed for Setenil de las Bodegas, a small town set within the southern Spanish hills, that is known for it’s whitewashed houses that are built into the surrounding cliffs.
Sadly, as we arrived into town we encountered a problem with our clutch. We managed eventually to park, and desperately tried to ignore the horrendous smell coming from our bonnet, and our impending sense of doom in the pits of our tummy. We took ourselves off for a wander down the hill and through the two picture perfect streets. The cliff over hanging with houses built into them was a sight to behold, and we enjoyed spending an hour experiencing it. But as I’m sure you can imagine, our hearts were perhaps not fully invested in the visit. We made our way back to the van and managed to get back on the road, I couldn’t tell something wasnt right and sure enough after 5 or 6 miles, Gandalf spectacularly gave up. Luckily in a position that we could limp off road and into safely but it was obvious our clutch had indeed gone.
Our European breakdown cover was with Just Campers and they were fantastic. Within 45 mins we had been joined by a low loader breakdown lorry and a separate car with an English speaker in it. We established that the Spanish word for clutch is embargue, not that they or we needed it, you could smell it a mile off. They loaded Gandalf onto the lorry, and us (including Jazz- phew) into the front. They asked where we wanted to be recovered to and we were delighted that Ronda was an option.
Half an hour later we had arrived at Ronda. The garage was on siesta and so we waiting outside, during which time I got permission from Just campers to book a hotel in Ronda. Luckily we managed to find a great place, Hotel Palacio De Hemingway which was right in the centre of the tourist area.
Once the garage returned from siesta, we were relieved to find that one of their mechanics also spoke some English and we were able to hand Gandalf’s keys over and retrieve a bag of essentials to see us through. It was looking like we’d be there for a few days as the garage were unsure whether we would get the new clutch in time for them to fit it before the weekend, at which point the garage would close until Monday. We tried to be upbeat about the situation and organised a back up plan of a hire car to see us through the weekend if needed.
Settled in our hotel, we were understandably a bit shaken! They looked after us so well, and after a freshen up and a beer, we decided to make the most of the location and carry on as had been the plan whilst we await news. That plan- To explore Ronda.
Ronda was wonderful. To feel so inspired and alive in a place when really we were stressed to the eyeballs and worried sick about how long Gandalf would be off the road for, really sums up how much we loved it there. The dramatic gorge that the bridge, dating from 1700s rises up out of is spectacular to say the least. The bullring also was a great place to explore (and dog friendly!). The bars and the tapas we enjoyed were delicious. We had a glorious afternoon and evening exploring the town, it really is a special place.
Friday 31 May
We awoke from our night of enforced luxury in the hotel to that sinking feeling of dread. What was today going to bring and how much was it going to cost us!
Trying desperately to remain positive we enjoyed an indulgent but fantastic breakfast. It was a la carte style and we could order as much as we liked! This kept us busy for almost 1.5 hours lol but we kept our promise to the waitress by not leaving any food waste!
During breakfast, I took the call from the garage. They had a new clutch on route, and they hoped to have it fitted by tonight. Great news! Even if the bill did make our eyes water!
With that in mind, we checked out of the hotel as late as we could and then spent the afternoon enjoying the Arab Bath ruins – dog friendly – whihc ahd the most fascinating pre visit video. We then spent the remainder of the afternoon sat in the shade of a bar (non alcoholic for me!) chatting to a couple of English brothers.
At 4pm we decided we needed a bit more of a leg stretch and I’ll be blowed, 5 mins later the phone rang. Our mechanic at the garage had worked through his siesta and fitted our clutch and pump. We were back on the road!
A mad dash back to the hotel to collect our belongings ensued and before we knew it we were back in receipt of our much loved wheels. Everything about this situation was great. It meant non of our food shop would spoil over the weekend with no electric etc. We could continue our journey. We were back in control!
We decided to do just a short journey in case of any problems but also because having spent the afternoon drinking 0% beer, I was in need of a very strong drink. We managed to get a space on Camping EL Sur on the outskirts of Ronda and by 5.45pm I had a large gin on the go!
