Water, Water & Birds Everywhere!

Thursday 22nd February 2018

We left Puçol early and arrived at the Camper Stop on the Ebro Delta
(N 40.6584, E 0.67539) by about  09h00. It was a very large flat gravel surface marked out in reasonable sized bays with easily enough space for about 50 Motorhomes. There was a service area which appeared to be run by a man in a shed who had refreshments and did bike hire, he charged €3 each use, whether you wanted all or just to empty the WC cassette, which some people found a bit odd and annoying but, as the whole area was basically a marshy conservation area, there was probably no main drainage and he no doubt had to pay for emptying the septic tank. The parking area was free and two thirds dedicated to motorhomes so we thought it was great and to make things even better we could get free Wi-Fi from the nearby restaurant with our booster areal, so probably one of the best places we had stayed so far.

We were soon parked up, sorted out and out for a walk. The whole area is at sea level so lovely flat walking with very little traffic. We soon came upon this Bird Watching tower which was great fun with a circular seat at just the right height, great for viewing the water birds. We were immediately treated to a view of the guy below which we think from the notice board nearby, was a Common Bittern. We’re not experts so stand to be corrected if we have the name wrong.

 

There were loads of Flamingos which again the sign identified as the Greater Flamingo which in the water were pink and gracefully wading in quite deep water with their heads under feeding. Suddenly one took flight and we were treated to the spectacle in the picture at the top. The underneath of their wings were jet black with the incredibly bright orange/red leading corner, so beautiful and graceful.

We walked each day enjoying the fresh air beautiful surroundings and endless numbers of birds who, like us, have found that it is nice and comfortable to over winter on the Iberian peninsular.

We stayed for five nights there and enjoyed every minute meeting up with a very nice couple Morris & Kate from Scotland in a small transit van who we shared drinks with one evening.

Unfortunately it rained constantly on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday until about 18H30 when the battery alarm suddenly went off. Oh dear it could have waited till tomorrow but as at Lagos three days without much sun to top up the batteries can be a problem, this van is a bit power hungry. So even though it was raining we packed up and left unfortunately driving across the tiny roads through the marshes in the dark. There is a fairly new bridge across the river Ebro now which saves a very long drive to the bridge at Amposta. When we were looking in the Park4night app we saw another Camper Aire in Deltebre (N 40.7255, E 0.72156), so we headed there just to get a bit of power into the batteries to get through the night with heating if we needed it. Although it was raining heavily the Aire looked good with a tarmac surface and free water and dumping which is certainly worth remembering when we are heading south another year. There is also a supermarket and a Lidl to stock up before a week on the Delta.

Wednesday 28th February 2018

We set off early from Deltebre because we had a long drive mostly on just national roads rather than motorways. We were heading for Figueras where there is a very good buffet restaurant called Wok-U (N 42.26354, E 2.97831)which has a large car park opposite, very good to stay the night after waddling the few yards after an “All you can eat” buffet.

Next day was shopping in Lidl then La Jonquera to stock up on incredibly cheap meat for the summer barbeques, then we spent the afternoon visiting various motorbike shops in Perpignan to see if we could find a small scooter to carry in the large garage in Jemima.

Rather than bashing all the way home we decided to stop at what used to be an Aire de Camping Car but has closed. But there are two large parking areas for trucks to stop overnight then a couple of other areas behind the now closed Wine Cave “Fitou Cru” (N 42.95789, E 2.98469). We were glad for the little bit of shelter behind the buildings because the wind buffeted us all night.

We visited a few more motorbike shops in Narbonne but still didn’t find what we are looking for and arrived home about lunch time, which gave us time to open up the house get the fire lit and mostly empty the motorhome.

Well, what a great winter, away 65 nights and mainly sunny days, 3,907 km travelled and an average fuel consumption of 23.4 MPG. Also we managed to wear our shorts for quite a lot of the time. We have met some really nice people some of whom we have mentioned as we have gone along especially Mags & Shirley who we had some really good times with and to the Bumbles blog for some of the places we have visited.

Thanks for reading and we hope you have enjoyed riding along with us. We hope you like the new blog which Steve spent time building at Lagos. Thanks for subscribing and for your comments.

We will be spending the Summer in France then setting off again at the end of August. We are hoping to head North to Scandinavia.

Sorry, we have been home for two weeks and have only just got round to finishing this tour’s blog.

Till next time…..

 

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