Cadiz

We left Lagos at 9 to make the long trip to Cadiz – some five hours distant. the journey was uneventful, and very quiet with it being a Sunday, when the roads have little traffic particularly wagons which don’t travel at weekends.

However, I’m going to gloss over Cadiz today other than to say that it’s a lovely place we will definitely visit again. For now I want to concentrate on the logistics and the campsite.

We decided to stay across the bay from Cadiz at the resort of El Puerto de Santa Maria which is a typical Spanish town and a ferry ride from the city. The campsite – Las Dunas – had been recommended by a neighbour in Lagos, and on the basis of this we booked in for 4 nights to break our journey to Córdoba.

The site was pretty basic but clean, but reached a new low point with zero toilet paper – what happens when you forget, or the first time are blissfully aware? Anyway, notwithstanding this basic missing link, we were surprised to see that we were the smallest unit in the area of the site we’d been allocated.

We were surrounded by what are known as ‘Fifth wheel’ caravans. These are basically articulated caravans hitched into the flatbed of a pickup truck – just like a small version of a 38 ton wagon. All our neighbours had them – talk about feeling inadequate! However, it turned out they were a really friendly bunch and after we’d returned from a cycle ride along the coast we got chatting and ended up spending the afternoon drinking and chatting to four of them. We got on so well they asked us to join them for a farewell lunch to two of them who were leaving the same morning as us.

So eight of us cycled into the local village – Hell Angels eat your heart out! – to sample the local tapas which were really good, as was the Olorosa sherry, and it was touching that they made us both feel so welcome. Two, Steve and Julie are from Warrington, but live in Scarborough. Ian, a civil engineer who has worked and lived in South Africa, and his girlfriend Suzie, and Stav and Leah, a lovely couple from Belgium.

We bowed out after 90 minutes to catch the ferry into Cadiz for a last afternoons sightseeing.

The following morning we were up bright and early to see Ian and Suzie off, and then packed up ourselves, said our farewells, and set off in good time to travel to Córdoba as the campsite we’d selected was first come first served, and things were staring to busy up with Easter approaching.

We’d gone about 200 yards when there was a loud bang as we hit a pothole, and on looking in the mirror I saw the caravan had detached itself and was nosedived 20 yards behind us in the road! Luckily we hadn’t left the campsite at this stage or I dread to think what could have happened.

It turned out that the tow ball can’t have been fully seated (my fault, and you bet I won’t make that mistake again!) and the pothole dislodged it – but it ripped the electrics out of the back of the car in the process. The handbrake safety cable did its job however, ensuring that the caravan stopped in its tracks, and didn’t run into the back of the car.

We set about inspecting the damage, and were soon joined by Steve and Stav who had heard the noise and came along to investigate. The damage was luckily pretty minor, but whilst the caravan itself was undamaged, the socket on the car into which the electrics were plugged had been broken when the lead had been ripped out of it. It still worked, but was loose, with a couple of important pieces missing, so it wasn’t an option for us to continue without a repair.

Karol set off to Reception to see if they could help us in finding a repairer, and failing that to see if we could stay a day or so longer. She returned shortly afterwards with the news that they couldn’t be sure they could find us a space, and the only repairer they’d found wasn’t answering the phone, and would need us to take the caravan to them anyway some 7km away!

Then came our first lucky break of the day – Stav started to witter about maybe having a spare part which he’d bought but didn’t fit his motorhome, but might fit our car. He shot off to look, and blow me, he was right – he’d found it, and it was exactly the right part! What are the chances of that?

It wasn’t quite a perfect fit, so we spent an hour finding a hardware store to buy some longer M5 bolts, which Stav and Steve cut to length and then proceeded to fix to the car for me. All I did was replace the bracket on the handbrake chord from the caravan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it came to pass that, 3 hours later than planned we set off for Córdoba with a fully functioning caravan, despite the apparently ruinous accident that had befallen us earlier in the day.

We arrived at around 4.30, but missed the turning, so had to drive past, and try and turn around. Believe me, being in a city centre and trying to manoeuvre a 24ft caravan with a 12ft car, without going backwards, is a massive challenge. 3 point turns are not possible! Our second piece of luck was that the first left turn had a turnaround 50 yards beyond the junction, and then the campsite had loads of spaces despite our delayed arrival.

At the time you just get on with things, but sitting down tonight, it hit me just how darned lucky we’d been. New friends but good friends, who gave up half a day to help us out despite only having known us for five minutes – very humbling! And I won’t make that mistake with the tow ball again I can tell you!