Lynton and Lynmouth

 10/4/26 3 nights 90 miles

So I apologise (why am I apologising? It”s only me that’s going to read this anyway in my old age), so sorry Graham if I’m confusing you, the posts are not in chronological order. You see, I wasn’t going to write these any more but then I thought it might be good to look back so I made notes on paper but didn’t transcribe the paper to the computer in the right order and I can’t figure out how to change them on the blog thing.

So next up is Lynton and Lynmouth. I wanted to go for the Valley of the Rocks. I’m not alone. It is stunning (hope I got a photo). 

We stayed at the Camping and Caravanning Club. you know, the friendly one. It wasn’t good value to be honest. Evidently there was a problem and the shower block burnt down a couple of years ago. Still not fixed but still charging full price….hmmm.

Anyway, we swallowed the rip off and stayed with our good friends from Dorset, Sean and Sandy, and had a lovely, lovely walk.

Head out of the campsite to the left, down to the town and buy a couple of pasties (I remember I was quite insistent on that point), then follow signs through the woods to The Valley of the Rocks. Follow the trail through, down through spectacular rocky scenery (stopping to eat your pastie obv), up past the modern day monastery/retreat and back to the campsite. Lovely walk.

Zoom in on the first photo and tell me that’s not lovely.

Combe Martin

1/10/25 2 nights 100 miles

So this is a try-out really in the spanking new van. Just picked it/her up from Hull of all places (we used to live in Beverley, 12 miles from ‘Ull ) but now live in Mid Devon, so it was a long trip to pick it up. If we’d have bought it a couple of years ago it would have been 15 mins on the train. The attraction was the discount, I won’t lie. I think they made 37 quid on the sale.

Jordans are what we used to call in the IT sector, box shifters. Pile high, sell lots. After sales suppor is not their strong point. Christ. The effort I had to go to get a couple of cheap things replaced which were broken - but then again I did get it cheap, but really, these bits were broken!

Anyway, the van was everything our previous 2013 Vantage was, but more up to date; automatic, Euro 6, lovely wrap round lounge. No more creaky or less well built in my opinion, and with some features which make you stop and think, yes, nice touch. However, I will still soon be embarking on a full soundproofing and rattle suppressing exercise.

So to Combe Martin. The pull was the intriguingly named “Great Hangman” and “Little Hangman” viewspots, or “miradors” in Spanish if you will. Well the walk was very good, challenging for some, as was the campsite (not challenging, good) along with the nice pub in the village, (the Dolphin I think) and the company with our good friends from Sandford, Charlie and Di was excellent.

26 May 26 - Slapton Sands

Slapton Sands

27/5/26 3 nights 105 miles.

Oops. We did what you are forbidden to do: drive through the very narrow village. You are suppose to drive round to the campsite from the sea, we came from inland but got away with it. Very, very narrow and extremely annoying for everyone. Sorry everyone, we are really not bad people.

We had basically a walk along Slapton Sands which is an abandoned road - great for getting your kids on a bike with no traffic, and there is a walk around the lake behind.

We didn’t know what to expect but Slapton Sands should definitely renamed as Slapton Pebbles, THERE IS NO SAND!

What there is, is an old American Sherman tank, left as a memorial to the US soldiers who lost their life on a training exercise for D Day landings in 1943. A very moving experience.

I must mention our dinner at the pub further up the hill, the Tower Inn was superb outdoor cooking. Pass by the others and eat here if you can. (French Chef - meat on the rare side, delicious but maybe not for children).

Graham’s Mother Passed Away

With the passing of my Mother on 4 November 24 aged 95 we are no longer fully posting on the blog as it was meant primarily for her to follow us when we were away. Instead we are using this as a simple diary to record our usage in our NEW van, an Autotrail V-line 610 sport. 

Although we did enjoy looking back at the pictures so the blog may become a repository for photos to remind us of our active days in our advancing old age(s).