Camping El Sur was another really lovely place to stop. Another one which we could have stayed a couple of nights at. It had a great pool, and lovely pitches and views. We enjoyed a delicious bbq, washed down with a local bottle of Ronda Red. Boy did they make good wine here.
Saturday 1 June
We reluctantly waved bye to Ronda today- our hope had been to get to Cadiz, but the campsite was full, so we decided to start heading north instead. We arrived in Cordoba just before lunchtime and parked in the central overnight parking area for motorhomes. This was a very well located Aire, just 10 mins from the historic centre. We had felt we would likely stay overnight here, however subconsciously we must have known we wouldn’t end up staying because we didn’t actually set the van into living mode when we left it to go for an explore.
Cordoba is a fabulous place. Full of Spanish charm, cobbled streets and an incredible Roman Bridge.
It also has 4 UNESCO sites- one of which is the entire town!
One of the others is the unique Cathedral Mosque, which we took turns to visit. It blew us both away. The marriage of the Muslim and Catholic architecture was stunning. Despite it being busy inside it still felt peaceful and just really really breathtaking.
We also visited the Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs which was dog friendly, and were in awe when we saw the Roman coffin that they have on display. Incredible!
By now it was still only 3pm and we’d confided in each other that neither of us felt happy with our proposed park up for the night. As much as I would have loved to indulge in some street drinks and tapas, something wasn’t feeling right about where we were parked, despite other vans being there. We went on to find some pretty horrendous and recent reviews mentioning people had been woken to someone trying to get in their door and other things. We made the decision to push on and head to Merida. Quite a drive, less than ideal, but ultimately, we will always follow our gut. It was also heating up rapidly, and the thought of spending the night in the van not being able to open the windows was NOT appealing!
4 hours later we arrived at Merida. I wont sugar coat it, I was pretty fed up- I felt like all we’d done was drive! I really wanted to stay at Cordoba, and was so disappointed to not feel happy with the car park there. Unfortunately there was literally no other option for us though, the campsites were too far away (45 mins plus) and Jazz wasnt allowed on the bus route anyway. We couldn’t get them on the phone to check availability before we detoured to them. I was starting to find Spain a bit of a challenge with the whole dogs on public transport and lack of campsites where we wanted them to be!
Our park up for Merida (because we couldn’t get on the campsite, Camping Merida, and even if we had, the lady was really rather rude!) was the Theatre car park which has recently been redeveloped into a Motorhome park up area. In contrast to Cordoba, it felt very safe and as such we settled in.
We walked into town for some drinks and a meal which we really enjoyed and although it was hot, we did sleep ok.
Because of this, and the fact there was so much to see in Merida, and he wanted me to not have to drive again tomorrow, Keith suggested (strongly) that we stay another night in our carpark in Merida. He was right to do this, even if we maybe had a slightly intense discussion about it!
Sunday 2 June
Because we’d made the decision to stay another day at Merida, it was strip washes all around! And a lazy morning, with a proper breakfast not just the cereal bars we’d been accustomed to because of our crazy itinerary!
We quickly found the tourist info, which was actually within the car park we were in, and discovered there were 59 Roman sites to discover in Merida. Keith wasn’t exaggerating- there was a lot to see! We paid for the combination ticket – 17Euros per person which allowed for us to visit them all. What a bargain.
We started at the amphitheater, which was just 10 mins walk from our carpark base. Happily, they accepted Jazz in his backpack, so we could explore the amptheatre and theatre ruins together.
Both were excellent and a great start for our Roman day. Next up, Keith went for a look around the city museum whilst me and Jazz indulged in some tapas, a beer and my book. This was more like it!
30 mins later Keith came out of the museum and I thought he was about to explode. Turns out they have a spectacular section of Roman Road which had been discovered – the main road from Cordoba to Merida. He insisted I went for a look whilst he had his own tapas and beer, and sure enough it was amazing. As was the chariot mosaic that was displayed in there too.
The rest of the day was spent exploring as many of the 59 sites as possible mainly tag teaming, whilst we kept Jazz in the shade of the bars.
