# Chasing the sun and the perfect road for cycling



## Cervelo (7 Jan 2017)

So on Wenesday I filled up the boot of my car and threw my 2 bikes into the back of the car, kissed my wife goodbye and got the ferry to Holyhead. Then drove through Wales and England to Folkestone and spent the night there, The next morning I hopped on the Channel Tunnel to Calais and drove to Nimes in southren France and spent a night in a lovely 3* hotel (Pre Galoffre). Then yesterday I made the the relatively short drive to Barcelona for 2 nights in the B Hotel, which is a hotel I've wanted to stay in since I saw Glenda Gilison review it many years ago. Then on Sunday morning I'll make the final drive down to Lubrin in Almeria, where I'll be spending the next 3 months cycling.

A few observeations along the way,
According to the AA, Ireland is the only country that it is not compulsory to adjust your headlamps and one of the very few that don't require you to carry a warning triangle and hi-viz vest in your car.
Motorists in France and Spain know how to use their Motorways properly.
I have never seen as many trucks in my life, I dont think there has been more then a couple of minutes when I haven't been overtaking a truck.
First traffic light I saw in France was when I left the motorway in Nimes to get to the hotel over a thousand Km from Calais.
Petrol on the motorway is expensive, anywhere between €1.50 to €1.55 P/Ltr.
Toll Charges are going to be expensive but worth it.
Cruise control is a must on journey like this.
The speedo on my car is out by up to 10K according to the sat Nav, to do 120 Kph I have to do 127 and 130 Kph is 140.
Led Zeppelin really did make some great music.
The weather in Barcelona is colder then Dublin at the moment.

Now time for breakfast and day of sight seeing.


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## Nordkapp (7 Jan 2017)

Bet there is no trolley crisis over there, enjoy.

Are you renting a place or getting accommodation on the go? Are rents reasonable throughout winter?


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## Easeler (7 Jan 2017)

Well first off you got a good wife.  I was thinking of doing the same someday but on a hardly or something similar. I drove a car through France and spain but you don't appreciate the beauty in a car.


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## cremeegg (7 Jan 2017)

The perfect road for cycling is from Ennistymon to Ballyvaughn via Fanore


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## PMU (7 Jan 2017)

Cervelo said:


> According to the AA, Ireland is the only country that it is not compulsory to adjust your headlamps and one of the very few that don't require you to carry a warning triangle and hi-viz vest in your car.
> Toll Charges are going to be expensive but worth it.


Thank you for you informative post.  The point you have raised on hi-vis jackets it important. The jacket must be in the car and in reach. If you are stopped and get out to retrieve the jacket from the boot you will be fined (for being on the hard shoulder without wearing a hi vis jacket). The jacket must also have the CE mark, to show it is to the correct standard. When I read your post I immediately checked my jacket, bought from IKEA, and yes it is to the CE standard.

One question, concerning motorway tolls, did you pay by cash or obtain a toll badge?


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## Leper (8 Jan 2017)

To answer Nordcapp's question above:- Winter/Spring Rentals for a good 2 bedroom apartment in a decent coastal location would cost around €650 per month plus your electricity use (probably €100.00 pm).

Cervelo is on his way to Almeríá province for some R&R and some cycling.  Costa Almeríá has the driest and warmest temps of anywhere on the Mediterranean.  He won't find himself alone as several international cycling teams use Costa Almeríá for off season training. We had the Dutch cycling team for breakfast two years ago on a Sunday.  One of them got a puncture and local enquiries sent them to Mrs Lep who is known to have a pump on her heavy non-wind resistant two wheel tank like bike.  Nice guys and girls, I add, and of course Mrs Lep holds herself partly responsible for their Olympic success later.


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## Cervelo (8 Jan 2017)

Nordkapp said:


> Are you renting a place or getting accommodation on the go? Are rents reasonable throughout winter?



I'm staying in a cycling orientated B&B on a half board basis (Brezocycling.co.uk), because I'm staying for the best part of 3 months I was able to organise a favorable rate that wouldn't be far off Leper's costings.



galwaypat said:


> Well first off you got a good wife.  I was thinking of doing the same someday but on a hardly or something similar. I drove a car through France and spain but you don't appreciate the beauty in a car.



Thanks Galwaypat, I spent a long time searching for the perfect wife and I know for sure that she is, with regards to the driving, I enjoy the motorway trips just as much as the touring/sightseeing trips, yes you dont get to see all the small towns and villages etc, etc but on the motorways you generaly get to see more of the country side with the added bonus of getting from A to B as quickly as possible.



cremeegg said:


> The perfect road for cycling is from Ennistymon to Ballyvaughn via Fanore



I hope to God you are wrong  but after getting here I can see I'm going to be leaving a lot of "Blood, sweat and tears" on these roads.



PMU said:


> The jacket must be in the car and in reach.



You are quite right, have mine in the glove box but as far as I know you have to put it on before you get out of the car otherwise as you say, you may be fined.



PMU said:


> One question, concerning motorway tolls, did you pay by cash or obtain a toll badge?



I could have got a toll tag for France through Eurotunnel but not Spain, so I was just going to pay cash at the toll booth but as it turns out nearly all toll booths are automated.
So I just pulled up close to the ticket machine and either reached over the passenger seat and took the ticket or inserted the ticket, then my credit card (Payment was taken without pin) and on you go.

When I get time tomorrow or the next day I'll do a summay and a costing  of the trip to here.


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## Leper (9 Jan 2017)

Cervelo, you probably have learned by now that the Spaniards take to tolled roads like we look forward to root canal treatment. Therefore, it is likely that you won't find open petrol stations on such roads. Therefore, fill up before entering the toll. If you are taking the "coastal" route the free dual carriageway is as good as the tolled road heading south from Alicante.

One other thing.  Be careful driving in Andalucia.  There are many hidden speed cameras.  If you turn up at the Policía Estación to pay your fine, the car will be checked from small-toe to breakfast-time, your insurance will be studied along with your driving licence.  Don't show up and they will look for you. These guys look for something wrong rather than something that is right and some are as crooked as a cork-screw.  Don't even think of drinking alcohol and driving.  I know you think you see Spanish drivers drinking red wine before taking to the roads.  Be aware that this usually is tinto verano (splash of red wine with white lemonade and of course added orange, lemon slices).


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## Cervelo (9 Jan 2017)

Thanks Leper, That probably explaines why the motorway south of Barcelona was so empty up to Valencia and those of you who give out about the speed limit been set at 100Kph on the M50, the motorway that bypasses Valencia (A-7) goes from 120 down to 100 and then back up to 120 Kph in less then 1Km and it did this at least 4 times. I presume the reason for this is to generate revenue from speed tickets as I could see no other reason for doing this on a straight road.


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## Cervelo (12 Jan 2017)

Okay, left Barcelona on Sunday morning @9am to make the 700Km+ journey to my new home for the next 3 months in Lubrín. Joined the AP-7 motorway and traveled it all the way to just south of Alicante where I continued on the A-7/E-15 to Huércal-Overa and then took the countryside roads and arrived in Lubrín @5pm. Like Leper said the Motorway to Valencia was nearly empty of traffic, I thought it might have been down to then last day of the Christmas holidays and been Sunday morning rather then an adversion to paying tolls.

A few observations along the way 2
Leaving Barcelona I was delighted to see hunderds of cyclists leaving the city for their sunday spin, but even on what seemed to me a glorious sunny day they were all wearing full winter kit including face masks
As Leper said the motorways are empty but south of Valencia when the motorway turns into the E-15 the traffic started build up.
Where French drivers keep to the inner lane and use the 2 outer lanes for overtaking, the Spanish drivers seem to sit in the middle lane and expect you to overtake in the outer and presumably think the inner lane is for trucks only.
Fuel is the same price on the motorway as France
After just over 28 hours of driving I had exceeded my total mileage for last year 2550Km
The Red Hot Chili Peppers also have made some great music and their new album "The Gataway" has to be up there as been one of their best!

So some figures and costs
Total trip 2875Km, Trip time 32:05 Hrs, Average speed 89Km
Total petrol 310Ltrs Total fuel cost €393.04
French Tolls €106.70, Spanish Tolls €56.98
Irish Ferries to Holyhead €138.75
Eurotunnel €109.95
Hotels (3) €357.68
Food & Entertainment €178.16
Total trip cost €1341.26

As for the cycling
I've only done 3 spins of 45k with nearly 800m of climbing on each spin, the first thing C have noticied apart from the weather is the road surface it is so smooth compare to the "Chip & Seal" that Wicklow CC insist on using on my normal Wicklow spins.
The scenery is simply quite stunning
I've been advised to carry an "Idenity Card"with me at all times, not in case I have an accident and they need to indentify my body but that all people in Spain, locals and tourists have to carry one by law.
Also when cycling "intercity" you have to wear a helmet by law, as I have never worn one before this is a new experience for me 
The roads around here are nearly empty of traffic I'd go as far as to say it seems like they have closed all the roads so as I can cycle in peace 
One thing I forgot to mention was when a car does come up from behind and overtakes me, they all move over to the other side of the road if traffic is comming from the other direction they wait. I'm not sure if its a law but they all seem to observe the 1.5 meter rule 

Anyway time for lunch and to get ready for the afternoon spin.