The Autotrail is pretty much the same layout as the original Vantage but updated to be automatic, a bit more power, onboard gas tanks, Euro 6, solar, etc and with more modern features. About £20k less than a new Vantage Sol we already feel at home in her. (Or it, or him, we haven’t decided yet) but definitely a modern version of Rex and very much nicer to drive.

Week 5 - Prepare for Home

Mon 26 th Feb .

Rain today so a lazy day with the usual dog walk, and back via Competa and the supermarket for supplies. We are starting to eat the remaining contents of the freezer ready for our departure on Thurs. A nothing day ……

Tues 27th Feb.

Very cold in the night - had to stoke up the log fire yesterday evening furiously!  We had originally thought we would not use up our truck load of logs we had delivered but looks like we’ ll have to raid the owners supply as we are nearly running out!

We set off on the familiar dog walk (can’t be bothered to get in the car and wind our way down to the autoroute - that can wait til Thursday)

We were surprised to see a covering of snow on the hills above Canillas - it must have been cold last night!

Sunny in the afternoon so spent time on the terrace relishing our last couple of days of sunshine.

Weds 28 th Feb.

It was extremely windy in the night and despite this Graham and Millie set off on a hill walk whilst Carol commenced the cleaning ready for departure.

Halfway up the climb I began to think this was a bad idea with the wind gust howling through the rocks and stubby trees but carried on. There were places where I crouched down for fear of being blown away. At the top following the track round the hills it alternated between being sheltered when in the lee and then full blast when we (Millie and I) were exposed. Millie oblivious but delighted the wind was blowing cones around for her to chase. Meanwhile I had nightmare visions of a dog being swept up in the air. Scary!

We carried on like this. At one point the track was blocked by a fallen burnt pine tree and we waited for a lull before negotiating a way round. There are many burnt trees up here that I’ve seen on all the walks. Not deliberate to provide a scorched earth policy I don’t think. I was glad when we descended into the safety of the forest and eventually the levadas and easy walk back.

After a hearty brunch of eat-ups the wind had completely gone.

Thurs 29 th Feb - Happy Leap Year.

And so the end is near as we make our final journey…..

A 5 hour drive to Pinto a suburb south of Madrid.

Snow on the mountains en route via Granada.

Passing miles and miles of olive groves as far as the eye can see…if you want to know what driving through southern Spain is like, it’s like driving through 200 miles of olive trees planted in a mixture of concrete and dried mud.

Through many tunnels through the hills

Pinto was a nice place to spend a night, even though Graham got accosted by the cops waiting outside the hotel. I don’t know whether it was the British plates or the illegal parking that got their attention. However they were nice enough and practised their English and even gave us a cheery wave  when they spotted us later as we were circling endlessly looking for a parking place. Fortunately the boutique hotel didn't have the advertised restaurant as we found an excellent local but dog friendly bar/ restaurant near a park and enjoyed a pleasant meal and beer. Millie being a hit with the locals. Early to bed  … on to St Jean de Luz tomorrow.

Fri 1st March. White Rabbits!

Another 5 hours, the terrain changing from flat and boring to more mountains as we head into the Pays Basque. We set off with a temperature outside at 9 degrees which was chillier than we’ve been used to, and when we got out the car for our lunch stop it was 0.5 degrees - very much a shock to the system. Carol had to change out of her trusty Crocs and put socks and boots on!

The terrain changing ..

Passing further snow capped mountains and over the border to France.

We are staying a couple of nights in the fishing village of St Jean de Luz just south of Biarritz, at the traditional sounding Grand Hotel de la Poste. 

And a fine old place it is with a grand staircase and lovely reception rooms. The room is far larger than our budget one in Pinto and we all approve !  Especially as it has a bath - the first bath for 4 weeks … and Carol loves a bath.. Luxury!

After freshening up we headed into town for a meal in a recommended Bistro … and so to bed.

Sat 2nd March.

A day off travelling and time to explore … this is not the quaint fishing village we anticipated but larger and more touristy - lots of fashionable boutiques and many many ham shops….

