Starting a 12 month career break to go motorhoming

Day 62 8th March 2020

Bit of housekeeping done this morning, we went to the Benidorm Palace in the afternoon from
12 o'clock till 6pm for a charity event in aid of the dogs home at Benidorm, about 18 acts on stage ranging from Adele, Elton John, George Michael. bay city rollers, blues brothers a drag artists and a bmx stunt rider and many others what a brilliant afternoon we had and lots of money raised to help rescue dogs in the area.
I had fish and chips and Sue had Chicken and chips both very nice. A few pints and a couple bottles of vino helped the afternoon along. made it back to the camp bar for the live singer and some karaoke.


Sues favourite shop ALE HOP on the sea front




quick photo before it started


Day 63 9th of March 2020

Up late this morning with a sore head, no beer today, we went for a good walk when we finally came round and called at Rik and Nita's who made up a salad dinner, Rik forced me to have some Tia maria with my coffee it was only a small glass and then we just generally spoke with other friends on our row of the camp the rest of the day. Chicken wraps for tea in the van and going to watch a film later.
 
Day 64 10th of March 2020

Up early to go on bikes as we are going out with Rik and Nita later, only 10 miles done to lighthouse at Albir, I feel awfull, I have no strength in my legs and got stomach ache, we decided to turn back and head for home. sorry for the detail but I was as sick as a dog, we cancelled Rik and Nita and we stayed at the van all day, I couldn't even sit out in the lovely sunshine. its now 18.20hrs and I do feel a little better and I have managed some beans on toast, lets hope its just a bit of food poisoning and not the dreaded Corona Virus lol. Although I would be famous as the first person in Benidorm to get it. Just in-case I never update this again it was Sue who made my last meal lol.
 
Aww bless you, my No. 1 fan lol. a lot better today should be back to normal tomoz
 
Day 68 Saturday 14th March 2020

Well, I'm back from the dead, 48 hrs of illness now past, I'm eating and drinking as normal now, so I guess I'm ok again. We had a colemars pie dinner yesterday and then a Casi Pepes 4 coarse meal last night so I have an appetite again. 12 o'clock last night Benidorm technically closed, all the bars and restaurant's closed. Only food and chemist shops allowed to stay open.

We walked down to the beach this morning and the beach was cordoned off and police in attendance. still lots of people about. We went shopping in car to Mercadona it was heaving all tills open and 6 deep queuing.

Tropical bar closed



Yorkshire pride



Rock and roll bar





Oh no our favourite Chinese closed



These are open but quite










So its looks like we will be confined to the camp, spending time outside the van.

I can think of worse places to be stranded



We had brought the ferry crossing forward to next Thursday but that looks live a no go as the lockdown on travel starts tomoz. lots of different rumours flying about, its difficult to know what to believe.

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Keep well you two, our thoughts are with you
Vin&JoXX
 
I've stopped putting the number of days on now because its really dragging, its like sitting in the reception area of your hotel waiting for the bus to come to take you to the airport on your last day of your holiday only trouble is this has been for 3 day and another 3 to go. to add to the situation you have people on face book putting lots of incorrect info that is definitely true because it happened to their friend etc. like the French have closed there borders, Brittany ferries have cancelled all sailing from Spain. nobody can drive on road in Spain, my friend was turned back on his way to the ferry port. ALL not true.

I'm really annoyed because we were considering driving through Spain and France to Calais last Saturday but lots of people on camp were saying French boarder is closed even though I could not find anything on line. then one person says her friend has just been stopped at the French border and had to turn around and now cannot find a site to stop on as they have all stopped taking new bookings,

So I said to Sue we cannot risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere so we are waiting it out till our ferry next Thursday. A friend of ours has driven from Portugal through Spain to Roscoft in France and got on a boat to England with no problems. GRRRRRR

Anyway rant over, we have just packed the car up ready for Wednesday and we will be travelling to Bilbao all being well, for the ferry on Thursday and now its RAINING lol.
 
swidy said:
I've stopped putting the number of days on now because its really dragging, its like sitting in the reception area of your hotel waiting for the bus to come to take you to the airport on your last day of your holiday only trouble is this has been for 3 day and another 3 to go. to add to the situation you have people on face book putting lots of incorrect info that is definitely true because it happened to their friend etc. like the French have closed there borders, Brittany ferries have cancelled all sailing from Spain. nobody can drive on road in Spain, my friend was turned back on his way to the ferry port. ALL not true.

I'm really annoyed because we were considering driving through Spain and France to Calais last Saturday but lots of people on camp were saying French boarder is closed even though I could not find anything on line. then one person says her friend has just been stopped at the French border and had to turn around and now cannot find a site to stop on as they have all stopped taking new bookings,

So I said to Sue we cannot risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere so we are waiting it out till our ferry next Thursday. A friend of ours has driven from Portugal through Spain to Roscoft in France and got on a boat to England with no problems. GRRRRRR

Anyway rant over, we have just packed the car up ready for Wednesday and we will be travelling to Bilbao all being well, for the ferry on Thursday and now its RAINING lol.
Click to expand...


Facebook, that was your first mistake'\ while we have a few conspiracy theories here there is some good info in these threads <Broken link removed>
 
WEDNESDAY 18TH OF MARCH 2020

After 3 dayS in lockdown, we have not left the campsite at all, we set off for the journey to Bilbao for the last ferry from there to England.

The journey was one of the best we have made in Spain, the roads were busier than I thought they would be, but was less than normal. we only stopped twice and arrived at the port 10hrs later 487 miles driven. there was quite a few already parked up at the check-in lanes,



I put the legs down and settled for the night with Pie and Peas and a bottle of Emporrado. I was surprised how many people were still standing in groups and chatting, we stayed in the van all night.

We checked in next morning and moved 200 yds to the boarding lanes, police were checking the vehicles as normal, didn't appear to be any extra checks.



I was checking the position of our ferry on Vessel finder and watched it coming down the bay of Biscay (sad I know) and when it arrived in port the feeling of relief was amazing.





The police had to come several times and tell people to return to their caravans and motorhomes, but yet within ten minutes they were back out again, what is wrong with people 10,000 dead so far and what made me laugh was that most of the people chatting in groups were over 70 yeas old, the very groups we are self isolating to protect.

Once on board our 4 berth outside cabin with a window showing the mas exodus.







24hrs confined to cabin, wasn't too bad, its the first time we have had a window and to be honest its not worth the extra cost as we had the curtains closed most of the time as there's not a lot to sea lol.

Brittany ferries supplied dinner , Breakfast and lunch to out cabins all free of charge. Traveling back to Yorkshire was a nightmare all the roads were so busy compared to driving in Spain for the last 3 months. we arrived home at 12.30am

Thanks to Motorhome fun and fellow funsters for the good source of information that helped us along our journey

We have really enjoyed our time in Spain and its a shame it had to end like it did, but its nice to be home safe and sound.

We are now self isolating for 7 days to make sure before seeing the kids and grandkids, especially now we have another 3 new grandkids due this year, in May, August and October.

HAPPY DAYS
 
I'm surprised too by the actions of older people. My mother in law is meeting with a couple of friends every week and why not but I bet each of them meet with another couple of people one probably has carers the mil has a part time gardner who probably visits quite a few others and I bet a lot still offer a cup of tea and want a chat probably fairly close as they are hard of hearing..........
 

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