Newbies looking to overwinter in Southern Spain Nov 2013 - Apr 2014

[rangioran]

Hi there,
Just bought a new Bailey Pegasus GT65 Verona
and after taking it down to Penzance the past two (fabulous!) weeks,
we're now beginning to plan for a trip to Southern Spain in order to get
away from the cold/wet/dark UK winter.
We're towing with a 2010
SEAT Exeo ST 143 Estate and plan on visiting family near Poitiers France
before heading toward Barcelona and then on down south. Would welcome
any suggestions/advice that any members with experience in this area can
offer. A few immediate questions...

1. Chunnel or ferry? Can't find any ferry schedules (Plymouth/Portsmouth to St Malo/Cherbourg?) at present
2. Travel alone or try to hook up with aothers travelling same direction?
3. As
   this will be our first time, looking for sites where other English
   speaking folk (we're 62 and 65) of simillar age group will be
4. Not
   too bothered about large holiday camp style places, but do want to be
   not too far from town/village with restaurants/entertainment
5. Have propane tank, should I get Camping Gaz as well?
6. Have
   noted two warning triangles, fluoro jacket, spare set of specs,
   headlight deflectors, ASIC card, spare bulbs - anything else?

After 25 years away from caravanning, it's really great to be back!
Eric and Elaine

 

[sheila.d]

Can't answer all your questions, but can give you a couple of sites in Southern Spain, both English owned. Mojacar is a nice place to go with a good seafront. There is a campsite about 15 mins drive inland with onsite entertainment, swimming pool, restaurant ,bar, small supermarket etc. It is at Los Gallardos, and is called camping Los Gallardos. I have been on several times, though not recently, but was always ok. If you want a CL type site, look up Sheppards Rest at Dolores, 20mins south of Torrievieja. You will find details and reviews on UK campsites of this one on there. Not been to this site, but going later this year. We have always travelled on our own, with no problems, but we always stay on campsites, never on motorway service areas etc. The roads are good and well signed, and mostly with little traffic.

 

[rangioran]

Hi Seila,

Thanks for the advice, really appreciated.

Eric

 

[RayS]

A few suggestions based on 12 years of doing just what you are thinking of doing.

You may not see the Brittany Ferry timetables for outbound until about September, and there are not too many January or February as the ships are cycled through their annual service / refit programme then. Depends where you live as to best route for you.

We live in Somerset and use the Portsmouth or Plymouth overnight to St Malo, then down the west coast of France to Irun, then Pamplona and Calatayud near Zaragoza then via Valencia down to Mojacar area. Overnight in france is at Pons, an hour north of Bordeaux. At present i can manage some longish days, so stop only at Pons and Calatayud getting to our site the third evening - about 1100 miles from St Malo.
Other popular night halts in France are the Futuriste near Poitiers and La Rouletta at St jean de Luz near the border. Other travellers go via Madrid stopping at La Cabrera or Aranjuez but this is more miles and personally I don't like the campsites much. The Futuriste should suit your plans for Poitiers, but I would suggest you consider the western route unless you particularly want to go to Barcelona. The main road up the east coast can be very busy full of trucks taking veg and fruit from the south up into the rest of Europe. I did it once and did not enjoy it much - the Zaragoza to Valencia road is much more scenic and restful.
Other stops on our route could be at Navajas inland from Valencia / Sagunto (but only with a motor van or fairly short caravan - 12m outfits are a bit difficult round their corners) or Moncofa which involves a slight diversion to the north from Sagunto. Depends on how long a day you are comfortable with.

The touring site at Los Gallardos was undergoing quite a face-lift earlier this year and has club, bowling and other attractions.
Travel between christmas and new year has the advantage of very few HGV's on the road - not that their standard of driving is not good - it's generally friendly and excellent - but it means less waiting at toll booths etc.