This one had a queue winding along the street whilst the one opposite was empty -  must be the place to get that very special ham. 

We had a wander around the rather grand looking market hall.

A tasty display of goats cheeses caught Carol’s eye.

And on to the grande plage…

On which dogs are banned … but we sneaked on anyway ….. “ They don't mean us Graham”

Back through the quaint streets  which have a definite Basque vibe.

 

We bought some chocs from this shop called Paries. On the way back a woman approached Carol and asked “ Ou est Paris” - strange thing to ask she thought “ Pardon je suis anglaise” she responded. The woman pointed to the bag containing the chocs - Oh ou est Paries !  Sounded just like the northern capital to Carol but mystery solved.

And Graham couldn’t resist some regional patés and wine as presents for our friends in Surgères who are putting us up.

Sun 3rd March.

Today we headed on to Surgères in Charente Maritime where we once had a holiday home. We will stay a couple of nights with some friends John and Judith that we knew when we had our house in France before heading on to St Malo on Tues 5th to catch the ferry home.

Mon 4th March

Today Millie had an appointment with the local vet for her pre return worming treatment. John kindly accompanied us to translate any bits we couldn’t communicate. Staff and vet were amazed at the amount of paperwork involved in the progress.  Millie was placed on an examination stand where after a brief examination the vet placed a large dog treat and smaller tablet. Millie after a suspicious look ate the treat and predictably  rejected the tablet. Graham then managed to help Millie swallow the poison (ie. Force it down her throat). We held our breath as the vet navigated the paperwork and duly signed and stamped the appropriate section. And being a French vet he could help himself and had to produce a couple of extra certificates and copy prescription to add to the stash of officious paperwork.

Thereby followed another leisurely restaurant lunch as a reward for all of our patience.

Tues 5th Mar

Before heading back to the ferry port we have one last visit to see our ex neighbour Chrystine. She is an eccentric fun lady with a rather mad dog Krakot and a few adopted semi-wild stray cats. She treated us to sweet aperitif wine and homemade gougères whilst filling us in with the local gossip …. at least that’s what we thought she did  as she doesn’t speak much English and our French is decidedly rusty. It was lovely to see her again as we also swapped news of our respective families.

And we also found time for a brief visit to the supermarket Leclerc to buy a few bottles of wine to take home…

 

Later after a nervous wait for the dog paperwork being closely examined and a brief look at our passports we embarked the ferry as our French/Spanish trip ended.

Reflections.

Would we do this again …..damn yes we would! We think we would like to do similar next year as a winter avoidance strategy.

Would we rent a villa high in the hills …. damn no we won’t !…well not so far up as Carol’s knackered knees would definitely give up the ghost, and Graham’s nerves were shot after the many trips up and down the windy narrow roads.

We look forward to researching our next adventure come Autumn….. Watch this  space …..

Postscript.

Graham’s found a way to include a video in the blog without signing up for Youtube. However, you probably don’t want to scroll back and see them so we’ve put a links to it here too.

Carnival at Competa

 

Week 4 . Competa continued with a visit from Philippa

Sat 17th Feb.

We spent the morning doing the usual Canillas walk and later in the afternoon Graham went off to Malaga airport to pick up Philippa. Carol stayed behind to prepare/clean for her arrival.

The reception Millie gave Philippa as she arrived was to be seen to be believed - we caught the ecstatic performance on video but sadly we can only show it in the blog from Youtube and we don’t have an account (and don’t really want one). Suffice to say the squirming went on for a full four minutes - we feel definitely like second fiddles!

Sun 18th Feb.

The usual late morning routine walk and then on to the central square for lunch. It was heaving but we managed to find a sunny table and enjoyed a tapas lunch. 

Feeling like being naughty and having a dessert - Carol decided to order the assortment of desserts at €10 which we could share. Expecting a selection of mini puds like an assiette of desserts we know from France, the waiter staggered to the table with an enormous platter on which were 6 full size portions of, Creme Caramel, Strawberry Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Brownie and Apple cake surrounded by cream and fruit and chocolate sauce. We managed to finish off the Cheesecake and Creme Caramel and thankfully they packaged up the rest for us to take home to enjoy over the next few days. All for €10 euros !! 

