Central Torrevieja

... after mile of netting which hides a variety of fruits and vegetables; this coupled with an industrial backdrop makes for a rather uninspiring journey. We arrive at La Manga at around 3.30pm, pitch tent and go and say hi to Annabelle´s parents, whose caravan is a 2min walk away. Bill cracks open locally produced 15.5% rioja from the bodega (at Euro 1.60 per litre..) and commence a night of catching up, fun and games. The " highlight " of our ...

The day as finally arrived to begin our 6 month break, away from the damp, wet climate of Mid Wales. The plan is to drive from here to Portsmouth to catch the Pride of Bilbao ferry bound for Bilbao, a journey that takes about 36 hours. The only part to worry about is the crossing across the ...

Well would you believe it? I've been working for the last 2 days. A friend of Dave's who I met a couple of weeks ago needed a Brickie to build a couple of pillars. So, I dusted off the old trowel. It's been a long time but you never lose it.

Amanda is back tonight. I'm picking her up at Alicante Airport at about 11.30pm. Lucy and me have really missed her and we are both looking forward to seeing her...Ahhh.

I got up nice and early and was outside the Bank at 8.30 when they opened. I explained the situation and they asked me for the fax receipt which I didn't have. After a lot of huffing and puffing by the cashier she went and got out my paper file. Low and behold there was the receipt that they neglected to give to me the last time. It was duly resent and this time I made sure I had both receipts...Memo to self...Make sure you ...

... the day! Here we go again..Manana, Manana, Manana!

No electric=no cooking so I went down to the Lo Dolses Centro Comercial to find a pub that cooks as I don't want to be in a Restaurant on my own. Found a Scottish bar that does food and thought I might be able to watch the Celtic and Hamburg game. Had a good night ended up watching the game with 2 Scottish Lads, Tony the owner and Matty from Glasgow as well as a couple from Hamburg. Good craic and a friendly bar.

We have been having a really lazy time for the past 10 days or so except for the cleaning and unpacking of course. Apart from a couple of bike rides into San Miguel one of the neighboring towns we haven't been far.

The weather has remained ...

Ano ther day. Still no sign of the electric being switched back on. Waited for the promised 24 hours and then called Iberadola again...OH NO!..They say they can't find any record of the payment...After a while it turns out that we have been given the wrong reference number to quote on the fax...AGHHH!.. Now that's been established we ask "How long before we're back on?"... "Within 24 hours" came the now ...

... We couldn't offer them a cold beer because of the electric issue...So, we made do with a couple of bottles of red and and a culinary feast of Burgers from Che takeaway...sitting out on the Balcony by candle light...Well a battery lantern but candle light sounds so much more cosy.

Hopefully we'll be re-connected tomorrow.