Having very reluctantly left our beach parking after a glorious week, we were on our way down the coast an hour to spend a few days at Vila Joiosa. We also needed a few days at a campsite with facilities so that I could fix a broken water valve connection on the boiler.
We stayed at Alicante Imperium which was a nice, clean and reasonably priced retirement home and repaired the van whilst taking the bikes along the coast to L’esparrel naturist beach. This lovely beach would have been perfect except for the constant wave strange men once more just ruining these amazing locations. Leela was so uncomfortable that she had to cover up and we left soon after when we would have liked to have stayed much longer there as the weather and ocean was beautiful.
The next days were a little cooler so we took the train to Benidorm to see what the fuss was about and we were quickly re-assured that we did not belong there! Wow what a place… Jam packed on a damp Tuesday at the end of October. Pissed up people stumbling around the streets before midday. Shop after shop selling complete tat followed by bar after bar offering alcohol deals and all day English breakfasts starting from 11:00am…
We walked around the old town which we were advised is absolutely charming but in reality is filled with knock-off shops and Burger Kings and after a walk along the very nice promenade avoiding stepping in the previous nights puke and dog crap, we eventually had a beer and just watched this surreal world of obese, loud, drunks go by as well as the constant stream of mobility scooters.
Both feeling quite dirty from the experience, but not in a good way, we were back on the train and heading for the relative normality of the campsite thinking what the hell we had just witnessed and both vowing never to go back there again!
Backtracking slightly when leaving Joiosa we visited Altea for a day and really enjoyed this charming old artists town with its tiny streets and rooftop views. There were lovely arts and crafts shops to browse through and some nice bohemian clothing stores all hidden away and overlooking the pristine Mediterranean ocean. Quite a stark difference from the filth we had witnessed a few km down the road.
Driving south again we spent some time at the very quiet parking at Carabassi naturist beach and some nice days mountain biking and on the sand. The biking was very good along the hill tops of Monte Faro to the Santa Pola lighthouse and back along this wonderful coastline. The naturist beach was also very nice but the only problem was that we were being hassled constantly once more by the men lurking in the dunes masturbating, which is becoming very tiresome for Leela to be constantly uncomfortable in these locations and causes unnecessary tension. We spoke in depth about it but we could not work out why these men, and its only men, behave in such a pathetic way.
Moving south 30 minutes to Guardamar we met up with Sean and Heidi who we met back at camping Sierra Natura and enjoyed a few days in the area and at the naturist beach Playa Tossals. This really is a beautiful stretch of sand with an impressive pine and sandalwood forest backing the dunes. The weather wasn’t too good for a few days when we were there but we made the most of the beach and lovely walks through the forest.
We did experienced a full 24 hours of relentless 60 kmh wind and constant rain but where we were parked it didn’t actually seem so bad. Then the next day news started to filter through of the horrific devastation that had taken place in the Valencia region exactly where we had been just days before. We were so fortunate to be where we were during this time but hundreds were not. There was nothing that we could really do to help so the next dry and calm day we went to the beach and tried our best to clean-up as much as two people could.
We spent another couple of days at the beach in very nice weather over Halloween before bringing our somewhat strange Costa Blanca adventure to an end and moved South to Andalusia which we hope will be the highlight of our journey and where we have been most looking forward to visiting.
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