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## Cervelo (19 Jan 2017)

Those of you that holiday in Almeriá know that it's considered Europes only desert region, so I was a little bit suprised to wake up this morning and find this!!! 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15xTyQctkdld2euki9jx4IiQY_m-U7z_e5g/view?usp=sharing


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## Leper (11 Feb 2017)

Hi Cervelo.  I know you just experienced the first snow in over seventy years in Costa Almería.  Weather should be warming up by now.  Any update on your travels?


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## Cervelo (13 Feb 2017)

Hi Leper, its been a mad 5 weeks since I've arrived. The weather was good for the first 10 days not great but good, the sun was out but the temperature was only reaching the mid teens at most.
The majority of the days I would have to wear arm and leg warmers but a couple of the days I didn't which was when I noticed some of the locals stop what they were doing and stare at me ??
I asked Sarah & Gary what this is about and was told anything below 20° is considered cold and you should have according to the local cyclists your winter gear on.
Anyhow that all ended on the 18th as the first snow in decades arrived to Lubrín, I would guess close to 5in fell that night and I believe there was snow on the beaches of Mojacar which hasen't been seen for over a hundred years, since then the weather has gotton much better with a good few days getting into the low 20s but I'm also told Febuary is also the windy month and sofar had 2 days of 80/90kmh gusts and today its in the 40 to 50 range but still a bright sunny day.
I have done a bit of sightseeing Murcia, Lorca, Almería been the big cities/towns and also drove up along the cost from Agua Amarga, through Caboneras, Mojacar, Garrucha and Playas de Vera and back around to Lubrín.
At the moment the almound trees are in bloom with their white and pink blossom which added to the orange and lemon trees full of fruit make for quite a sight when driving or cycling through the countryside
The lubrín Bread Festival was held on Sunday the 22nd, a mad but very enjoyable day.
https://www.facebook.com/indalo.almeria.33/videos/931460496988217/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
I'm in the video twice @ 3 and @ 24/27min
I haven't eaten out much but the couple of times that I have I found it to be very resanoble, 6 tapas 4 cokes and 2 coffees €14, 2 meals with desert and coffee including a good few drinks €25 and eight of us went out for the Bread festival, beer wine and tapas for the day just over €100 and none of us were sober.
Supermarket prices are a bit cheaper then home sometimes a good bit cheaper, 4 2Ltr bottles of coke €5, a very drinkable wine "Caperucita Tinta" €1.65 are a couple that come to mind.
With regards to the cycling and finding the perfect road, it would be easier to say that I haven't found a bad road yet!!
One thing I wasn't prepared for is the climbing, a rough guide would be every 10k you can expect 200m of climbing but still very enjoyable especially when you consider there is little or no other traffic on these roads
Sofar according to Strava I've cycled 1448km and climbed just over 24000mtrs in 22 rides


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## Cervelo (9 Apr 2017)

Just a quick update and to finish the thread, I arrived back home on the 31st of March from Lubrín in Almería.
This time I drove up the the middle of Spain through the Pyrenees, across the Millau bridge and onto LeMans, Mont St-Michel and St-Malo before heading to Calais and onto Holyhead
It was a very pleasant drive untill I got near Oxford when traffic slowed down to a crawl because of a traffic accident near Birmingham and ultimately made me miss my boat to Ireland
The trip home was 3517 Km and took 42 hours with 4 overnite stops, Vielha Spain, LeMans & St-Malo France and Ashford England and a days sightseeing in France

Some costs and figures

Cost of trip down €1341
B&B half board for 11 weeks €2240
Cost of trip back up €1130
Lunches, petrol and other while there €1500

Total cost of trip €6211

While there, according to Strava, I Cycled 3500Km in 149 Hours and climbed just under 65000 Mtrs
In the car I drove 2875Km down, 4577Km while there and 3517 on the way back giving a total of 10969Km and used 1165 Ltrs of petrol in 146 hours


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## Leper (10 Apr 2017)

Great reports Cervelo.  I did the same thing on some occasions some years ago.  It is nice to get some sunshine January/February/March when we humble Irishers are battening down the hatches against everything the weather throws at us. I note you paid €3740 for B&B and for food. Renting a 2 bedroom apartment (incl electricity + food) would have been cheaper).

Good that you made it back.  Well done!


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## Nordkapp (10 Apr 2017)

Leper, you can't take an apartment on your travels. I'd imagine an apartment would not suit the areas Cervelo was cycling and would have meant a longer commute at the beginning and end of day.


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## Cervelo (11 Apr 2017)

Thanks Leper, and you probably are right about getting the B&B and food for cheaper but in reality I could have done the whole trip for a lot cheaper
If I had flown instead of driving I could have knocked at least €2500 off, renting an apt might have saved another €300 to €400
I'd reckon with a little fine tunning and sharping of the pencil I could have done a similar trip for around the €3000 mark
but to me even the €6K that I spent on this trip is great value when I compare it to the fly/drive trip of America we're doing in a couple of weeks (Flights, car-hire and hotels for 23 days €4718)


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## Cervelo (8 Dec 2017)

Heading back to Spain in January and was wondering if anybody knows of any discount codes or suchlike for Irish Ferries and Euro Tunnel ??


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## PaddyBloggit (8 Dec 2017)

Cervelo said:


> Heading back to Spain



you've a grand life *Cervelo* ... so you have!  and more power to you!

(Sorry ... I can't help you with discount codes)


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## Nordkapp (9 Dec 2017)

You are making us jealous and envious *Cervelo*, are you doing the same route as this year?

try this site https://www.vouchercloud.com/eurotunnel-vouchers


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## Cervelo (11 Dec 2017)

Just booked Irish Ferries with a 20% discount, Vouchercloud don't seem to have any offers that would be useful to me at the moment but thanks anyway.

Edit:
Sorry Nordkapp you asked about the route I'm taking this time, I haven't fully decided which route at the moment but will probably go down the motorway that runs down the east of France and Spain like I did on the last trip purely because its a quick and direct route.


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## Cervelo (28 Jan 2018)

As some of you might have guessed from my last post I have decided to back to Spain for some winter cycling (" Eat, Sleep, Ride, Repeat") and to avoid the Irish winter but also I wanted to finally decide on whether or not to buy a property in the area that I'm staying in.

Firstly the trip down was the same as last year Dublin, Holyhead, Folkestone, Calais, Reims, Lyon, Nimes, Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia and finally Lubrín (motorway all the way). The cost was slightly dearer then last year, ferries, tolls and petrol dearer but hotels and food cheaper. Few things of interest (well at least to me).
I renewed my Passport last year and opted for the CC version as well thinking it was a great idea for traveling around Europe but luckily I brought my full Passport with me as neither UK or French Passport control would accept the CC version on its own.
Petrol in France is expensive €1.55 to €1.62 compared to Spain €1.21 to €1.32 but I've noticed two things about my car, petrol consumption improved when I didn't use cruise control and the A/C so much so that I reckon on the full trip down I could have saved a minimum of 50 litres but probably up to 70 litres at a steady 120kph, compared to last year and discovering this half way down I used 30 litres less.

I'm staying in the same place as last year and if anybody is thinking of doing a winter training break in the sun I would highly recommend this place or this part of Almeria as a destination, some of the professional teams are now spending more time here for winter training in this area, the Belgium national team has relocated itself here. The men’s team passed by me a couple of weeks ago which was exciting to see but when the women’s team passed me it took it to another level, is it just me are are women athletes now so much better looking than the 70s or 80s. I met a Belgium guy the other day while out for a spin, turns out he's the area manager for a Belgium cycling tour company and he brings 60 riders a week from Belgium for winter training and he's only one of several big companies like that.

On a different note some of the car and motorbike manufactures have testing bases down here, Porsche and VW must be releasing new versions of the Macan and the T5 van as not a day has gone by that I don't see a convoy of at least six of them out on test drives, last year it was Jaguar, Range Rover and both BMW and Kawasaki launch new motorbikes here last year as well and invited all the press to review them.


With regards to the property side of things, I've had a lot of discussions with people living here and estate agents in the area and at this stage I'm hammering in the final nails in the coffin with regards to purchasing a property here. There are many reasons for this and this really only applies to inland property rather than coastal resorts.

The main 3 ones are:

Property is overvalued here in my opinion, it might seem like great value compared to prices back home but when you start digging you find that the "property" for 250K has been on the market for the last 5 years and though there are lots of buyers out there many of whom have viewed the "property" and put in offers they feel reflect the true value, the vender won’t budge on their selling price.

Title is a big problem with village houses, a lot of Spanish property is handed down from one generation to the next and the further down the family tree it goes the more owners it collects and each of these owners has to agree to sell the property but more often than not family politics and greed stop the sale and its one of the main reasons why you see a lot of abandoned houses in the country side.

I keep coming back to the realization that its cheaper to rent then buy, there is a house here for sale for 350K but it's also up for rent as well at 600pm. I have always loved the idea of a holiday/second home in Spain and though I'm enjoying the Spanish lifestyle here and the cycling at the moment, in a few years I might think Thailand, India or even USA might be nice for a change and renting gives you that freedom to pick and choose where you want to go and spend some time rather than being tied down to one place or area.

Sorry for the long post but I know some of you are cyclists, some like myself love driving holidays and in another thread here we had a discussion about purchasing foreign property


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## dub_nerd (28 Jan 2018)

I came to a similar conclusion about buying a holiday home abroad -- it makes no sense compared to renting. The purchase price is typically decades worth of rental costs, not to mention a whole lot more complexity plus maintenance, taxes etc. I could _maybe_ see purchasing making sense for a family with young kids who will visit several times a year and don't mind the inflexibility of going to the same place over and over.


