The Villa

We took the coastal and non-toll road south through Valencia, which reached highs of 30°C at one point. The timing was good and we decided to go surprise Kat’s parents and nan two days early at their villa in Mazarron, just outside of Murcia. After spotting their 4x4 in the car park in a nearby complex, we found Kat’s dad in one of the local bars who then complained about it being the first time since he’d gotten to Spain that he had a quiet drink on his own. Charming. After the delayed welcome and smile from him (and a swift pint) we drove back to the villa and prepared to surprise Kat’s mum and nan, only to have Louise say ‘I had a feeling you’d arrive today and had made up the bed ready’. Talking about pissing on our fire! Anyway we were happily received and unloaded the car of our rucksacks etc. before heading out for a decent meal.

Waiting for Bens little sister to arrive at airport San Javier

It was a day later when Ben’s youngest sister, Lizzie, flew into Murcia with her friend Tammy and picked up the car. Kat’s parents had said that they were welcome to stay a night or two before setting off on their road trip back to the UK (via Barcelona, Lyon, Amsterdam and Luxumbourg). After a swim, meal out and good nights sleep, Lizzie and Tammy said their goodbyes and set off. Since then, we’ve been busy swimming in the pool, playing cards and trying to work out fathomless crosswords – it’s a hard life. We went to the local market and tried our hand at haggling with much success and a few bargains. One purchase was a very much delayed Ben’s birthday present – a pair of sandals for travelling.
We’ve been lucky to get out and about despite not having Ben’s car as we’ve been taken to Aledo

(derelict fortress in the mountains); Bolnuevo (went swimming in the crashing sea and saw a dead dolphin in the rocks); Cartagena (saw the old amphitheatre and walked up to the castle that had loads of peacocks roaming the grounds which reminded me of Iona’s parents house); San Javier (a quaint beach with kite suffers) and other surrounding areas.
Nan (accompanied by dad) left on the 4th June, so saying goodbye to her was difficult but we’re pleased we spent more time with her, plus we’ve said we’ll all keep in touch. A couple of days on, Steve is back with us and we’ll be leaving here on the 10th June. We are being dropped off at Granada by Steve and Louise as it is enroute to their journey to Portugal. We’re hoping to meet up with Ben’s Spanish friend, Rosana, in the city and after speaking to Iona last night, have an idea of where’s good to go if we don’t jump on a bus that day to Algecias where we hope to get a ferry from to Morocco. Fingers crossed all goes well and we’ll be in touch with our next update….

Mazarron, Spain