My favourite was the UNESCO house, near to the bull ring. You could see plenty of original painted Roman walls. Incredible to see the colours and patterns as they would have been.
I also enjoyed the circus – where the chariot races had been. This was our 3rd of the trip but this one had the arena space left completely untouched, so you got a really good feel of the layout and scale of the race area.
The evening scene was fun too. Our favourite thing to do on both nights was go to the main square and enjoy a few glasses of the ridiculously delicious and also very cheap red wine, in front of their enormous air coolers which were a godsend, and watch the world go by. As dark fell, both nights we took ourselves to the Italian just off the main square – La Mafia, which has a lovely outside terrace which Jazz was welcome on, and we enjoyed two famous meals there. We hung out there til midnight on both night. Unheard of for us, but by then the temperature had fallen and the van was back to an acceptable temperature not only for Jazz, but for us too.
I’ve got to say, I arrived in Merida feeling grumpy. But I left Merida on the Monday feeling recharged, inspired and in awe. I think what we both loved about Merida was that because of the amount of ruins there you get a real sense of how the Roman city would have laid out. It a remarkable place to go and if you have any interest in the Roman Empire at all it’s’ definitely one to go to. So I suppose it’s only right that I do a public apology to Keefy for being such a grump when we arrived! Lol
Following our relax on the glorious beach at Moncofa, we waved goodbye to our retreat and headed inland towards Toledo, an ancient walled city sitting on a hill top high above the plains of Spain. (Yes we did keep saying “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the Plain”- happily no rain for us though!)
Our home for the night was the really great Camping El Greco, a really lovely campsite set about 3 km on the outskirts of Toledo. It would have been walkable in, but it was quite warm, and later in the day when we arrived, so we opted for a dog friendly cab, which the campsite arranged for us.
The approach into Toledo was brilliant, as you rise up the hill you begin to see the large walls of the town rise up in front of you. The historic old town within the town walls is made up of tiny cobbled streets that weave their way round in circles. It was a great place to spend some time getting lost in the streets and exploring the nooks and crannies.
Unfortunately for us, our visit being on a Monday prevented us from visiting some of the Roman museums and ruins within the town, but we enjoyed exploring the other aspects of the town including the Jewish quarter and as I said, the back streets including of course some refreshment stops along the way.
The Roman bridge which crosses the river below the town is a marvellous sight and we enjoyed taking some photos of that on our walk back to the campsite. We really enjoyed our stay on El Greco, it’s a great site with lovely showers and manicured pitches. We could have easily spent another couple of days just chilling there!
Tuesday 28th May
As we departed Toledo, we made a stop at the Roman Circus site on the outskirts of the city. Unlike the Circus ruins in Tarragona, the site here had been transformed into a park area and whilst they weren’t quiet as in tact as the ones in Tarragona, we both liked the sensitivity in which the park had been developed around the ruins. You got a good sense of the layout of the area that once was home to Roman Chariot races, with the paths winding around the park not too dissimilar to how we imagined the tracks would have been.
From Toledo we travelled back out to the coast. At this point our original ‘rough’ plan had gone out of the window. We were anticipating going to the coastal stops on our way back up to Calais, hence having gone inland yesterday to Toledo. But last night, over some delicious Toledo regional wine and a lovely meal at Gandalf, we floated the idea of perhaps being a bit more ambitious than originally planned. When I plotted the trip, I had put in 2 nights in most places, which obviously reduced the places we could visit, but gave us plenty of non driving rest days. However, trying to utilise public transport here in Spain with a dog was proving harder than in other places where we’ve managed well; generally dogs aren’t allowed on any buses, and so in reality it was becoming obvious that we’d either need to walk into towns or drive in (we left the bikes at home this time). If we were driving in then we may as well drive on each day too. Suddenly, this meant that we could probably achieve reaching the Northern coast of Spain where there is the most impressive Roman Lighthouse in the world. So thats how we found ourselves making our way 5 hours back to the coast to Cartagena, just 24 hours after driving 5 hours inland to Toledo!
