Thursday 3 March

An earlyish start to attempt a reasonable getaway but things get in the way like people suddenly wanting to know all about Morocco and saying extended goodbyes to people we've perhaps spoken to once...........

But by 11.15 we were at reception waiting to pay, behind an elderly Spanish lady who wanted to know everything about everything and actually learned nothing – but at least she did apologise for keeping half the campsite waiting. So at 11.45 we pulled out; we like this place and no doubt will be back again in the future.

First stop shopping and we headed for the large Carrefour at the El Paseo shopping centre. As usual we went in with a list of a few bits and pieces and spent €112 on a very full trolley load which then had to be packed away. So we stopped for lunch.

On a glorious afternoon we thought we'd have a run along the coast, well as close as we could get; there's a huge American navy base, the largest in Europe apparently, at Rota which is where the various helicopters and jets we've seen floating about came from. There is also a small aire there which we had a look at; very nice but a bit in the middle of nowhere although right next to the beach. Too quiet for us but useful to know about.

A little further north there is a place called Costa Ballena which looked interesting but turned out to be a holiday complex with hotels and hundreds of apartments, mostly closed. So we continued to the small modern town of Chipiona which turned out to be very ordinary although we did notice how remarkably clean and tidy everywhere was. With nothing further of interest therefore we carried on to Sanlucar de Barremeda and the large (free) aire close to the town centre and right next to the estuary of Guardal Quivir, the river that passes through Seville. Sanlucar is another port for the sherry industry and we can see small coasters going in and out from our pitch.

We were here last year and it was less than half full; quite different today when we found there wasn't much choice of pitches left and had to settle for a spot close to the main road, so a bit noisy. But at least we (should) get full sun for most of the day, helped by a German van parking next to us but far enough away to avoid casting us into shadow. We later counted around 100 motorhomes parked up here of various nationalities including quite a lot of Spanish and Brits; we were told that it had filled up suddenly from around lunchtime, no idea why although we did spot several vans that had been at El Puerto de Santa Maria, obviously doing the same as us. Some Funsters here too, though none we already knew.

We'll probably stop here a couple of days, it's a nice place to stroll around and sit in the sun.