Post It from Campsite Ciudad de Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain Thursday 18th April 2013.
The journey crossing the Pyrenees was a very picturesque one and a pleasant drive as well up the winding roads to the Somport Tunnel and down the other side to Zaragoza. We had never been on this route to Spain before and quite enjoyed the non-motorway roads. All the hills and mountain roads meant I had a good chance to use the gearbox on the Ducato and my earlier reservations about lack of gusto were not founded as I learned how to use the gearbox more beneficially. I was pleased with Bessie’s performance overall and the fuel economy was reasonably good given our weight.
We arrived at Zaragoza quite early and settled onto this second municipal site. It was a bit shabby around where we were pitched but the heated showers etc. were very good and clean. The staff were very helpful and were quite surprised at my excellent command of Spanish, for an English man, even if I do say so myself. All those years at night school and the 16 months spent living there had helped of course.
By early evening almost all the remaining pitches were taken by overnight stopovers. I was surprised to find here, like in France, that there were quite a number of Spanish nationals residing on the campsite in all manner of caravans. It took the shine off the site a little and a neighbour felt that the 26 Euros a night charge was extortionate. There was free Wi-Fi though!
As the evening began to draw in the winds grew stronger and the van rocked about most of the night. I had seen a very large Norwegian motorhome that had it’s while front end lifted on permanently fitted hydraulic jacks and I wondered if I were to invest in a couple of small car jacks it would ease the rocking around in such circumstances?
I was now getting tired of driving each day and looking forward to arriving at our destination at the weekend to see our Spanish friends and share Rebeca’s third birthday with her.