We found a great private aire on the outskirts of Cartegena, there literally very few options for this place, and got ourselves checked in. The owners were really friendly, they’d ere also happy with awnings and chairs being out, and had a shower available. They kindly organised a dog friendly cab for us and by 2.30pm we were enjoying a stein of beer each in Cartegena.
Cartegena has a picturesque harbour and whilst we were there a huge super yacht belonging to one of the world’s richest men was in town too. Isn’t google amazing!
Our reason for visiting Cartegena was its Roman ruins of course, and after a nice tapas lunch we set about exploring. Sadly, despite having our dog bag, Jazz wasnt allowed in theatre ruins, but we found a great vantage point from the back and got some good pictures.
There is an excellent Roman museum and archeological park which Keith enjoyed – it’s only just recently opened up, whilst I enjoyed a couple of wines with Jazz in a nearby bar.
We were hoping to eat out, but again struggled to find anywhere serving tapas which surprised us, most placed weren’t serving it seemed. Perhaps it’s a town that comes to life when a cruise ship is in town, who knows. Keith really enjoyed the museum at Cartegena but for me I wasnt too fussed about the town if I’m honest. I’m not sure it was worth the 10 hours we’d spent getting there, perhaps if you had longer, or didn’t have a dog it would be different. Regardless, we enjoyed our stay on the Aire and had a great night sleep following some tasty local cheeses and meats that I’d managed to pick up at the spar on route back!
Wednesday 29th May
We were supposed to heading to Cordoba today but it was currently having a heatwave, so we decided to give it a few days to cool off there and we stuck to the coast. We headed for a fantastic private Aire on the outskirts of Malaga. We also managed to bagsie the last beach front space much to our delight having not booked in advance, so arriving around midday, having had a food shop at Cartengena and slightly lazier start to the day, we parked up and literally sat and enjoyed the view.
The beach in front of us was a pebble beach and a dog friendly one too, so great for us, but actually we didn’t even go down onto it! The view was so nice on our pitch, and we so enjoyed just chilling on our pitch that we didn’t move! We had a fantastic season food bbq for tea, and enjoyed the afternoon and evening immensely. This site would have been ideal to stay at for a few days, it had amazing showers and was on the bike path to cycle into Malaga which I’ve been told is a nice city. As our beach front paradise was only available for the one night though, we decided to just enjoy the site for once!
Our alarms were set for 2.50am, and we closed our front door at 3.30am. We were off on our European adventure! After a smooth journey to the Eurotunnel, we rolled onto our train at 07.36 and were in France by 9am French time.
Our destination for this trip was Spain, so today was all about covering some serious distance. We aimed for Chatelaillon Plage, just south of La Rochelle, for an overnight stop on the Aire there. It was well located for an evening wander, some sea air and the obligatory moules and frites and a carafe of vin blanc. It was actually our 9th wedding anniversary and it was the perfect place to celebrate!
We enjoyed our evening wandering down the promenade- seeing blue skies, and the moules and frites were gorgeous.
A brilliant place to aim for from Calais.
Friday 24th May.
We arose early and were in the road for 8am. Our aim was to take the scenic route to Tarragona, just south of Barcelona. We took the scenic route over the Pyrenees which was utterly spectacular.
We made a couple of stops, one for some local cheese and one for some picture stops. I loved driving the winding route over the Pyranees and the scenery was just phenomenal.
For such a pretty route across, the crossing itself into Spain wasn’t very inspiring at all. There was a lot of graffiti and it all looked rather derelict. Perhaps this is a town that comes alive in the winter months.
Our journey into Spain took us north up towards Tarragona on the coast – our first stop for the night. We had booked a Campsite– but on arrival it soon became clear that this wasn’t our cup of tea. It was heaving and felt more like a Butlins than a campsite. We later learnt that it was a National Holiday in Spain as well as UK so this would have explained the business. That and it being located on a beautiful sandy beach etc. Luckily, the campsite agreed to refund us – the pitch they had allocated us was awful, overlooking the bins and in the back of beyond. We were pleased to escape despite having been on the road for a long journey, we hit Search for Sites and went on to find a new place elsewhere. Luckily, just down the road I spotted an old car park which had some campers on. We pulled in and asked if it was ok to sleep there overnight. They all said yes, and so we pulled in and couldn’t believe our luck – the view was amazing and we couldn’t have got closer to the beach if we’d have tried.
