Wintering in Southern Spain

[Guest Joe Brewer]

We are contemplating spending Feb/March in Southern Spain and would be very gratefull for any advice on all aspects.e.g.Routes/Areas/Sites/Facilities and any usefull tips.Thanks.

[Guest audrey]

You haven`t mentioned which sea crossing you propose taking. Have you been to Spain before, in the winter? Also, do you propose using campsites or free camping?

[Guest PeteC]

Hi Joe If you are going from Calaise/ Zeebruge you can cros the Pyrense on the Atlantic coast or the Mediteranean side - Either way there are few transit camps so you need to plan carefully From Perpignon just drive down the main coast road E...(pay) orN>>> 9Free but slow) From San Sebastian/ Bilbao just head for Madrid then Sevilla/ Granada NIV Over night at Aranjues or just watch the road signs for camp site many are open all year Try Portugal for an unspoilt country (once away from the Algarve) We use camping Cheques and join the Orbiture Club in Portugal its free for over 60's & you get 10 - 15% discont Good travelling

[Guest berti]

hello pete can you give further details of the orbiture club contact info, how it operates etc. do both parties have to be over 60? do you know of any other schemes / organisations that offer discounts for over 55's. we know the uk caravan+camping club do. any other money saving tips would be welcome as will be semi-retiring next year on a fairly limited budget and plan to m/home for 6-8 mths ( or until the money runs out!!!) jan/feb/march... cote d'azur/ roses / down coast to benidorm april.....uk based at home but weekending locally in n/west area may/june... holland/belgium/northern france july/august... relax at home and recover from our adventure !!!!!( and plan the next one ) !!!! mid september- mid october...scotland mid-october/ december.... at home,temporary work we are insured with caravanguard at present who cover for up to 8 mths in total per period of insurance for using m/home as a domestic dwelling ....european travel up to 6 mths ( this can be in total or in one trip ) and up to 2 mths in uk. we have had very good service from them but they do not offer cover for year round full-timers. if we enjoy our trial year of spending so much time m/homing we are considering full-timing but have been told that insurers who provide this cover now require you to have a uk residential address, be on the electoral roll at this address AND ALSO HAVE UTILITY BILLS IN YOUR NAME at the address you declare. it appears that if you are using a relatives' address and do not meet these criteria you would be making a false declaration and may not be compensated in the event of a claim. does anyone know if this is the case? regards berti

[Guest MelE]

I think someone is getting confused with the money laundering rules on opening a bank/ building society account. I have just changed insurers and was not required to produce any proof of address.

[Guest berti]

