Tarifa - Isla Cistina

Thursday 25th October 2007 Day 49: Luckily the rain cleared and the day was sunny if getting a little cold. We went down to the local beach but the wind was cross-off and not getting up to much so we decided to go to Los Lances again. We went a bit further down this time as the lagoon seemed to be flooding all the way down because of the high tide (full moon). Steve went straight out on the instinct and was loving the flat water. He tried some new moves as I took some photos. After a while I got my board and stole the kite off Steve to see how I got on with the Instinct. The lagoon was running down so I headed for the waves instead and had some fun. When we both tired we packed up and got a coffee and some internet at the local cafe.

Friday 26th October 2007 Day 50: The day dawned with bright sunshine and no clouds. We spent some time sorting out the van and then went to have a look to see if the wind would pick up. There wasn’t enough so we went to Bolonia round the corner to see what the beach was like. It was really nice but still very calm so we spent our time climbing the sand dune and having a look at the roman ruins.

Saturday 27th October Day 51: Our last day in Tarifa. We spent the morning chilling out and practising flat 3s off a bar Steve had strung from a tree. It seemed to work well as a way of practising the handle pass and body movements, and by the end the move made a lot more sense to us. The wind was Llevante again and gusty at Valdevaqueros so later in the afternoon we had a look at the lagoon to see if it was any better and get some petrol for the journey. Steve couldn’t resist the flat water so we put our boardies on, grabbed our boards and set-up the Instinct. There was hardly anyone out compared to previous weekends and the evening it was Poniente. Steve soon discovered why....a couple of tacks down the lagoon and the wind had picked up a lot and was really no fun. Within 10 minutes or so he was back complaining about the gusts and we were packing up. That evening we went for a final meal at 100% fun and enjoyed their vanilla and hot raspberry sauce ice cream special.

Sunday 28th October Day 52: We left the campsite fairly early and made our way to Seville. The journey was nice and easy and the countryside was really pretty with rolling farmland and not much rubbish. We saw a lot of Spaniards out on Sunday shoots with their dogs. We also saw 100s of the same VW car and thought we were having déjà vu until we saw a sign to the VW test run. The campsite on the outskirts of Seville didn’t have the most accurate of directions but we got there in the end.

Monday 29th October Day 53: We got up slowly and headed into Seville for mid-morning. First impressions of the city were good. Lots of tree lined roads, fountains and interesting architecture. We spent some time wandering around, getting a feel for the place and trying to work out how to get into the Alcazar. Unfortunately it was closed so instead we headed for the Cathedral and the Giralda tower which gave a great view of the city. The rest of day was spent having some leisurely tapas, wandering the shops and the river bank and eating ice cream. There wasn’t all that much going on because it was a Monday so once we got tired we headed back to the van. We picked up a selection of cheese and some red wine on the way home. The cheese we kept buying always seemed to be quite tasteless so we decided to try a whole variety. After tasting all 8 cheeses we learnt that sheep cheese (oveja) was definitely the nicest, goat (cabra) was pretty good (as always), curado and semi curado were a bit tasteless really, queso do Idiazabal is alright (bit like port salut, sort of), and tierno doesn’t taste of much. After the cheese we settled down to watch the first episode of spooks as we’d finally got access to the internet for long enough to download something.

Tuesday 30th October Day 54: After a short detour to Decathalon and Carrefour we left Seville and travelled west towards Portugal. We had one last stop in Spain before crossing the border. West of Huelva we headed to the coast to check out the spots at Isla Cristina / Canela. Although the town was pretty touristy the stretch of coast between Antilla and Cristina was really nice so we decided to stay at the local campsite. We went for a run in the afternoon and spent some time mincing. The highlight of the day was when we discovered that the Gnocchi we’d brought had a free gift of an inflatable magnetic dartboard and three darts. Awesome! We quickly inflated the yellow plastic ring and with the aid of some dental floss Steve strung it from the cupboard door above the cab. A challenge was laid down for the first to 500 points. Sarah quickly took the lead whilst Steve lost concentration trying to decide whether it was easier to throw the darts from the sitting position Sarah adopted, or the standing position he originally went for. The game was tense but Steve never quite regained composure and despite the late introduction of an “exact points” rule Sarah managed to hit the magical 500 with two stunning final throws which hit exactly the “10 and “25” she needed. Steve’s misery at losing was further compounded when five minutes later we left the van to do the washing up and he discovered a pigeon had recently shat on his flip-flop. This hadn’t been the first bird-shitting incident of the trip; Steve had unfortunately been the victim of a direct hit by a swallow whilst waiting in a queue at the Alhambra. He wondered whether the avian world was getting revenge for air rifle days in his formative years or whether he was just unlucky.

Wednesday 31st October Day 55: We walked a few miles along the beach. There were a few guys in the water pumping on a handle, it was only later we realised this was some sort of shellfish sifting technique It looked cold and hard work as they were hit by small waves. Sarah wanted to see what was on the other side of a harbour wall. Unfortunately there was a channel of unknown depth before the wall so we turned around and had a little walk through the town, which was ok. There was a little wind in the afternoon so I took some kites onto the beach. I just managed to get the kite wet and almost dump the kite on a Spaniard’s head.
As November 1st is All Saints Day there was open air raves starting on the beach near the camp site from around at 7pm. There seemed to be about 3 competing sets of music, with the rubbish Spanish hip-hop winning. I think the last of the music died at around 6am. We really had to feel for the mainly older people on the campsite.