Posts Tagged ‘Campers’

There are positive and negative aspects to walking and hiking in much of southern Europe; on the positive side we are getting used to not worrying about trespassing, in most countries we have had the freedom to roam and with the hunting season now over, we no longer have to worry about being mistaken for a Wild Boar. However, it is often impossible to find a map in a suitable scale for walking and we are often reliant on way-marked paths and tracks.

The long-term campers we meet are generally courteous and friendly and will share their experiences of different camp sites in Spain. If they have chosen a site for 6 months, they are, not surprisingly, most enthusiastic about that site; the atmosphere of these sites is like that of a small village, with lots of activities and social occasions to take part in. Arriving for just a couple of nights we can feel like incomers who don’t know the rules. Fortunately, there is usually someone that wants to help you feel at home, explaining how things work on a particular site; where you take your rubbish, which shower is the best, where to swop books, how to get hot water for washing up and all the other necessary parts of camp site life.

At the site near Marbella a friendly couple from Nuneaton took on this role; they have been staying on the site every winter for seven years and certainly know the ropes; we first met them when Anthony was plugging in our electric cable and they wandered over to tell us that no one locks the box where all the cables are plugged in to the mains, as this makes re-setting the power easier when it trips, and it always does.

We drove out to the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves, just inland from Marbella. This is a beautiful mountainous and tranquil area, where it is difficult to believe only a few kilometres away cars are jammed in a long queue for the Centro Comercial parking, now the January sales have started. We walked around the picturesque village of Ojen whose central square was lively with a small market, pretty fountains and bustling cafes and along paths through various pines, juniper and gorse up to a spectacular viewpoint for a colourful view of the green hills, the white village and the blue sea.

Torre del Mar is a pleasant enough resort, with 3 kms of promenade as well as the usual cafes and inevitable Oriental Bazaar; it is also lively enough to have an Indian restaurant for our monthly meal out. Buses run from here into Malaga and we caught a packed one full of Christmas shopper. We had a good day looking around this energetic Spanish city, had a marvellous lunch in a cosy veggie cafe, explored the Alcazabar laid out over the hillside and admired the extravagant Christmas decorations. We love walking in the countryside and hills, but we do also get a buzz from vibrant city life.

The camp site at Bolnuevo is a large and highly organised camp site and makes us wonder why we left the comfort and ambience of Fortuna. The site is mostly long-term campers who come to the same pitch every year and has regular social activities; Sardine and Sangria evenings, bingo, a Christmas fair etc. We can see that the sense of community would be appealing, but the site is a bit of a car park and our Blue Bus sticks out as much as our youthfulness does (honest!)

It is pleasant to walk around the site at night and admire the Christmas decorations on many of the vans; climbing santa clauses, coloured lights, glowing Christmas trees are all here. It’s just like being in Salford.

We are approaching two Spanish public holidays; the 6 December is Constitution Day and the 8 December is Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when Catholics celebrate the conception of the Virgin Mary, as a woman free from all sin. In Spain this is generally a time of fiestas.

The library at the site in Bolnuevo is one of those examples of too much bureaucracy: many camp sites have a few shelves of books to swop; you leave what you have read and take away a new Catherine Cookson, Ken Follett or whatever is available. This library is run by a Swiss camper and has shelves full of books in every European language. Each book has a number and the Librarian has a lap top to record borrowing. We won’t be on the site long enough to finish the book we borrowed, but we left two new ones in exchange, along with a false name.