Settling down in Spain
- Raff
- Aug 24, 2019
- 3 min read
If I had to choose my favourite place in the world, I would immediately reply "Calella de Palafrugell".
My parents had a holiday home in Calella, so every summer we would pack up the car and head down to this charming town for six weeks.
Days were spent walking, swimming, and fishing from our tiny boat which was moored up in the picturesque cove of El Golfet.
Most, if not all of my happy childhood memories are within these little coves and sandy beaches on the Costa Brava and when we return I am transported to a very happy place!
John and I first visited Calella together over 11 years ago in our caravan, Edith. I was really excited about returning, showing him all of the sandy coves, pine needle covered cliff top pathways and quaint cobbled streets lined with fisherman's cottages overlooking the gorgeous bays. This stretch of coastline is completely unspoilt and little has changed for decades due to the very strict planning laws regarding what can be built and where. This is not the Costa Brava people immediately picture - there are no high rise tower blocks, no theme parks, no amusements and tourism is derived mostly by wealthy Spanish families who travel the 90 minutes north-east from their homes in Barcelona.
Since we have arrived here, we have been able to unwind and relax. Everything seems familiar and many of the people on our site are there on a semi permanent basis so there is a strong community spirit. On our row, people have taken ownership of their pitches and you can find terracotta pots full of flowering begonias, sunflowers, hanging baskets, fairy lights in the trees and everyone is so friendly, hopping between pitches for evening drinks and stopping to chat as you walk by.
Our original plan was to continue from Calella and follow the coast into Portugal and then upwards along the entirety of the Portuguese and north Spanish coast until we reached France, and then head back to the UK for some appointments (one of them being to renew my passport which expires at Christmas). All of this would have had to happen by mid October, and after looking at maps and calculating distances, we came to the conclusion that in order to make it back to the UK by October, we would need to keep to a very rigid schedule and there would be no time to stay longer in places we particularly liked. Moving on every other day was not what we had in mind, so we have decided to extend our stay in Calella until early October and then make a leisurely, three week journey back to the UK.
We should be in the UK for around two weeks before we head back to the Continent. We will be in Sitges for mid November and then will travel down to the Costa Blanca to "over winter" until January / February. That means we will be experiencing Christmas and New Year in Spain, which we are looking forward to a great deal. We travelled to the Costa Blanca in February and the weather was perfect- a nice 25c and warm enough for us to sit outside for dinner, enjoy lovely walks and also stay tanned! We are hoping for similar between November and January/February.
Our plan is to then travel to Portugal and we hope to do this with our lovely friends Robyn and Dave who also have a motorhome.
We have traveled with Robyn and Dave extensively throughout the UK, France and into Spain. They are very good company and it would be lovely to explore something new together, to share advice, route planning, meals and perhaps a glass or two of wine!
By adjusting our plans, we can enjoy spending longer in a place we absolutely adore (Calella), avoid rushing around Portugal and ending up missing the best parts, and by delaying that segment of our travels, it allows us to travel with friends.
There is a lot to see in the Calella area and we will be exploring it extensively, so there will be plenty of blog posts for us to upload and we will keep you updated with what we are up to!
We are currently in Sitges for a week and the better internet connection here has enabled this blog update. There will also be some blog updates with video, so keep an eye out for those. If you're not already subscribed, you can do so from our website and you will be notified of updates automatically.
Adios! x
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