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## Nordkapp (28 Jan 2018)

Cheers Cervelo for the update. Just wondering, would the Cork to Santander ferry save on the car wear and tear, tolls and fuel cost? I would much prefer to bypass UK and France and wander freely down through Spain


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## Gordon Gekko (28 Jan 2018)

My sense is that AirBnB is transformational; our long-term plan would be to rent places for 2/3 months at a time in different places with a view to sampling what the world has to offer.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Alps, France, Mainland Italy, Sicily, Greece, etc.

I’d much prefer to rent a nice place in each destination rather than do the cliched thing of committing capital to (say) Quinta do Lago and spending the rest of my days paying €4 for a cappucino.


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## Leper (29 Jan 2018)

Excellent post from Cervelo who for the past 12/14 months kept us truthfully advised of his bicycle travels in the south of Spain. He supplied some hints on property value in Spain and describes the area well. Spain has not recovered from the recession in the price of property like we have in Ireland. Inland property in Spain never was as expensive as its counterpart on the coast (you could buy property there at cheaper prices than a shed here provided you were prepared for renovations). Anybody chasing the winter sun in the province of Almería, the coast is much warmer and drier  than inland (even just a few miles inland).

There has been an extra interest in Irish people purchasing property in Spain because of the apparent  low prices there. I am in touch with real estate agents in the area too. Good property in good locations (even within a coastal resort) have risen 5% in the past year. Brexit is keeping such prices from more gain. The Spaniards have had an increased interest in holiday home property too. Rental prices in the past year have risen 15% on average.  

I throw my hat in too with those who recommend renting in the off season. Why tie up a huge amount of capital? Why take any risk? Renting is the way forward and there is plenty of property available. You will get the investor who will splash out on purchase and when the time is right he will sell at a profit hoping in the meantime rentals will keep him in good financial nick. 

Cervelo makes a point that the Belgian cycle team has set up base in the area for training. The Dutch Cycling team has been there for years. Last year I met our Robert Heffernan while he was there for his training (not only for the Walking . . . . I gave him my vote last night in Dancing With the Stars).


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## Cervelo (29 Jan 2018)

Nordkapp said:


> Cheers Cervelo for the update. Just wondering, would the Cork to Santander ferry save on the car wear and tear, tolls and fuel cost? I would much prefer to bypass UK and France and wander freely down through Spain



I'm guessing by taking the Cork > Santander ferry you would save the car at least 1500k of wear n tear and save yourself the 20~ hours of driving and probably cost about €200>€250 for an economy sailing of 26>34 hours.
The UK, France route is obviously going to cost more, a lot more. Irish Ferries €170, 1 UK Tolls €6.78, 1 UK Petrol Stop €60.25, EuroTunnel €107, 4 French Tolls €108.50, 3 French Petrol Stops €210 and 2 nights in hotels UK €60, France €48 giving a whopping total of €770.53 to get you to the Spanish border.
For me the Cork>Santander route is not an option as it's only going to be a summer sailing, it is something I'm thinking about for the return journey as I'm staying here till the first week in May but I'm also thinking of getting Mrs Cervelo to come down here for the last week as there is a festival in Lurbrin that week and then take a week long road trip back to Dublin together but dropping her off in London as she wants to meet an old friend of hers.



Gordon Gekko said:


> My sense is that AirBnB is transformational; our long-term plan would be to rent places for 2/3 months at a time in different places with a view to sampling what the world has to offer.



I couldn't agree more with this, I think though you have to do a good bit of research to sort the "Chaff from the wheat" because there is a lot of, lets call them dodgy places and hosts who couldn't give a crap about you but with a little time and effort you can end up in a stunning location with great accomadation and hosts that take an interest in you and probably will end up staying in contact with, all for a fraction of the cost of a proper hotel.


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## Cervelo (28 Oct 2021)

Rather than starting a new thread or adding to the many threads that about spending winters in Spain and that this thread hasn't been updated in over three years, I'll resurrect this one as an update to my Spanish travels.

Since I last updated this thread a few things have changed one is my intention now is to spend six months in Spain November to April, I'd like to spend eight months October through to May but for because of my car insurance and other insurances that I have six is the allowable max.
The other is because I'm now traveling earlier than before I can now avail of the ferry direct to Spain this has made the traveling cheaper and shorter time wise which is always a bonus.

In 2019 I made the trip from Cork to Santander and what should of been a forty eight hour journey turned into a seventy two hour journey due to bad weather off the Irish coast which delayed and slowed the sailing meaning I had an unexpected overnight stay in Spain but having said that It still cut the cost of the traveling in half, cut out driving through England and France and just made the whole trip down easier on the mind and body not that the other way wasn't enjoyable in itself as a journey.

This Friday I'm catching the eleven o'clock sailing from Rosslare to Bilbao which is even better for me as it's closer to home and all going to plan I'll arrive in Bilbao on Sunday morning at eight am and 973 km later I'll arrive In Lubrin in the late afternoon.

I've decided this year to go back to the same area as before but am not staying with the same rental/family as before, two reasons for this one is covid even though I'm vaccinated and I believe they are as well and Lubrin has had a very low exposure to covid I don't want to take a chance by surrounding myself with to many close contacts especially unvaccinated school going kids etc etc.
The other reason is just to see if I can do this sort of thing on my own, which would then presumably lead me to explore other parts of Europe where I've dreamt of bringing my bikes to.

The last three times I was here I stayed in Cortijo Grande on an all inclusive deal for €200 a week which included a cooked evening meal. 
This year I'm staying in Casita Jardin in the village of Lubrin itself at a base rent of €375pm + utilities.
Utilities which will include Gas, Electricity, WiFi, Water, Wood and Rubbish collection should depending on usage come in around the €170 mark 
After that there would only be my food, petrol and social spending which should be somewhere in and around €300 a month
So I will probably end up spending about €850 a month all in or €900 if I treat myself to an hour an a half of deep tissue massage

Cycling wise, this will be the first time that I'm arriving to Spain with a huge level of fitness or as Garmin has informed me "Peaking"
So I'm really looking forward to the next six months and what the roads are going to throw at me
I've a few goals that I'd like to tick off this time if possible
1. Cycle 40Km in under an hour, currently just under 1:04 so should be easy enough
2. Cycle 160Km and complete that in under 5 hours, this will not be easy given the terrain(200Mtr of climbing avg every 10Km) 
3. Improve on my times up and down Velefique and include Calar Alto as well
4. And the biggie, have a go at Pico de Veleta (oh boy, that's gonna hurt  )

If anybody here on AAM is interested in spending a week or two out here cycling, drop us a line and I'll give you all the info you'll need regarding accommodation, bike hire and transport etc etc.
It's not the easiest place to get to in terms of aeroplanes, Malaga and Alicante airports are the closest during the winter season so car hire would be recommended or if you're just nosy and would like to see what I get up to on Strava contact me on PM for details.


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## Pinoy adventure (28 Oct 2021)

Cervelo said:


> Rather than starting a new thread or adding to the many threads that about spending winters in Spain and that this thread hasn't been updated in over three years, I'll resurrect this one as an update to my Spanish travels.
> 
> Since I last updated this thread a few things have changed one is my intention now is to spend six months in Spain November to April, I'd like to spend eight months October through to May but for because of my car insurance and other insurances that I have six is the allowable max.
> The other is because I'm now traveling earlier than before I can now avail of the ferry direct to Spain this has made the traveling cheaper and shorter time wise which is always a bonus.
> ...



A lovely way too avoid the nice Irish winter.
Have fun and take care


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## Leper (28 Oct 2021)

Some nice weather around Lubrin at the moment. Your trip certainly will shorten the winter for you. Best of Luck. If you see me cycling in the south of Spain please forgive my city bike complete with front wicker basket.


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## Grizzly (28 Oct 2021)

Leper said:


> complete with front wicker basket.


.....holding a bottle of Larios.....


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## Nordkapp (28 Oct 2021)

Enjoy Cervelo, do let us know the temperature by day and night and general weather in middle of each month as that is a similar plan for me. 
I'm back from 3 weeks in Spain having been on the coast in Granada drifting into the Almeria grow house region. Boy do I miss the simple life there and the weather!


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## Micks'r (28 Oct 2021)

Cervelo said:


> Rather than starting a new thread or adding to the many threads .....


I'm soooooooooooooo jealous. Best of luck and safe riding.


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## Bronco Lane (29 Oct 2021)

Cervelo. Sounds great. I had a look at both properties. The one you previously stayed in looks very nice but I guess it is located out in the countryside a bit?   Did you stay with a family on a rent a room type basis?   The second property for next year....is that a more stand alone property with more private facilities?


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## Cervelo (29 Oct 2021)

Bronco Lane said:


> Cervelo. Sounds great. I had a look at both properties. The one you previously stayed in looks very nice but I guess it is located out in the countryside a bit?   Did you stay with a family on a rent a room type basis?   The second property for next year....is that a more stand alone property with more private facilities?


