12° at the apex (the rain in Spain - perceptions and facts).

Culturally the apex of the Sherry triangle has to be Jerez, though this does not really make sense either geographically or in terms of geometry, If you drew a line between the three towns the apex would have to be Sanlucar making this imaginary fortified wine land the 'Manzanilla Triangle. This doesn't have the right ring to it, though it would make a cool title for a thriller written in the style of Len Deighton.

In Jerez our thermometer only managed 12° This means the noonday temperature is actually lower than the 15° on the label of the bottle of Tio Pepe we have just bought. I realise that there is no actual connection between the two figures but somehow the coincidence illustrates why we are feeling disconsolate, it's chilly and what makes things worse it has been very wet.

Another rainy drive

It's raining, we are in Jerez, but stuck in the van...what else are you going to drink at lunch time?

Our impression is that this autumn"s trip has been considerably rainier than previous ones. Gill is never one to blindly accept a perception without subjecting it to a bit of 'fact-checking'. She makes a note of weather conditions in the diary she keeps. A quick analysis showed that since leaving Buxton in late September a third of days have had some rain. This seemed a high proportion to us. So Gill flipped back in her diary and did the same analysis for our trip to Corsica back in the spring. To our surprise the proportion of rainy days was almost exactly the same 

Why I think we perceive the weather at the moment as being particularly inclement has to do with other factors. Firstly the rain has been associated with a series of powerful Atlantic fronts resulting in downpours rather than the odd shower. The arrival of these powerful weather systems was usually preceded by a period of spectacular thundercloud formation, then a storm followed by a dizzily day or two. Consequently we have had more dull days than you would normally expect in the sunny south. This has coincided with the Autumn equinox, so days are shorter too, and even in the south of Europe the temperature begins to drop from the warmish twenties towards the tepid teens, pleasant enough, but not exactly sitting about weather.

In celebration of the current conditions Gill has started to post 'cloud of the day' on Instagram - this is today's contribution.

Right now we are holed-up in Jerez at an 'area caravanas' located in a motorhome dealers. It's a smart business proposition. The south of Spain brims with motorhomes from the the north all dropping to bits faster than their despairing owner can fix them, because that's what mohos do. La Morada del Sur on the northern outskirts of Jerez offers a paid for aire with basic facilities and free WiFi situated in a workshop with an attached accessory shop. The owner is very friendly, offering everyone a glass of sherry on arrival. No wonder he seems happy, the place was busy, a dozen or more vans parked for the night and a few more with foreign plates inside his big workshop awaiting repair. 

Our needs were small scale, a couple of interior light bulbs and a replacement bike cover, not Fiamma this time - we have had three of them in five years and the latest ripped within weeks of purchase. Our biggest small failure - the bathroom door catch - will have to wait until the van is back in the UK in March; it's a specialist Burstner bit. Until then it's duck tape to the rescue.

Our plan was to stay here two nights and visit the city. We have been before; Jerez is not one of Spain's most visually appealing places beyond the compact historical centre. It has an Arabic alcazar which we have not seen. Would it be worth wandering around in the rain we asked ourselves? Probably not, if it's going to be wet tomorrow we might as well make it a travelling day, we agreed. Hypermarket in Chiclana de la Frontera, then on to the nice site among the pines near Cape Trafalgar. The forecast is promising a return to blue skies. We live in hope.