Spain

peedee

Its an overcast showery day. A chance to catch up on my account of our trip!

Camping Cap Blanch was pointed out to me by a MHF member as an alternative to Camping Villasol in Benidorm. We needed a night stop before Benicasim and it was only a short drive from my brothers villa so we thought we would pay it and the town of Albir a visit.

It being a Sunday, Albir was bustling. TomTom Version 6 of course took us through the heart of Albir and along the narrow beach front road rather than the easiest route! (I dislike this TomTom version because of this routing failure.) However, in between dodging parked cars and careless pedestrians, we did observe the pavement cafés were doing a good trade in what we thought an interesting and pretty spot.

Camping Cap Blanch is a beach front site and after visiting the service point, we found a pitch which was not too difficult to get onto and level up. The marked pitches like the adjacent beach were pebbled and are set among pine trees. The site seemed popular with the Dutch many of whom had clearly been over wintering there.

I reported my pitch location to reception who had demanded our passports even though I had given them my Camping Carnet. I was a little taken aback at this previously unmet practice but the receptionist insisted it was a police requirement. Even though I only had a short walk back to the pitch, a site attendant had already unlocked the electrity box and was waiting for me to hand him my electricity lead for connection to the 5 amp supply. Not a lot of power available but we needed to fully recharge our batteries after 8 days without mains power and a reliance only on daily engine running to replenish them. We would have to be careful what electrical appliances we used if we were not to trip this source.

We had an afternoon stroll along the beach front promenade but did not go into town. We stopped for a while for a drink in a café and then returned to site for our evening meal. We then tripped the electric point after reception had closed for the night! Shrugging this off I switched the fridge to run off gas and we retired early.

In the early morning I paid the 26 euro overnight fee and retrieved our passports and carnet. The inoperative electric point had already been disconnected by the time I had walked back to the pitch and as I did so I thought to myself that campsites seemed more expensive than our last visit to Spain in 2002? However it was a site I would return to for a longer stay.

An early start and an 140 mile run via the coastal autoroute meant we arrived at Benecasim's Bonterra Park campsite just after lunch. We had advanced booked this site with the Camping and Caravan Club for 10 days for three reasons:

a) We wanted a taster of a C&CC winter break.
b) We wanted a guaranteed pitch over the Easter holiday period.
c) The site looked close to facillities and transport links.

Our views will be included in the next part of our trip.

zulurita

Can't say I would be happy at leaving my passport when I had already given them the camping carnet which includes passport number! i thought the police only needed your passport number, home address etc.

Bonterra and Benicassim are nice, Lidl's there and other large supermacardos. Lovely walk up to a Monastery from there. The beach is good and nice cycling along the seafront.

cabby

A very informative and interesting post.we stayed at the Cap Blanch in 2002 & 2003. It is a little dearer than it once used to be, but that seems to be the case everywhere.it is expensive for over nighter's, but quite reasonable if you are there for at least a month to get discounts. As we read your account we are missing the place and are envious.Am now going to read your other posts. hope you continue to enjoy your tour.
cabby