You will probably only find 6 amp EHU. Your gas provision looks a bit light to me. I used to go with two full 6kg Calor and just about managed for 3+ months. Camping Gaz is available in France and Spain but can be very expensive for long term use. You may be able to talk a garage into selling you a Spanish gas bottle - I don't think they are supposed to, but worth a try depending on how good your Spanish is. Main brands are Repsol and CEPSA. Or try a car-boot or flea market once arrived. Once you have a bottle gas is very cheap - earlier this year a 12.5kg exchange cost only 15 euros - compared to £23 for a 6 kg calorlite in UK. You can get the regulators etc at ironmongers called ferritatias or 'ferrets' but suggest you do this only if competent and experienced with gas fittings.

Spanish main roads are good but service stations can be a long way apart - good idea to start looking at half a tank rather than a quarter. Be aware that from time to time the Guardia Civil can get a bit keen on enforcing the rules - seatbelts, towing a car on an a frame, unsecured loads in rear seats, crossing single solid lines etc and that the spot fines can be over 100 euros - worth having some spare tucked away safely.

Campsite fees are often on a sliding scale and seem very expensive for 1 to 3 nights but then the discount structure sets in and your can end up at 90+ days at about half the one night rate. Electricity is quite a big factor in the bill - around 30% on our site earlier this year.

No problems with buying food - there are some excellent supermarkets - Mercadona in particular - and many daily markets. Many tickets are in English. The coastal strip tends to have bars etc. catering mainly for the tourist but go inland and find some small restaurents catering mainly for the locals. Supermarkets do not sell road fuel, but there is a wide choice of wine beer and spirits at prices we can only dream of in UK. Site drinking water can be a bit doubtful, but mineral water is around 80 cents for 6 or 8 litres in the supermarkets - much more at service stations.

You need a dayglo jacket for each seatbelt in the car and they should be inside the car not in the boot. The favourite place is to roll them up and put behind the headrests.
Toll roads in Spain are much cheaper than those in France (although starting to catch up). Do study the roadsigns particularly the 'pull to the right before you turn left' variety - sounds strange but works well. Use dipped headlights when in lane-restricted roadworks even in daylight.
Not many caravan dealers down in the south east - toilet fluid can be a bit difficult to find and very expensive at campsite shops.
Most sites now have wifi and there are internet bars etc. to be found. Typically around 1 euro/day if bought for say 30 days. speeds are improving to the extent we now use the internet for watching TV and listening to radio and don't carry a big sat. dish.

Touch wood have not had to try the medical services but those who have regard them highly.
For peace of mind suggest good personal and recovery insurance. You will find plenty on this topic on this forum; we use Carvan Club and have found them very efficient for the one small probelem we had.

Sorry for rambling on, but new items kept coming to mind as I wrote.

Hope some of this helps and wish you many enjoyable repeat trips.

 

[sheila.d]

Just to let you know Brittany Ferries bookings are up and running for this winter. I got a price on the internet for our trip, and when I rang half an hour later it had gone up by £25. Do not linger! If you have a dog and need a pet friendly cabin, they are the first to go.

 

[rangioran]

Hi sheila.d,
Thanks for the advice re Los Gallardos and Sheppards Rest, I'll certainlt take the time to look at both of them.
Appreciate what you say about not staying on motorwar service areas, I don't think Elaine would be happy doing that anyway
All the best,
Eric

 

[rangioran]

Hi Ray S,
Thanks for the extremely comprehensive reply, all of it really appreciated.
As we plan on visiting relatives near Poitiers on the way down, and looking at ferry costs, we'll probably take the short ferry route (heading off to the NEC next week and will look for the DFDS offer) and then head down to Barcelona, stopping off half way overnight. The plan is then to investigate south east Spain over the following months stopping wherever we find a nice site and interesting area.
Thanks also for the advice re gas, I'll probably look at trying to buy a Spanish gas bottle locally (will I need a different valve?), but hope that EHU deals with all of our needs.
As there will only be two of us will I need more than two Dayglo jackets?
Looking at taking out Red Pennant Insurance, although, with me 65 and Elaine 62 the cost is pretty high for travel and health, but I figure that they're probably the best.
Hope we bump into you on our journeys!
All the best,
Eric

 

[RayS]

