GUARDIMAR

 WILDLIFE AT GUARDIMAL

DITTO

Hola for the (probably) penultimate time.
We stayed a few more days in Roquetas before the lure of the road took over. All the sites we are visiting now have more the feel of a retirement home than a holiday destination and many people are resident for the winter if not all year. At the Roquetas site however we had a Luxembourgeoise accordion player on the next pitch which brought the average age down by quite some way. She was convalescing but regularly toured Spain playing in Irish bands.
She also came in handy with my punctured bike tyre. Having filled the wheel with foam we tried to use our pump to get it to the right pressure only succeeding in taking all the air out. However, our neighbour ever resourceful, adapted her accordion and with a couple of verses of "Danny Boy" the tyre was inflated!
So onwards to Guardimar, about 30km south of Alicante. When we bought our motorhome we were surprisingly advised against the bigger engine as we weren't in a hurry. True as this is, it is incredibly slow going up hills. By the time the second milk float roared passed we thought we should have opted for the 3 litre engine. Anyway, we finally arrived and the new site is one of the best we have stayed at. It has a bar, restaurant, supermarket, indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and gym. All are open and it only costs 15 Euros a night. The food in the restaurant is top notch. Baby eel salad followed by Arroz Negro, which is like a paella but the rice is cooked in squid ink. It is very tasty.
We are now able to use our bikes again and have been on several longish rides along the river into the town. The weather has generally been excellent but we had our first complete washout of a day with almost continuous heavy rain for 24 hours.
More news next week and Happy Birthdays to Jane and Troy (18!).
Adios
J&P

FINAL PICTURE OF GUARDIMAR WILDLIFE

p.s. just in case men in white coats do come for me, as Pauline has suggested, when we arrive back, I should point out that the accordionist story was true up to the Danny Boy bit. It was of course, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.