We both managed to have a shower on the beach to freshen up and Keith couldn’t wait to get a bbq sparked up before hitting the sack! A great start to our trip- even if it hadn’t quite gone to plan!
The downside of our change in plan for the campsite was that it meant we had to drive into Tarragona for our visit, rather than catching the bus as originally planned. (In hindsight I think this worked in our favour- reasons why to follow).
After a lovely swim in the sea to wake us up, we showered, changed and made our way to Tarragona.
We found parking that we could fit into at Parking Rambla Nova by telepark by Embark. It was nice and central and we were so happy to here. We did a great circuit of the Roman sites, starting at the theatre ruin, then going along the promenade to the spectacular Ampitheatre, which has the most incredible backdrop of the beautiful Blue Sea.
Happily the Ampitheatre was Dog Friendly as long as we carried him, which we were more than happy to do. I was particularly pleased about this because I had expected us to have to take turns visiting whilst the other looked after Jazzy, our pooch.
After the Ampitheatre we made our way to the old chariot race area – the circus – again dog friendly and again, super interesting.
We had a quick lunch before exploring some of the streets within the historic city centre.
Soon we found the most extraordinary Roman Walls that we’ve ever seen. The area around the walls had been landscaped beautifully and we really loved our exploration of the park (Jazz enjoyed being carried once more!)
As we left, we made a stop at the aqueduct on the outskirts of town. This impressive ruin gives Pont du Gard a run for its money – with the added bonus that you can walk along the water channel, and it is nowhere near as busy.
Tarragona had been the most terrific place to kick start our Spanish Roman adventure, despite the mishap with our campsite on arrival. We had loved our time there.
Next stop was a couple of hours south down the coast. Peñíscola, we’re coming for you!
Saturday 26th May 2024
We arrived at Peñíscola and found our way to the Aire just outside of town. It was a privately run Aire and cost us just 7Euros with water and disposal and also a toilet. In fact, it was almost like a cheap campsite than a parking area, and when we arrived the other vans all had their awnings and chairs and tables out. Because of this, we decided to temporarily set up our tailgate awning to have a shower, and use the cadac to cook our paella for tea. We managed a shower but just as we finished our paella the owner of the Aire came round and told us off.
To be fair, we would never have left the tailgate tent up, but she made it very clear we weren’t supposed to have it, so we dissembled it with our tail between our legs and retreated into town for a walk and a couple of drinks. Interestingly we noticed that everyone else had clearly seen her coming as all the chairs and tables outside everyone else’s vans had vanished. They’d either seen her coming or also had a telling off!
Peniscola on a Saturday night was super fun! We had a brilliant evening enjoying the beach bars with the chill out sunset tunes. The beach here runs for miles and is that beautiful picture perfect sand. As if this isn’t enough, the backdrop is the magnificent Peniscola Castle, made famous by the film El Sid, which used the beach area here with the castle as a backdrop for the battle scene. The Castle and its mound reminded us of St Michel’s Mount. We enjoyed our walk along the promenade towards the castle and back during the evening and were surprised when we learnt we’d clocked up 5 miles in doing so!
Before we left Peniscola, we moved the van into the centre of town and explored the mound in a little more detail. The steep and winding streets were charming and full of interesting shops and restaurants, some with a sea view. Game of thrones was filmed in the park directly under the castle grounds, but as it wasnt dog friendly, plus we haven’t actually watched Game of Thrones, we skipped it.
From Peniscola, we made a relatively short journey south to the very small resort of Mon of a, just North of Valencia. We weren’t quite ready to leave the seaside and Keith found a terrific campsite right on the beach. It was a basic place, but with a 10Euro price tag with that including electricity too, it was a complete bargain. The beach was 10 steps away, and the sea the most incredible turquoise blue. After 3 full on travel days – with some serious sight seeing thrown in too, we were ready to have an afternoon chilling on the beach. Which is exactly what we did!
