15th May 2009

Paul had thought of a way to fix the wheel arch and I too had thought of something so we got up very early, didn’t bother to shower, and set about fixing it.  I put some double sided tape on the metal lugs on the bodywork, and we stuck the wheel arch cover onto that, then secured the whole lot to the body using gaffer tape.  We screwed the thing back onto the body and it seemed pretty solid.  Hopefully it’ll hold until we get back to the UK.  I also discovered that our Guardian Angel had fallen off again.  Weird.  It had fallen off the last time we’d had problems too.

Lashed up wheel arch - thank goodness for gaffer tape

Paul: We drove for most of the day and arrived at the campsite we’d chosen from the ACSI guide, only to find that the discounted rate of €15 didn’t apply until the 29th May.  Bugger!  We looked up another site nearby and drove to that one instead.  The only problem was we were now in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Granada, and the road was winding up the side of the mountains and getting more and more narrow, with a long drop at the side.  Tina was absolutely shitting herself - she hates things like this.  It got so bad that she burst into tears and demanded that we turn round and go back.  The only thing was, the road was so narrow that we couldn’t possibly turn the van round so we had no choice but to keep going.  The satnav shows the height as well as other things, and I noticed that we were up to 1,100 meters (3,000 odd feet) by the time we reached the campsite.  Poor Tina, she hated that drive!  The campsite was really nice, very high up and overlooking snow capped mountains on one side and then down a long valley and overlooking a huge reservoir on the other.  It had a restaurant, shop and good shower facilities.  It’s called Camping Las Lomas.

On our way to Granada

Yep, we're going right up those mountains

A nice tidy campsite - Camping Las Lomas

It about 1100 meters up the Sierra Nevada

We got settled onto our pitch and noticed that there was another English couple and the usual Dutch contingent.  Obviously a popular site, and at €15 per night it was cheaper than the €21 that the earlier site charged.  Looked like luck was on our side again.  Much to my surprise, Tina helped me wash the van - first time ever I think - and we then sat outside and admired the view.  I just want to tell you something about cats. Last night Tina cooked a tortilla for dinner, and we were sat outside the van looking at the wheel arch when from under the van came a pretty little grey cat with blue crossed eyes, quickly followed by another, then another, and finally a fourth.  The Spanish don’t seem to care about their animals and just leave them to fend for themselves.  Then today we stopped for lunch on a service area and out popped a little kitten.  He was scrounging food from the motorists, poor little thing, and soon found us.  It seems that wherever we go we attract cats.  Maybe they know we are cat people.

I’m going to start the barbecue now for dinner.