Here comes the sun..and Fado

peeping eclipse

A small tear peeped over my eyelid as I listened to a song called Kilkelly on Mike Hardy's Folk podcast. Not being the type to burst into tears at the drop of a chapeau I blamed the eclipse and the fact we had arrived in Portugal, home of the Fado. 

Looking through the sky light we had a fabulous view of the eclipse as it conveniently showed itself in a break of the clouds. The beach at Manta Rota was a perfect spot for Hugo to have a run and we found a mermaid's purse in the sand - a good luck sign to match the eclipse we hope. 

Next stop Tavira for the musical theme of the day to continue. There is a new Fado project (Fado com Historia Associacao Cultural) where you can learn about its history and hear some songs - £5 for a half hour. Although brief it was a good taster for our evening activity, a Fado evening at a local restaurant. Both singers and guitarists were extremely talented and Mr Fluffy is now suffering from overeating a yummy squid stewy thing.

Fado com Historia

hot Fado action

Hugo is enjoying his food as well and we think he may be putting on weight. His face was a picture a couple of days ago when, in a spurt of energy he bounded up to a little wall and over the edge into a fountain about a foot deep. Great merriment was had as we watched him learn that, yes, he can swim, a talent he was previously unaware he possessed. He has been a little keen to avoid anything watery ever since.

spot the Dickie behind the tulip tree

El Rocio

The wide dusty streets are a little reminiscent of the towns of far west NSW near the Warrumbungle mountains (where my grandparents grew up) that I visited as a child. The main difference is the gigantic pilgrimage church which over a million peregrinos visit each Easter..... and perhaps the shops selling flamenco dresses and ponchos......and the tapas bars.......oh well there are gum trees, wide streets, verandas, dust and heat. 

Church of El Rocio

I'm a wide street

no kookaburras in these gum trees

El Rocio is on the edge of the Donana National Park and is great for birdwatching if you're into that sort of thing. From Dickie we looked out over the lake where flamingos paddled alongside horses and sand flies. No on could say the place was size-ist. 

spot the Dickie

view from Dickie with a raindrop on camera

The rain came in overnight and turned the streets to mud so we headed off to La Rabina to visit the monastery there. We carried Hugo around the museum (he was heavy but well behaved) and another reminder of childhood came when we saw the replicas of Columbus's ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. We learnt about these at school and I've always liked the musical quality of the three words strung together.

After a night in Moguer we will be in Portugal in an hour or so. A new country - how exciting. Looking forward to becoming fluent in yet another language....not. 

Getting Jiggy With a Couple of Black Madonnas

Apologies for the radio silence - Graham's new laptop has died and we have been along the coast from Nerja to San Lucar north of Cadiz, and up in the mountains of Andalucia where wee fee is not fabulous. 

view from Dickie of the coast north of Nerja

There is not much to say about the coast apart from the fact it is lovely and sunny, has great seafood, and has lots of English enclaves along the way, especially between Nerja and Estepona. We discovered a lovely spot at Benarraba thanks to a chap called David we met in La Cala de Mijas. It's a white Andalucian village with divine views over the mountains and the motorhome parking has 5 spots for vehicles, each with its own water tap and emptying facility. We stayed for a couple of days and met Aiden and Ann, a couple who have a a social networking company for those who want to improve their language skills by talking to people from other countries. It's called Speaktalkchat.com . 

Jiggy looking suspiciously like the museum's Wheel of the Year

not the best photo of a Black Madonna

It is here that we completed the 500 piece zodiac jigsaw which you will see pictured. I was sure there were pieces missing but we were triumphant! We ran into Aiden and Ann again at Sabinillas (aka Britain by Sea) and Mr Fluffy whipped out his ancient bicycle tyre fixing kit to give Aiden a hand repairing a flat. He loves an excuse to get his kit out! They have been set the task of doing the jigsaw next.

Spot the Dickie - Benarraba

Graham with his kit out, and Aiden

Before heading off to the Puerto de Gelves in Seville, where we are now, we spent a couple of days in Sanlucar de Barrameda where we came across not one but two Black Madonnas and had probably the best meal we've had so far - a rice and lobster dish which had us scraping the bottom of the pan. Quite a treat. 

boys on the beach at Sanlucar

a Dead Asus

What's with men jogging in budgy smugglers?

We have been a bit quiet lately as Graham's new Asus laptop has died and we've been in the hills around Ronda in Andalucia with no wee fee for a few days. There may be a short hiatus while we sort    A laptop solution out. Apologies to aficionados of this thrilling blog.

