Travels in the Van 2023: Week 6

Saturday 18th - 23rd February: Granada 

This little campsite in La Zubia outside Granada, is 61 years old. It’s tiny and an oasis of peace and calm. Particularly the little terrace by the swimming pool, which is out of use over the winter season, but the perfect place to do my daily routine of a short workout and yoga practice, and a place to come to think and write. This is the first campsite where we’ve been in a section with little vans like ours which is fun. It's like a little street in the neighbourhood. We’re greeted by friendly youngsters who look like they’re doing up a van and some other friends of theirs, who make it feel a little like a festival campsite, in a nice way. They’re playing music through a speaker and have a little table with crochet items and jewellery for sale. What seemed a good idea during the day drove me mad at 11pm when the bass beat thudded through the campsite. After a quiet word at the office the following night was quieter. 

We spend 5 night’s here, the company is friendly and there’s a top rated restaurant at the entrance, where we get the first lesson in the free tapas culture here. Basically, you order a drink and it’s accompanied by a small dish, you order another and something else arrives. The complication arises if you actually want to order a meal. In a restaurant where you’ve booked a table it’s not so much of a conundrum. But out cycling, you can’t guarantee that if you order a beer you’ll get a small plate of paella like all the other customers, which would be plenty, and there is no right answer it seems to the question “do you want something to eat?”. I had to look it up in the end and it’s totally random and discretionary!

This is the longest we’ve been at any one campsite and Granada is spectacular. We’ve been cycling up in the Sierra Nevada, just below snowline, and up and down the city streets, finding our way to recommended bars and restaurants and the areas that are must-see. We decide to take advantage of a free walking tour too.We’ve done this before in Cape Town, and found it a great experience. You book it and then at the end you pay what you think it was worth. They get rave reviews and are nice and relaxed, and you get to talk to other visitors to the city, from all over the world at the same time. 

We alternate the days, a day in the city, a day in the surrounding countryside. Some routes are on tracks some on quiet mountain roads. We’re steeped in history and nature. One route takes us out on the Sacromente Way past the cave dwellings and on a track through olive trees and fords that must have been there for centuries. We climb a rough track along a ridge and can imagine the armies approaching Granada during the The Reconquista. It’s a tough ride and ends with a steep downhill on gravel - not my forte, but I’ve learnt to get off and walk and not give myself a hard time about it. Beer in a bar soon revitalises the body and spirit. The gentle sweeps and curves of the tarmac road back to the city in the sun are worth it.  

We save the Alhambra till the last day. I complained a bit when Rich chose the first time slot available, which meant getting up at 6:30 and cycling in the dark to arrive on time. It was the right thing to do. The only people already there at that hour are the people staying in the Parador, the Government run Historic hotels - a bit like National Trust properties you can stay in I suppose, which in the Alhambra is booked up months if not years in advance. It’s good to get in before the crowds and we marvel at the peace and elegance of the courtyards and spaces. The sound of running water and the combination of the art & engineering, creates a series of breathtaking views. 

You can see the Alhambra from numerous ‘miradors’ in the city from different angles, and then the city in every direction from the ramparts - stunning. 

Our Plans

In Portimão an idea seeded and has taken root about the weeks ahead. At the end of this 8 week period, instead of driving home, we’re going to leave the van in north east Spain, fly home for a month to do the things we need to do and see people we need to see, and then return for the last leg of the journey back. Calculations have been pondered, environmental weighing-up - flying v driving, cost etc. and the decisions made. That means France and maybe a bit of Italy on the return journey. We’ll have late spring & summer at home where we like it.

26th February: Sierra Nevada

We leave Granada and the lovely little campsite for the hills again. This time we’re parking at Orgiva, for a 20 mile uphill and 20 mile back ‘out and back’ ride followed by a night high in a mountain campsite. We have a parking place in mind, but Thursday is market day - in the carpark and all over town it seems. We do eventually park and in a flash of genius or premonition I run to buy some hot roast chicken for later. The ride is hard, it’s 20 miles and  4000ft (1454m) up. This is the limit of my Gravel e-bike battery capacity if I keep it on the lowest assist level. When the battery runs out it’s very heavy, heavier than Richard’s non e-bike. It was sunny in Orgiva but chillier the higher we go. We’re just on the right side of having enough layers, and the freewheeling down is great. We’re both wiped out back at the van and have a couple of hours drive ahead. We scoff the hot chicken and head off into the mountains. It’s beautiful; switchbacks and beautiful landscapes. As the sun goes down and the landscape changes to volcanic crags and narrower roads it’s more foreboding. By the time we reach the campsite which is almost deserted, the only other visitor a motorcyclist in a tent, there’s a Bates Motel feel, despite the really nice campsite manager. The weather forecast for the next few days is horrid and the temperature up here dropping fast. Sunny Granada and the little campsite seem a long way away. The showers are hot though and we think ahead to reinstate the extra blanket, jumpers and socks for the night ahead.

Morning comes, it’s cold but sunny. What seemed threatening the night before is now breathtaking Almond plantations and terraced landscape in the morning light. This place would be idillic when busy and warm in the summer. I do 20 minutes of restorative yoga and all is right with the world again. The Campsite manager gives us good advice and suggestions for our day’s journey (we’re running away from bad weather again). The route up and down is going to be a memorable highlight. It’s the ultimate Road trip; an empty road, stunning scenery and a playlist of Pachelbel, Motzart, Holst, Vaughan-Williams and Wagner. Spain, we’re reminded again, is vast and beautiful.

Driving doesn’t really equate as a rest day, but the only cycling we do is to take a look at a Game of Thrones film location in the desert where there are also tourist Wild West film-sets, which we avoid.

Late afternoon we arrive in paradise - La Granja de Carmella, a joyous little campsite in a lemon and orange farm, where children are playing, there are a dozen vans and a little honesty shop full of home made produce. The flock of what I thought were pigeons flying on the breeze turn out to be multi-coloured parakeets. Hortensia welcomes us warmly and we take up the offer of communal supper tomorrow night. As I'm writing this the sound of gentle music is on the wind, not a guitar...it's a girl in a van across the camp playing a hand-pan and there's a faint scent of orange blossom.

Nature Table

I’ve been hoarding a ‘Nature table’ treasure - this is it so far.