Enjoying our last full day in Spain.

I took advantage of our good unlimited internet here in Alicante to do some onward travel planning. We don't tend to book very much in advance, but one of the places we're wanting to visit in Italy is the area in and around Cinque Terre National Park and the five villages that exist on that rugged coastline there. As well, of course, as the hiking trails that link those five villages together.

It's a popular tourist destination, and so I figured I'd better get something booked for us. And because it's popular, it's also quite a bit more expensive!

Missing camera bag!

Had a nice sausage and egg breakfast with Tana and Graham, and then Graham drove us to the city of Alicante (pop 330,000). It was about a 45 minute drive to where we had an AirBnb room booked close to the downtown area.

Alicante is a popular tourist city, and so we didn't have high expectations. And I think that because of our low expectations, we were pleasantly surprised.

Lots of ways to organize a motorhome trip to Europe if you put your mind to it!

It was close to noon by the time we finished getting Louis all cleaned up and our stuff sorted. So we had an early lunch and then at the last minute we got a note from fellow Canadian travelers Dwayne and Lyd who wanted to meet up with us as it looked like our paths were going to be crossing.

And they did!

Our last night with Louis

Yesterday, we drove from Huercal-Overa to an RV park just north of Totana. The drive was only 77 kms (48 miles) and most of it was going to be on a four lane highway, so we decided to go for a hike in Huercal-Overa before heading out.

There was an old watch tower on a hill on the other side of the town. About 4 kms (2.4 miles) each way, so that was a perfect distance from the motorhome aire where Louis was parked.

Nice to have your ducks in a row...

Hit the road about 10:45am yesterday, again headed east towards Torrevieja. We figured we'd put in a little longer driving day on Saturday to allow for two shorter driving days on today and Monday.

Definitely a little more activity on the roads on a weekend. Spain seems to have a lot of active cyclists, and there are even signs on the roads that are popular with recreational cyclists.

Our two month motorhome adventure in Spain is almost over!

Another mountain drive yesterday as we made our way slowly through the villages on the southern border of Sierra Nevada National Park in Southern Spain.

We only did 64 kms (40 miles) from Mecina Bombaron to Canjayar, but it took us almost two hours! The roads are narrow and curvy, although with a nicely paved surface.

Back to the mountains

We headed inland yesterday towards the Sierra Nevada National Park here in Spain. Lots of beautiful views, and again, a sunny clear blue sky.

And along this drive, we didn't see a single motorhome until we arrived at our destination and even then, it was only one other rig.

Free beach camping in Spain

We said goodbye to Paula and Jerry just before 10:00am. We were headed only a few minutes down the road to meet up with Carol and Roelof, blog readers who we had been in contact with a few times over the past couple of years.

We met them at a nearby Lidl grocery store since they usually have sufficient parking for a motorhome, plus we had to pick up some groceries anyhow!

February Expenses... Spain is pretty cheap!

It was a bit of a mixed up month for expenses, because we were part of the month in our motorhome exchange RV, and part of the month in other accommodation where the cost was being shared with Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony who were visiting us for the last two weeks of the month.

And, we bought a new smart phone, the cost of which was a big percentage of our overall expenses for the month.

Goodbye to some friends, and hello to others!

We were all up at just after 6:00am in order to pack up Louis and leave the apartment that we've enjoyed over the last week. We had to get Helen and Tony to Malaga airport for their 10:45am flight back to England.

On the road by 7:30am, and it was almost a two hour drive to do the 115 kms (71 miles), but we did stop to fill the fuel tank along the way.

Living life on the edge!

The Caminito del Rey is a path that was built along a cliff face and gorge high above the Guadalhorce River in order for workers to maintain a hydro dam water channel that ran through the gorge. The original path began construction in 1901, and was completed in 1905.

The original path was constructed of concrete and rested on steel rails supported by bars built into the rock face. It deteriorated over the years and there were a lot of sections where part or all of the concrete top had collapsed. By the 1990's, the result was that large open-air gaps were bridged only by narrow steel beams. 

Really looking forward to this!

Yesterday, we drove about 38 kms (24 miles) north to the city of Osuna (pop 17,800). It had been recommended by our AirBnb host as a daytrip. We did some research on the internet, but it didn't appear to offer much of anything special. Still, we headed on up there to wander around.

We got there around lunchtime and parked at a grocery store on the outskirts of town. In Spain, the majority of stores are still closed on Sundays. So parking at a grocery store for a few hours is no problem at all.

Another great day in Spain!

We relaxed for the morning, and did some computer work. We didn't have a good signal when we arrived here, but the other day they installed some better wi-fi, and now it's working great! While I was doing the blog write up, Ruth walked with Helen and Tony to the grocery store in town. While there, they found out that last night was the big carnival celebration parade in this little town of 1,400 people.

So we made plans to go to the central plaza at 6:00pm to take part in the celebration!

The cave houses of Setenil...amazing!

Definitely better weather yesterday. Not a drop of rain, although there were still lots of clouds coming and going. We packed a lunch and left around 10:30am headed for the town of Setenil de las Bodegas only about 37 kms (23 miles) away.

And we had bypassed the town of Olvera the day before, so the plan was to stop in on our way home if we had time. But, there is just so much to see!

The magical town of Zahara...in the rain!

Not the greatest weather yesterday, but there's too much to see in this area so we're not going to waste any of it sitting inside waiting for blue skies that may or may not come.

So yesterday, we drove over to the mountainside town of Zahara de la Sierra to do some exploring, and despite the weather we are really glad that we did!