Thanks Bronco Lane,
The first property Cortijo Grande has two types of lettings, the first is a ensuite bedroom in the main house that is disable friendly 
The second is or was a three bedroom two bathroom annex to the side of the house and that is where I stayed most of the time
It's located about ten minutes drive from the village so yes in the countryside but only a twenty minute walk through the olive trees 
It's very peaceful and quite and apart from Sarah running around in her car collecting the kids you'd be unlucky if you saw or heard more than a couple of other cars a day, total bliss in my opinion.
The deal that I struck with Sarah was that she would cook me an evening meal, this led me to joining her and her family at the dinner table which was great fun as they are two of the nicest people I've met in a long time and were great craic to be around and well liked in the locality

The second property is in the middle of Lubrin and from what I can tell talking to my new host Samantha is a kind of annex off their house
I think beside my front door is steps that lead up to their front door, I know for sure when I arrive on Sunday

Facilities wise apart from the pool and land surrounding the first property I'm expecting that both the properties will be very similar
one plus, a big plus for me is the village property now has fibre BB with similar speeds to home so my PS4 will be coming with me this time
and there is a proper HD TV for streaming Netflix and Prime


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## Bronco Lane (29 Oct 2021)

Sounds lovely. However you will be out on the bike for most of the day.  I would imagine that it might be too quiet for someone who might not be a cyclist?

Is it far from Mojacar or other inland larger towns?


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## Cervelo (29 Oct 2021)

It's about a forty minute drive to the coast/Mojacar either going two sides of a triangle on straight roads or up and over the mountains on lovely twisty winding roads, the one side of the triangle, if you get my drift.
Lubrin and by default Mojacar is about 100Km from either Almeria or Lorca the two closest towns, it might sound like a big distance and it is but in a car it's about a hours drive as there really is very little traffic down this part of Spain and the road network is excellent
I've often driven to both and been quicker than driving a quarter of the distance here in Dublin 

Yes I'm out most mornings till early afternoon on the bike and I do seem to enjoy a more solitary lifestyle in recent years compared to my youth
but it's one of those places that you get out of it what you put into to it.
There is a great mix of locals and blow ins all of who are very friendly, even to me who hardly speaks a word of Spanish hasn't stopped me or the locals getting to know each other. There is a great social life at the weekends where everybody from all around gather in one of the four local bars/restaurants but I would highly recommended having a car because that give you access to so many other places and attractions as the local transport system is even more basic than ours


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## mtk (29 Oct 2021)

Fair play enjoy


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## Cervelo (1 Nov 2021)

Just in case anybody was worried about me , arrived at 18:45 last night, was delayed by at least two hours on departure
which meant only disembarked at 10am in Bilbao in stead of 8 and two petrol stops later I'm in Lubrin

On a side note when did Android auto start to inform us of speed traps, I've never noticed this before and it's a nice feature
On the map you get a both a fixed camera and a mobile camera icon and about 500mtr to go you get a audio warning
Is this a new feature or one that I never knew it had??

Now it's 20 outside in hazy sunshine and I'm going for an easy 50k just to break the legs in


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## cremeegg (1 Nov 2021)

Cervelo said:


> Now it's 20 outside in hazy sunshine and I'm going for an easy 50k just to break the legs in


Well its a sunny 17 C here in the west of Ireland and I'm going to work now.  Stay safe and Enjoy your spin !


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## IsleOfMan (1 Nov 2021)

Interested to know what the boat journey was like?


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## Cervelo (1 Nov 2021)

IsleOfMan said:


> Interested to know what the boat journey was like?


The boat Journey was grand, The Connemara is a basic no frills service it's there just to get me from A to B for €637
The ship its self is as I said basic rooms are clean and functional after that there really only is the sitting/dining area and a self service restaurant
The food IMO is poor there's a breakfast menu "A full Irish" and a lunch and dinner menu which are the same but different prices????
It wouldn't take much to improve it but maybe that's what people want and I can never understand why so many restaurants have coffee machines that just make god awful muck
One pet hate of mine is where businesses charge you for things that in this day and age should be included in the price
And on Brittaney ferries it's WiFi,  you shouldn't have to pay to have good WiFi all over the ship especially during a pandemic where they advise you to stay in you cabin as much as you can!!

Regarding the crossing I was asleep by the time the boat left Rosslare so when I woke the next morning we were at Lands end and it wasn't rough but there was a good swell, enough to give you the drunk walk as your moving about, had taken my sturgeon so was grand
by the time we were close to Bilbao it had calmed down and was as smooth as glass


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## BOXtheFOX (3 Nov 2021)

Do "pensioners" get discounts on rail, bus travel etc?


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## Cervelo (3 Nov 2021)

BOXtheFOX said:


> Do "pensioners" get discounts on rail, bus travel etc?


Unfortunately I would have no idea about that, as I'm still a good few years away from the OAP so don't look at those things
But I'm sure our friend Lep would have a better idea of those things


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## joer (3 Nov 2021)

BOXtheFOX said:


> Do "pensioners" get discounts on rail, bus travel etc?


Not discounts , but free travel ...if they apply for it.


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## joer (3 Nov 2021)

I should have read the post properly before I posted this , so ignore this .


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## Leper (3 Nov 2021)

BOXtheFOX said:


> Do "pensioners" get discounts on rail, bus travel etc?


The short answer is No. But, occasionally, I chance my arm on the local bus service and I travel free 50% of the time. Just flash your passport and Irish Free Travel Pass (nothing wrong with trying).


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## SoylentGreen (4 Nov 2021)

Do Spanish pensioners get free travel?

The Spanish 65 card is that available to Irish people? 





__





						Senior Citizen Discounts in Spain For Those 65 or Older Are a Great Way to Save Money – Seriously Spain
					






					seriouslyspain.com


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## SlugBreath (5 Nov 2021)

Cervelo. How is the new accommodation in the town working out compared to the previous choice?

Are you local to supermarkets etc.

What's the weather like?


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## Cervelo (5 Nov 2021)

SlugBreath said:


> Cervelo. How is the new accommodation in the town working out compared to the previous choice?


The new place is really nice and I'm liking it a lot, I would say it's a typical old Spanish property with it's unique quirkiness but has all the mod cons as well, though it's not as quite as the other place but by no means is it noisy either
Lubrin is a small village with about 500 people living in the village and in the municipality area there is about 1700 in total but you wouldn't even know there was that many people here
When I go out for a walk I'd see at most fifteen to twenty people out and about doing their thing, the only time I'd see more is if I go to one of the four pubs/restaurants at the weekend that are here
Shop wise there are two small local supermarkets but I travel down to Mojacar or Vera to do the weekly shop in Mercadona or Lidl and would only use the local ones if I was short of anything.
It may be a small village but when you go looking you'll find a Hairdressers, a Barbour's, a Hardware, a very basic electronics shop, two banks, couple of solicitors, estate agents etc etc and on Wednesday there is a market that comes to town with about thirty plus stalls of local produce and other things. And I forgot to mention there is also two small bakeries one of which is next door to me and just outside the village there is also an Olive oil processing plant and a Honey manufacturer all of which is sourced locally

Weather wise during the day up here it's high teens to low twenties but the forecast is for it to get a bit cooler over the the next few days especially at night where there expecting temps to drop to low single figures but once it's dry and sunny when I'm out on the bike I don't really care what the rest of the day is like

On a side note it nearly all came to an end on Wednesday as I had a very close call with a car while descending from the "convent"( Puerto de la Virgen) took a blind corner to fast and went wide straight into a car coming up the climb, luckily no real damage done except to my ego but it was a good wake up call for me not to be so cocky until I've familiarised myself with the area again and that my reflex actions need to go to the right instead of the left!!
​


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## Shelby219 (6 Nov 2021)

Cervelo said:


> The new place is really nice and I'm liking it a lot, I would say it's a typical old Spanish property with it's unique quirkiness but has all the mod cons as well, though it's not as quite as the other place but by no means is it noisy either
> Lubrin is a small village with about 500 people living in the village and in the municipality area there is about 1700 in total but you wouldn't even know there was that many people here
> When I go out for a walk I'd see at most fifteen to twenty people out and about doing their thing, the only time I'd see more is if I go to one of the four pubs/restaurants at the weekend that are here
> Shop wise there are two small local supermarkets but I travel down to Mojacar or Vera to do the weekly shop in Mercadona or Lidl and would only use the local ones if I was short of anything.
> ...


Do you post your rides on Strava or other apps, so other envious cyclists on this forum can follow your progress


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## Cervelo (7 Nov 2021)

Shelby219 said:


> Do you post your rides on Strava or other apps, so other envious cyclists on this forum can follow your progress


Yes indeed I am, it's both a blessing and a curse to be on Strava. If you PM me I'll forward my Strava name to you


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## IsleOfMan (22 Nov 2021)

Cervelo.  How is the weather.....are you enjoying the day to day stuff......Is Covid a problem where you are?


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## Cervelo (22 Nov 2021)

IsleOfMan said:


> Cervelo.  How is the weather.....are you enjoying the day to day stuff......Is Covid a problem where you are?


Weather wise it's been a bit of a mixed bag for me, temp wise its high teens to low twenties most days which is perfect for walking about or sitting out in a café or bar but on the bike is slightly different as there has been a constant northly cool breeze that really cuts into you when you pick up a bit of speed so I've been wearing arm warmers on bright warm sunny days which is a new experience for me!! 
Now having said that we had three to four days of solid rain last week it doesn't often happen like that normally. From my experience it's a couple of hours maybe a day but not three non stop raining days in a row in Europe's only desert region, had to put the emersion on to heat the water as there was no sun for the solar panels to work. The thing about here that I like when it comes to the weather is that it may rain or be cooler on some days even had snow here the first year I was here but I know in a day or two the sun will start shinning and the good weather consistently returns
and it's that consistency that allows you to make plans not just for tomorrow but for days/weeks in advance.

