On the road again: November into December

The winter months are now upon us and considering this is the rainy season we have got off fairly lightly.

Yes we’ve had the unusually heavy downpours last week but the rains have been mostly interspersed with some quite hot sunny days.

The Animation team have now got their act together and are putting on quite a few events like Archery which Kay excelled in by hitting the target twice (she said she just imagined my face on the bulls eye) which was far better than I or any of the others did.

We have both enjoyed the Spa and have done some swimming.

We have visited the nearby town of Almoradi to visit the market there which is quite large and typically Spanish. The trees in the main square in front of the church were amazing in how they had been trained the tops are cylindrical which look amazing see photo below.

Market at Almoradi

Trees at Almoradi

We have now got a cycling group organised that ventures out every Wednesday (if the weathers fine that is) and we have already done our first foray into the local area.

I have been instrumental in going out on my own to reconnoitre the area and discovering as many of the, off the beaten tracks that I can find.

Last Wednesday we cycled through the tiny village of Casicas a one horse village of only two streets down some winding Camino roads (service roads) through the cultivated fields out to a nearby town of Sant Isidro. Here if we wish to, we can get a train into Alacanti for just €4.70 return with free car parking to boot.

We cycled out of the town and down alongside the railway line towards Elche and past the building works for the new High speed rail link, to yet another small hamlet called El Realenco.

Where we stopped off at the Ricio a Bodega for a coffee and to refill our 2 litre Vino Tinto bottles for €2.40, then returned via Sant felip Neri to the Marjal Site.

Cycle group

We had a BBQ event put on by the management this week for €3 each which sadly was a total flop. The caterer’s idea of a BBQ amounted to greasy offerings that defied recognition; at least the beer was good.

We have been joining in the usual Brits abroad games like Cribbage nights and Poker nights to bide the time and last night we won the quiz night. Not that we wanted to, as the winners have to set the quiz for the following week.

We had some strange visitors that literally fell out of the blue as a group of power gliders swooped low over the camp site. They waved to the children who gathered bellow amazed at there Arial acrobatics.

Power Gliders

Down he comes

and gives us a wave

Today Kay and I felt adventurous and set out once more on our cycles this time to the town of Callosa which nestles at the base of the Serra de Callossa a huge 572 meter high mountain that is part of the Serra de Orihuela range. There are three towns that sit at the base of this mountain Callosa, Cox and Redovan one day I hope to cycle through all three.