Cartegena to Pilar de Horadada

29th November

30 Miles.

The sprawl of mass tourism stretches north from Cartagena for 150 km or more, taking in the long strip of land on the seaward side of the lagoon-like Mar Menor, onwards past Benidorm, Xavia and the coast to the north of Valencia. We just have to accept that between now and next Friday, when we fly back to the UK, we will be camped in regimented sites designed to meet the needs of the long stay retirees.

On the way we called in at the shopping mall at La Zenia, which is one of southern Spain's biggest. It's a cross between Cité Europe and a McArthur Glen outlet mall like Cheshire Oaks. Having spent most of the last two months living cheaply and shopping at Lidl or small local supermarkets to be faced with full-on retail therapy on Black Friday (yes it's reached Spain too!) was somewhat overwhelming. The original idea was to buy some small Xmas presents, but once you had factored-in that we can't take liquids, anything sharp, bulky or heavy in our carry-on bags, then we seemed stuck for what to buy. Clothes were a possibility, but since the shops were the usual suspects - H&M, Zara, Mango... then we might as well wait till we get back home.

Christmas tree - Spanish style

Couches provided for those in (retail) therapy.

Black Friday, the Hispanic version 

Instead I bought myself a couple of swimming related items from Decathlon, a pair of swimming shorts which will dry quicker than the cotton 'beach shorts' I have at the moment. There was a good deal on Tri-suits - the lightweight wetsuits used in triathlon which enable you to swim in water down to 16 degrees. Justifying the purchase as an early Xmas present I bought one. Wearing it, I do resemble a giant tadpole, but it will extend where and when I can swim, and at the age of 59 I'm passed caring if I look ridiculous - being 59 is ridiculous in itself.

Next we headed to the big Alcampo hypermarket - the same chain as Auchan in France, As well as food shopping we bought an electric orange juicer and a 3 kg. bag of oranges. We have been coveting one of these ever since we spotted German motorhomes with large string bags of oranges hung from the awning. Freshly squeezed orange juice at breakfast, that seems another 'little pleasure' we can add to our idyllic existence, a foil to 'beer o'clock' at five.

We were going to have lunch at the mall, but by the time we had finished at the hypermarket we both felt tired, I still think we are recovering from the virus we've been suffering from. So we headed straight to the campsite, parked up, stuck in some laundry in, then had lunch in the van.

That was yesterday. Today jt's chilly and pouring with rain. It looks set-in for the day. This is the first really rainy day we've had for weeks. Practice for next Friday I suppose