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1228 km from start.
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Track Log: .
Travel: Ian, Air, Hire car.
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Fog. Flew from Stansted to Almeria. Arrived for a late lunch. Fairly easy Journey.
This section presented few problems. We had one cold wet day and a couple of chilly evening waits for buses or trains. We were warned by the locals of dire dangers. One route had a couple of tricky bits a few metres long. Another was a bit steep and the third had some loose pebbles. We assume health and safety neuroticism has at last reached Spain.
The journey to Stansted was foggy and slower than normal but we arrived in plenty of time. At Almería Airport, we collected our hire car and drove to Calabardina, Águilas without incident. We went for a short walk to locate the sea, shops and other landmarks.
Neil got to mine on Wednesday evening. We watched Heston Blumenthal's Christmas dinner and then went to bed early. Neil slept on the Ercol because my spare room is full of boxes ready for moving to South Road in April. We set off at 3.20am. Ian took us in return for the taxi fare donated to The School for Peace in the Congo minus 28% which the tax man will add.
It was very cold and there was mist most of the way. Thre screen wash froze and the driving conditions were difficult. I hope Ian got back all right. My absolutely foolproof arrangements for getting through security fell down as I packed a pot of home-made jam for Mini at the last minute. If it had been the blackcurrant which had set like a stone I might have got away with it but it was blackberry and quite watery. The saddest thing was the loss of the very useful little plastic pot it was in. The man on the desk was extremeley nice about it. I hope he could tell I was mortified. Any way Mini said she was perfectly happy with honey so I shan’t take jam again which will be easier.
Our plane was delayed for an hour as it had to wait to be de-iced. There was also a longer interval between take-offs than usual because of poor visibility. Before take-off, the pilot apologised for the delay and said there would be lovely views once we were airborne. Why did he say that? With fog you can't see anything at all. The flight was 2 hours 35 minutes. They are getting shorter each time as we get further north. Then they will get longer again. Once in Almería, I telephoned Rob and let him know we had landed but that our ETA was now an hour or so later than previously expected. Neil decided to go along the coast for part of the way so that we could research our route.
Rob's destructions were very good and we found the house very easily. He then showed us everything and even offered to do some transporting for us to help with the walk. We'll take him up on it once and see if he really seems keen. It depends if he has time on his hands and whether he is really interested in the walk.
Rob has brought details of Mass times. I’m afraid I made less use of these than I might because I am the only one interested in them. I am trying to attend at least one Mass in each country and Spain is still to do. We unpacked, had a little lie-down and then went for a walk round the block to get our bearings. Then we ate up our journey food and went to our snugs.
I forgot to say I had left my journey sandwiches in the fridge or froozer at home. Well I think that's where they are. Rob had said there would be food in the house so I only had my other narn un-made up bread for the journey left. I ate some of that on the journey and bought a cheese and pickle sandwich from, I regret to say, a Starbuck so, in the end, I had plenty. I had also bought six blueberry yoghurts on special offer which made a very nice afters.