Jones

We bit off a little more than I could chew today. Our intention was perhaps to get to Tarifa but the long motorway slog was getting the better of me by about Seville with another two hours to go. We stopped briefly in a weird lorry park cum hotel sent forward in time from the 1980s for diesel and a replan.

Luckily for our planning, there are only three decent camping spots AT ALL between Seville and Morocco: Tarifa, Gelves Aire and Cañada de Real Olive Grove. We decided on the Olive grove and stopped in El Corte Inglés just off the motorway in Seville to stock up. Lots of good stuff including some octopus and a secreto to smuggle into Morocco, some smoked sardines and our first Iberico ham!

Back at Jones, Jane’s checked in on P4N to see if there was an update on Cañada de Real Olive Grove. There was! It had been removed. Fully gone and, if they ever had a web site, that had gone too. Plan B: Gelves Aire. Everyone loves Gelves Aire, I’m not 100% sure why because we’ve never managed to get in. Today was no exception. At €30/night they must be raking it in. Obviously we can’t judge but it looks only OK and Gelves itself is similarly just OK 🤷

So plan C which wasn’t really part of the plan because there are no other good camping spots in the whole of this part of spain. We’re at the Coria Del Rio free aire. It’s a nice enough flat area next to the river. There’s a dog walk which flynn loved right next door but, the facilities would be sub standard in the worst parts of Morocco. Still, it’s free and there are NO OTHER OPTIONS in this part of Spain.

Dinner was stuff from El Corte Inglés so delicious. We had steak tartare which initially shocked Jane with the amount of preservatives but it turned out they were just in the little biscuits that came free in the box. Jones’ little oven also cooked a mean oven chip – although not in the advertised 35 minutes.

Just before dinner some spanish boys let fireworks off near the aire. Here’s Flynn’s reaction to that:

We’re not sure if it’s because he’s scared of fireworks or he thinks it’s gunshot and he has to get out and retrieve the dead birds. Whatever the reason, it’s loud. We thought about going and asking the Spanish boys to stop letting fireworks off but Jane listened some more then said: “there are Germans here, they’ll do it.” As she spoke we heard doors open, slam and determined steps disappear over the car park. There were no more fireworks this evening.

Interesting footnote: El Corte Inglés is the largest department store chain in Europe and the third largest in the world. Take that John Lewis!