The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

No wonder people can't find the place!

Yesterday, we drove from Cadiz to Chipiona...only about 56 kms (35 miles) up the coast, but we had to drive inland in order to do it. That's okay, because we got to drive across the new La Pepa bridge. I say new, but it actually opened in September of 2015.

Other than the bridge, it was an uneventful drive. Until we went to find our campground. Then it was a little more interesting!

We were surprised that there was hardly any traffic.

Heading over the new bridge.

At the top.

Scenery along the way. The area is known for it's sherry production.

If fact, the popular Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry is bottled in the distinctive blue bottle in Bristol, England. However the product itself is made here in this area of Spain. Strangely, we have not seen it on the shelves here, although many local brands of sherry are readily available.

We arrived in the town of Chipiona. Very quiet at this time of year, but in summer it's a popular seaside town. We had read that a new aire (motorhome parking area) had been opened this past fall, so we made our way over to the marina to check it out.

The aire was empty, and it didn't take long to see why. It's totally automated, with a computerized payment system. But it's very confusing, even though the system language can be changed to English. And, we couldn't find anywhere to dump the toilet cassette, and that was one of our necessities. Also, they wanted €12.33 (huh? what's up with the .33?) for parking, and another €3.00 to use the automated water system. Then, if you should choose, another €0.50 an hour to plug into electric.

Very pricey for what you get. On top of that, it looks like the marina parking lot allows you to stay for free at this time of year. 

The new automated aire at Chipiona.

We parked in the marina and went for a walk to check things out. I had read that they have a laundromat there, and sure enough we found the one washer and one dryer. Another motorhome couple from Germany were using it, but they were already done with the washer, so we went and got a load to put in. At €3 to wash, and €2 to dry, it's the cheapest laundry we've found yet.

While Ruth watched the laundry, I went for a walk to check out a campground I had read about that was 1.5 kms away. It looked easy to walk to because you could walk along a cycling path to get there. But not so easy to drive to!

Only one other rig there, a fairly new one from Germany. I found the caretaker of the place. Friendly guy, and he told me it was €14 ($20.30 CAD, $15 USD) for the night including electric, wifi, bathrooms, and hot showers. He also explained the route to be able to drive here.

With the laundry finished, we had a quick lunch and then drove to the campground.

Yep, this is the road! No wonder the place is near empty.
Good thing they trimmed the trees back!

It gets a little better here.

We have arrived! GPS 36.748224, -6.412533

Louis, parked up for two nights.

The internet works quite well, and we're right on the bicycle path that runs between Chipiona and Sanlucar. So we're going to spend two nights here. Unfortunately, it seems that the neighbouring property runs a generator or pump of some kind in the evenings, and we can't stand generator noise. Oh well. It was shut off about 11:00pm. Otherwise, slept well until the roosters started.

So, we're going to take the bikes off for the first time and do a ride into Sanlucar. Tomorrow, we meet up with Glen and Steve again and we'll convoy up to the city of Seville.

Yesterday's drive, 56 kms (35 miles).

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Funny stuff you can find on Amazon. How about a lion wig for your dog??





10 comments:

  1. If Paul would see that first part of the road, he would have turned around.
    .33 is such a random number. We were on a highway in Florida, and if you went in the one lane, it cost .03 and the other lane .07. We had and still have no idea what that is all about. Strange!

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    1. These RV units over here are a little more narrow than the ones at home so we were able to squeeze down that lane. Not sure we would have been able to do it if they hadn't cut the trees back though.

      We can't figure out that .33 either, just doesn't make sense.

      Delete
  2. Ar least you found the campground, enjoy your time there.

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  3. Very interesting campground road but looks like a nice area. Enjoy your stay!

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    Replies
    1. It's not a bad campground but a little out of the way and quite hidden.

      Delete
  4. Louis looks happy there. Looking forward to reading about Seville...

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    Replies
    1. He seemed ok with the place but is looking to move further on up the road. We are looking forward to seeing Seville ourselves.

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  5. We tried that same aires and gave up trying to figure it out! At the time they did have free parking in a field by the beach, but friends told us they closed it off in Dec. We ended up going down some wierd little roads to get to another campground. Looks different from where you are though. We're in Marrakech now - 30 days and we are allowed back in the EU 👍

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    Replies
    1. Yep, that aire just wasn't for us! I wonder how many people actually stay there? Kevin couldn't find any other campground in the area so not sure if it was the same one or not.

      Looks like you are enjoying your time in Morocco though. You will have seen way more than what we will see in just the two weeks or so that we will have there.

      Delete

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