{"id":2995,"date":"2022-03-11T21:13:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2995"},"modified":"2022-03-13T07:44:30","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T07:44:30","slug":"spain-7-conil-cadiz-cockerels-and-calor-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2995","title":{"rendered":"SPAIN 7. CONIL, CADIZ, COCKERELS AND CALOR GAS"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have re-located to Camping Roche near Conil, about 30 kms South of C\u00e1diz. Close enough to visit.\u00a0 Far enough away to avoid the crowds.\u00a0 The plan had been to drive to Puerto de Santa Maria and catch the ferry into the city.\u00a0 The problem is that on the two possible days to visit C\u00e1diz, the ferry is conveniently out of service for maintenance!\u00a0 Plan B… drive in and park.\u00a0 Allegedly this is going to be easy at this time of year.\u00a0 Allegedly.\u00a0 But I’ve got ahead of myself.<\/p>\n

Camping Roche is an unpleasantly large campsite.\u00a0 We ended up on pitch 420.\u00a0 That’s a bit of a clue!\u00a0 However, most people seemed to be occupying two or even three spaces!\u00a0 I’d hate to think what it’s going to be like in the summer when the place is full.<\/p>\n

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But it is what it is – a coastal campsite.\u00a0 The problems really started as it got dark.\u00a0 Cockerels from the neighbouring farm started crowing from the trees at about 10 pm.\u00a0 They got really warmed up by 3 am before going to sleep for about three hours.\u00a0 This window of opportunity for sleep was filled by incessant barking of the local “guard” dogs!\u00a0 Then at 6.30 the farmer next door got busy with pumps and heavy machinery.\u00a0 Apart from that, it was a very peaceful site!\u00a0 And the water in the showers was fabulously hot and very plentiful!<\/p>\n

Actually after five days we had got quite used to the routine!\u00a0 But we only stayed five nights!<\/p>\n

Glenda’s brother and his wife, Kirsty, travelled to Conil to meet us.\u00a0 John from Moraira in SE Spain and Kirsty from Glasgow via Malaga airport.\u00a0 We spent half a day trying to locate and check out the Barcelo Conil Playa Hotel for them.\u00a0 When we did get there it looked really good, if 90% unoccupied.\u00a0 Recommended!\u00a0 We tried to reserve the bridal suite for them!<\/p>\n

Just a couple of km from our camp, we found a tiny Cove…<\/p>\n

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… and a miniscule port area with a cafe\/bar in the “yacht” club.<\/p>\n

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Conil de la Frontera, to give the place its full name, is located on a superb beach which appears to run for several miles southeast towards Zahora.<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, we did plan B.\u00a0 John drove us all to C\u00e1diz and we dived underground at the tourist office and found easy parking.\u00a0 No worries!<\/p>\n

C\u00e1diz is an amazing old port city with a lot of remnants of Moorish origins.\u00a0 It’s built on an island and connected to the rest of Spain by three bridges.<\/p>\n

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The city is the home of the Spanish Navy.\u00a0 The port boomed in the 16th-century as a base for exploration and trade. Apparently it has more than 100 watchtowers, including the iconic Torre Tavira, which was traditionally used for spotting ships. On\u00a0the waterfront is the domed, 18th-century C\u00e1diz Cathedral, featuring baroque and neoclassical elements.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Glenda made friends with one of the locals outside the flamenco arts centre…<\/p>\n

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Later, while having coffee…<\/p>\n

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…in the Plaza de San Juan de Dios…<\/p>\n

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… a number of youngsters in national costume appeared.\u00a0 When I asked if I could take a picture of three of them, more and more piled in.\u00a0 I had to keep stepping backwards!<\/p>\n

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I’m still not sure what exactly was going on, but whatever it was, it was very festive!<\/p>\n

We found some instructive road signs…<\/p>\n

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… and the square of flowers (Plaza de los Flores)<\/p>\n

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Our hop on hop off bus ticket took us on an hour’s excursion around the town, and came with free entry to the cathedral.\u00a0 Magnificent outside but rather less so inside.\u00a0 But it was free.\u00a0 \u00a0So that’s OK!<\/p>\n

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A super visit to an interesting old city.\u00a0 We even got to see flamingos in the salt marshes on the way “home”.<\/p>\n

One of my jobs is the vacuuming of the caravan carpet.\u00a0 I had just started, when all the electrics in the caravan stopped being electric.\u00a0 Checked the trip switches and fuses on board.\u00a0 Checked the trip switches on the site’s power outlet.\u00a0 All OK!\u00a0 Oh no!\u00a0 The caravan system had failed!\u00a0 Was this disaster number six (I’ve lost count!)?\u00a0 Then I noticed the site was full of people all checking trip switches!\u00a0 Phew, it’s “just” a site-wide power cut!\u00a0 That’s OK then!\u00a0 Doesn’t worry us because the fridge is on gas!<\/p>\n

Now, before we head off, we want to visit Vejer de la Frontera, a hill-top white village about 20 minutes to the east.<\/p>\n

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But before that, I want to get sorted with Spanish gas because we are running the fridge continuously on gas.\u00a0 We can’t afford to run out.\u00a0 Well, we’ve been here before.\u00a0 Lots of arm waving.\u00a0 More Google translate and calls to Red Pennant to make sure our planned purchases will work safely.\u00a0 \u00a0And even then, the gas wasn’t coming through properly.\u00a0 More calls to the UK for advice before ithe fridge was finally working!\u00a0 Thank you AJ Caravans of Devon!<\/p>\n

Finally we made it to Vejer in time for lunch in the Plaza de Espa\u00f1ia…<\/p>\n

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… and a wander round the narrow streets of town with their tiny enclosed courtyards.<\/p>\n

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Then it was home again via a walk on the beach at El Palmar de Vejer.<\/p>\n

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These last few days have been really great, hanging out with John and Kirsty.\u00a0 Three dinners and a breakfast with them at their posh hotel.\u00a0 It was just great to see them and spend time with them.<\/p>\n

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We have so many memories, although Glenda keeps telling me that I can’t remember them all!<\/p>\n

Tomorrow it’s off to Olvera for a visit to Ronda.\u00a0 But that’s another story!<\/p>\n

What was I saying?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have re-located to Camping Roche near Conil, about 30 kms South of C\u00e1diz. Close enough to visit.\u00a0 Far enough away to avoid the crowds.\u00a0 The plan had been to drive to Puerto de Santa Maria and catch the ferry… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-22","category-travels-in-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2995"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3048,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions\/3048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}