Her Snow Birds on Finals to Spain

Tarragona-Playa y Fiesta

Our next stop was to meet up with our friends from Wiltshire, that were ‘old hands’ at traveling in a motor home around Europe and had been doing it for many years. We left Carcassonne in strong winds and were on the toll roads after filling up with LPG and heading towards Narbonne on the E80. We came up to some road works with concrete blocks either side so just one lane to use. We heard this loud noise from the roof and after some time we were able to pull into an Aire just off the road. We found one of the roof vents was flapping and had been cracked by the force of the wind. We also found the awning had started to unroll partially, which was amazing as it had been locked into place. Luckily Steve always puts double Velcro bands around the arms as he had heard of someone whose awning had come away as he was driving and had crashed into the side of a lorry. So Steve had to climb on the roof (in a massive gale), and fix the roof vent with some strong tape and also we  rerolled the awning and fixed it with long tie wraps as well which we will now do each time we travel just to be on the safe side. 

Steve on the roof fixing the awning

Through the Border to Spain

We drove through the Pyrenees and the trees were amazing, the scenery from the top of the hills looking down into the valleys, just stunning. A really delightful drive. The AP7 is a great road and so is the A7-it may cost to travel on these roads, but we think it is worth it. We found there are several camping sites all along the N340 and we had booked into Els Prats where are friends were also going. On checking the route the week before (as we always do now), we saw there was a tunnel into the camp with a railway over the top. On checking the height, we got 3 different measurements, 3.5 metres, 3.6 metres or 3.65 metres from the site, from a review and from a sign. It was obviously too close for comfort, so I rang 2 more sites but were told their maximum plots were 8.5 metres. I was fortunate to find one further along called Playa y Fiesta. Very friendly receptionist and I was told they had large plots so we had planned that into our route. We did notice that on this site-you actually went across the railways-so there were gates each side where you waited if a train was coming through-then the gates opened and you could go across.

Waaiting for a train to pass

Waiting for the barrier to lift

Going across the train tracks on the scooter

 That was quite interesting with Monty as it wasn’t exactly level-but I think we are quite good at packing securely now so all went well. We were told to choose a pitch we wanted and then let reception know the number. We chose an excellent pitch right close to the beach and got Monty into position between the trees, again watched by other campers. Great! Now we could relax here for 5 days!

Monty parked between the trees

Miami Platja & Cambrils

So nice to meet up with friends and spend time together.

Meeting up with our friends Angela & Eddie

 Their site was more modern and had a restaurant that was open sometimes (😉) and marked out pitches but quite small. The cost for them was double ours so we were very happy to have found this site. It had good showers, toilets, washing and drying machines, reception cooked fresh bread and croissants every day and they sold a few other items. The second day a tropical storm was forecast, and it rained hard the whole day-the tracks between our vehicles became rivers of mud running down into the sea. 

The 'river' between our vehicles

At least the rain has stopped!

A large motorhome opposite us, (which was also on jacks) had rain halfway up the wheels and he was closer to the sea. During a lull in the rain we walked a little way along the beach to see the damage and then the heavens opened and we got soaked! We ran back to our pitch and our poor scooter (Mike the bike), had blown over and the handle had gone through the picnic table and was bent into a curve.

Some of the evening we sat up watching the amazing lightening storm all around us. We had never seen such continuous lightening-as there was a power cut it was pitch black and the lightening just lit up the sky all around. The rain continued and I think Noah would have been pleased he had his Ark built if he had seen so much rain. Debris was all over the beach and some people had lost some of their belongings. Our friends on the other site had to move further up the camp as the sea was crashing over the sea wall and the café where we had sat the day before having coffee was totally covered in water. The rain just hammered on the roof the whole night. The next day the sun was shining with a bit of overcast and the clearing up process was starting. The power of nature is sometimes frightening but also awesome. 

Market Day & Wash Day!

Wash & Dry in One Day

The next day was a great drying day so I got on and did the washing ;)

We went into Cambils the following day on our scooters with our friends and walked around the market there. Very busy as always and a great variety of items and local fresh produce which always looks and tastes amazing! On to the Port to look at the boats and have lunch-very nice. You would not think we had such a terrible storm the day before.