9th May 2009

We got up and didn’t bother to shower, we just wanted to get on our way again.  It was a bright sunny morning so things looked a bit better. We had yoghurt and a cup of tea for breakfast,  filled up with diesel and then found our way out of the town onto the highway again.

The journey of about 130 miles across the northern part of Spain took us most of the morning and we got ourselves a bit lost round Tarragona; the signs to the north just kept disappearing.  We both said we’d like to come back and have a look at the city when we had time. The scenery was staggering at times, and we crossed over the mountains inland from the coast, using some fairly scary roads with long drops over the edges.  Tina didn’t enjoy it much.

We found the campsite we’d selected from the ACSI guide - Playa de Bara - and thank God, it was beautiful.  Palm trees, lots of other people, swimming pools, restaurant, launderette, shops etc. and it was BIG.  We decided we’d stay for a few days or maybe longer depending on what it was like.  Having checked in, we had to go and find a pitch.  On such a huge site, we got lost a couple of times, and at one point we got stuck up a dead end with everyone watching us have to reverse up a very narrow alley.

Roadway on the Playa de Bara campsite

Thankfully the superb reversing camera at the back of the van came into its own. Finally we found a pitch opposite an Irish registered Rapido motorhome. The couple who owned it were very friendly and we talked to them whilst setting up the van.  We then went to the shops and bought a groundsheet and some pegs to secure it properly.  We decided to try the restaurant and ordered some lunch.  Although a bit pricey, it was very good and a couple of glasses of pink wine went down very well.  In the afternoon we talked with the Irish couple, Brendan and Jean.  Tina had a lie down as she was tired and in the evening we relaxed and went to bed early.