My King Canute moment

March 19, 2012

I NOW feel a complete twit, having discovered that I have been shouting at Spaniards to stop letting off firecrackers when it is, in fact, the St Joseph’s Day bank holiday weekend. Parades and pyrotechnic displays are what the people of the “autonomous community of Valencia” traditionally do to celebrate the occasion.  So I had about as much chance of success as King Canute.

And sure enough, the air was filled with pops and bangs again before I’d even got up this morning. I avoided catching the eye of any our campsite neighbours, who must have thought I was a raving lunatic, and we moved swiftly on.

But not until after David discovered I’d put the dirty dishes away in the cupboards with the clean ones last night, thinking I’d washed them. I really must have been discombobulated.

We drove to the Albufera lagoon only to find the visitor centre and viewpoints closed.  In Britain, anywhere like this would be heaving on a bank holiday, and a lot of money would be changing hands.

But were we downhearted? No, because I was so happy to be shot of that campsite. And from roadside vantage points we did manage to see four slender-billed gulls, as well as glossy ibis and red crested pochard.

We set off for the Ebro delta instead, taking in some eye-catching modern architecture in Valencia city centre, a booted eagle on the motorway, and so many castles and dried-up riverbeds that we wished we’d started counting them as an alternative to buzzards v kestrels. There has to be one huge drought coming to Spain this summer.

Luckily the Ebro was still looking good when we crossed it. We’d already decided to head for a recommended site, Camping Ametlla Village Platja, a few miles further on. What a relief – clean, civilised, with wide pitches divided by hedges, and swish showers I’m actually looking forward to getting into in the morning.

Arriving in mid-afternoon gave us time to let Glen enjoy a swim on the site’s little pebbly beach and a lovely walk through a sheltered nature reserve in the lee of the cliffs. We’ll check that out again tomorrow before moving back to the delta.