Distance travelled: 410km
Total distance: 2780km
Ice cream count: 8

Another fairly lengthy journey through some beautiful mountains brought us to a much more arid scene as our next stop was sunny Alicante, on the east coast of Spain. The weather here was definitely more what we expected with clear blue skies, baking sun and light evenings. We got to our enormous and sprawling campsite late in the afternoon but it was still scorching, and Matt did well to get the awning up despite the heat and hard ground. We felt a bit under-prepared compared to some of the Spanish families at the site who had gazebos with fridge freezers, microwaves and dishwashers(!) but we set up our little tent and made the van a bit more spacious.

My friend from uni, Tasha, lives close to here, so we had a nice catch up with her and two of her children Poppy and Jago that evening. The next day we took Griff in the big pool – just a little dip as it was freezing cold despite the lovely weather – and then headed out to meet Tash again with her husband Tim and Jago. We had a lovely walk round Santa Pola port, and had a drink by the beach while Jago played in the sand. The G&T was served in a bucket pretty much, so I was happy! Packing up the tent when we got back was a battle with the mozzies, but it made for a relaxed morning before we headed off for Valencia the next day.