A Lazy Sunday in Pampaneira
We’re here: 36.93960,-3.36190. It’s the car park at one of the white villages in the High Alpajurras, Pampaneira.
Weather: sun.
John, a veteran motorhome chap we’d met in Morocco, told us: stay away from the coast in Southern Spain and you can freecamp everywhere. We’re finding he was bang on correct. We’re in the village car park tonight, which tourist info tells us is free, although we coughed up a whole €2 as a voluntary donation to the town. We’re 1 minute from the village shops and restaurants.
Our day’s been lazy, with a wander around the village, a walk down along the river and a menu del dia at a local restaurant, accompanied by a beer and a local mog after scraps. The sun has shone and although this is firmly a tourist town, there are few of us tourists knocking about.
€10 menu del dia, and the veal was HUGE.
It’s been a relaxing day, this place is chilled out; given the amount of hash being smoked we’re not surprised. Although saying that, we now have the entire village teenage population (if you watch Still Game: think neds!) playing about in the car park. We’re the entertainment it seems (there’s really nothing else around here) and a game of knock and run is in progress. We’ve not taken the bait. Yet. What is the Spanish for ‘oi, you lot, I’ll tell your Dads’?
These white villages are pleasant little places, clinging onto the gorges running down from the Sierra Nevada. They have the look of the old Moorish towns we saw in Morocco, which they should have since the Moors built them before being ethnically cleansed from the place. There are even old outdoor clothes scrubbing basins with freezing cold water from the river running through them (we suspect the washing these days is done by Hotpoint). The river itself has evidence of wetter times, with trees bent double from a previous torrent, and huge tree root balls ripped up by the water. They’re tame at the moment though, mores the pity.
Tomorrow we’ll head further east, following the white road along the hillside. The road looks new, probably purpose built for coaches and is easy to drive, despite the dramatic twisting back and forth.
So, the evening desends and, hopefully, the neds have headed off to drink some wine or whitewash something. Talking of wine…
Cheers, Jay
Most bored small town kids I ever met were playing a game in the yard. had to get up close to work out what they were doing. It involved banging 6″ nails into an upturned log. the aim was to see who could hit theirs the straightest and furthest in. They were having loadsa fun and it went on for at least the hr and half we were there. Why not introduce it?! ;o)
Good to see you are still enjoying yourselves!Have you put on any weight with all the good food and wine?
Drop me an e mail sometime.
David
Hi folks,
Makes me feel really hungry just looking at that veal and chips,your missus looks likr she`s really enjoying it!!
How is the rear suspension performing ?? (the clonk you heard)??
atb Mike
Hi Mike
It was really tasty, almost couldn’t eat all of the chocolate cake desert – almost! We love Menu del dia.
Dave’s still clunking like a champion. Been to a Fiat garage but suspension is OK. J’s thinking it might be the air suspension that was added (and broken) before we got Dave. The strut on the side where we had a tyre blow out looks crooked. So plan is to try and pump it up (will need a petrol station as it’s too much for our portable pump) and see what happens, or remove the damaged one as much as we can to see if the clunk changes tone.
He’s running like a charm, so it’s just annoying more than anything else – especially on the twisty roads we’re on at the moment!
Final option will be a motorhome garage, but we might have to leave him there for a while, so trying to avoid that one until we know what it is.
It’s good to have a riddle to keep us on our toes!
Ju