My day to day life would probably be classed by many as boring and most days it's "Eat, Sleep, Ride, Repeat" but when not riding or after a ride what I really love about this place is the peacefulness and how stress free I become as the "Manana" attitude starts to kick in and time seems to slow down and I do question why I spend most my time back home buzzing around like a blue arsed fly. 

Strangely enough Covid doesn't seem to be an issue here, from what I've been told there was only one family with Covid in the Lubrin area to date.
And from what I have seen people seem to have their lives back to normal, yes we have to wear masks in public and observe social distancing where possible but other wise life seems to be going on as normal. I've been out for a few meals with people I know including our very own Leper and most places have been fairly busy but not in a uncomfortable way but what is refreshing is the conversation doesn't focus on Covid or restrictions but rather on the normal stuff of conversations that we used to have

Because of the current covid numbers back home we've decided not to travel home for Christmas this year but instead Mrs C (Smaug) is coming out here on the 13th of December and we're gong to spend our first Christmas outside the country which should be interesting as I've been told the Spanish don't celebrate Christmas like we do at home, not quite sure what that means but we'll soon find out!!


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## Bronco Lane (4 Dec 2021)

Cervelo. How are things Going in Spain?   Is there any sign of Christmas over there yet?


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## Leper (4 Dec 2021)

I'm sure Cervelo will give his take on Christmas in southern Spain but I'm just back in Ireland having spent four weeks in Andalucía. Christmas in Spain is different from Christmas in Ireland but has some similarities too.

Many Spanish towns would have their Christmas lights up and running at this stage with blue probably the main colour depending on where you look. For most Christmas Even is the start of Christmas/New Year festivities. Most Spaniards would have a fairly big meal on the night of 24th where most businesses would already have closed early. For the children this is no big deal as there are few if any gifts given. Christmas Day will see all Spanish businesses closed for the day and the day has Bank Holiday status only. St-Stephen's Day (26th) would be the same but with more family visitation than the day before. Somewhere between 27th Dec and 30th Dec (inclusive) there would be a kind of childrens' Fools Day and usually another day devoted to a local saint. The latter would see Spanish businesses closed (including supermarkets ). 

New Year's Eve would see many Spanish businesses closing early and perhaps even some buses running fairly sparsely too. Again a fairly large meal would be prepared and as usual not eaten before 9.00pm. Fireworks displays start in most towns/villages approaching midnight where the kids would be allowed to see. New Year's Day would be a Bank Holiday where no Spanish businesses would open.  From 2nd Jan to the evening of 5th January much of the time would be spent with family visitation etc. Most Spanish businesses would be open but would close on a whim usually around 4.00pm. Brits living in southern Spain would have their New Year's Eve celebrations at 11.00pm Spanish time waiting for Auld Langs whatever to be belted out on the BBC. 

You might be thinking Spanish Christmas Day - no big deal. And you'd be right. For the children the night of 5th January is hugely important and many towns would have a parade of the Three Kings prior to their arrival on the 6th. The kings would be paraded around the town with them raised up on movable plinths where they would throw millions of sweets for the local children watching. After the parade the children would go to sleep early in anticipation of the exchange of gifts on 6th January. The festival of the Kings (6th) is the Spanish "biggie" - the Spaniards dote on their children/grandchildren and the day is spent with excellent food prepared at home and of course loads of tinto. 

For the record most shopping centres would have a huge display of the Nativity story (not just the crib), but the flight into Egypt also. These displays are usually excellent and take an amount of preparation. Christmas/NewYear is a beautiful time to be in Spain and even if you're a pagan you can't fail to be moved. 

(I'm using the above ignoring whatever day 24th,25th, 31st December, 1st January, 5th January, 6th January fall on) - I'm just trying to give a flavour of the Christmas and New Year periods in southern Spain. 

- - - - - - Ahora, yo espero al todos leyendo por aquí - Feliz Navidad - - - - - -


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## Cervelo (5 Dec 2021)

Yeah what Lep said 

Afraid I've not much else to add to Lep's post except the street lights are on and done tastefully as in not in a Griswold way
Heard my first Christmas songs while shopping the other day in Mercadona and an announcement in English that I had up until the 23rd to place my order for Christmas dinner, not sure what were going to have this year, might have a change from the usual turkey and ham
My Masseur is talking about having a barbeque on a beach down in Mojacar on Christmas day so that might be an option

Weather wise it's getting a bit cooler most days are mid to high teens now but starting off cool in the mornings and only getting up to temperature by mid day.
Cycling is going good, had to take a week off due to a skin irritant down below which led to me meeting up with Lep again for a long walk and lunch, he really is a total gentleman and a fount of knowledge especially about the area and its history.
I'm off today for a hilly cycle with Lewis, My Masseur's son and boy can he climb so it's going to be a painful day but in a good way
Had a go yesterday at my first goal 40K in under an hour, knocked 2"17 off my previous PB so now I'm 1:01:35 for 40K


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## Bronco Lane (5 Dec 2021)

Thanks for the update.  This year in Ireland we will not have a turkey for Christmas.  Finally decided that they are pretty dry and tasteless.  We will have chicken or roast beef.



Cervelo said:


> Weather wise it's getting a bit cooler most days are mid to high teens now but starting off cool in the mornings and only getting up to temperature by mid day.



I would take that.



Cervelo said:


> Cycling is going good, had to take a week off due to a skin irritant down below which led to me meeting up with Lep again for a long walk and lunch, he really is a total gentleman and a fount of knowledge especially about the area and its history.


Maybe we could increase the group. Sounds nice.



Cervelo said:


> Had a go yesterday at my first goal 40K in under an hour, knocked 2"17 off my previous PB so now I'm 1:01:35 for 40K


Well done. Keep up the good work.


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## Leper (5 Dec 2021)

Thanks to Cervelo for the compliments. I'd like to add that Costa Almería is nearly as far south as you can get in Spain with only parts of Costa del Sol being further south. C. Almería has its own desert complete with a variety of cacti, more desert plants and wildlife. The Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns were filmed there and so was Lawrence of Arabia. The desert area (Cabo de Gata) is extensive and contains many a surprise for the visitor. Parts of this national park extend to the shores of the Mediterranean. For the record C. Almería has a drier and warmer temps than any other area of mainland Spain including C. del Sol. 

I haven't cycled in Spain since the onset of Covid. I wouldn't be doing too much cycling there anyway. But, there are serious cyclists present every day especially from Netherlands, France, Belgium and many teams have good back-up facilities. "Cross Country" cyclists use the area too and are particularly visible because of their wider and thicker bike tyres.

You may not be Chris Boardman and intend using C. Almería to improve Personal Bests or to get in some better training made impossible by Irish conditions. If you intend using the area for several weeks you should consider the needs of anybody accompanying you. Not everybody is a serious cyclist. There are many walking clubs in the area. These are mainly retired Brits resident in Spain. They are serious walkers and the minimum requirement are good walking shoes and Nordic poles with head-wear optional. There's plenty of golf too. English is spoken throughout.

Accommodation is cheaper than most other Costas. Access is easy too with flights all year round to Alicante. Almeria and Murcia airports operate usually between mid February and the end of October. You can drive by using the ferries. 

The over-riding message in C. Almería is COME. There are no Santa Ponsas, few high rise buildings and wait for it . . . . . . visible Stag/Hen parties are banned. The mayor of Mojacar is a lady and has improved the area over the past few years and even drinking alcohol outdoors outside of bars/restaurants has also been banned. 

If you fly into Almeríá airport you'll notice thousands of acres of plastic buildings especially in western Almeríá. They are an eyesore, but produce more fruit and vegetables than any other area in europe. The further east you travel there the fewer plastic buildings you'll see. I say this merely as a warning. You can enjoy the white mountain top villages, markets, Mediterranean, mountains, scenery, easy Spanish way of life, healthy living etc. 

Covid will eventually pass - Life is for living - warm Costa Almería awaits now especially if you are retired.


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## Cervelo (5 Dec 2021)

Bronco Lane said:


> Maybe we could increase the group. Sounds nice.


You're more than welcome to join us anytime we're getting together or we can travel to you as I have the car here 


Leper said:


> The Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns were filmed there and so was Lawrence of Arabia.


The next village over from me is Uleila de Campo and the "Shoot the Donkey" scene from Patton was filmed there!

If anybody is interested here according to wiki is a list of films and shows shot in the Almeria area 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_shot_in_Almería


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## Cervelo (12 Dec 2021)

Apart from the mild weather we get here, we also get treated to some spectacular sunsets



			https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/9frRyKkuQeRZfV3Cw3hv_dlpfxXy7AlS_k-xtxC4xR0-2048x1152.jpg


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## Laramie (5 Jan 2022)

Any updates Cervelo. Has Omicron affected anything?   Has Mrs. Cervelo settled in?  What's the weather like?


