2019/20 Winter Tour and Xmas Stopover. Castelnaudary in France to Majal Costa Blanca in Spain

Sunday 10th - Friday 15th 2019 -  Mostly 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
Sunday 10th Mileage 135 from Castelnaudary to Roses in Spain
Parking Co-ordinates 42.26879, 3.15573
Monday 11th Mileage 149 from Roses to Cubelles
Parking Co-ordinates 41.20154, 1.66492
Tuesday 12th Mileage 163 from Cubelles to Parking area between Benicassim and Grao
Parking Co-ordinates 40.00025, 0.02902
Wednesday 13th Mileage 161 from Parking at Grao to Marjal Costa Blanca
Parking Co-ordinates 38.18085, -0.8119

First the better part of this story!  Sunday marked our day for  saying 'Goodbye' to France and 'Hello' to Spain, and after quite a rough night of absolutely torrential rain that kept us awake until about 2am the lovely warm sunshine greeted us more or less as soon as we crossed the border!

Once more our journey was along minor roads as we headed through the last part of rural France but the rolling acres were packed full of Autumn coloured vines, and when they gave way we found ourselves in a deep gorge that ended with a magnificent view of the snow capped Pyrenees.  We certainly got to see some lovely parts of France that we'd have missed if we'd used the motorways, but along with that, our bones were well and truly rattled by the very bumpy roads that seem to be a feature of many French villages - rough as a badger's a--e within them, and then smooth as a baby's bum once you left them behind😂😂😂!

Our first stop was at Roses, and once again that's a place we've been many times before, but when we arrived all we had time for was a longish walk along it's lovely seafront prom.

Someone even made us a sandcastle!

Then Tuesday didn't turn out so well, and it only got MUCH worse as the day (and the night) went along.  First our drive was less than desirable! All 163 miles of it was along motorway where we couldn't find a single place to stop for a cuppa, and then trying to get to our planned parking place proved to be impossible!  In our itinerary we'd identified an accepted 'wild camp' sea front spot in the town of Cunit, and as we'd visited it last year (on our bikes) when we stopped at Villa Nova Park we thought it would suit us very well - but that was before Mrs Snoopy (sat nav) got involved!

The sea front where we'd have liked to stop for the night

She sent us down narrow streets and under a bridge (3.1 metres) where T4rdis2 had to duck - but  worse still, she asked us to negotiate a railway bridge that was only 2.4 metres high so there was no way we could go that way!   After that it was more narrow roads where our big bus really shouldn't have been, and along with that 'our' tempers became quite frayed because by now the 2 passengers had become very hungry indeed!   We pulled over a couple of times to try and find our way but all to no avail, so in the end we had no choice but to give in and pick another place which was a proper Camper Stop in the nearby town of Cubelles.

Mistakenly we thought this would be quite safe because after we'd coughed up €20 for a two night stay the owner explained that the site gate and the pedestrian gate would be locked overnight and the whole site was protected by a 5 foot high fence. 

However, at 3am in the morning I was awoken from a restless slumber by a strange noise😨 and as I looked down the van I thought 'that front window looks a bit strange',  but I thought no more of it and shut my eyes again - but only to open them a few seconds later and see the figure of a man rooting about in our belongings.

At that moment in time John was still asleep (because he's quite deaf) but I leaped out of bed screeching expletives and impolitely asking him to leave (get out, f__k off you B_____d, get out) while at the same time running towards him at speed!  Luckily he very quickly did as I'd asked but not before he'd managed to snatch my handbag which mostly contained money and bank cards.  Obviously, by this time John had woken and wondered what on earth was the matter with me to make such a din in the middle of the night,  but when the intruder had gone we were both very upset and distressed by the event, and on the spur of the moment we more or less decided we wanted to go 'home'.

It would seem that he got in via the driver's side door by passing a wire between the seal and the glass of the window and pulling up the bar that operates the lock mechanism, thus no damage was done to the door and the operation was completed very quietly.  However, John has always said 'I can hear a gnat fart at 40 paces' and on this occasion it was a good job I did because I think our loses could have been substantially worse if our intruder hadn't been disturbed .

Obviously, at that point there was no way we could go back to sleep and we still had the important task of cancelling my cards which we did immediately, and that was very timely because we later learnt that attempts had been made to use them just 1 hour later.  Additionally, along with the loss of the cards and the money my purse also contained our spare habitation door key so there was no way we could stay put for our second night - possibly more due to fear that he may come back and could easily get in than any likelihood that he actually would.

Later, after a sleepless few hours we considered contacting the police but as we wouldn't be able to make any insurance claim (we haven't got a house so therefore we haven't got contents insurance and a claim on the van insurance would have resulted in our no claims bonus being reduced) we decided just to move on and get as far away as possible, and that was our next stopping place at a huge Aire near Benicassim.  It's truly beautiful there because it's right opposite the rolling Mediterranean sea, but in the end we didn't go out at all because we'd still got quite a few phone calls and on line things to sort out.  One of them was my driving licence which was probably the most  important document that was lost, and I'm just praying that it would have just got chucked away and that it doesn't fall into any wrong hands, but I may only know that in the weeks to come!

Now, when we think about what happened and analyse the incident in the cold light of day it isn't really the losses or inconvenience that upsets us, it's more the invasion of our home and privacy, and the ease with which he got in!  The second part is fairly easy to rectify by beefing up our security but I think it might be a long time before I can get the image of the intruder standing at the front of the van out of my mind's eye, and also I keep replaying what might have happened if he'd turned and threatened me instead of running away.

One of the main questions that we keep asking ourselves now is 'should we give up and settle down to a more 'normal' life style', but that would be letting the evil little scrote win! Furthermore, there are always a few bad people wherever you are, but our travels have taught us that there are always far more generous, helpful and welcoming folk, so we feel all we can do is to reduce our vulnerability as much as possible and carry on doing what ever makes us happiest!  Therefore, for the time being at least, we plan to carry on with our 'journey' and see how we feel in a few months time.

And in that respect our confidence has been aided a bit because we've finally reached (on Wednesday 13th) our destination which is Marjal Costa Blanca Camp Site and we'll be staying here for the next 9 weeks and enjoying the company of friends from the last couple of years and possibly some new ones as well!

Thursday 14th November 2019  ☁☁☁☁☂☁☁☁

Today we've concentrated on resting and settling into our new temporary home, and also improving our security so that hopefully we'll never have to re-experience any similar episode as the one above.  Unfortunately, I think it's fair to say that we're still both feeling quite unsettled but hopefully time will help that to fade and then we can get on with enjoying our time here.

I'll let you know next time!
Bye for now 😗😗