Gardens Apartments Son Bou

... in the clifftop garison, once occupied by Franco´s soldiers during the Spanish Civil War. Dominating the clifftop are two huge cannons, with muzzles which are probably 12" across, big boys! Following our walk, we decide it´s time to catch some rays on the Med side of La Manga spit. Currently La Manga is pretty empty, but we can imagine it being absolutely overrun during the high season... Tomorrow is our last day here and we head to ...

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.

... a receipt.

I gave it half an hour before ringing the electric company at first they couldn't find it but then it appeared on the screen...How long? I ask...Within 24 hours, and its going to cost another 20 euros re-connection fee.

I've had to postpone the fitting of the Telephone and Internet due to the electricity situation until Monday...Manana, Manana, Manana.

Good news...reconnected at 10 to 6....Yippee!

... the air traffic from Alicante or Murcia.

So there I am playing with the remote control of my new toy when everything goes off! What's up? I check out the fuse box but everything is OK. Looking out of the window I can see the man from Iberadola driving off...I've been cut off again..AGHHH!

Phoned the electric company who tell me they have no record of the payment from 2 weeks ago so I need to go to the Bank and get them to re-send it but of course the Bank has just closed ...

... hot for the time of year we've enjoyed the cycling and always reward ourselves for our efforts with a nice cold beer before setting off back.

Amanda is going back to the UK today but she is back soon.

So it's Paddy no mates for the next 13 days!

... reply...Well this is Spain and everything happens Manana so what did we expect?

Another cold shower and ready to go out with the fading light...Amanda had to go to the hairdresser this afternoon as she could no longer stand not being able to do her hair!
We're going to treat ourselves to one of our favorite Restaurants "The Square" that should cheer us up...Well that's our excuse anyway.

Walking home, bathed in the after ...

Went down to the Bank to sort out the problem with the non-payment of electric Direct Debit.
The Bank faxed the payment through so we might get re-connected soon...Fingers Crossed.

Ah well...at least the weather is hot and sunny...We can sit in the sun while we wait for the electric.

Our friends, Kath and Dave who live at Torrevieja came over this ...

Well...those frogs can give the Spanish a lesson in motorway services...We awoke from our disrupted sleep, having managed to park next to a refrigerated lorry which started up every half hour throughout the night, ready for the last leg of our journey to Villa Martin.We decided to get a steel on the journey and catch breakfast in a couple of hours once we found somewhere a little better to eat at!

The van has started to ...

Our trip from the Costa del sol east to Alicante has been quite diverse in landscapes, from the very over developed southern beach resorts through dry mountainous desert areas covered in poly-tunnels growing crops for export, and back to very developed coastal towns/cities. To be honest we have grown tired ...