Only the Washing Up!

Spain is simple for camping being full of campsites and lovely and warm in the winter.  There are quite a lot of free camp spots as well and these are relatively easy to find in out of the way places and in smaller towns.  The problem that we had was accessing cities but in the following places we did manage to park securely for reasonable amounts and be right in the heart of the action. (or at least near a bus stop!)

Barcelona – The aire in Barcelona is a hopelessly grubby and unattractive place but as it is in Barca it is worth putting up with and you do get free wi-fi which is useful.  The tube is 5 mins walk and the tram bout 30secs.  If you walk past the triangle building and across the plaza you are on the sea front and from there you can meander all the way to the end of La Rambla stopping at the bars or play parks on the way depending on your age and inclination.  The bike route into the centre also goes straight past the aire.   Exit the B10 at junction 25 follow park and ride signs. You will see it and feel like your driving away from it – don’t worry you’re not.

Seville – At the Santa Justa train station there is secure parking for about £15 for 24 hrs, there was no problem with the guys running the parking and it was fairly quiet overnight.  Follow signs from the ring road to the station and take the first sign to parking and drive down almost back on yourself to the end carpark where the buses are parked. Don’t go through the first entry with the ticket barrier as it is not big enough to manouver a van around the sun shades as we found!The station is about 5 mins walk to the old town and then through the maze of streets to the Giralda about 15 mins more.

Cordoba – Follow the signs from A45 into town to the Centro Historico and right outside the city walls is parking on the left. It costs about £15 for 24hrs.  The access for vans is from the main road not from the small road on the left as there is a height restriction so you need to drive past then turn round and come back to it on the right side of the road.The Mosque and Jewish quarter are 5 mins walk.

Granada – We couldn’t find any parking in Granada but there is a really nice small campsite in one of the suburbs of La Zubia  Take the ronda Sur exit from the ring road then exit 2 to La Zubia and the camping is signed.  From the campsite it is about 20mins on the bus to central Granada, the Alhambra cost us £12 for a taxi which for 4 people was cheaper than the bus!  The guys in reception were very helpful with transport queries.

Valencia – Parking in the city is a nighmare we stupidly decided to drive into town from the camping instead of taking the bus.  DON”T.  The bus will take you quickly and conveniently straight to the beautiful science park/aquarium/superfunky buildings – driving in will mean you go round and round for an hour before giving up and leaving.  The parking is all small car sized street spaces or underground carparks with a 2m  height clearance.  The camping at  Pienda (A7 exit to El Saler then onto CV500 to camping Coll Vert) was not lovely but certainly the best option.

Algericas – if you are heading across the water to Morocco and need to stop over the carpark at Lidl (exit 112 from A7/E15) is not a romantic or beautiful stop but it is free and really handy for the early ferry out or the late one back.  It is listed in the Vicarious book on Morocco which is a good investment if heading that way.

If anybody else got any good city spots please post them as comments as being miles out of town on site can be a real pain especially for nights out?  Madrid, Pamplona and Zaragoza would be particularly useful.

Thanks guys and happy travelling.

Denmark has a deserved reputation for being an expensive country to visit but it is an interesting and beautiful place with a great variety of natural, historical and cultural sights which make it well worth a trip.

Danish camping (www.dk-camp.dk) runs a scheme called quick stop which makes it possible to arrive after 8pm and leave before 10am for a reduced price – as much as 50% in some places.  As the Danish summer evenings are warm and light until well after 10pm it is often possible to use all the sites facilities including the swimming pools even though you turn up late in the evening. The sites offering the service can be found on-line or most campsites had a copy of the guide that includes comprehensive listings of all the sites and a good map.

I am not going to recommend specific camping grounds as we were not inspecting them for others benefit. All of those we used had a good standard of facilities and cleanliness.  We occasionally needed a really long lead to reach the hook ups but people were generally cheerful and helpful when you had to thread round vans and through hedges to reach! Filling up and dumping off were not a problem anywhere we stopped.

Free camping is not permitted in Denmark though in some isolated spots people did seem to be discreetly parking, we didn’t try it and I don’t know what the penalty would be if you did.

Children are really well catered for across Denmark.  We found moon buggies, bouncy pillows, pools with slides, football pitches, table tennis tables, petting zoos and games rooms in abundance usually included in the price of the camping so it did make less paid for day trips necessary.

Groceries are expensive but there are plenty of supermarkets and we did a big stock up at the Morrissons  right by the ferry port in Harwich which surprise surprise was full of other motorhomers doing the same thing as us!

The roads mostly have good surfaces and there are no tolls except for the bridges.  The signing is good and easy to follow.  There is not a lot of traffic and the driving style is non-aggressive. There is plenty of parking by beaches and in rural spots but towns can be trickier.  To park in town they have a disk system where you indicate your arrival time on a disk picked up from a local shop or bank and signing on the streets indicates how long a stay is permitted.  A bike is a great alternative means of transport as there are plenty of bike lanes and a lot of cyclists so motorists are aware and careful of those on 2 wheels.

To visit Copenhagen we chose to stay in Roskilde and get the train.  The trains are relatively cheap, frequent and easy to use and it seemed a much easier option than trying to drive as it is a busy city with very limited parking.

We started our trip taking the ferry from Harwich to Esberg and then followed the western Danish coast up to Skagen then down through the centre of the main land and across the bridges to both main islands to Copenhagen. We then went across the bridge to Sweden –this cost £70 so other routes may be better there was no sign until we reached the toll at the far end where we were unpleasantly surprised – and from there we took a ferry to Bornholm in the centre of the Baltic. For fuller details of  where we went and what we found on our trip click on the pins in the map.

Definitely would recommend it as a good country to visit with a camper but for a couple of weeks touring rather than as a long stay destination unless your bank balance is very healthy!

A new page that we have added to put on some bits and pieces about the places that we have been to on our travels that may be of some use to those of you on the road or thinking about taking off in the future.

We hope that it is of some use and welcome any comments that you have about your own experiences.

Happy travelling