Our grand tour of Southern Spain January/February 2023 January 16th Day One

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Our grand tour of southern Spain – January  February 2023

Should you take a Motorhome to Spain?

Day One January 16th

“I’m bored Mag. It’s wet, grey, miserable and cold! Let’s go to the south of Spain in Bryony. Pleasseee?”

So, we did! But not the way any sane, normal person would go. No! One of us gets very seasick and so refused to go across the Bay of Biscay on the Portsmouth to Santander ferry.

Which meant a long drive. A very looooong drive!

Right down through France!

Follow our journey on the subsequent blogposts as we head south, then down across northern Spain to Valencia. From here we tour westwards along the coast towards Malaga with occasional journeys in land to places like Tabernas, Guadix and Granada.

Will Spain be worth the long drive south? Will it be hot? Will campsites and Aires be easy to find? Is there plenty to do along the costa coastlines or is it all stag and hen do’s and kiss me quick hats?

Let’s find out across a series of blog posts!

 

But first, we have to get to Portsmouth!

We decide to take two days to reach Portsmouth. Load up on the morning of day one and drive part way; on day two visit some national trust places before turning up for the overnight ferry. Well, that’s the plan!

Day one starts with some disasters and miscalculations. The disaster? I reverse off the storage site with the wheel clamp still firmly attached to one of the rear wheels! The clunk tells me something is wrong and fortunately, having my wits about me, I stop immediately before damage can be maximised and then roll forward across the gravel slope a foot or so. I know straight away what’s happened. No damage to the strut, thank heavens; no damage to the wheel or the hub nuts. The clamp on the other hand – well it refuses to wind off until some brute force is applied. It is working but far more slowly than it did. (It is one of the Milenco ones which you twist on and off!)

Then we lose a quarter of a tank of freshwater on the way. I’ve forgotten to close the drain tap and only the cap prevents all the tank from draining out. Only whilst stopped for a coffee at Bridport Morrisons, did I notice the damp patch under Bryony! Ho Hum!

And the miscalculation? I still can’t work out how I got this so wrong. We’d planned for thirty-five days. I thought we had at least 50 days left out of the 180. Turns out I was wrong! We only had 36 days left.

 How? I know! How? I have no idea but from now on Maggie is responsible for all EU calculations!

Up the A38, over the noisy A30, and along the A35 we trundle; onto the A31 to reach Wimborne, our first overnight stop on this grand tour. A pleasant drive and as the sun sets, the landscape is tinted golden-amber honey. Very beautiful. And an astronomical bonus, we get to see Venus and Jupiter appearing in the dusk sky.

This is our first pub stop ever. The Horns Inn, just outside Wimborne. We are tucked away in the corner of the car park, on a slight slope but with no need for levelling ramps. We are going off grid! Nice pub, great food, warm welcome. Reasonable food prices. What’s not to like. We just phoned ahead the day before to book a space and a table in the restaurant. Found it on search4sites!

Its freezing cold. Outside the temperature has fallen to 0C. Our first really cold night ever in Bryony. We fire up the gas-powered boiler to get the hot air blowers on. The boiler throws a hissy fit making noises like a mini hurricane. The warm air duct vents haven’t opened for some reason – problem soon sorted. Heater on, warm air circulating and feeling toastie warm at 16C inside. We program it to come on regularly through the night so we don’t die of hypothermia. Meanwhile I decide it is time to test out the freshwater tank heater mats and so I switch them on in the control panel above the rear door. A precaution! I also open the waste water tap and put a bucket underneath as well. That should stop the waste tank from freezing up. Let’s hope the flush tank doesn’t freeze overnight!

Useful information:

Route: A38 – A30 – A35 – A31 – M27

Distance driven: 120 miles

Costs today - £60 fuel. Meals and drinks £25....

Overnight waiting stop: https://www.searchforsites.co.uk/marker.php?id=24444

Useful EU calculators: https://ec.europa.eu/assets/home/visa-calculator/calculator.htm?lang=en and https://www.visa-calculator.com/