Campsite lockdown in Spain
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I’m not sure the population of Gibraltar live underground!
Sorry this was a bit tongue in cheek, but many many years ago i lived and worked underground in Gibraltar, we were what you call "locked down",when we did escape it was to the nearest bar for a nice bottle of bacardi with a wee bit of coke
not been back for some time although my daughter was stationed there some while back.
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I can see what you mean by “first whiff if trouble” but how would you know??
By the time you know what will you be allowed to do??All you can do is keep your ear to the ground and use reliable news feeds. A lot of people were complacent and got caught out. ‘Once bitten...’ and all that, I’d expect people to tune in a bit more carefully next time. ‘Motorhome Fun’ was a good source of information for many who got caught up in Spain and elsewhere. Loads of helpful suggestions and tips from people sharing stuff about their routes out (or not).
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I see Spain may be having to return to the corvid naughty step, which would mean self isolation for 2 weeks on return, not too worried re this as not planning to return until November.
Most of the worst infections seem to be coming out of the Catalonia region, anybody heard anything different, my Spanish daughter currently with us and sleeping in the caravan so no one on the ground just now.
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You are right Rufs. 14 days isolation on return just announced.
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Spain is starting to look like the first european nation to experience a ‘second wave’, 224 local outbreaks reported on Wednesday this week with infection rates tripling from 8.7 per 100,000 people to 27.4 per 100,000 in 2 weeks (source Spanish Health Ministry). If the new outbreaks cannot be controlled another state of emergency is possible. The rush to open up the country is blamed as a contributory factor alongside inadequate track & trace measures and widespread flouting of social distancing measures, particularly by young people.
Re my earlier post... this is a strong ‘whiff’ and I’d be looking at a potential exit strategy now!
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UK government has now gone further and is advising against all travel to the Spanish mainland unless the journey is essential.
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And those returning can have an extended isolation when they get home!
Madness!!!
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Yup not great, my daughter returns on Wednesday, but she has Spanish residency so not such a problem, but number 2 daughter and GD was due to travel with her for 2 week hols, looking very shakey, still got 6 weeks before we need to make a decision but not looking great
and as Seaside Bill says , would be looking at exit strategy if we were down there just now0 -
I wonder how many who are due to travel in the next month will now change their minds? We decided about 10 days ago to cancel the proposed trip in September for a variety of reasons but this latest news just reinforces our decision. The trip wasn't one we had originally planned as that had gone by the wayside back in March and I have to say Brittany ferries were exceptional in their attitude to refunds. Would have no problems booking direct with them again.
Hopefully when a vaccine is introduced then complete confidence can be restored and a sense of normality return.
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It’s a difficult scenario, Spain’s daily case rates are a good deal higher than those in UK as far as can be seen. Sincerely hope that they can contain it.
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Yes, I guess only a vaccine will get out us confidently out of this mess. Some encouraging developments, particularly the team in Oxford, but realistically we’re many months away from such a game changing event, if it happens at all. Sadly continental touring may not be safely possible for some time?
Problem is, we’re doing a reasonable job of suppressing it, so it will never truly go away in the manner that Spanish Flu did, having taken its toll on millions after infecting a third of the worlds population, and that was before most of us jumped on planes & ferries.
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For those currently out there it is going to be 14 days quarantine on arrival back home.
Noting that the hotspot in Spain is perilously close to the border with France is there a likelihood of the traveller to France being caught up in that situation?
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I notice Brittany Ferries are still sailing to Spain despite the FCO travel ban. So unless you've managed to get travel insurance you lose your money if you choose follow government advice.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed the same doesn't happen in France!
John
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It would depend when you booked and what option you picked. I believe the flexi tickets can be amended for no charge up to 4 hours before sailing and you can cancel with a 25% loss. Other types of tickets and those booked under earlier T&C's have different terms. Hope so anyway, it's one reason I booked a crossing for next year, so far in advance. Given that when we cancelled a holiday due to bereavement a few years ago, we were charged two lots of excess because there were two of us cancelling, a total of £80, the 25% cancellation loss would not be as bad as it seems
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Sadly continental touring may not be safely possible for some time?
Hi Bill, don't disagree but its down to personal perception and, is it any different here?
The most uncomfortable we have felt since the virus, hit and the restrictions kicked, in has been in Fowey and St Ives where the numbers made distancing difficult.
We could avoid the problem by staying at home but that is not an option for us and, as we have no underlying health issues, do not see the need to do other than follow HMG guidance either.
