Day 41 Mon 21.03.2011

Location: Camping La Torreta, Benidorm

Long / Lat N 38º32.656’ W 000º/6.2/8

Well that was an interesting day! We left the aire at 8.00 we planned to do a bit of shopping and then head for a campsite nearby.

There was a Lidl supermarket a short drive from the aire with a car park that we could get into. We arrived there at about 8.30, parked up facing the right way to get out and waited for it to open. What a mistake.

Just before the store opened a member of staff closed and padlocked the exit we were planning to use (the other exit involved a sharp turn that would necessitate driving over a rather high curb) and we were facing the wrong way, it got worse.....by the time the store opened there were cars parked everywhere, a van parked so close Paul couldn’t get out of the cab door.

By the time I came out with the shopping we were totally boxed in. We waited for the van next to us to pull out and somehow Paul managed to maneuver out of the car park and we set of for the camp site thinking what a lucky escape we’d had.

We headed for the campsite but couldn’t find it, we got a bit lost and managed to take a slip road of the N332 on to the A7 (toll road) we came off after 1 junction 0.70€, this time we had a ticket and paid the toll.

We ended up driving into the centre of Benidorm, the sat nav was telling us to turn the wrong way into a one way system so we found somewhere to pull over.

Paul got out of the van to check out which way we should go, he was gone for so long that I started to worry that he wouldn’t come back. He managed to find another campsite (in the middle of Benidorm) so we headed for that. 27.50€ per night but it’s within walking distance of the resort.

This wasn’t what we had planned but we decided to make the best of it, we walked down the hill to the beach past all of the shops selling tourist stuff. Paul treated me to lunch in a Geordie bar, he had pie chips and gravy and I had lasagna chips and salad. Don’t think we heard anyone speaking any language other than English.

We have decided to embrace the local culture, tomorrow we’re going to walk down the road and have a full English breakfast, Paul’s having chips with his but I’m not.

Our pitch Camping La Torreta, Benidorm

Entrance to Camping La Torreta, Benidorm

Benidorm Beach