To the Spanish Med – Peniscola
Zagan the motorhome is parked up at Camping Ferrer (€16 a night with our ACSI discount card) in Peñiscola (N40.36273, E0.39481). We’re right next to the town with its two sandy beaches. The campsite itself is fairly basic and reminds us of some of the better ones we stayed at in Morocco (partly due to out co-campers mostly being French snowbirds), but we’ve got electric hook-up, free wifi, unlimited hot showers and a laundry – it feels like luxury!
Monserrat was always going to be a tough place to follow and the small town of Santa Coloma de Queralt (N41.53685, E1.38199) struggled to compare. The town provided a free aire just outside the historic centre and next to the tennis courts (free entertainment!), where we could service the van and park. There was also electric hook-up for €2 a day, but with the sun beating down our leisure batteries recharged nicely after long days in shadow on the mountain.
Santa Coloma de Queralt was a lovely little town, with a ‘castle’ and church peeping out over its high medieval walls. But as often happens with us, we appear to have arrived at the wrong time. It was the weekend and our first wander through the town was clearly Saturday lunchtime (4pm) as everything was closed. We tried again on Sunday with memories of Spanish families gathering around 1pm from previous trips, but still most things were shut and we have no idea where all the people were! Apart from those turning up to use the tennis court, the place was so comedically quiet that I wasn’t surprised when a huge tumbleweed rolled across the aire.
After all the walking we did on Monserrat we were both feeling a bit tired, so it was a relief that there wasn’t a buzzing place full of ‘must sees’ demanding our attention. Instead we entertained ourselves wandering around the narrow streets, staring in disbelief that some of the buildings were still standing (think rotted wood held up with acro-props), and playing on the outdoor gym.
We both headed out for runs (it’s less than 90 days to our next races). I discovered not only why they built the wind turbines on the hill I was running along, but also that when it gets too cold my phone dies which means I have no map. Getting a tad lost I ended up doing an extra 3 kilometres, but still managed to find my way back to the van.
Back at the aire the information board and it got me thinking – it’s main text in Catalan, with translations into Spanish, English, French and Basque. Since we arrived in Spain we’ve been in Catalonia and despite trying to learn a bit of Spanish, I feel a bit odd trying to use it there. The whole area is covered in flags, political banners and yellow ribbons – Catalonia wants independence from Spain. They even had a vote on it, but Spain was having none of it. So back to my language dilemma. Do I try to speak Spanish here or would English be better? Catalan would be ideal, but neither of us speak a word of it or do we? Thank you is Merci here, like in France, and we’re greeted with Bom Dia like in Portugal. I’m quite glad we’ve now reached ‘Spanish’ speaking Spain so at least although I might be saying stuff wrong, I’m hopefully not offending.
After a sleepless night as Zagan rocked in strong gusts of wind, our drive to Peniscola took us through vineyards. We knew we’d need to fill up with diesel and LPG, so Jay downloaded a Spanish fuel prices app (GasAll) and Zagan’s tanks were brimming with the cheapest diesel on our route – €1.06, about 92p (after France we thought €1.23 was cheap at our last fill up!) I track where we are on our paper map with a highlighter as we drive, it helps to argue with satnav when she decides on one of her short cuts. As I turned over the page with Peniscola on it, it was highlighted from a previous trip. Jay was as clueless as me when I asked him if he remembered. Was it so bad that we both blanked it out of our memories? Fortunately not. We’d only stopped for one night a couple of years ago as we blasted north to escape a Spanish heatwave. Desperately trying to keep Charlie cool, we never left the campsite which was a couple of miles out of the town.
We arrived for a second visit to Peniscola and parked up in the much more central campsite just before lunch, so had chance for a quick look around the town before we checked-in. With a five mile long beach (perfect running for me), a national park to the south (for Jay to run around), a castle, a port where you can buy from the fishing boats, lots of people and open restaurants and shops, not to mention a few Game of Thrones sets we decided to stay for a while. With our 2019 ACSI CampingCard if we stay for six nights we get one free, so we’ve booked in for a week. At €96 it’s a bit of a bargain for a week’s holiday by the sea!
Ju x
Peñiscola is the home of Benimar motorhomes. Please do give ‘em a wave if you pass the factory…..
Jo & Mark
Hi guys
We’re long-time lurkers on your blog but first-time posters… We’re in the middle of a Big Year Out in our Hymer and have had loads of inspiration from you two – both travel ideas and lifestyle choices
Just catching up on your last few posts and realising we’re very nearly shadowing each other at the moment – Girona, Montserrat and now Peñíscola
We’re not far from you and would love to meet up and buy you a beer in thanks for all the inspiration – could call by your campsite tomorrow (Wed) if that suits? If not don’t worry!
Good travels
Chris and Susan
Hi Guys
That would be great. We’re thinking of heading out for a Menu del Dia at lunch (2ish) by the small beach if you fancy joining us. Or we could grab a coffee before or after – whatever suits you best. Could you please send me an email Julieandjason@ourtour.co.uk and we can sort something out (I can’t see your email address on here!)
Cheers Ju x
Great to catch up with you both today, and Chris & Susan too. Thanks for letting us crash your lunch party. Lovely afternoon & fabulous lunch. See you all tomorrow. Xxx
Victoria, Mike & Piglet
Hi I love reading your blog, have downloaded your books etc. Glad you are travelling again especially in Spain but I am always saddened when I read blogs( not just you) who seem to stick to the eastern coast and jump from Barcelona/Tarragona to Peniscola. We know the area around Tortosa quite well and the mountain villages etc are spectacular. It is a shame that we don’t get there until mid April otherwise we would love to show you the unspoilt parts of Catalonia/Aragon. But enjoy your travels etc
Debbie
It was awesome – AWESOME – to meet you all – thanks again to J&J for all you do to bring together this great family of full-time wanderers by sharing your lives so generously
Following from your comment about a cold phone dying – my iPhone does this as well when too cold – discovered this when skiing recently. However after a short warm rest inside my tee-shirt it recovers enough to take the odd photo. Strange as when it dies it claims 1% battery left – panic! but will recover to as high as 80% when warmed up. Irritating – grr!
Enjoying reading about your travels once more :-)
Ann
Hi, Ferrer looks good, just one quick question as we have a 5.9m van + small jack Russell, do they allow a small pop up tent on the pitches as we get a bit crammed otherwise, not for the dog he sleeps with either of us!?
Looks like you are enjoying your trip and we have never been to Spain in the van, just get to the French border up the coast from you.
Cheers
Richard
Hi Richard – it’s very easy going at this time of year. Many people have a safari room set up, some have a car parked on a second pitch. Plenty of people have dogs, one of which we’ve dubbed ‘Flash’ as he poddles around the site at night in a flashing collar (his real name is Jean). So I think you’ll have no problems with your wee tent. Cheers, Jay