As AD says, quarantine may not be a big issue and certainly, for me, the issue that would worry us most would be being 'locked down; on a foreign campsite and, worse still, then being ordered to leave.
Not having a crystal ball makes any decisions to travel a bit of gamble but, if i was a betting man, I would say that Davids trip will involve a stay at Larrouleta!
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Don’t disagree, perception can become distorted by the hysterical news reporting we see all too often. Like you, being locked-down in a state of emergency would be my biggest concern, not quarantine which wouldn’t really bother me either. We’ve been avoiding the worst of Cornwall crowds by touring quiet spots in Shropshire and Mid-Wales. Now I discover there’s an outbreak in Craven Arms where we stopped for some shopping on Thursday, so maybe no different here, just running in a different time frame?
Government are damned if they do, damned if they don’t, but inclusion of Balearic & Canaries seems irrational.
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Hi Bill As your visit to Craven Arms shows you just don't know what you may encounter hence the need for maintaining your personal precautions.
So far as the Balearics/Canaries are concerned, I think its probably the fact they are islands and have lower incidence/tighter controls.
Re hysterical news, just saw Simon Calder, always seemed a informative and reliable source of info, on ITV say that you could avoid self isolation by visiting a country, such as France, instead of coming home direct from, say, Spain. He also said you could leave isolation to travel abroad again as a way of getting round the rules-which he kept saying he did not make!
A Google search, taking seconds, showed this is wrong yet i think more people watch TV than come on here and may now be wrongly informed.
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I think on the Government score I suspect they are conscious that they have and will come in for criticism for being very late in locking down people from abroad very early on in the crisis which may have had a major impact on the spread of COVID and the number of deaths in this country. You could argue that have gone a bit over the top this time but they clearly don't want to be caught out again. I have some sympathy with that outlook.
I am sure I have expressed this view before but anyone going abroad this year, by whatever means, is taking a risk. Perhaps not with their own health but certainly in terms of holidays being cut short or cancelled at the last minute. To me there seems no prospect of pleasure or enjoyment embarking on an overseas holiday with that hanging over you. We will attempt to go away in the UK a few things this year but if we don't enjoy the experience we will call it a day as far as touring is concerned this year sad to say.
David
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To me there seems no prospect of pleasure or enjoyment embarking on an overseas holiday with that hanging over you.
Hi David, I might change 'no prospect' to 'reduced prospects; but as for you all the issues that we are considering will come down to that question in the end.
Re 'lockdown', I listened to a radio discussion on 16th March where the interviewee gave, what I increasingly became to appreciate, a very clear explanation of why he felt the UK had not been slow in introducing a 'lockdown'.
He said that until we went to a policy of restricting contact/movement etc, as introduced on 23rd March, there was little point as people were free to enter the UK and do as they wished.
He also went on to say that once we entered lockdown we would be facing restrictions till a cure was available.
Like you I felt the government this, or any other, would be in for criticism.
This doesnt mean the have got it all right, or nothing wrong, but dont think that in the long run it would have been different for anyone else.
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The problem is, it’s not just the loss of the pleasure of holidaying abroad, but the consequences of that e.g. ‘staycationing’. Many UK hotspots are hideously crowded offering little chance to socially distance and getting a place on a popular campsite without lots of forward planning is nigh on impossible. Not sure if it’s just me, but seems to be lots of big noisy groups (in tents) on sites this year. Maybe those that would otherwise be elsewhere?
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I thought Simon C had totally lost the plot this time round and so has Ryanair in continuing flights.
Would I book a holiday out of the UK this year, no. France had the right idea encouraging people to holiday locally in France. People seem to want to court problems.
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Never had much time for Simon Calder, exists in the world of package holidays, which I can’t relate to, but one person’s idea of courting problems is another’s idea of adventure.
I don’t think you can blame Ryanair, Easyjet et al for continuing to fly, they’ve been at the sharp end of ‘flip-flop’ policy from the start and there is no travel ban. They’re just trying to stay in business, and I hope they do.
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There is a travel ban in place for mainland Spain!
From the FCO website:
“From 26 July, the FCO advises against all non-essential travel to mainland Spain based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks.”
As the ferries & airlines are continuing to operate taking people to a destination they know the UK government has advised against, it’s forcing customers to either lose money or try and claim off their insurance.
Travelling against FCO advice invalidates any insurance you may have. This is irresponsible of the airlines/ferry companies in my opinion.
John0
