On Friday 12^th March we checked into La Llosa campsite – Camping La Llosa – Cambrils (camping-lallosa.com) – for three nights’ which is adjacent to the town of Cambrils.  The campsite is compact, probably built in the 1960’s as it barely caters for today’s large travelling units, definitely not ours, an 8.5m caravan on the back of a 5.5m car.  The turnings were too narrow for our car towing the caravan, the plots barely big enough to park the caravan even at an angle.  However, the staff were wonderful, we knew what was open and what wasn’t and when and the location could not have been better. As you can see, with availability, we spread over a few pitches. Note the herb garden on the bonnet of the car.

We were a hop, skip and a jump from the beach which had a pedestrianised 10 minute walk to Cambrils and a dedicated cycle lane.  The walk along the beach was enjoyable, slightly blowy and we found Cambrils is wall to wall bars and restaurants as you would find in any typical Spanish sea-side resort.

The front faced moorings with yachts and all manner of sea faring vessels. I really liked this place as there wasn’t a single sign advertising English breakfasts anywhere, and it seemed traditionally Spanish. 

We found a bar, that wasn’t too crowded, and had the most delicious fresh seafood platter since we had arrived in Spain.  It was so good, we did it twice.

Nearby was an archaeological site of discovered remains of a Roman Villa, so of course we had to visit, especially as we were unable to stop at Merida.

Over the weekend I was disappointed that the non essential shops were closed, but I didn’t realise they were only closed for the weekend and open on Monday.

Time was too short on Monday as we had booked an 11am Antigen test, the morning of our departure of our 20 hour ferry from Barcelona, within 48 hours of arriving Civitavecchia.  The tests were quick and we made our way back to the campsite mixing as little as possible with others not to compromise our good health. All I can say is, thank goodness I am not a shopper. This town was full of shops, bars, restaurants and I can’t wait to go back when Covid is history and opening times aren’t restricted. Checking we had all the correct documentation, we packed up and departed for Barcelona.

As mentioned, the turns on the campsite paths were tight and despite a straight forward entrance arrival, exiting we had to unhitch the caravan in order to make the tight left turn out of the campsite.  Having negotiated that, despite failing batteries on our walkie talkies we reattached the caravan to the back of the car, did our usual safety checks and set off for Barcelona. 

La Llosa to Barcelona

It was a surprise that we had to drive into and through the centre of Barcelona, sometimes negotiating a roundabout twice as between our two sat navs we missed road signs.  Bearing in mind the length of our travelling home, Steve did really, really well.  Eventually arriving at the ferry port I couldn’t believe the lack of parking, space restrictions and waiting areas to board the ferry. Steve had done his homework on the required paperwork and check in went smoothly and quickly. On negotiating a tight turning area, we misjudged and caught the high up wing mirror of a parked lorry cab, at the same time knocking off our rearside roof light on the caravan.  How lucky were we not to have done any serious damage!  The cab driver was more than reasonable, we exchanged insurance details, took pictures of the evidence and then made our way to the ferry parking area. In eight years of caravanning it’s the only accident we’ve ever had and made us aware how much we have to protect and take care of our travelling home.  There’s no way if the caravan was damaged that we could fit the contents into our car, or replace the caravan with something similar including all of our modifications.

Allowed to board the Grimaldi Ferry around 9pm for the intended 10:10 sailing, which was not a drive on, drive off, Steve had to negotiate a turning circle and then back up our unit to a lorry behind us.  It was quite a long reverse distance to cover and I am so, so proud of my Steve.