THE RAIN IN SPAIN

Hola,

Our trip down was failrly uneventful except to say that our overnight stop near Tours (where we arrived exactly 2 minutes before they shut for the night) suggested that this is somewhere we would stay a bit longer on the way home. It is on the Loire with cycle tracks along the river into the City and to chateaux along the banks.
Whilst the UK may have had the coldest March ever, Spain has had its' wettest. Seville was sunny and warm one minute and tipping it down the next. A lovely city and one we last visited about 30 years ago! Some great architecture some Moorish and old, some more modern but often beautifully tiled.

We succeeded in meeting our friends from Australia, Gaby and James, who some of you will know and proceeded to have a typically long Spanish lunch followed by a lazy afternoon wandering the streets stopping for the occasional Tinto de Verano.

It was Semana Santa which means a crazy week of religious processions. Gaby and James had literally been trapped within the processions the day before which last from 2pm - 3am and could not break through the cordon to get back to their hotel. The Monday was very busy with the same processions but not quite as hectic as Sunday.

These processions are organised by all of Seville's 50 brotherhoods who march from their local church to the Cathedral. There are up to 5000 in each brotherhood (sometimes including women) and they all wear these rather sinister Ku Klux Klan type costumes with only small eyeholes. Given that this means nearly 250,000 in the procession it is not surprising it takes so long. There are different coloured costumes depending where the brotherhood originates. Some carry various Christian sculptures, some carry crosses and apparently the most penitent go barefoot. I saw a couple in several pairs of thick socks but none barefoot. I guess penitence is a bit out of fashion.
Finally, we drove down to our campsite close to Conil de Frontera.

We are about a 15 minute walk to the sea and the same into town. It seems a bustling place so we will explore during the week. Tomorrow we are off to a local bull run. Apparently only 2 tourists were killed last year so chances are that you will still be hearing from us next week.
Adios
J & P

A NEW JOURNEY

 

Hi Everybody, First an apology. I sent a generic e-mail to my contact list including people who may have no interest. So please either ignore or read at your discretion. Thanks to all those who have wished us well. We tried our van a few weeks ago andn it had a dead battery. AA fixed it and sold us a solar charger which seems to have done the trick even in Manchester! So we went for a short test  run to the Cotswolds - Moreton-in-Marsh - pictures below before returning home.

Home meant a few days packing and a visit to the Band on the Wall in Manchester which I know a good few of you will remember (or maybe not) fondly. We saw the Magic Band who performed an awesome 2 hour set. Drumbo Jones - first picture and Rocket Morten - second picture remain from the Beefheart original line-up.

Then off to Canterbury to stay for a couple of nights before the ferry. This the closest we could get to the Cathedral due to new Archbish and jobsworth in the car park wold not let me take photo from

the best position next to his kiosk.

So Thursday we left for Calais. We stopped the first night near Tours, then St Jean de Luz; Saturday night in Salamanca and today arrived atr a campsite just outside Seville in the hope we can meet our Australian friends Gaby and James who are here today and tomorrow before flying back. Understand the weather turned even worse just after we left so hope everybody is coping ok. More news and perhaps sunnier pictures next week.

 

Adios

J&P