Yes, you need one jacket per occupiable seat (hence the comment about the number of seat belts). Jackets are so cheap this should not be a problem.
So far as gas is concerned you will need a connection for a Spanish bottle. they sit over the top connection and lock when you push them down. There are two types. One is just a connector and needs a high pressure tube to connect to your existing regulator. The other incorporates a regulator and so the output is low pressure.
I have known people who just connect this to their existing regulator with no apparant problems. The alternative, if your regulator has an isolation valve built into it or adjacent to it, is to close this valve and then back feed the gas into your BBQ connection.
I must stress that if you are not accustomed to working with gas systems, leak testing etc. then it is probably best not to do this and to stick with the first method.
Gas regulators and fittings can be obtained at most ferriterias (ironmongers)

If you don't speak any Spanish you may need to revert to some sketches. I've learnt the basics from a system called Earworms Learning which does not bother you with the details of grammar etc. but with basic conversations along the lnes of 'I would like' or 'do you have' 'where is' etc. You listen to the tracks in a relaxed mode and with repietition it gradually sinks in.
Good idea to carry a basic First Aid kit too.

 

[JeffinSpain]

Empty post (likely not intentional - probably an Internet Explorer issue!)

 

[JeffinSpain]

Check out www.fincadelapiedra.com it may be what you're looking for. Jeff.

 

[Potjoe22]

Hi.Have you looked at Marjal Camping at Crevillent we are there from Oct to April (but fly back for Xmas for two weeks) we stayed for four nights last winter and booked for this winter appox £8 a night with free wifi 4k,s Elce aday inc,plug in TV,on a 80-90 plot.
Are you going there let me no we will be on B60 or B61 think it,s 61 we have a Bailey Milan and 58reg 4x4.

 

[emmitdb]

Greetings,

Can I add to the very comprehensive reply by Ray S, particularly on the subject of gas.
Once up a time, not so long ago, it was difficult to obtain the bottles in Spain but that would seem to have changed.
In the winter of 2011 (Feb) we were running out of UK gas while in Spain and I tried to get a gas bottle at the site. That involved sending a copy of my passport to the fuel depot by the site and there were murmurings of having my 'van checked over by a plumber!!! This is because Spain is a very bureaucratic country and they wanted to know that my pipes were in order!!!
Before I got the nod on that however, the gas ran out and, following information from a fellow camper, I visited the local Repsol garage. They hired out to me, just as you would in the UK, a lightweight 6kgs butane bottle. I still have the hire agreement.
Cut to the winter of 2012 (again Feb) and I'm back in Spain with my by now, depleted Repsol bottle. I had left some gas in the bottle for my next trip.. On this occasion, when I did run out I visited a Repsol garage and it was an identical scenario to that found in the UK. Out came the bottle from the back of the car and the fuel attendant opened up the cage and gave me a new bottle with no problems.
It will be seen from this that Spain is loosening it's grip on bureaucracy.
Emboldened by this I made enquiries and found that I could hire out a bottle from the campsite (Bonterra Park). Yes, I still had to submit my passport photocopy but a few days later I received the nod of approval and I bought/hired a Spanish (Cepsa) Butane 10kgs aluminium bottle. I could have had propane but I reckoned wherever I go in Spain will not succumb to the problems of 'gassing' that we have here in the UK.
I would like to add a little re: the Regulator/Adaptor required for Spain. I note that you have modern 'van with a built in Reg. You will need an adaptor therefore. Ray has described how it fits. The exit point on the Adaptor requires a UK type Butane, left hand thread pigtail, the type we use in the UK either to fit a 4.5 'dumpy' Butane bottle and the same one that is used to attach a 'Click On' type adaptor for the 6kgs Butane bottle. The Spanish Adaptor can be bought here in the UK and when bought will stop you worrying about obtaining it at the Spanish Ironmongers.

So, there you have it. You can go to Spain, safe in the knowledge that you can call in at any garage (Repsol)and hire a Repsol bottle and when you get esconsed wherever you are, you can make enquiries and get a larger bottle. Whichever way you choose to play it, have a good time in Spain over the winter. We hope to join you in Feb, after we've seen the grandkids 'Down Under' for Christmas.