18 November 2022 - We're on our way home

Miles driven today = 143

Total Miles to date = 3,372

Looking at the map of our journey you'd be forgiven if you were to assume that we are just upping the pace on the general eastward trajectory we have been following ever since we left Lisbon, but today marks the point where we are genuinely starting to make our way back towards Calais.   

The most direct route back from Granada would have taken us north via Madrid to San Sebastian but from there it would be a case of pretty much retracing our steps back through France and we don't want to do that.  We also don't have any snow chains so going through the Pyrenees isn't an option either, as I understand it's obligatory to carry them at this time of the year even if there is no snow around.

So we have decided instead to head east and follow the Mediterranean coast up to Perpignan and then take a track which skirts round to the east of Paris.  That way we will be covering fresh ground all the way.

We have 16 full days to make the journey of approximately 1,400 miles, so averaging less than 100 miles a day.  It'll be a relatively leisurely pace but unfortunately we are unlikely to have time to visit the likes of Valencia & Barcelona en-route.  They will just have to wait for the next time we are in this part of the World, which hopefully won't be too far down the line.

The day started wet.  Very wet!  I was so glad that I wasn't stomping round the Alhambra today rather than yesterday because that would have been miserable.

We headed for the motorway and started to climb away from Granada, skirting along the northern fringes of the Sierra Nevada and topping out at a little under 1,400 metres.

As we approached Baza the rain finally eased, so we pulled over for a short sandwich stop.  Visibility had cleared just enough to see the tops of the surrounding hills and lo and behold there was a dusting of snow up there.

On we travelled, heading for Puerto Lumbreras.  I had found a nice sounding little campsite on Park4night and Lisa had the common sense to send them an email to make sure they had space for us while I was off sightseeing yesterday.  There was a slight problem though.  The site I had plumbed into Google Maps and the one Lisa had booked us into were 2 completely different places, approximately 10 miles apart!

After a slightly fraught discussion we reset co-ordinates and are now at Casa Los Lobos, near the small rural town of Almendricos.  They are in the process of expanding and it's currently something of a work in progress as a result.  They actually had to lay gravel on a new area for us to park but the facilities are great and Mimi, our Belgian hostess, is very attentive.  They even have a pool for visitors' use but it's a tad chilly for that right now.

Mimi does very reasonably priced home cooked meals, so we took her up on her offer.  How about this for less than €10 a head, delivered with a smile to your van door.  We don't even have to do the dishes!

Mimi told us that when she and her other half Kevin left Belgium in 2018 they were originally planning to set up a sandwich bar on Tenerife, but when that fell through they came here instead and fell in love with the place.  

You can absolutely understand why with these skies and the hills all around.  Its certainly has a very different feel to anywhere else we have stayed on this trip.

I initially thought the name Los Lobos was a bit odd.  We're not in any danger of being attacked by wolves round here and Mimi and Kevin are too young to remember "La Bamba" being in the charts.  But they do have 3 amazing Czechoslovakian wolfdogs, which are a cross between a German Shepherd and a Carpathian Grey Wolf so the name makes sense now.

19 November 2022 - To the Costa Blanca