Post It from Camping Sierra Espuña, El Berro, Murcia, Spain. Monday 12th September, 2016.

We arrived here on Wednesday 7^th September, a full 8 days after leaving home. The campsite is situated at 650m altitude in the Murcian regional park of the Sierra Espuña just to the west of the capitol city and reasonably close to the coast where we once lived. We had visited the park before during winter days out but had never been here with the motorhome. It is a great place for walking and mountain bike riding but the roads leading to El Berro from Alhama de Murcia and narrow, very steep in places and larger vehicles would find it difficult to access. There are excellent guided routes for walking and 91 miles of mountain bike trails. The highest peak reaches 1583 meters which is theEspuña about 5 miles away from the camp site.

We wanted to visit this site to enable us to have a week’s rest and get some sun to our skin before we went down to Los Alcazares to meet with friends. Also our online chums Chas & Cath have been staying here in February for the past few years to our knowledge and we thought that it must have something special about it for them to keep returning.

Chas said we would be able to get our 8m van up to the campsite and gave us some tips about negotiating the last steep 20% incline with an acute and  a 90º bend to compound the difficulty. We took him at his word and decided we could do it and after checking out the actual route up from Alhama on Google Earth I was pretty confident. We made contact with one of the site’s associated owners/managers, Angela, and ensured that we would have a suitably large pitch available for us when we got there. We dropped in Chas & Catherine’s name and she said any friends of theirs were most welcome, which was a great start.

The road was actually very manageable when taken at a slow and careful pace. The 10 miles from Alhama saw us not get out of 3^rd gear and on occasions I actually had to go down into1st gear so was pleased when we arrived at the campsite without encountering too many vehicles coming the opposite way. At the start of the final and worst incline I saw a sign which said the maximum vehicle length for the roads was 10m and a 20% gradient so I knew our 8m length was not going to be the problem I feared it may have been and I knew the Fiat Ducato engine was more than capable of the inclines after crossing the Austrian Alps last year.

The campsite was very tranquil and well laid out with some new larger pitches with sun shades and services at the very top of the terraced site. A most welcome feature in the still very high temperatures. There was a swimming pool, sports pitch and café/bar with free Wi-Fi to finish off the facilities

Not many people were actually camping when we arrived but we anticipated the weekend would see an influx of Spanish families. We got set up with a nice view to the terraced olive groves on the opposite side of the valley and the heavily wooded landscape that surrounded us. Narrow tracks could be seen between the trees heading up to fincas dotted in isolation around the village, which seemed to be nestled in a small shallow.

Our stay was a very enjoyable and relaxing one with very little activity on our part due to the hot daily temperatures and the amount of energy we would need to spend to do any walking or cycling. We did manage a few forays around the village itself where we found the locals to be as friendly and engaging as the campsite staff and campers. On one outing we climbed up to the viewpoint above the church where a statue of Christ stood overlooking the village. From here you could see Alhama and the plains in the distance below. On another occasion we encountered a lot of noise around the corner and when we went to explore we discovered a couple cleaning the shells of the Marcona Almonds through an automatic machine in the street. It was a little like a garden shredder that left the shell on nuts ready for storage, eating or selling I guess.

There were two small shops, two bakers and two restaurants plus two bars including the camp site one to fully sustain a stay for any length of time really and our big treat was a meal in the local restaurant adjacent the camp site at the weekend when the meat was cooked ‘a la brasa’ or on a wood burning fire for those who are guessing what that means. We have enjoyed such meals in the past and felt it was a treat not to be missed. I did want the steak but when the owner brought it to me to see I could not have possibly managed to eat half of it. It was a full 850g and completely overhung a full sized dinner plate. I settled for Iberic Pork chops and Sharon had Pork Loin. Each was served with patatas frittas, grilled whole pepper and we added a side dish of Setas.

The latter was an item I had tried to cook myself once but did not have the right implements to do so. I had often seen these misshaped vegetables, that I mistook to be some form of fungus, and was told to grill them with plenty of olive oil and salt. I actually fried them like I would mushrooms, without the salt and whilst they were okay they were not that good. These, cooked in the proper way, tasted fantastic and I shall have them again at the first opportunity. My only disappointment was I did not taste the beef which I am sure would have been equally impressive.

As anticipated the weekend brought many Spanish families and it was great to listen to the chatter on an evening whilst they dined as a family. Surprisingly not many of them were here in their seasonal pitched caravans but they had rented the small cabins that were available. I had taken advantage to look inside one as the cleaner was preparing it for the new guests. It was quite small with a single room which housed a small table, fridge, basic cooking tools and a bunk bed with a pull out base so 3 could sleep. It also had a small bathroom with shower sink and toilet and the all-important air conditioning unit. A further table and parasol was outside. There were also some two bedroom ones available that looked much larger and had covered terraces.

The small bar/café on the site was also a focal point for many of the villagers who would come to enjoy a drink and the free Wi-Fi no doubt. We were quite surprised at the number of British people living locally, given the overall size of the place, who also visited so perhaps the site is geared up as a local community focal point. We have in the past seen inland villages that have a community swimming pool rather than houses having their own.

The weather remained good to us all week and whilst we would have preferred it a little cooler we did manage to get some of that much needed sun to prepare us for all the moving around outside we would soon encounter. The sun shade was a boon and also the daily mid-day breeze that seemed to arrive like clockwork helped at the hottest part of the day.

The one and only slight problem for us was our proximity to the communal BBQ’s, which were positioned just below and 2 pitches away from us. The habit was for the weekend campers to cook using wood rather than charcoal which meant lots of smoke and then one particular camper kept on burning vast amounts of A4 paper that he was allegedly getting from the boot of his car according to the couple who were pitched immediately above the BBQ. What was it he was burning we all thought! On the Saturday he was burning from 12 to 5 until one of the staff paid him a visit! If we had of been on that pitch we would not have put up with it and probably moved pitch or even left altogether. I know the Dutch lady was very upset about it all and I think complained in the end.

Well I managed to get the photos from our phones (reduced size by emailing them to ourselves) onto the laptop so I could post them with stories whilst here and making use of the shade time at midday.

We shall likely visit again, perhaps in winter like Chas & Cath do and then we could do some walking and cycling in this beautiful park. We can see why they like it and Fina sent them her regards from the small supermarket/shop. On Wednesday we go down t the coast to stay once again at Los Alcazares so there will be no more stories for a while.

Regards, Roy

PS the map cannot find El Berro so I have pinned it at the next village to the NE, Gebas