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peedee

On arrival on the outskirts of Benicasim, we ignored TomTom's directions this time and followed the C&CC's directions which would have been excellent had the access road from the south not been closed due to major road works right outside the site's entrance. We 'U' turned and were almost immediately hailed by an English couple coming back with their shopping. They gave us directions on how to avoid the road works by approaching from the north.

I handed over my C&CC voucher at Bonterra's reception and we were handed a site plan and told how to get to our allocated pitch. Bonterra is not large by Spanish standards and we were soon being cheerily welcomed by the rally stewards.

Although the rally opened on the day of our arrival we noted many had clearly arrived much earlier. Further more our allocated pitch was occupied! It took three trips to reception to finally resolve the matter and we were allocated a pitch on
the fringe of the rally rather than in amongst the majority. Not the best of positions to get to know your fellow ralliers. In fact, over our stay, we spoke more with our Dutch neighbours than with fellow ralliers. However, we did book in for the welcoming three course dinner that evening which included a bottle of wine all for 15 euros per couple. We enjoyed this and a subsequent dinner dance three nights later for the same price but we skipped the boules competition, the mountain walk and the coach tour, the last two being impractical for us. We noted most rally participants had come from other earlier winter rallies and had already been away some time. We were most definitely the newbies.

The weather was very changeable. It rained most days, mostly at night and the temperature rarely went above 18C. It proved too inclement for a coffee morning and also for a communal BBQ, although a few hardy souls did make an effort. Our forays off site were limited to walks around the area for shopping, coffee and lunches in the more pleasant periods.

There is a Lidls supermarket next to the site and a good Mercadona supermarket with an excellent fresh fish counter opposite the site entrance. The sandy beach and the excellent flat long promenade are about 500 yards away and the town center is about a similar distance. Two bus routes ran close by, one south to Castellon and the other north to Orpesa and Marina d'or. Only the one to Castellon was wheelchair friendly. The train station was a good half hour walk away and we never did do a planned trip to Valencia.

There are three standards of pitch on site, with the top two being fully serviced and the most suitable for larger outfits. All are gravel hard standing and even though an iron framework is erected over most pitches to support summer shade, this is of a sufficient height not to trouble the majority of motorhomes.

Bonterra Park is well run and weary popular with the Brits who form the majority of visitors. We found a 10 day stay a little too long, given the limits the weather imposed on us. We were less inclined to travel further afield even though transport availability met our expectations.

Sixty seven units were on the rally while we were there. We hardly saw any of the occupants of these except on organised events we chose to go to. People tended to keep to themselves or to the groups they had formed earlier. To us, it didn't really feel like a rally.

Tomorrow we move on back towards Calais but as free spirits with no commitments other than a date with a ferry.

Pusser

Good read and parts 2 and 3 seem to have slipped past me. I will hunt them out later. Not sure rally type environ is my cup of tea and I will keep only to MJF rallies if ever a date comes up that we can actually go to one.

Have a safe journey back home and talking of free spirits - which shop do you go to in Calais. Very Happy

zulurita

Shame about the weather as it has been so nice here in Devon, sitting outside on the patio for lunch.

We found the C&CC rally at La Manga much the same, all in their little groups as they had obviously known each other for awhile. Doing ones own thing is better I guess. We joined the C&CC because it was our first winter away.