Day 13 — San Juan Festival

The morning started with a drama, I went to get my wash bag to clean my teeth & couldn’t find it anywhere. We turned both the tent and the car upside down to no avail. I then popped up to the campsite reception & had a stupid conversation with 2 blokes who didn’t speak a word of English. Luckily the owner, Ellie, seemed to understand what I had lost & returned with my missing wash bag. Evidently, I had left it by the washing up sinks the previous evening after having a shower. That will teach me to try and multitask!!

After another morning on the beach, we headed up for our usual beers on the verandah, but horror of horrors, Geoff & Veronica were sat in OUR seats. And to make matters worse, Geoff even acknowledged that they were sat in our seats. The bloody cheek of it!

We had our usual couple of ice cold beers, a portion of chips & complimentary ham & cheese croquettes, whilst we put the world to rights with G & V.

After another afternoon in the sun, we retired early for the big event, the San Juan Festival. Throughout Spain, the summer solstice is celebrated on the 23rd June every year, known as the San Juan Festival, with big fires blazing on the beaches. To celebrate, the campsite was putting on a free buffet for the campers & a requisite fire.

At 8.15pm, we joined Gillingham G & V on the campsite veranda. We ordered a large beer each & Jackie went off in search of the free buffet. She came back with a plate of chicken & sausages for me & a plate of mussels & fried sardines for herself. An absolutely fantastic spread & all the more tastier because it was free. Between the four of us we bought & consumed four bottles of red wine.

Around 11pm, the staff asked us to go out to the car park where a small fire was ablaze. We were given a hot toddies (or two) and we stood around the fire. A few people including the manageress, Ellie, jumped or stepped over the fire, maybe it’s the tradition. The highlight was one half-wit jumped over the fire, but somehow managed to sit back down into it, then jumped up frantically patting his backside.

That should have concluded the evening, but G & V invited us back to their super plush motor home for more red wine. We, probably Jackie, was being loud and raucous, because sometime around midnight a Spanish man in the neighbouring motor home poked his head out of the window & told us to “Shut up “. We continued drinking until 12.45am apparently, I don’t actually remember getting home to bed.

It had been a very enjoyable evening & a good laugh with G & V.

Songs of the Day : Honour the Fire by Killing Joke.
Sometime Around Midnight by Airborne Toxic Event.Read more