We made it through the smog and bumpy roads in Belgium and arrived back home in Almere, just in time for dinner. At home everything was fine and it was nice to have space and a warm place again with a hot shower.

In total we drove 5421 km during this tour (on average 387 per day), which is much more than our usual distance. In total we spent EUR 191 on freeway tolls in France and some in Spain as well. I hope that visitors from those countries will have to pay in Holland as well one day. We spent 4 nights on camp grounds and the other 9 on official camper parks. Because we spent more time on simple camper parks, we sometimes where short of electricity and should try to find a better solution for that. Our motorhome has solar panels but those are 10 years old and not as efficient as current models.

Looking back we probably wouldn’t do this tour again. The goal was to avoid the fireworks and get some sun and warmth. This year the south of Europe got much more cold and rainy weather than usual and there was basically no place to go. Traveling with our small motorhome in rainy and cold weather is not really fun. We did see some great place but in the end it would be better to save the money and vacation days for a different time of the year like early spring, but then we need a different solution for the firework issue. Staying in Almere is not an option.

Winter Tour 2008 – Day 13:

The route back to Holland was going through the region of the Loire valley. We have visited this area years ago and were looking forward to see it again.  First we tried the camper park in Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe, directly next to the river. It is a pretty place but everything was closed and turned off, so no floating water or electricity. I tried to use the power convert in the camper to charge my notebook, but every time I turned the converter on it blew a fuse. Without a running notebook to edit photos and watch a movie we didn’t feel like staying there and went back a few kilometers to Briollay. In Briollay it was the same situation – a remote camper park without supplies. In Chenillé-Changé it looked like we were lucky as there was a power outlet next to the camper park which was being used for flickering Christmas lights. I connected the motor home but when I plugged-in the power adapter of my MacBook Pro, it blew this adapter and the main fuse of the motor home. Also the power convert got fried beyond repair. With an empty laptop battery, a broken power adapter and a destroyed power converter,  there wasn’t much left for us to do at night, so after having a good dinner we decided to keep on driving. Two hours and 186 km later we stopped in the village Gacé, which has a simple camper park in front of the town hall.

The enclosed and fortified village was founded around the Romanesque church of St Radegonde in 1284. In the summer this place must be packed with tourists but now we were almost alone walking through the tiny pedestrian-only streets between the small houses.

Unfortunately it stayed foggy all day, so we didn’t many pictures. Just before dark we reached a nice camper park next to the harbor of Mortagne-sur-Gironde.

Here we noticed a camper park sign and decided to give it a try. What we found was a huge parking lot directly behind the dunes with many motor homes, a service station and electricity, all for just EUR 5.50 per night (low season rate). So we stayed and enjoyed the sunny warm weather at the long sandy beach. For most of the time it was warm enough to be outside without a jacket, which is quiet nice for December 29th in this corner of the world.

Especially in the area of Cubas many picturesque houses have been cut into the cliff face along the tiny road. A restored 15-century castle high on the cliff is dominating Alcala del Jucar, overlooking the cascade of white houses that are covering the hillside. For the night we picked a campground in El Campello, a city north of Alicante.

We didn’t stop long in Cuenca and continued following the CM-2105 towards the Ciudad Encantada (Enchanted Forrest) with a coffee break at the Ventano del Diablo close to Salto de Villalba. Unfortunately when we finally arrived at the Ciudad Encantada, it was already too late for the ca. 40-minute hike. The sun was already going down, and according to our car navigation it would take us another 1 ½ hours to get back to the campground.
So in total our first Christmas Day didn’t go at all as expected, because we underestimated time and distances. Here in rural Spain distances are huge and it just takes more time to get from A to B. We did see some pretty landscapes and in the mountains there was still some snow from those snowstorms they had a week before.