23 November 2022 - Another day, another beach

Miles driven today = 121

Total Miles to date = 3,880

Look what greeted us when we pulled up the blinds this morning.  Another fabulous sunrise to enjoy while we snuggled down under the duvet.

I must be just about the only person from the UK who has never enjoyed at least one weekend break in Barcelona during their lifetime and I'm afraid it's not going to happen on this trip either.  We would probably need 3 days to do the place justice and we just don't have that amount of time to spare, but it would make sense to start in Catalonia next time we are in this part of the World so we will have to pencil it in for then.

So the priority for today's journey was to get to the other side of Spain's second city.  We didn't mess about.  We got ourselves onto the toll-free AP7 motorway, which gives both Tarragona and Barcelona a wide berth, admiring the craggy outlines of Mount Monserrat on the way.  The road was far busier than we have come to be accustomed to with heavy commercial traffic and I was very relieved to turn back to the coast once we were clear of Mataro.

We followed the beach hugging N-11 past numerous campsites which are now shut for the winter.  Construction work meant it was slow going through Calella but once we were through that we quickly found our way to Camping Bellsol in the next resort of Pineda de Mar.

It's another €20 ACSI site with all the usual services to hand.  There are mature trees for shade in the hot summer months but they have since been pruned, giving the whole place a weird skeletal look.

The coastal railway line runs down the other side of the road but there is a pedestrian subway underneath it which gives almost direct access to the coarse sandy beach.  

The temperature had bounced back up to 23 degrees by this afternoon, which was very welcome, and although the water did look beautifully clear I very much doubt my swimming trunks will be getting wet again on this trip.

24 November 2022 - Palamos