A Good Chit'On, and a welcome Tummy Tickle

There's nothing Graham enjoys more than a good Chit'On. I saw it on the shelf in the supermarket at Las Negras, a stunning seaside village invaded by dread-locked youngsters and bespectacled motor homers. Not a bad drop for around 2 euros.

Mr Fluffy enjoying a good Chit'On

Cabo de Gato was the next stop where we had a couple of days on the beach, eating seafood and enjoying the views. It's a great area, not at all built up like other areas of Spain, and the climate is generally very dry and windy. The beach went on forever and Hugo particularly enjoyed rolling in all sorts of rotting fish and bird excrement. The fishing boats are painted, one with an image of the Virgin Mary.

Mary on a boat

Night view of Cabo de Gato

enjoying tummy tickles in Cabo

From here we popped down to Roquetas de Mar and parked by the beach of a couple of days. Being the only Brits in a sea of German motor homes we thought we may feel a bit left out but they were extremely friendly and showed us where the facilities were (one chap cycled with Graham to locate the dunny emptying point a few blocks away). We even had a chap come to the door selling various veggies and of course the pan van man who comes to sell the daily bread.

Earlier in the week there had been over a hundred vans at the parking place so the police moved them on but luckily things had quietened down by the time we arrived. Roquetas is a touristy town with a long promenade by the beach dotted with the occasional palm tree.

Sporting a new hat in Roquetas

We've just spent a couple of nights by the marina in Almerimar - very chilled out - and we'll be heading off today in the direction of Portugal. 

Dreadlocks and Dead Batteries

I have been wanting an Australia sticker for Dickie and I finally have been given one by a fellow Aussie. We met a great family in San Jose who had a spare and I must say the sticker enhances the bumper of Dickie nicely. Thanks Al, Sarah, Ella and Leilani Koch for making my Aussie dream come true.

Ella, Leilani, and Al

We've spent the last few days in La Isleta and Las Negras in the Cabo de Gato National Park. How beautiful is this area?!  No high rises, lots of young dreadlocked hippie types, and a very chilled out atmosphere. So chilled out that our Dickie battery died and we couldn't start the engine but thanks to Graham doing something clever with the leisure and engine batteries connecting up, all we had to do was wait for the sun to charge the solar panels and we were able to head off. If you get the chance to come to this area please do, the beaches are stunning. We caught a few para gliders readying themselves for a fly in La Isleta - a lovely site.

para gliders at La Isleta

chomping

spot the Dickie - near Mojacar

spot the Dickie -Agua Amarga

We're now at the Cabo de Gato campsite for a night. Catching up on washing and electricity is our main objective but it's also nice to hear British people speaking slowly and loudly to 'foreigners' to make them understand what they are saying.

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We had some sad news last night that a great friend of Graham's, Pearl O'Neill, has passed away. Thanks to our friends in Boscastle for getting the message through to us. Our sympathies are with her husband Tony and all her friends and family.

Pootling...

Agua Amarga

As the saying goes 'the best things in life are free' and we've certainly had our fair share of the best free things in the last few days. I think we could say we've been 'pootling' down the coast around Vera towards Cabo de Gato, taking in a few gorgeous beachside locations as we drift towards Portugal.

near Mojacar

tummy tickle at Villaricos

We have been so close to the sea on occasion that if there had been a tsunami we would have been 'ex-pootlers' and ended up as people in a tin box bobbing under the waves, much to the ironic delight of the sardines and pulpo along the way.

The weather has been a tad rainy and mucho windy so the seas have been wild. Dickie was covered in wave spray last night as we could almost touch the sea out our window. Today we are a little farther back but still in a tsunami risk position if you ask me. 

not a bad spot

There's a yummy Chiringuito (restaurant) 100 metres away where we munched on calamari and chiperones for lunch. Hugo is now curled up on Mr Fluffy's lap and we've just completed our art project of the day where we both draw a sardine and ask Facebook friends to judge the best. 

We had hoped to go to the Burning of the Sardine Festival in Mojacar but due to the inability to park anywhere closer than several kilometres away we had to give it a miss hence our decision to make our own sardines.

Sardine A

Sardine B

We met a lovely English chap a few days ago who gave us his list of wild camping sites along the coast which has worked out a treat as we would not have found half these wonderful out of the way places to park without it. I hope some of our photos will give you an idea of the gorgeousness that we have come across in this fairly wild part of Spain's coastline.