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## Cervelo (5 Jan 2022)

Thanks Laramie, we're just on our way out the door to Cartagena to explore the Roman ruins, so tomorrow or the next day I'll do a full up date


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## Cervelo (6 Jan 2022)

Well that was a semi wasted journey, arrived in Cartagena only to find everything closed except for restaurants not sure if it was a national holiday or a local one. In Spain like home they have national holidays then each region also has their own set of additional holidays and then to further complicate things each area/town in the regions also have their own holidays/festivals and then to even further complicate and confuse us foreigners if the holiday falls say on a Tuesday a lot if not all local business's will completely close on the Monday or only open for a short time in the morning simply because in a Spaniards mind there is no point in going to work on Monday if you're going to be off on Tuesday, What a life!!

Anyhow Covid wise there wasn't a problem until there was, up until the 23rd of December there was hardly a mention of covid when I'd be out and about and then the decree came down from above re mask wearing in public and then it just seemed to explode everywhere around us 
All Christmas and New Years gatherings and such like were cancelled as people dramatically reduced their social contacts and rightly so
I woke up on Stevens day to find medical staff and Doctors running around the village to peoples houses and everybody was now wearing face masks and gloves. News came through the grapevine that Omicron had finally arrived in the village and was rampant.
Where the village has had two cases up to now, we now as of New years eve have ten but I haven't heard as yet if this has increased 
Nobody will sit inside in a restaurant/pub to eat or drink it's all done on the terraces with strict social distancing and mask wearing and if you need to go inside for whatever reason your Covid cert is required or you don't get in.

Mrs C is settling in just fine, unfortunately when she arrived she brought the bad weather with her and her first ten days were cold and windy but thankfully in the last two weeks normal weather has resumed and she's able to sit out in the morning time with her cup of coffee, a smoke and a book in the glorious sunshine, blue sky's and temps in the high teens heading to low twenties while I'm out cycling

The townhouse it's self is grand but there a few things that I don't like although well equipped it's more suited to short stays rather than long one's like mine and we find ourselves missing some of the creature comforts that we would have at home, all little things like there's no toaster, there's only four of everything plates, glasses, cups and four sets of cutlery and when Mrs C is cooking she finds the kitchen utensils provided fall short for full time living.
Another thing I never thought of when booking was how the sun hits the house because it's in the town the house gets very little direct sun which I presume during summer is a godsend but during winter it results in a cold house and as these house's generally don't have central heating and are not drylined they can when its cold and dull outside become cold and damp inside. There is a log burner upstairs which believe it or not three or four logs a day keeps that area rather toasty other wise it's the two supersers downstairs to keep us warm @ €17.50 a bottle every ten days or so

Weather wise it's been a bit hit and miss as far as I'm concerned, in November we had four solid days of rain in a row and December we had about two weeks of cloudy dull weather where there was absolutely no solar gain for the hot water. 
But when the sun does decide to come out it is just perfect for sitting out in except for the wind for some reason I find it's a lot windier then my previous trips here and talking to other cyclists here, their all in agreement that it's been a windier year than normal and to further add to my annoyance of the wind there is no hiding from it while out on the bike, back home I can normally set a route to minimise the headwinds and maximise the tails but here even using a weather app like "Windy"  I just can't get it right, roads that should be giving me a tailwind are actually a head. I presume this is probably down to the geography of the area and how the wind bounces of the mountains 

January is a great time to be out here for one simple reason it's Almond blossom time, the whole countryside becomes colourful with pink and white blossoms and it literally happens over night 



			https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/l7YsBUwT7q2GQP3IZnU07u-EfbfavHzo9xzXHbCZ_5I-2048x1152.jpg
		


Cycling is going good, a little down on where I'd like to be for one reason or another, the latest been my knees exploded in pain on New years eve due to my seatpost slipping down a couple of millimetres for some unknown reason so I'm taking another few days off to let them calm down a bit.
I did manage to do the one hundred miles (162Km) ride as part of the Rapha Festive 500 with Lewis "The Goat", a bit slower than I am capable of six hours and forty-four @ 24kph with 2637 Mtrs of climbing. We could have probably averaged a higher speed but there was a third person with us who although can climb is more a slow and steady climber but I'm certain of one thing now and that is I'll never do this 100 mile challenge/goal in under 5 hours out here I'll have to wait till I get back home to flatter ground.



			https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/DKp0vUAzRF4hs8Z_Hee9xmFvHSHhQrJRJGDcGhdOIUI-2048x1152.jpg
		


Other than that I'm going to try and get my booster vaccination out here in January but it means I have to register for a temporary residency 
luckily Mrs C is nearly fluent in Spanish and we have a friend who works in a medical clinic here so we should be okay


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## asdfg (24 Jan 2022)

Cervelo said:


> Other than that I'm going to try and get my booster vaccination out here in January but it means I have to register for a temporary residency
> luckily Mrs C is nearly fluent in Spanish and we have a friend who works in a medical clinic here so we should be okay


Did you get the booster shot in spain yet. I am also in spain tenerife since October and hoping to get the booster shortly. I will be returning to ireland in April. We have been told we need the vaccine batch numbers from both of our previous vaccines that we received in ireland. This info is not on the covid certs so I wrote to the dept of health last Wednesday. No reply yet. Did you encounter similar problems.


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## Tumeric (24 Jan 2022)

Hi asdfg. That information was on the original card they gave you at the vaccination. The batch number. If you can find your original card you will have the information yourself. Possibly quicker than waiting on the department


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## asdfg (25 Jan 2022)

Didn't think I'd need it once we got the covid cert. I think the card is on a shelf at home in ireland. Thanks for the info anyway.


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## Cervelo (25 Jan 2022)

asdfg said:


> Didn't think I'd need it once we got the covid cert. I think the card is on a shelf at home in ireland. Thanks for the info anyway.


Yes, your going to need the batch numbers from your previous two shots, I presume this is so they can see exactly what one you got and what booster they can give you
My friend over here asked for my passport, EHIC, my address where I'm staying and the information of the vaccines I have already been given
She then applied for a temporary residency for me and then registered me in the national health system so as I could get a booster
It took less than a week from supplying the info to getting the booster

Is there anybody at home that could scan and email you the HSE vaccination record or WhatsApp you a picture of it??
Might be quicker then waiting for a reply from the Department of Health 

For anybody thinking of traveling without getting their booster and a cert near it's expiry date I would advise against it, I know Ireland has dropped the cert checking for nearly all situations (which I personally think at this time is a bit short sighted) but Spain hasn't as of yet and they are quite diligent in checking them even if you are sitting and eating outside a restaurant and if you haven't a valid cert you ain't eating out or getting into any event or tourist attraction


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## BOXtheFOX (12 Feb 2022)

Hi Cervelo. Just reading your comments in your other post.  They make very interesting reading.

I often wonder what makes people return home after they have made the big move overseas. I know that you were only away for the winter months but what do you think changed this year to make you return home early.  Did the weather play a part, has Covid made the place quieter, less fun?  You were saying that you met others looking to sell and return home.

My own brother just returned from his second home in Spain. He said that it was very very quiet this January. Lots of places closed. The weather was good though.

I like a place with a bit of a buzz. Nothing more depressing than closed and shuttered businesses etc


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## Cervelo (12 Feb 2022)

Yeah it's kind of a case of "death by a thousand cuts" and then for me one of those was to the jugular!!

This year was slightly different in where I stayed as in I rented a village house by my self instead of going back to the previous accommodation that I shared with the other family and this hasn't gone as well as I was expecting

First cut is that the original family I stayed with have for some unknown reason decided to completely ignore me and blank me and the problem with this is that most of the people that I know here would be very good friends with this couple and it leaves me feeling slightly uncomfortable

Second is that life up here in the hills has changed since covid arrived (obviously) and a lot of people that I would know don't socialize like they did pre covid, firstly nobody wants to sit inside anymore so that restricts meet ups to lunch and afternoons and as there is limited outside seating it becomes a hassle. Secondly and probably the real reason as one person said "I've been eating out here in the three pubs in Lubrin for nearly ten years now and the menu hasn't changed in any of the pubs and now I'm bored with the food which wasn't any great shakes in the first place"

Third cut is the house I'm staying in although lovely and very typical of a Spanish village house is not suited IMO for a long term winter stays like mine, perfect for a couple of days or weeks in the summer but in the winter it's like an icebox even typing this now it's 10degrees outside with a real feel of 5 I'm sitting in the kitchen with a super ser beside me and I still feel cold. The house is cold and damp for the last eight weeks and at this stage I'm fed up with it

Fourth cut and this is the biggie for me is the cycling, I'm just not enjoying it this time as I have in the past 
Without getting into to much detail and boring everybody I'm having problems on and off the bike and it's affected my fitness levels which has resulted in me mentally loosing interest in cycling and maintaining my fitness level and when that happens to me it's time to stop take some timeout and reset 

There are other "cuts" that I could mention but once my mind makes the change from cycling addict to couch potato there really is no point in me staying here and hence why I made the decision to catch the boat home next Thursday  



BOXtheFOX said:


> I often wonder what makes people return home after they have made the big move overseas.
> You were saying that you met others looking to sell and return home.



Regarding the selling up, the people that I know who are in this position are not looking to sell up and go home but rather relocate to somewhere different in the same area and this usually seems to be for two reasons

One is that after living wherever their living for a couple years have now decided that they don't like where their living for one reason or another and life would be much better if they moved to the next village, closer to the coast or my favourite from the English
 "There's to many Brits living here for my liking...."

