l'Ampolla

This morning we woke up bright and early. Today was going to be moving day and by 8:30am the bed was away and Wanda was beginning to look like she was going somewhere.
Tidying up I took the chance to disinfect all hard surfaces, the worktops, cupboards, all latches, the mirrors and even the habitation door handles. We are definitely done with feeling like crap from Covid.
Just after 9am we were ready for lift off and Ellie watched me back up to the water and waste area so I didn’t drive over the crazy cat lady’s cats, once we had refilled with fresh and emptied the grey we were away. Glad to see the back of Roquettes unfortunately, but knowing that it is a nearby safe haven for utilities if we keep getting this hazy sunshine.
We had set our goals low and decided not to push ourselves to hard on the first day of being back in the road and headed for another Park4night spot deep in the Ebredelta about 20 miles away.
Driving there was a complete contrast to anything we have driven in through any of our other countries. Rice fields lay either side of us and huge tractors with caterpillar wheels on the back and huge studs in the front were working them, spraying up muddied water as they ploughed through. All manors of water birds were just sitting out in the open, egret’s, Herons, Ibises, Cormorants, kingfishers and various buntings aswell as hawks gliding above the rice paddies. It was a spectacular sight and looked like something from Asia rather than Catalonian Spain.
TomTom took us down various single track roads with nothing but water and rice grass either side of us and it was a little scary as there would have been no chance of turning around had it been a wrong road, but once again TomTom Camper done us proud and got us to the spot without incident.
It was a beautiful little park up spot right on the edge of the bay down a gravel track where the Ebre river meets the sea and it was unbelievably quiet.
We sat there for about an hour, had lunch of the magic Wanda toasties, watched the fish jumping out of the sea. Watched some huge crabs right on the edge of the bay underneath our window’s scuttling across the rocky sea shore and watched the kingfishers coming and going. Then I opened a window and we watched the Mosquitoes flock straight to the fly screen. It was like a challenge had been offered to them. I quickly decided to close the window again but to do that I had to release the fly screen and within seconds a handful of mosquitoes were in. First challenge dealt with all they had to do now was bite one of us.
Slapping the walls and ceilings and clapping our hands together we must have looked like a right pair of retards if anyone saw us but we did get them all. Then we sprayed ourselves up with jungle spray.
We took the bikes off the back, locked Wanda up and then decided to head further down the gravel track we had come in on to see if we could reach the next town.
It was a lovely leisurely ride and within 30 minutes we had reached the beach town of Ampalla. It looked like a nice town, probably because it was so quiet. We both thought it must be heaving in the summer with it’s huge high rise hotels. It looked like mini Benidorm from where we had parked Wanda and luckily the bike path ran out at the Marina which is the posh end with all the expensive fish restaurants so we definitely only saw the best bit but we were glad we ventured in nonetheless.
We got back to Wanda about 3:30pm. Inside she was stuffy with no air and despite opening 1 roof hatch with the best fly screen it was still to hot and we decided we weren’t going to be able to sleep here after all. Especially once we started cooking dinner.
El Perello was next on our list to go to and this has been my major destination. I’ve researched this place, the town planners are all hikers and bikers and they’ve developed 500 miles of trails for people to explore complete with a website, facts about the trails and GPX coordinates to download to your mobile device. The only problem I did find was a lack of car parks as every single trail except for 2 all start from the town centre.
We managed to find 1 motorhome park up down by the beach with mixed reviews. It’s 5km from the main town but we figured we go there and then check the town parking situation tomorrow, so we took the 30 minute, 12 mile drive to the beach at El Perello.
The park4night app stated that this place can hold up to 60 motorhomes. Do not stay for longer than 24 hours, don’t have chairs and tables outside of your motorhome, and keep the area clean.
Obviously no one is enforcing the ground rules as when we pulled up there must be atleast 20 other motorhomers already here and although the grounds are tidy these guys look like they are staying for a while. Every single one has tables and chairs out of the motorhome, some even have surf boards and motorbikes on the ground next to there vehicles. Some vehicles even have trailers with cars on that are bigger than Wanda. We feel very unequipped.
We found a fairly level spot next to an elderly Dutch couple and there’s no one on the spot in front of us so we thought we would have a nice quiet night. It’s now 5pm and except for the cluttering of dishes and cooking utensils the place is remarkably quiet.
After dinner, just as it got dark at 8pm I closed all the blinds and we settled in for the night. That’s when the fun started.
As we watched Netflix the music on the TV didn’t really correspond to what was happening so I paused the TV and we realised it was coming from outside. Yes, the Vampires had woken up and they were playing the Bongo drums right outside our front window. Not only that they had also set up 2 tables and 8 chairs and one of the freaks also had a guitar.
There’s only one thing worse than bongos and that’s chanting and that’s what started next only in Swedish. One of them was tapping away on the drums, then he would say a word and all the others would repeat it. This went on for about 20 minutes and then when that ritual had finished mr guitar started.
It is remarkable how selfish other people can be when there were, by now another 30 motorhomes here and by 10pm we’re all looking to turn in for the night and these arseholes are out there drinking, laughing and playing instruments and to top it off now they have a barking dog.
Finally at 11:30pm they shut up, I really hope they are not here tomorrow.Read more