Wishing everyone a Healthy Safe and Happy 2018

Mojacar ….. a cracking place in Andalusia on the Mediterranean coast where we bought Pinot last February and it is where we decided to come back to for our winter break .. 😊 The last 12 months have been very busy and it was time to stay put for a while and enjoy the Seasons festivities in familiar surrounds. This town comprises 2 distinct areas. The Old town of Mojacar Pueblo sitting high in the hills overlooking the Mediterranean…and the Playa on the sea with its Restaurants, bars cafes and shops. Originally this was not really on our list of places to see and had Paul the original owner of Pinot not lived here, we would have never have discovered it.Thankfully Mojacar still retains a typical Spanish flavour with no bucks and hens parties or rowdy drunks. The climate, whilst not sub tropical is still mild compared to its Northern neighbours. We have had no rain over the past 4 weeks and daily temps between 16 and 23 degrees, not shorts and t shirts but bright and very pleasant indeed. In summer apparently the whole place takes on a completely different feel as the mercury soars, so do the crowds. It’s Winter here but there is a huge array of choices of dining options .. live music venues plenty of tapas bars etc and most are great quality and as you can see in the pictures below it’s nice and quiet………We have been staying at Camping Soplamo a very small campsite just outside Mojacar … we parked for a night …then 3 and loved it so much as we made a decision to stay put for Christmas and New Year. We have rented a small car for a month and have been travelling up and down the coast and discovered much of what the region has to offer.. Of course we now are part of the Soplamo family ( well second cousins at least) and we were made to feel very welcome from day one.Fellow campers range in age from early fifties to early eighties with Irish, Welsh, English ( we try not to mention Cricket) Dutch and German and a colourful mix of personalities making the whole experience thoroughly enjoyable.We could write a book about the going ons we have encountered while staying here, but campers pinky promise , what happens on site stays on site and as a few have our blog now we have to be careful 🤣😂The Sundowners bar is open almost every day at 4 .00 pm for a couple of hours ..in front of Roy and Hilary’s van from Ireland ..if you fancy it , which we mostly do 😂
r on a Friday night if you fancy a beer or three where everyone meets if you feel inclined.

Our hire car is a little Fiat Panda .. fondly known as Chardy … to keep the Vino tradition of names going. The beginning of December meant Christmas celebrations had begun so we bought a cute little tree and fairy lights .. oh and We decorated the tree outside our front door. Took about 6 minutes to decorate .. a bit different from home !Our lovely neighbours Jacqui and Richard went to town with their efforts as did everyone else so our corner of the site was very festive.We have spent our days exploring by car … hiking… long lunching .. evening meals out …of course ..celebrating Christmas and New Year with new friends.Found this photo .. and just had to include it 😂😂Mince pies and Mulled wine at Dessert Springs Golf Resort below ..Fabulous drive through The marble and limestone mountain ranges….and beyond.Hiking through the hills around the campsite with Elka and Percy from Germany and Jacqui and Richard from UKAfter a long hot hike Tapas and a cold beer goes down a treat. Christmas Eve was a brilliant night full of festive cheer at the Emerald Isle an Irish Pub on the Playa… we met up with some of Paul’s friends from last time we were here and enjoyed a few Pints of Guinness and the odd shot.( best wishes are with him as he goes through the dreaded Chemo treatment in UK xx) and sang and danced ( well Amanda did) the night away …. 😂 all the classic rock Christmas songs and a great live duo who did the same. Amanda was very enthusiastic assisted by a little bubbles and I was equally enthusiastic just dancing on the inside…..encouraged with some lovely Guinness !made to feel very welcome here too.The Christmas celebrations continued the next day but not before a briskwalk into town to collect Chardy the Fiat . We were invited out to the Christmas Day lunch with the camping crew ….24 of us .Allen needs some assistance with some beer goggles It’s a small world and here I am with Lynn .. we met her and her husband Austin at a bus stop in Northern Spain back in April and spent half an hour on a bus with them ….fast forward 8 months and we are, by complete coincidence on the same camp site as them.We have had lovely coastal walks…catch ups with the locals at the Emerald visits to nearby villages You have to love this …Two small beers and all this for 3 Euros…a three course meal for 14 Euros ..just a couple of samples of so many great meals we have had during our stay.Further afield in Almeria and the below pics were taken in the Alcazaba Fortress. So many films and series have been filmed and are still being filmed here including Cleopatra Paton, Conan the Barbarian El Cid and more recently the on going Game of Thrones series.Before we knew it … New Years Eve was upon us .. Al Pal was the DJ for a fun filled night at the campsite bar complete with fireworks and all the usual poppers and fun …..AJ, Keith and Percy did a great job providing the fireworks and AJ being her usual hostess with the mostest did a wonderful job in between . In all the “family” have been an inclusive, fun and energetic bunch.No danger of us getting bored with all the shenanigans going on around the place. Keith celebrated his 60 something birthday and his better half AJ catered for around 26 of us and kept us liberally topped up with shed loads of Vino..A long table …. long lunch another day for some other celebration ….reason unknown but it was a great afternoonAnother evening was spent in the bar, where Allen hosted a “Name that tune” quiz…….retirement is certainly encouraging his social skills 👏👏👏
We hav
honest we rarely watch it, given we are mostly in Countries who don’t speak the Queens as there native tongue, however Mike and Dot , a very funny and full of life Lady on the site have erected a massive Satellite disc and for the princely sum of €10 for the whole month , plugged us in and hey presto we can watch Coronation Street and Dancing with the idiots , sorry I mean Stars …….NOT but we do get to watch British TV at any time so a grand little bonus……thanks guys. Also Sue and Jen, another smashing couple on the site have helped us out with an apple attachment which allows us to transfer data from our IPads etc through an HDMI cord and we also now watch Netflix so another nice gesture by this gang. Thanks Ladies it works a treat….and happy travels to you both. What a fab month we’ve had here and we are now treating ourselves to another little holiday 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 and we are sat in Almeria Hotel ready to catch a ferry in an hours time woohoo!

Love and best wishesto all xx