We left camping imperium in Villajoyosa on Saturday the 17th of February after being there for three months. After saying our goodbyes to everyone which took about an hour. The week leading up to our departure we slowly packed things up while it was dry in between doing other stuff. We have so many nice friends here. The camper fired up and we drove down the campsite to waves of goodbyes from all directions. Not sure if they were going to miss us or just glad we were going. While Nikki was packing up she pops her head out the door and says one of the catches on a draw has broke so won’t stay shut, not good for travelling, no worries I will sort it in a minute! Five minutes later the kitchen tap is broke again. No worries I will sort it when we get to the next place! The tap has been a ongoing problem. It’s got a micro switch in and is a bad design. It has two very thin wires that rub and break, so I have to dismantle the whole thing and put insulating tape round the joins. It then works again for maybe a month, maybe two three months. I have another switch and will replace the whole thing one day! Another five minutes later after the draw, the tap, a little voice announces the sat nav is not firing up. Ok that bloody thing can go in the bin! The sat nav is built into the dash and is a radio, CD player, DVD player and is supposed to be a sat nav. To be fair it has been very good, but last year it had a couple of blips and on the trip down this year it had more than a couple of blips. It’s old now and needs updating. So the radio, cd, dvd works but no sat nav. Another thing to buy when we get home, well after we have started work. It’s going to cost but it doesn’t matter. We do so many miles in Europe we have to have a good one. I know none of them are fool proof but I want the best I can get. When you travel through some of the French, spanish and Portugal villages you know whatI mean.

So our plan was to leave imperium and drive up the coast to Benicarlo, about three hours away. So were out on the road with out sat nav, but we do have Nikki’s phone with maps on and of course a map, remember them, it’s like a book with all pages of roads etc, what a good idea. It’s strange how you get used to sat nav. I like to have it on even if I know where I am going just so I can watch my speed and for the warnings of speed cameras etc. It’s also better to have it because of getting right to the spot you want to get to. A map can get you to the area but not to the exact place you want to be.

Our rough plan was to get to Benicarlo, stay for a couple of nights then move on up the coast about three hours drive for another couple of nights, then another drive to a aire which would take us into France and then to a campsite for three days to chill for maybe three days leaving us three days to get to the ferry. Plan B is ongoing. We got to Benicarlo, the sun was out, the sea was sparkling, the beer and wine were cold. So we extended our stay by another two days. The thought of getting across them mountains between Spain and France into the cold was putting us off. I know we have to do it but what’s a couple of days. So we are here for another day and move on tomorrow. May be, all depends on my co pilot with her map reading skills.?