Post It from Camping Mas Patoxas, Pals, Catalonia, Spain. Tuesday 4th November, 2014.

We chose this campsite because it was really the only one open with facilities on the Spanish side of the border. The weather forecasts were for sunnier, drier weather there so we drove the 50 miles north to the new place hoping to spend the last week of our stay in Spain in relative warmth. On our way there we managed to visit the Decathlon store at Platja d’Aro where we made a few purchases for ourselves including spares for the bikes we had bought from this company some 4 years ago. We love the shop and just wish they had more of them in the UK.

We had visited Pals briefly in 2006 when we discovered the most beautiful small fishing village of Calella de Palafrugell when we were touring in our sports car. This was the nearest site open and we hoped to be able to revisit this village again as well as Pals.

The terraced campsite is very large with around 600 pitches and probably about half of them taken up with bungalows and permanent pitches. We managed to get one on the top terrace with views across the valley and luckily for us they had just trimmed all the shade trees so we would have sun from when it rose to when it set. The heated toilet facilities were most welcomed as the nights were growing colder and they were really good. The rest of the sites facilities were unfortunately closed, including no fresh daily bread or any groceries.

The site was almost empty of campers though as we arrived on the Thursday, which was disappointing in that we felt a bit out on a limb, but on the Friday many Spanish families arrived in the rented bungalows. Some of the permanent campers also came for the weekend so we did not feel so lonely over the weekend. Monday saw it all change back to only a few of us camping again as mainly motorhomes stopped overnight on their way north or south.

The site is located on the busy C31 carriageway about a mile outside the medieval village of Pals. The public transport was very limited so we walked to Pals along the hard shoulder of the road to see whether it was safe to cycle there, we decided it was better to walk. The site reception staff, who were all really helpful, said it was dangerous to even attempt to ride to Palafrugell or to another medieval town of Begur. There was a lot to see in this area but you definitely need a car to do anything but walk to Pals.

We enjoyed plenty of sun with the daily maximum temperatures reaching as high as 28ºC over the weekend so in addition to walking to Pals we were able to enjoy the sun and read outside. The nights were often colder but we saw a range from 10º to 18ºC and on two mornings so far I have got up to fog blanketing the far side of the valley.

Pals has the remains of a 9th Century castle with narrow cobbled streets and old stone houses located within the walls. It is built on the top of a hill surrounded by marshland. The rest of the village comprises a few tourist shops, restaurants, bakery and a small supermarket, which was closed whilst we were there. Ceramics are the local products and the surrounding marshland is farmed for a special variety of rice, which I hope to try tomorrow when we go out for lunch. All in all it is a very pretty place and frequented by many French and Dutch tourists.

Those who read my last ‘Post It’ will recall we are now thinking of going to La Manga in January to see if we like spending a couple of months in Spain in winter. Well what a coincidence, as we were walking around the site seeing all the Halloween decorations that Spanish children had put up around the bungalows, we met Bet and John who had just arrived and were looking for the electric point. They travel with Charlie, a parrot, and were on their way to La Manga for 4 months where they would stay with a Camping and Caravan Club rally. What a lovely couple and they convinced us we would enjoy it there so what a stroke of luck it was meeting them. They also only live about 14 miles from us as the crow flies but separated by the River Humber.

On the Monday we caught the bus to Palafrugell and could see why the reception staff said it was dangerous to try to ride there. Away from the campsite the roads become narrower and bendy and that hard shoulder is non-existent. Our bus driver was crossing the white lines at both edges of his carriageway all the time. We visited the few shops that were open, closing day Monday it seemed, and walked to Calella de Palafrugell to refresh our memory of the beautiful view of the village from a small headland. The receptionist who lived in Palafrugell said it would take us 20 minutes to walk there but it took us all of 50 so we did not have long there before we had to return to get the bus back. The journey was worth it though. I checked the distance when we got back and it was 2.5 miles. Unfortunately we also encountered rain showers on the way back which became heavier with thunder and lightning as we sat in the bus station waiting for our bus to arrive. It was the first rain we had seen for about 35 days and the first that actually affected us as the 3 times it had rained previously in the past 7 weeks had been overnight or whilst we were driving through France.

So today we are enduring showers but the forecast predicts they will cease in time for us to walk to Pals for lunch tomorrow. We have found a really nice restaurant and are looking forward to sampling their menu before setting off towards Calais the day after. Had it not been raining today we would have gone out for lunch to a typical Catalan bar we had found in Pals to sample their offerings.

Because there are not a lot of sites open we have decided to spend extra days travelling and do smaller distances to fit in with the ones that are open, we can then shop and hopefully have a more enjoyable daily drive on our way home and spend a couple of nights at Chartres to sightsee in the old town. All of the sites we may stay at are new to us so I shall post more stories when I get the chance for internet connection.

Regards, Roy