Spanish Winters

And why not, the climate in the South and East Spain, especially by the coast is temperate, high teens, low twenties, sun shines, and it’s T shirt weather mostly, unless you’re Spanish or long term , in which case it’s vest , shirt, jumper and a hoodie.

So, what do you do for three or four months, whilst the relatives, friends and acquaintances back in the UK are freezing their nuts off. Well the first thing to do is phone them, message them, hound them, let them know what a great time you’re having, how the T shirt is a bit too warm today, and how endless sunbathing is getting boring. You will soon be left with just relatives to call, and only the ones financially dependent or in your will, respond. You then have to expand your friendship group, get some new friends on Facebook, chat to fellow over-winterers, become lifelong friends after a couple of hours, or maybe a couple of beers, and generally slow down the pace of life.

A favourite overwintering expression is “What are you going to do today” answer is, “Faaulk awl”. However, the days need to be filled somehow. One thing a day is good, Monday we’ll take a trip to the hardware store, Tuesday we’ll go to the Supermarket next door to the hardware store, Wednesday we’ll take a rest from shopping Thursday is clean T shirt day, Friday is the day before the Weekend, Saturday and Sunday are the Weekend and before you know it – it’s hardware store day again.

A caravan does have impart responsibilities and jobs. Clean water needs fetching, although a long hose will make that easier, the waste water and toilet cassette need emptying – Hint two trips where one would do make the day pass quicker. Maintenance is required, living in a balsa wood box means care must be taken of fittings, there’s always room for an extra plug/ gadget/saucepan/low wattage heater/ a lower table, a fridge thermometer etc. No wonder we visit the hardware shop so often. We even borrowed a ladder and cleaned the caravan roof once. Gas needs changing once a month, another highlight, only surpassed by washdays.

I did mention the book “Rewilding yourself” in another page on this site. It has a whole chapter on sitting still, and I am as good at that as I am doing nothing. This does bring nature to the pitch, admittedly not a lot, once you’ve sat for a whole day, noticed the ring necked doves, wagtails, sparrows, and the  two blackbirds which are always there, but having a camera handy means you might get nature photographer of the year. We did have a visit from a cicadia once, that was a fun morning.

But where there’s good there’s evil, light there’s darkness, and where there’s beer there’s more beer, much more beer; and lots of wine to drink after the beer.  Alcohol and sweets seem to take up a good portion of the supermarket shelves, (That’s Tuesday to us). We leave the sweets, but do admit to sampling some of the alcohol, in fact quite a lot of it. There are two reasons for this, the second I’ll come on to later, but the first is the price. We were buying large cans of beer for around 70 eurocents, bottles of highly addictive and very drinkable red wine at 2€ 40  (Gun’nor from Mercadona) and the odd nightcap by the very reasonable 4 to 5 € per bottle. Alcohol does seem to feature heavily in Spanish winters.

So, armed with four beers, and a couple of bottles of Guv’nor we would go to visit our new found campsite buddies, they would open a packet of nibbles and we would sit on their site and chat as if we had known each other since birth, maybe throw the odd Spanish word in to remind us how lucky we were, and pass the afternoon away, until sunset at 6. Yes, that’s the problem with overwintering, get up, get ready, get beers and get drunk.  Stagger back, clean teeth decide never to do that again, go to bed, wake up, remember it was fun afternoon, and get ready to hit the repeat button. It does take its toll. But what the heck, sun’s shining, it’s a much healthier lifestyle than those people back home, who don’t answer our calls anymore, cooped up in some miserable winter storm in the UK, and waiting for spring.

Well actually it’s not that healthy, its downright dangerous! We have met some on our travels that have succumbed to this easy lifestyle, but as time passes loose even their new friends and end up drinking alone, sometimes for breakfast.

Salut, until tomorrow…

Staying alive…

We’re not the most active of couples, but we do have a dog. Stella to be precise, our chocolate lab. She’s so easy to travel with, just curls up and sleeps most of the time, but loves walks, balls and biscuits. This helps get me up, she needs a first thing walk, which creates a bit of a routine. Since she walks close, never venturing off, it’s easy to take the camera, and indulge in some bird or nature shots, provided the said subjects don’t see her coming. Last thing at nights are a delight for Stella as scents become more acute, and she runs around sniffing every trail, possibly made by a vole or a  mouse and occasionally finding a hedgehog to sit and bark  at. We had wild boar around the site one night.

Beach walks are also good for the liver, except inevitably there’s always a  beach bar open somewhere. When you’re used to paying 2 and a half Euros for a beer on the campsite, the prices do restrict your intake and lack of loos along the Plage do similar. Stella is allowed on the beach so enjoys this part of the day, swimming and chasing the ball along the sand.

We also carry bikes, Steve’s is lightweight, and maybe good for a 30 to 40k ride. Blanche’s has a shopping basket on the front, and can just make it to the campsite shops and bars, but we’re waiting for a slightly more cycle friendly campsite to be able to really put it through its paces.

Hobbies are good too. Steve, without a musical bone in his body is trying to play the guitar, Blanche is  learning Spanish, neither are 10 minute jobs, both involve lots of sitting around and concentration, and gives each one some space.

Good food helps, we both cook, so majority of our intake is homemade, non-fattening, and salad lunches keep the weight down’ish.

A lot of our Spanish overwintering does involve the booze, and a lot of it does involve trying to avoid it as well, no lunchtime drinking is a must, (well a nearly-must) as is sourcing some lower alcohol beer, Spanish tends to be 5 or 6 degrees, strong enough to be dangerous.

But having said all of the above we came to relax for a few months  get some sun and meet new friends – job done !

PS – Special hello to anyone financially dependent and or/in my will, who read his far.