And two is a change of heart like the couple I'm renting from, who moved over here in 2018 and bought a property suitable for and started an Airbnb business and now four years later have decided they no longer want to do Airbnb as it's to much work for very little reward and now would rather move down to the coast to a newer property that doesn't require constant upkeep and enjoy a much simpler life of kicking back and drinking G&Ts and watching the world go by


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## Leper (12 Feb 2022)

I can echo some of Cervelo's sentiments.
1. Believe it or not, you can get fed up with eating out in restaurants/bars and often a plateful of home cooked spuds, baked beans and fish-fingers can seem like something you always wished for.
2. Some Brits living under-the-radar have had to return to the UK since Brexit. These are the people that I feel particularly sorry for as some of their own seem to have abandoned them and with some disdain. 
3. We confine our visits to eight weeks max (six week period being best option in my opinion and anything less four weeks being too short). 
4. We also prefer October/November/December; February/March; June/July for our visits, August being too humid.
5. Our place is on the coast which is warmer than inland and 2 mins walk to the beach and supermarket so everything we need is almost on our door step. 
6. Passing the Time (not an issue for me):- I read my brains out, listen to music, improve my Spanish, don't miss any live hurling matches on tv, do short cycles, walk considerably and choose tv programmes in advance which I wish to see. Landscape painting is good too and great for meeting people. 
7. Terrace Life:- Breakfast a must there, Lunch Time with a bottle of decent tinto and a chat with neighbours/friends. But, terrace visiting ends at 2.30pm and everybody leaves sober.  Nota Bene:- Know when it's time to leave.
8. I participate with a Walking Group (anybody can join free) and eventhough I'm eldest I can hold my own on the walking (walks are pretty difficult). Last November in the countryside we came upon a wild Spanish fox, some wild boar, occasional Montpellier snakes. Good footwear and Nordic poles necessary. But the scenery is magnificent and the effort worth it. The chat is good too. 
9. Books in English are expensive in Spain, but many pubs operate a bring one/take one facility which means you buy only one book if there are none in the apartment. 
10. Most Spaniards are friendly and if you make an effort to speak Spanish you will be rewarded. 
11. Tapas are usually supplied free in bars and once you cultivate the taste for them there's nothing more enjoyable than having a pint by the sea in a rustic beach bar (price of pint €1.50). 
12. Rentals in the off season are cheap and there's nothing wrong with inviting somebody to visit from Ireland for a week or two during your stay. 
13. Manage your precious time, don't outlive your welcome anywhere, you'll make new friends easily, everybody is in the same boat.
14. Local bus travel is cheap and good and for €2.00 max you can visit the nearby towns and experience the market there (usually a fixed day per market).
15. The lady in your life will enjoy the shops/markets (hope I'm not being sexist here) and occasions like First Communions etc take place in different seasons in Spain and there are bargains to be picked up. The same goes for wedding gear. 
16. Don't mention Brexit even though many of them voted for it and most don't admit they made a dreadful mistake especially for themselves.
17. If you run out of Barrys tea, Yorkshire tea is a good choice and is available in Spanish supermarkets. 
18. If you don't feel like the lunch time terrace scene, siesta is an option - (siesta 2pm - 5pm where most shops close, supermarket stays open). Don't waste siesta - sleep if you wish.


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## BOXtheFOX (14 Feb 2022)

Cervelo. Pity about the first family blanking you. They seem to be taking it personally.  Maybe you provided them with a small income that they were now taking for granted.  I understand that Mrs. Cervelo was visiting this time around and you need to be nearer the town for her needs. Your Spanish restaurant menu, kind of reminds me of Roly's Bistro here in Dublin. Their lunch menu has had the same vegetables on it for years now.

The house you are staying in reminds me of a townhouse that we rented in Alvor a few years back. It was absolutely freezing cold in April. At one stage we had to put the gas rings on in the kitchen just to get some heat in to us.

Would you consider maybe cycling in a different part of Spain in the coming years?

I agree with the couch potato thing....I might as well be at home in my own house watching TV as sitting in an apartment in Spain.....if the weather was similar.

It is nice to sit back and watch the world go by but after a while I think we would all get bored of that.  For me I like to visit different countries.....because they are different I suppose.


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## Cervelo (15 Feb 2022)

It's an odd one for me as I don't fully understand why they've done what they did it's definitely not a money thing or that I didn't ask to stay with them. They even forwarded me contact details of properties in the village that might be suitable for me but when I arrived over things had changed. But the way I look at these things is that their the ones with the issue and if their not willing to broach it with me well then theirs nothing I can do about it and am not going to waste any time thinking or worrying about it, life's to short for that sh...

I'm laughing to myself about the Roly's comment because years ago for some reason or another we ended up eating there about six times over the course of two years and I never really rated Roly's as a great restaurant and the menu never got me excited but when the menu didn't change at all over those two years I said never again and haven't been back in eight years ( not that their worried about what I think or my custom )


BOXtheFOX said:


> Would you consider maybe cycling in a different part of Spain in the coming years?


I'm not sure if another area outside the Almeria region would tick all my requirements like good consistent weather (generally), smooth as glass roads with little or no traffic and enough altitude gain to really test the legs within easy reach
I think going forward I'll probably look for a place closer to the coast like Mojacar simply for the ease of convenience for all the other things like shopping and a social life and would also open up more cycling routes that don't have on average 200Mts of climbing for every 10K

It really did become a chore this year living in Lubrin even the weekly shopping turned in to a 3 to 4 hour round trip, then add in trips for drinking water, bottles of gas, meeting cycling buddies down in Mojacar for a ride etc etc, where last time I was here I did very little mileage in the car this time I reckon I averaged about 250 to 300 km a week which of course adds extra expense to the budget and as we all know petrol is not cheap at the moment 

Not sure at the moment whether I'll be back next year as there is a few other trips that have been put on the long finger for one reason or another.
Mrs C has for sometime now expressed an desire to travel to Japan for the Cherry blossom and other things on that side of the world
( I was hopping the Almond blossom here would be a good alternative but sadly for the bank balance, No!!) and there still is one more road trip that we want to do in the states, so we'll have to see how this all plays out over the next couple of years as to when I get back 

So at the moment I'm packing up the house and tomorrow will head for an overnight stay just outside Madrid and then on Thursday make the final dash to Bilbao to catch the ferry on Thursday and God willing I'll be back home by midnight on Friday.

Two bits of my usual bits of "useless information", the ferry takes six hour longer to travel from Rosslare to Bilbao (32Hrs) then Bilbao to Rosslare (26Hrs) ?? and I don't know if its news in Ireland but over here I'm told that there is going to be a shortage of oranges, apparently the price for oranges has collapsed to such an extent that the bags that oranges come in are now worth more the the oranges they contain and
Farmers here are refusing to harvest their crops because they are saying that they would have to sell about five times as much to make the same return as previous years.


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## Leper (15 Feb 2022)

Just to chip on on the "blanking" and this is only my opinion and I don't have the monopoly on opinion (I can nearly hear Purple saying "That never stopped you before Lep!"). I speak good Spanish eventhough Mrs Lep with near minimum Spanish loves to correct me occasionally. She hasn't conquered school spoken Spanish over Spanish as spoken in everyday use in Spain. Naive as I am, some of the Spaniards tend to correct me quite often (roll of drums, clash of cymbals) because I use the word "Gracias (Thanks)" always after buying something. They tend to use words of gratitude very sparingly. They see you paying €3.25 for a bottle of good wine for which you'd pay €30.00+ in Ireland as a fair exchange; "you give me the money and I give you the wine").  Thanks and smile not necessary.

Supermarket Shopping:- Cervelo wasn't joking when he spoke of 3/4 hour round trip. You are in a queue at the tills in Andalucía and your ice cream is beginning to melt in the trolley; Maria-Carmen at the till is engaging somebody on her mobile phone and her animated conversation is going on and on and you're cringing and wishing you could shout "Gerroff dat phone and start clearing the queue!" but you don't and instantly learn next time you come to this Spanish supermarket arrive and depart 10 minutes before siesta or 5 minutes before close of business and delays then are at a minimum.

The friendliness of us Irish is renowned all over the world. Spaniards are friendly too, but it's a little different kind of friendliness. I hope we never change.


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## Cervelo (8 Mar 2022)

Cervelo said:


> So at the moment I'm packing up the house and tomorrow will head for an overnight stay just outside Madrid and then on Thursday make the final dash to Bilbao to catch the ferry on Thursday and God willing I'll be back home by midnight on Friday.