We slowly walked back up the hill to the villa and collapsed on the terrace until our tummies recovered.

 We can see the appeal of folk spending the winter months out here and enjoying treating themselves whilst saving the heating bills at home.

Mon 19th Feb.

Today is a day  dedicated to Millie’s pleasure. We are seeking out the Doggie beach at Torre del Mar which we're informed even has a doggie 

agility course and doggie showers.

Torre del Mar is a what you would describe as a typical tourist resort you would expect Brits on a budget to come to. We drove by rows and rows of tall towers of apartments in search of said beach. It didn't give off the  most sophisticated of vibes but as we parked up and walked along the beaches passing bars and restaurants we could see the appeal.

Finally finding the beach of doggie pleasure - much time was spent throwing a ball to Millie as she tore around the beach, splashing through the sea to do her favourite thing in the world - chasing balls and pebbles.

Come on Dad don’t walk away!

We tried to entice her into the agility area and she did manage a scramble over some of the apparatus on the promise of a treat or 2 -  even managing to do the doggie see saw but she wasn't overly impressed with the beach and sea winking at her over the fence.

The doggie agility course.

We took a video of her noble attempts but sadly we cant work out how to transfer to the blog ..

Finally she was tired out…

 and we retired to a rather lovely beach bar with a sea view and sunny outlook for another lunch.

After a quick shop en route home we headed back with a satisfied Millie peering longingly back in the direction of the beach of delights….

Tues 20th Feb.

Philippa is getting bored with our chilled routines …today she and Graham took off for a more challenging hike in the surrounding hills.

Carol stayed at the villa and after a little light cleaning, spent time doing research into home decoration by reading the expert tomes of House Beautiful and Ideal Homes.

Luckily using an iphone app we found a walk we could do right from our villa. Just a small vertical scramble to a recognised hike - senda de Malaga gave us lovely views over the mountains to the coast. Hike No GR 249 if you are ever around these parts.

It was a really nice walk: hard scramble to test legs and lungs, gentle stroll with amazing views, cooling descent through pine trees and finally a picturesque walk along levadas - irrigation channels to bring what precious water has fallen in the mountains down to fertile soil at habitation levels. (Spain, and this area particularly is already under drought restrictions - in February! Hard to imagine after the winter we’ve had)

Back to the villa for a late lunch, a little sunbathing, reading, crossword, dinner.

Wed 21st Feb

Today we decide on a mixed day: show Philippa village shopping in Frigiliana, nice lunch in Nerja, and finally shopping top up. All these place are within a 10km radius.

Another beautiful village house in Frigiliana . 

After an hour or so of boutique browsing and village/ hill view admiring we headed for lunch in Nerja - taking Philippa to the beachside restaurant we enjoyed last week.

Another view of one of the beaches in Nerja

Then Philippa was feeling sorry for Millie having to be on a lead all the time, and having had to sit and look at a tempting non dog beach over lunch - persuaded us to stop off at the dog beach at Torrox Costa.

Again Millie was in doggie heaven chasing pebbles and the ball, cooling off frolicking in the sea.

 Graham appeared to be overcome with deep thoughts…

A quick top up shop and back for a cup of tea and later a sundowner overlooking anther glorious sunset.

Thurs 23rd Feb.

Awoke to a other sunny day ….as we look on to the garden from the terrace we have noticed fruit bearing trees …

  

 

Avocados! We thought they came from somewhere like South America, but apparently this area in the hills of the Axarquía from Malaga to Granada is a major producer of avocados.

After a leisurely start ( again!) Graham and Philippa set out for a walk with Millie to explore further the levadas they saw a couple of days ago, and interestingly although they were full of gushing water earlier this time they were bone dry.. Carol attempted to accompany them but turned back after a couple of mins as her knees were protesting and she didn't want to risk it. - Oh dear will have to lie in the sun idly passing the time of day til they return ….

