And so begins the Wildebeast-like annual migration across the Continent to find greener pastures.
This time, on advice from friends, we are to travel to Santander in Northen Spain in order to take the ferry across to Plymouth.
Due to the successful efforts of a pickpocket in Cartagena we had no camera for the journey so all photographs were taken on my HTC phone. As it turned out the photographs are quite good with nice colours and a good aspect ratio. Gets a bit shaky in low light.
The good thing about this relatively short journey is that we do not have to leave at the crack of dawn to reach our destination. We hit the road at 10:00am heading for our overnight stop in Aranjuez.
We have never travelled in the Spanish hinterland and were pleasantly surprised as we travelled north to see how green everywhere was. The day was beautifully warm and we stopped at a very small village where the owner of the local cafe seemed very pleased to serve us with lunch. It was absolutely marvellous to sit outside in the sunshine in the middle of nowhere and enjoy the food he prepared for us.
We arrived in Aranjuez at our hotel, the Mercedes, and parked our car in their car park. I mention this because parking is at an absolute premium in this city so to have a hotel with its own car park is a bonus. The hotel was very clean and well equipped if somewhat old fashioned but along with this came old fashioned manners and courtesy. The air conditioning was already switched on in our room and because we did not have one of those card-in-the-slot devices were able to leave on the A/C whilst we went out.
Ten minutes walk saw us in the grounds of the Royal Palace in the 36 degrees of heat. We immediately decided to visit the palace as there were no queues or crowds and we were able to stroll around the beautiful building at leisure. Treasures inside date from many different centuries up to the 19th.
Afterwards we repaired to the nearest cafe and drank wine (of course) under the massive shade trees and chatted with three ladies from Australia who were doing a whistle-stop tour of "The Jewels of Europe". The had done Italy and France and this was their final Jewel before their next-day flight to Melbourne. They had absolutely no idea where they were and were just about "palaced-out".
The next morning we visited the grounds of the Palace of which about 60% is totally shaded by trees.
Onwards to Santander leaving Aranjuez at noon. The hotel restaurant had served an excellent evening meal and a large buffet breakfast. Total cost was €119.
We had motorway for most of the journey, skirting Madrid and heading up the A1. This was against advice as we were warned that there may be roadworks further north but they came to nothing other than driving at 40kph for about 10km.
We were surprised at the size of Santander, expecting a small port but finding a very large town along the lines of Biarritz in France. Lovely beaches and large Victorian houses once outside of the centre. We dined in a pavement restaurant and were surprised at the northern prices. Everything was dearer by about 60% than at home on the Costa Blanca.
Now the part we had not been looking forward to began. The ship sailed at 21:30 so we had to check in no later than 19:30 so as to have the dogs checked over by the DEFRA vet. The dogs had to be left on the dog-deck once on board. Kathie was all for smuggling them down to our cabin but we left them with all the others in the howling, barking cacophony having given them tranquilisers to calm them down. As it turned out they seemed less worried about the cages and noise on the dog-deck than did Kathie. The trip over was uneventful and boring. I had an excellent night's sleep but it was strange to wake and feel the sway of the ship.
Arriving off Plymouth it was announced that high winds might prevent us from docking. (Oh joy) This was after we had been instructed to put the dogs in the car and leave them there as it was not allowed to stay in the car during entry into harbour. The Captain enlisted the help of a tug boat and docked only fifteen minutes late. Once unloading began it took over an hour to get off the ship and through customs. No complaints about the ship, it was very nice and we had a comfortable cabin. Breakfast was excellent and all the crew were most pleasant, helpful, and polite. It's just not our scene.
Decision made - we are not used to all this waiting about so will return via the Channel Tunnel and France.
And so off to Cornwall. We booked a room at Marazion and this could not have been better. The owner described it as a Bed and Breakfast Guest House but to call it this is like calling the QE2 a boat. See their website here.
The family room we had was fully 70 square metres in size, with one King Bed and two large Singles. It was equipped with a full sized fridge, (kept stocked with fresh milk and orange juice), electric kettle, large glass table and four dining chairs, massive TV, DVD player and supply of DVDs, ample supply of coffee both instant and ground, tea bags, sugar, drinking chocolate, and a large bowl of fresh fruit. The large bathroom had a whirlpool bath.
We met with John and Helen on the first night (Kathie's brother and his partner) and spent most of the next two days with them visiting the sights of Cornwall and eating copious amounts of food.
Sunday saw us making the seven hour trip to Settle where we found our lovely park home safe and sound, ending our journey.
We had filled our car with diesel in Torrevieja and Santander and if we hadn't been to Cornwall it would have got us all the way to Yorkshire on two fills.