Just to wrap-up this years trip and a few more useless observations   
Left Lubrin around midday on Wednesday the 16th only to get as far as Murcia where I had to turn around and head back to Lubrin due to the ferry been cancelled because of the storms, bit annoying but what can you do 
The revised sailing was for Sunday at midday so I decided to leave on the Friday spend the night in Madrid as before and then spend Saturday night in Bilbao so as to make the journey as easy as possible

So I'm having my lunch in a Shell petrol station just outside Burgos about 200k from Bilbao and I get another message from Brittany ferries, this time the sailing will be delayed until at least 4AM on Tuesday morning, It was beginning to look like the universe didn't want me to leave Spain.
A quick phone call to Mission control (Mrs C) and we decided to drive home through France and England which would have me home around midnight on Monday four hours before my sailing was due to leave Bilbao and as luck would have it I pulled into the driveway at 10 past midnight on Tuesday morning

There was a thread started here "Who decides which transactions require authentication" and while see the need for these authentications they always seem to happen to me at the most inopportune times and a perfect example happen on the way home
Pulled up to a toll booth in France to pay a €3.90 toll only to have the card refused, luckily had another card so there wasn't too much of a delay
Five to ten minutes later I get a text from my bank to confirm the refused transaction, so I give them a call to explain what happened and have my card unblocked and I doubled checked with the CSA that the card was unblocked, all good or so I thought
About an hour later pulled up to the next toll booth only for the payment €3.90 to be refused again, so rang the CSA again only to be told that my card was unblocked but was block again because the payment system thought that the new transaction was actually the old transaction been processed again rather than a totally new and different transaction(if that makes sense) 
That evening I filled up the car at one of those automated pumps using the now unblocked card but ten days later at home while checking my bank account I noticed a pending transaction for €120, another quick call to the CSA that this is what is known as a "ghost transaction" and would disappear that evening, which it did!!

One thing that really surprised about this trip was the supermarket shopping in relation to how expensive it is compared to home and the lack of variety and range of products compared to home. 
Normally here our weeks shopping averages about 80 to 90 euro over there we couldn't seem to get it below €120
Fruit, I was expecting to enjoy a wide range of fruit given that they grow lots of it over there but no in December and January the only fruit available to me was apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and mangos. apparently or so I'm told the Spanish only eat fruit that is in season so no peaches, plums, nectarines or strawberries until summer time. 
One thing I will say was that the Mango's over there are so much better tasting than the unripe crap we get here!!
Drinking water is 87 cent for eight litters if you can't be bothered to fill up at one of the free water fountains around
Most of the supermarkets operate a closed carpark where you reg is scanned upon entry and you have to give the cashier your reg when paying otherwise the exit barrier won't raise

So that's it folks till next year (hopefully)


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## Nordkapp (8 Mar 2022)

I had heard that about supermarkets but wine, fuel and general eating out is far cheaper than here.
Tolls, to be avoided at all cost, had a similar experience to you in Italy.
Surprised you didn’t try another location or even Portugal for the remainder of the winter, because it’s not spring here yet.


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## garbanzo (8 Mar 2022)

Welcome home Cervelo. I enjoyed your various postings over recent months while you were away. Brightened some of the dark days of winter.

Sorry it didn’t work out as planned but onwards to the next adventure.

g


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## Cervelo (9 Mar 2022)

Nordkapp said:


> Surprised you didn’t try another location or even Portugal for the remainder of the winter, because it’s not spring here yet.


We talked about it for a little while and came up with some alternative ideas like a very long extended road trip home but my brain just wasn't engaging and when that happens with me I need to take time out, relax, reset and dream it all up again and there's only one place to do that 



garbanzo said:


> Welcome home Cervelo. I enjoyed your various postings over recent months while you were away. Brightened some of the dark days of winter.
> 
> Sorry it didn’t work out as planned but onwards to the next adventure.
> 
> g


Thanks garbanzo, its nice to hear


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## WaterWater (11 Mar 2022)

I enjoyed Cervelo's posts.  

How did your good wife feel about this trip. I am not sure if she travelled with you on previous trips?  

Looking forward to next year 2023. There could be all sorts of shortages here....including energy. Our heating is all gas except for a few fan heaters run off electricity.  My house is freezing in the winter...... and that's with the heating on.  I have started looking around Spain and Portugal (not Canaries) to see if I can spend a month or two away.

Looking at Cervelo and Leper's posts I understand that the weather can be warm during the day but as soon as the evening comes it can get very cold.  Would I be happy to have warm days but cold nights away?

Where in both Spain and Portugal is the warmest place in winter in the .....evenings?


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## Cervelo (11 Mar 2022)

Thanks WaterWater,

Overall Mrs C enjoyed her time there but did find the weather was a little hit and miss this time
But having said that on previous trips she only flew out for a week at a time and the weather was always great and we'd normally hit the road for a mini road trip around Spain. Like in late February 2020 when we were in Madrid jokily observing all the Chinese tourists as "Covid spreaders"
(little did we know what was about to happen  )

She found as I did that village life is non-existent or very quite at the moment probably due to Covid and would expect after the summer and when people start to socialise more that it should return to normal levels by next winter
Going forward she feels that life closer to Mojacar or some other bigger town/city would be much better in terms of things to do, socialising etc etc. One thing she did mention was in relation to grocery shopping was that she made sure she didn't forget anything on the list because it's not like you can nip down to the supermarket when living in a village

Weather wise there can be a huge swings between day time temps and night time temps, sometimes as much as 20 degrees and yes it can happen very quickly when the sun goes down and the opposite can happen in the mornings it can take till early afternoon for the warmth of the sun to really break through which is why if people are thinking of spending winters out here make sure your accommodation has a log burner or fire because using the air con to keep warm can be very expensive

Where is the best place, I don't really know the weather now seems to be so changeable at the moment this time last year both Ireland and Almeria had great weather this year not so much!!
Edit
Sorry but I should add to this that the area I stayed in was 35K inland and 500 meters up whereas down by the coast has/had a slightly different weather to what I got, on any given day there could be a difference of as much as 5 degrees between the two areas with the coast been the warmer


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## Cervelo (16 Mar 2022)

A friend of mine sent me this from her front garden in Lubrin yesterday, a before and after the dust storm.


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## Nordkapp (16 Mar 2022)

You left too soon Cervelo

Spain Speaks - Stuart did a drive on Tuesday in Madrid where the place is covered with the Sahara sand


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## RetirementPlan (17 Mar 2022)

Cervelo said:


> A friend of mine sent me this from her front garden in Lubrin yesterday, a before and after the dust storm.


No image visible for me.


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## Leper (17 Mar 2022)

RetirementPlan said:


> No image visible for me.


There was a sand storm in the Costa Almeria region a few days ago where sand was vigorously blown in from the Sahara Desert and the light was changed to an orange colour (great for pics). It happens occasionally and usually after we have washed down our terraces where a carpet of orange sand is left.


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## Cervelo (18 Mar 2022)

Leper said:


> There was a sand storm in the Costa Almeria region a few days ago where sand was vigorously blown in from the Sahara Desert and the light was changed to an orange colour (great for pics). It happens occasionally and usually after we have washed down our terraces where a carpet of orange sand is left.


Apparently after the dust storm came the rain and somebody likened it to "A maze prison dirty protest"


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## Grizzly (18 Mar 2022)

Cervelo said:


> One thing that really surprised about this trip was the supermarket shopping in relation to how expensive it is compared to home and the lack of variety and range of products compared to home.
> Normally here our weeks shopping averages about 80 to 90 euro over there we couldn't seem to get it below €120


I wonder if Portugal would be any cheaper and a wider variety of produce available.  We had a lovely holiday in Tavira a few years back and were able to cross over to the Spanish town of Ayamonte on a river ferry.  Also inland Portugal such as Tomar or Coimbra?


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## Grizzly (18 Mar 2022)

Would Mrs. Cervelo enjoy one of these?






						Backroad cycling tours France
					

Backroad cycling holidays




					www.france-bike-trips.com


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## Cervelo (18 Mar 2022)

Grizzly said:


> I wonder if Portugal would be any cheaper and a wider variety of produce available.  We had a lovely holiday in Tavira a few years back and were able to cross over to the Spanish town of Ayamonte on a river ferry.  Also inland Portugal such as Tomar or Coimbra?


I probably should have clarified what I meant by "lack of variety". In Mojacar there are two main supermarkets Mercadona and Lidl both are very similar to each other in terms of the range of products they carry but unlike Lidl here it's a bit more basic, kind of like when Lidl first came here
But if you go to the bigger cities like Murcia and Almeria you find the bigger supermarkets like Carrefour which for want of a better comparison is like Walmart, they sell everything!!

The issue for me and something I will have to address is that since I met Mrs C I don't really cook anymore, so if I want a stir fry or a bolognaise I need a cook in sauce and Lidl/Mercadona don't stock these type of items really, even salad dressings are in very short supply
Oddly enough in the next town over Vera, there is an Iceland which I only discovered a couple of weeks before I left where I found Supervalu sausages and Tayto crisps for sale amongst other things

As regards the cost I think this is the new normal that we're just going to have to get used to, I notice probably like everybody else that my shopping bill here is getting more expensive week on week and that's if they have the stock, I'm waiting for at least 3 weeks for Lidl to get in their salted peanuts!!. I read an article the other week about holidaying in Spain and the take home from it was it might be cheap to get there but everything after that is getting more and more expensive so I would guess Portugal is going the same way




Grizzly said:


> Would Mrs. Cervelo enjoy one of these?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Don't make me laugh 
It wouldn't really be my cup of tea I'm more of a get from A to B in as quick a time as possible but I am harbouring an idea of cycling down to the south of Spain one of these days but Mrs C is the opposite, I'd probably go as far as to say it would her idea of a living hell


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## Nordkapp (18 Mar 2022)

@Cervelo , agree with you about the nuts, notwithstanding expensive and selection poor in Spain.  I found the Dia stores superb for pasta and meat sauce, wines not too shabby either. Only thing that caught me out was the food stores close on Sunday. I camp and cook, worst issue for me last year was locating Campingaz cartridges……..

Agree, here we find some of the oriental dish sauces hard to find


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