This evening we braved leaving Millie in the villa whilst we walked down to a rather nice local restaurant. It had Greek vibes with blue furniture and white walls - the food was excellent more a la carte than we've been used to  .. a lovely evening with good food and welcoming service.  Would recommend!

  

A clean plate says it all!

Fri 23rd Nov

Another hiking day for Philippa and Graham - a longer one this time whilst Carol chose to walk down to the village for supplies and then cooking a lovely veggie moussaka for their return.

We started with the same near vertical scramble up rocks to get to the mirador (viewpoint) show in the previous walk, but instead of leveling out we kept climbing, up and up, round the next corner and then up again until we were 1,049m elevation. We than leveled out following an official trail with each view better than the last.

 

We started our descent with Millie leading the way.

We were basically going in a circle over the top and round the mountain to our East. On the other side we had great views of the mountains above Frigiliana called Cerro Tres Cruces (I think).

We could just make out Nerja in the distance with Frigiliana partly hidden by mountains

We passed a viewpoint with cars parked (Mirador Puerto del Collado) and followed the gravel road down to Competa, knees aching from the downward stretches. A challenging but rewarding hike. Graham’s watch showed 98 flights of stairs climbed. 76 in one hour - that’s like climbing the Post Office (now BT) Tower in London and down again twice in your lunch break!

Sat 24th Feb.

Today it is Carnival Day in Competa - the one the rather vague young lady in the tourist office failed to explain

Before we descended into the village we walked the usual dog walk to Canillas and then headed off for a late lunch in the square. As we ate a stage was being erected and after a short post lunch walk a band appeared dressed like the Flintstones as the  warm up act for the start of the event. Again recorded a short video but not able to put it on here - look forward to showing anyone who’s interested when we get home!

We settled down with a drink and watched the proceedings develop. There were no announcements but random groups of individuals and groups in fancy dress collected and danced around the square,  joined with enthusiastic bystanders in a conga ,eventually parading away … very random but entertaining!

A family of Minnie Mouses.

A random dinosaur.

A collection of beer bottles ..This brand Victoria is popular here made in Andalucia.

Apparently there are carnivals like this throughout this area of Spain, usually the weekend before or after Shrove Tuesday - an excuse to eat, drink, dance, dress up and have fun before the restrictions of Lent. After which there will be further excuse for more partying at Easter.

Here’s a little video to put you in the mood. 

Carnival at Competa

Then the hike back to the villa to watch on catch up Scotland convincingly beat England in the Rugby 6 nations.

Sun 25 th Feb.

Will include an extra day into this weeks musings as Philippa leaves us to return to Liverpool today.

Enroute to the Malage Airport we took the opportunity to revisit Torre del Mar , starting with a revisit to the Doggie Beach to tire Millie out  

before heading into the centre of the resort. Again our earlier impressions on our previous visit proved wrong as the place was enormous, with many shops, restaurants, bars etc and a massive promenade. The promenade was landscaped with planting, there were children’s play areas, 

and as we approached a rather grand bandstand there was a clapping crowd being entertained by a group of rather regal looking singers. Waiting behind were another group in different costumes … the last day of Carnival !

 

We wandered on choosing a seaview bar to take lunch ….yes again!

A good choice the food was delicious. Before we ate a cheeky parakeet decided to visit the table - perching on Philippa’s  hand.  Carol rushed to take a photo when it spotted the remains of the complimentary langoustines  - and swooped in to take a snack before being helped on its way by a sweep of a menu card.

Parakeet takes snack opportunity ruining the photo opportunity.

Both Philippa and Carol were so impressed with the size of Philippa’s salad bowl they had to take a snap.

This was the delicious goats cheese, apple and walnut salad bowl.

And so all good things come  to an end and we travelled on to the airport to bid farewell to Philippa.

Next week we leave the villa on Thurs and will travel back through Spain and on to France to catch the ferry in Brittany and  home.