John & Lin's Continuing Adventure in Their Caravan: Camping Monmar

Tuesday 29th January to Monday 4th February 2019 🌞🌞🌞 a lovely sunny start to the week but howling gales which increased in intensity each day until today when normal 🌞🌞🌞 service has been resumed.
Motorhome Miles 0 and 🚴🚴 miles about 54
Parking Co-ordinates 39.8085, -0.12743

Well, that's another week that has passed us by, and for us it's been a fairly quite one - that is 'quiet' if you don't count the howling, gusting 'Mistral' that lasted form Thursday night to early evening on Sunday! And it really did curtail the latter part of this weeks activities because it just wasn't safe to go out on our bikes, and in addition to that, 😴sleep😴 was somewhat elusive (especially on Saturday night) when it almost seemed as if the van would be picked up and whisked off never to be seen again! However, having said that we were lucky because we didn't have any damage at all unlike some of our neighbours who had been up and out in the early hours either holding onto their belongings or running up and down the campsite trying to recapture them.

But we did manage a couple of very pleasant outings earlier in the week! On Tuesday we nipped 32 miles there and back to the Port town of Sagunto where, along with our friends Jack and Liz, we indulged in a very tasty 3 course Chinese Meal, and on Thursday John and I visited the nearby walled town of Mascarell which can trace it's history back to before the 14th century.

The Walled Town of Mascarell which is surrounded by orange groves.

The town belongs to the municipality of Nules and these days only a few more than 200 people live within the walls that completely surround it, but on the day that we visited hardly any of them were in evidence! And if I'm honest it was a bit hard to be impressed because most of the narrow deserted Medieval streets looked in need of some extended TLC, and additionally, our exploration didn't take long because we could cycle between the two main gates within about 2 minutes.

The one suprising fact however, was the construction of the town walls that had been built using a 'cob technique' and the materials used were earth and straw. Although they had been unsympathetically restored in places, much of their length had survived over many hundreds of years, and additionally, on the interior aspect there were several shrines that were very obviously regularly cared for and loved.

We also learnt that Mascarell hosts regular large markets and also a Medieval Fair that reenacts the Medieval era and it's usually attended by 60,000+ visitors - it would be hard to know how they would all fit in !

More scrumped oranges

After that visit we headed back for a picnic lunch on the coast at Burriana, but because it was at that stage that the winds started to pick up, it was a wonder we didn't get a dousing of sea water as we scoffed our sarnies and watched the waves crashing up onto the sea defences in front of us!

So Friday turned out to be a very lazy day with just a bit of shopping and a walk along the wild sea front, but then the evening's quiz made our brains kick in - and we didn't do to bad cos out of 80 odd questions our team got 60 ish right and came second!

These are an example of some of the Dingbat section of the quiz
And just in case your puzzled I've put the answers at the bottom😕

On Saturday the weather was no better but in the evening we braved the sea front again and toddled out with Jack and Liz to enjoy a meal of pizza and ribs at a little Spanish bar, and not only was it delicious it was lovely to share it with a couple who have now become very good friends and who we will be meeting up with again next year!

But then on Sunday it was time for farewells! Jack and Liz were leaving on Monday morning for pastures new, but before they went we all got together for one last time in T4rdis2 and enjoyed an afternoon of nattering which was accompanied by cheesecake, wine and even a little cocktail of Tequila and Cointreau which has fast become one of our favourite tipples.

So that brings us all the way round to Monday - and I'm very glad to say that the weather has become much calmer! However, we still haven't done much today other than a bit of necessary housework, a bit of shopping and a bit of sitting out enjoying the sunshine. But John has a plan for the forthcoming week and a lot of it is quite energetic but I'll tell you about that next time 😂😂