Morella

The sun is shining and the sea is blue…this is more like it!

Off we head southwards following the coastal road for a while in to Spain. The day is spent just cruising the superb Spanish highways to eventually rest up at a favourite spot on a vineyard we used in spring last year

The view from the van at Avinyonet del Penedès

Our first taste of Rioja this trip, an Aldi special that exceeded our €4.00 expectations..

This guy came a sniffin' next morning and his reward was a length of last night's Toulouse sausage

A couple of days later we make the trip in to the hills to visit Morella

We'd heard they'd had snow here last week and there's still some of the stuff left to remind us of home

All is tranquil with a mild breeze but cold

Off we trundle in to town spotting this geology teacher's dream on the way

I see this as art, probably quite foolishly too..

Dusk arrives and we are treated to a beautiful panorama of the town

Then later the castle lights go on and the scene is complete..

It was after this it all got quite twitchy as the wind really got up, gale force I estimated, and we spent the night rocking and rolling with very little sleep

Next day we head gingerly down to the coast and continue our route southwards

After a night at -3 C its nice to be in the high teens again

The deserted sea front at Gandia

Given that we were short on sleep the other day this tasty treat knocked up by Chefette Nina has us worried that we'll be up again all night tonight

Should prawns smell this much before they are cooked?

Hey Ho, in 12 hours we'll know if they were off!