Tuesday 22 January – Bigastro to Vera

Bigastro to Vera - 119 miles

'Twas a bit cool when Jamie first asked to go out, but the bed was still nice and cosy.............

Anyway the sun came up and we breakfasted and serviced the van. Now I'm usually pretty careful about reversing but there was plenty of room............ except for a handrail on a set of steps going nowhere. It was only a little crunch but it bent the handrail support and broke the numberplate holder on the rear rack. The handrail straightened up okay and a few tie-wraps re-attached the holder until I can get a new one – I've done it before and they're not cheap. Stupid!

Decided to head for the A7 motorway as we needed to get around Murcia and it looked by far the easiest way. TomTom said turn left, but the road was a dead end with nowhere to turn so a long reverse downhill, fortunately no traffic and managing not to hit anything! Headed back the way we had come in and took a turn as suggested by Nellie......... suffice it to say it took us half an hour to get clear of what is really only a small town, with TomTom going nuts. There has been extensive development with new roads, not all of them complete, replacing old plus narrow streets and one-way systems – a veritable nightmare! We eventually managed to get to the edge of town and pick up signs – today was not turning out very well!

We stayed on the A7 for quite a while, well past Murcia before breaking off onto the N332 coast road which was very “scenic” - our euphemism for hilly and bendy! - but at least we found a nice quiet place to stop for lunch before continuing the pretty way. The motorways are much more attractive than the UK and are fine if you want/need to make progress and the autovias (e.g A7) are all free. We've heard that the autopistas (e.g. AP7) are being taken over by the government as they are all making losses, and most will be free within 12 months in an attempt to get better use – a welcome reversal in motoring policies!

Mid-afternoon, with the weather definitely grey and cool, we paused to select our night stopover. Bearing in mind our previous experiences although there were a few aires and campsites along the coast we elected to head for a place we'd stayed at a couple of times before, the tennis club site just outside Vera. Once again TomTom tried to take us along unsuitable minor roads, causing a significant backtrack (see the map above) so we reverted to the good old map, supported by the netbook. Eventually we recognised where we were and then easily found the campsite – to be fair it is a bit awkward to get to as the motorway has cut off a more direct route.

Plenty of room and we found a sheltered pitch as a cold wind had got up a bit. A walk round showed the site owners had carried out extensive improvements, although one large open area was in the process of being developed into something else, chalet/bungalows maybe? Although it's a commercial aire at those prices, it is really all but a fully fledged campsite, the only downside being a paucity of facilities although those few were very respectable. The only drawback is the distance to the town, which is really too far to walk.

A quiet evening attempting to sort out TomTom and listening tio Radio 2 via t'internet.