Wednesday, 28 February 2018

Seville

We arrive near to Seville and settle in at the Hidalgo Motorhome dealership some 20km from the city and go in to recharge mode again
(If it has a battery on board it gets charged)


The weather is just dandy so we Max it to the centre of the city and go on familiar manoeuvres
Hotel Alphonso Xlll provides the backdrop here


The very familiar Parque de Maria Luisa






Waiting patiently for those oh so necessary tapa



The evening is spent wandering the old part of town, people watching from various bars and touring those shops that the girls love so much...
Not a power drill or rotivator in sight!


Next morning we make ready for the off and service the van only to find that we have a warning light blazing away on the dash....
'Check Engine' it states...
Yep its there!
Alas the last time this raised its head was a few years ago which signalled the end of life for the turbo
Our collective hearts sank...

Thankfully we were close to a Fiat Professional garage that we'd used on several occasions before and having had the diagnostics done that day the computer said.."New differential pressure sensor required"
So thats the whole of tomorrow set aside then for a return trip to the garage in Seville
Great service I suppose but not what we wanted TBH


On our 'down time' next day ambling the district near the garage we saw this Kenworth beast


With this unlucky client attached
Ours seemed a minor issue at this stage


Here's the electronic plastic thingy
Only €417.00 fitted...Bugger!

With the light extinguished finally we lick our wounds and head for Portugal..




Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Chipiona/Rota

Just a short drive up the coast lies Chipiona & Rota
We service the van at a Repsol garage (with listed facilities) in Sanlucar and park up with quite a few other vans, mainly Spanish, in a car park near the marina in Chipiona
We've seen this site many times before and knowing Alphonso's site in Sanlucar would be either full or very busy we opted for three nights here this year

With Max as our steed and a very long promenade to walk we had all bases covered
To top that the weather was bang on!


We arrive on day 1 of the Chipiona Carnaval
That explains all the Spanish vans then...


We are soon off to our favourite seafront bar and enjoying a huge brandy and obligatory coffees
Only our Chums missing....



Chippy lighthouse in all its glory


Probably eighth on the property wish list but Nina wants it anyway



We were treated to a fine sunset, that and every night




Boots on and off we go next day (via the cafe of course)











The afternoon was spent amongst the heaving populous in the crammed side streets of Chippy enjoying the festivities






The theme here we guessed was 'Post Surgery Blues' but they still sang about their 'Cosmetic' woes


We tumbled in to this bar with surely the loudest music we'd heard in years..


We also got mobbed by Javes and his chums from Seville on our way back to the van who insisted on buying us beers 


A sobering ride next day to Sanlucar and a visit to the town square for those oh so tasty 'Tortilla de Gambas'



The late afternoon was spent further south in Rota where, can you believe it, yet another Carnaval was in full swing



Take off and landing may be an issue here...


Her face haunts me..
Defo a Cher looky-likey



Very 'Dastardly'




We wake up to fog on the last morning so go get provisions from downtown Chippy
These oranges are gonna hurt when they fall off..

Guess where next!
Yep....Sevilla!