Blog 1.21: Days 19, 20, and 21

10th, 11th, 12th October

Three weeks already? That's the longest we've ever been away from home in one stretch, with the previous record being 16 days when we travelled to Crookhaven, County Cork when the girls were quite young (five and seven, maybe. They're 35 and 37 now, so you do the maths).

We were discussing the trip's duration this afternoon as we cruised down the coastal A road from El Saler to Xeraco, just north of Gandia, and both felt that it only seemed like a couple of weeks, no more. That's a good thing, right?Homesick? No way, Josè.

It was a very relaxing three nights in El Saler, in a beachside car park. There's not very much there, to be truthful, but it feels quite a special place. Quite a few other 'off-gridders' obviously felt that way too, and several were obviously there for relatively long-term stays. The Policia don't seem to mind, having cruised around the car park a few times, and likewise the local council seem quite happy to have us there, and provide (tested quality) water taps, and bins which are emptied every day.I'm not so sure they'd be so tolerant in the high season though,  judging from some of the comments on Park for Night.

During our first day there, Josh and Maria turned up as already mentioned, and then on day two Josh gave us a quick tour of the local area (some of which I knew quite well) including a visut to Catarroja Port (which I didn’t). Port is quite a grand term for it, but it's a very pleasant stretch of channel which feeds into L'Albufera,  and is full of the type of small boats that you might reasonably expect to see in the Arabian Nights. Sadly none had their sails up, and all were docked by the time we got there, but it's impressive nonetheless

Next was a visit to two of the several Chinese Market shops in the Massanassa commercial area. The first surprised Josh slightly by not having exactly what we wanted, so we quickly embarked for another somewhat larger emporium a few scant metres away, which definitely had what we wanted. And plenty that we didn’t know about. Yet.

The important thing was a folding step to replace our broken one, to which we also added a pimply rubber mat to scrape the sand off our plates of meat. The sheer volume of sand, mud, grit you drag into a van in a day beggars belief, so hopefully this would help. Joss sticks, tarp clips, and self-adhesive catches (for the bathroom mirror/cupboard door which has proved itself adept at slipping its mooring and swinging open over very bumpy roads. Don't need that smashing, thank you very much).

Moving on to their Massanassa home, which is basically a farmhouse with a huge rice-drying loft, we had time to spend with the dogs, and for Mandi to spend lots of time discussing arty stuff with Eva, J&Ms older daughter. We were also shown Tio's house next door. This too is a traditional Valencian village farmhouse with the typical huge doors at the front, and at the rear of, to access the likewise huge hall area with the carts full of rice, ready to be offloaded and spread for drying in the roof.

Sadly, the house is in a poor state of repair now, mainly due to J&Ms previous tenants, who really did the dirty on them. Very sad.

The internal doors to the rear of the entrance 'hall'. Tall person and slightly less tall person added for scale.

We then walked to Restaurant Nou, through the insistent rain, for our evening meal, which, try as Mandi liked, they wouldn't allow us to pay for. Thanks for that both. It was lovely enjoying tapas and main courses, and getting to know Eva and Anna, who are the most gracious and pleasant girls one could wish to meet.

Oh, and before I forget, before getting to their home, we called in on the old former furniture workshop that they own, just a few yards from home. It's huge, and empty, apart from the old Renault that J&M used as their wedding car all those years ago. If I recall correctly, it's been in the family's possession since new.

The whole building would be worth an absolute fortune, to be converted into industrial apartments, in the right quarters of London.

I remember the wedding well, standing there in my suit, as Best Man, in the sweltering summer heat. No aircon in the Ajuntamiento - or whatever the building was - I'm afraid. Fortunately there was at the reception. And huge langoustines too, as I recall.

The only thing that slightly marred proceedings (the evening with J&M and girls, not the wedding) was that I seemed to be losing my voice. Whaddya mean, that's a good thing? So I really wasn't feeling anything like 100%.

J&M drove us back to the van at something like midnight, and I have to admit I was sinking rapidly by then, and ready for bed.

And so, the next morning, the plan to move on down the coast suddenly seemed less attractive. I tentatively suggested that this driver might benefit from a further day off, and happily M agreed.

Truthfully, we both felt quite knackered. We did drag the bikes out though, and puttered up to just below Valencia docks, searching fruitlessly for bread for the morning, and back along the coastal cycle path, finishing at Vincen's in El Saler for a good feed of mixta paella, and a couple of sin alcohol beers, before retiring to the van and collapsing for totally uncharacteristic daytime naps.

I'm either getting old, or I was genuinely under the weather. That's not a question, so don't answer it...

When in Valencia...

We passed a pretty good and peaceful night, and didn't surface until well after sun-up, breakfasting on cereals. No bread or croissants. Bah!

A few van chores done, and we hit the road south, a day late - but who's counting? At least I'm feeling a little more chipper now, even if the voice is still occasionally AWOL.

Xeraco came up in surprisingly short order. I think I still have issues of resolving kilometres against miles. Five-eighths of a mile passes so much more quickly. There's a surprise...

Xeraco Campers is a kind of cross between a campsite and a camper area/aire, but is definitely moho or campervans only.

I'd read one or two slightly adverse comments, but to be fair most were overwhelmingly favourable, and I have to say that now we've fully settled in after a couple of hours, I think the place is cracking. In our part at least, the pitches are relatively spacious, fringed with low shrubs and tall palms, and there's a super view of the mountains, albeit slightly shrouded in mist at the moment. There are showers, loos, emptying facilities, water on tap on the pitch, a bar, a small shop area, and a swimming pool - which is still open.

All this for 12€ per night? Are you kidding? An absolute bargain. How anyone can be negative I have absolutely no idea.

Today's View. That'll do.

We've booked for one night, and we'll be toddling off to explore shortly, but I'm pretty convinced that we'll be booking an extra night on our return. And why not?

Miles covered: 1592