The Coddiwomples in Spain

Hi everyone. Sante from France (with a cheeky little photo bomber 😂).

For most of this trip abroad we have followed the Coddiwomples. For those of you that have followed from the beginning you may remember this is old English slang for: 

"To travel to a yet unknown destination."

We knew we wanted to explore Spain and Portugal having never been there before. Portugal definitely did not disappoint and we explored it to our hearts content. A beautiful country with lovely people and well worth the visit.

We saw some of Northern Spain on our way to Portugal and loved the history and castles in particular. This last month we have been in southern Spain and we wanted to share some pictures with you of some of the highlights and the amazing places we have visited as we have coddiwompled our way around Spain. 

Ivan points the way to the Colombus ships in Huelva, Spain (above).

Huelva was our first stop in south west Spain. We had a great day exploring the three replica ships that sailed Columbus et al to The America's in 1492.

For anyone who likes horses El Rocio in South west Spain is a must. A town with unmade sandy roads where the horse is king. It felt like going back in time and it felt good 🐎. 

Moving on from El Rocio we saw a big Tio Pepe sign from the road and vaguely remembered they make sherry in Jerez so we thought we had better take a look. What a place, we were welcomed with a glass of sherry and a map of the city. It's huge! Full of beautiful statues, monuments and sherry houses, and they also love horses. 

Cadiz in the photos below was another highlight. A smaller walled city with amazing streets, gardens, history and architecture.

We wrote a brief blog about our visit to Gibraltar (The Rock - April 2019) and it was one of our favourite times. Just a few photos below: 

The city of Granada astounded us with its history and architecture plus its modern hippy type vibe, Jane felt right at home.

Ivan did well buying 7 inch singles in Granada. He was happy! 

Coddiwompling in Spain we happened across festivals and fun in the towns and villages we visited: 

Gigantic figures at a festival in the medieval city of Mont Blanc.

There were times we did not coddiwomple and they were some of the best. This was when we had arranged to meet up with family and friends. 

We met with Jane's sister Angie and nephew Stevie (see their guest blogpost: The bank holiday weekend - May 2019).

A big thank you to Dave and Elaine for hosting us in Cartagena. We had the best time. 

We loved Spain so much we did not want to leave, we loved the people, the mountains, beaches, history and the range in different landscapes. However we need to travel back to the UK for various reasons and so, with the weather in Spain heating up to sweltering temperatures we are gradually making our way. We passed the Pyrenees after a night in the beautiful country of Andorra. We are now in France  and looking forward to spending time with family and friends at a social May bank holiday weekend near Dieppe. After a wedding, we are off to Wales and have booked the ferry to Ireland. Lots of adventures to come. Watch this space.....Chao 💖

The bank holiday weekend

Guest blog by Angie and Stevie.

The bank holiday weekend 

Angie & Stevie visiting Ivan & Jane

We came to stay with Jane and Ivan in the Andalusian hills

After getting fed up with the UK chills

We travelled in the back of Daphne the van

And stopped at the most enormous Dam.

Stevie at the enormous Dam

Angie at her namesake road

We got to the site, it was just right

We swam, we ate but the bar shut at eight 🙄

Our campsite pool

Stevie mid jump

We brought a tent, so we didn't pay rent

It was too small so we made a new rule

And stayed in the van, where Stevie tossed pancakes in a pan

Whilst we swam in the pool, it was really cool.

Stevie mid toss

We learnt a lot whilest we stayed on the plot

Stevie made lemonade and we drank in the shade

What a wonderful life Jane and Ivan have made.

The Rock

When we first decided to change our lives (for the better!) and go on an exciting adventure in our motorhome Daphne, Ivan said he wanted to visit Gibraltar at some point. It was mainly because the place intrigued him. Monkeys live here, it has a strong military history and is somehow British despite being a rock on the coast of Spain. It has everything we enjoy: rocks; tunnels; caves; nature; monkeys; history and much missed British pubs!

We parked Daphne in the marina across the border in Spain with a view of the Rock of Gibraltar in the background. We could see the planes landing and taking off from one of the most dangerous runways in the world. We woke early, packed our lunch and cycled the five minutes to customs. By 9am we were on the cable car to the top of the rock. We did not really know what to expect, certainly not everything we did or saw. It was a great experience, we spent all day on the upper rock exploring the nature reserve, the caves and vast network of fascinating tunnels. We came face to face with the famous monkeys who kept us entertained. We topped the day off with a cycle ride around Gibraltar through the tunnels on the coast road. An experience in itself!

Now in the pub, on the rock at the end of an eventful day we thought we would post a few pictures. We hope you enjoy 🐒.