hello again sorry joe i seem to have digressed from your original post... as one does last jan/feb/mar we went down to s/spain.. we usually cross portsmouth-caen but budgetary restraints led to us trying an early morning norfolkline crossing: cheap and basic...but only on ferry for a couple of hours so you pays your money etc.. dunkirk was horrible , couldn't find anywhere that looked ok to park overnight for the return trip which was an early morning crossing. we set off for our usual stopover, montreuil-bellais, which has a lovely aire overlooking the river and 2 mins walk past the chateau to the town..it has water,electric, dump point and you can make it a 2 night stay and have a rest. this was a very long drive from dunkirk !! don't stop on motorway aires overnight they are not safe.. better to come off m/way at 4 ish before it goes dark and find a quiet spot and have an early night and early start than driving until late at night especially if you don't know the route. we stayed overnight at lourdes.there are several car-parks around the centre and the railway station which on enquiry at the gendarmerie you can stay on overnight. the grotto,church and the centre are all within a few minutes walk and as it is deserted at this time of year you can walk around in peace. then we made our way down to granada.. inland spain is extremely cold and we drove most of the day until 8pm and stayed on lorry parking spaces at garages and restraunts/hostels..if you purchase fuel or a meal you seem to be welcome to overnight and being off the beaten track you are less vulnerable to the motorway bandits. we stayed overnight on the alhambra car park ... but there are no facilities like an aire.. it is very convenient for the centre and we were told that in winter you can stay as many nights as you wish but it's expensive at 20 euros per night. cabo-de-gata area on the coast has smaller sites and spots for wild-camping but as it is a national park area you may be moved on . we do not go where there are lots of other vans as the police seem to target large numbers of m/homes congregating. mazarron,torreviega offer camping near the beach if you go out of the main town on side streets near empty hotel/apartment blocks and are discreet. the ports at aguilas and adra tolerate camping for a couple of nights and are handy for the towns. almeria is now very built up and our usual spots had new apartments built on them. the police were very keen and were even moving people on in the night time.. the mediterranean games are being held there so maybe they are having a purge on m/homers to prevent the areas image being tarnished !! quite a few campsites along the coast in these areas had been closed or developed for apartments. along the coast to benidorm it was the same story and benidorm itself seemed empty compared to previous visits . we got a pitch immediately at el raco site !!! no wild camping anywhere around here until past valencia but after this at burriana,sagunto, benicassim etc up to peniscola there are plenty of nice spots for a night ot two. there is supposed to be an aire at peniscola but we couldn't find it and other m/homers were not aware of one, so if anyone has any info on this it would be appreciated. areas which are heavily populated by expats seem to be very antagonistic to m/homers so we avoid mojaca, javea, denia etc unless you wish to try to get a space on the overcrowded sites. we went to carcassonne on the return journey and camped for 2 nights free in the small municipal car park just inside the city wall. you can stay overnight at the main carpark for a fee of 20 euros. again the place wasn't very busy and it was good to be able take your time and not be jostled by video camera carrying far-eastern tourists!!!! the new bridge at millau is indeed spectacular but is expensive to drive across. the weather last winter in spain was appalling.. even on the far south coast; so no guarantees that almeria will be temperate. the weather only really improved markedly on our way homein march. we had heavy rain, cold winds and even hailstones and a torrential downpour at aguilas when the carnival was on, it had to be postponed as the streets were flooded. we awoke at adra to find all the locals on the seafront taking photos as the beach was completely covered in heavy snow !!!!! in fact even benidorm was not as warm as usual so maybe weather patterns are changing worldwide and we will be queing up to wildcamp on blackpool beach in february in a few years !!! so joe if you want to do a mix of staying on sites and wild-camping providing you are sensible and take all the precautions you can not to make yourself vulnerable the odds are that you will be fine. to stay on sites all the time is very expensive even with the discount for long stays. to us the whole point having a motorhome ( a huge expense in itself nowadays )is to be mobile. staying in one place for 4 or more weeks in order to get a significant reduction on fees is not our ideal m/homing experience but if you are nervous with wild camping then it would be money well spent otherwise you wouldn't enjoy your holiday. as the whole point is to use your van in whatever way suits you i can only say be flexible and try all avenues to get the full benefit from your investment. this year we are going to try the channel tunnel as it was only £24 dearer than norfolkline last year and we can travel at times more convenient for us. we are going to try the cote d'azur area and may go to spain ....roses looks nice... may go to benidorm but no firm plans as yet try to get the book for the complete aire de services in france it's easy to decipher and is well worth the money... i think you can access it on the internet or individual areas websites usually have aire info we have the caravan club site book from 2001 but have only used it a couple of times as other travellers tell you of good sites/camping spots and we have come across many super sites just by chance which are not even mentioned in the british books. if you stick rigidly to these publications you miss such a lot of the wonderful country away from allegedly 'safer' touristy areas. hope this is a bit of help and you get some more posts to give you more to consider....really you've just got to jump in and do it. best of luck regards berti

[Guest PeteC]

Hi Berti and all Orbitur club You just turn up at the first Orbitur site & book in & ask to join They give you a receipt which is you r membership till you get home Cost nowt so you get a receipt value nowt We use camping cheque uk WWW.campingcheque.co.uk Cost £10.20 per night now inc elect , showeres We have an old copy of the Caravan Clubs 'caravanning Europe think vol 1 is france $ Spain Portugal (we have both & they just live in the van We also go on some of the C&CC rallies