Valentine's night

The boys pulled out all the stops & organised a dinner at the restaurant for 18 people -and also a rose plant for the ladies. We shared a table with our good friends Margaret & Geoff from York

Visit to Bolonia

We travelled about half an hour from the site to visit these Roman ruins. They were important in their day because of their proximity to Africa. You can see Morocco in the distance even though the weather was rather damp on the day.

Awning warming party.

To celebrate the arrival of the awning we had a party with our neighbours-2 of whom are German who speak no English. So lots of arm waving & sign language.

As you can see the dogs enjoy each other's company. Josh is the one who is being humped by 5 year old Janna.

Our new site

Our new site is among pine trees. There aren't many people here at the moment about 12 vans which moved from the other site. We're very pleased with our new awning-far more space.

Burns Night 2009

We celebrated Burns night organised by Trevor who bought the haggis in Gibraltar-the meal was cooked by the Spanish chef on site. Trevor addressed the haggis & then it was eaten & enjoyed by all. Joe toasted the lassies & Mary replied on their behalf. Very nervous in front of 30 adults -even worse than a class of children !The evening finished with lots of singing & finally Auld Lang Syne.

Romeria de San Sebastian

Sunday 18th January -the day when the statue of San Sebastian was carried from the church in Conil through the town and into the pine forest at El Colorado about 3 miles away.

San Sebastian apparently was a Roman soldier who was shot by arrows by archers because he was a Christian. He didn't die then but was later stoned to death.

All the locals came out to take part in the procession and party. Many were on horseback,others with horse and carts and loads more on foot like us.It took over 2 hours to reach the forest-lots of stops for singing and dancing. We all had a small ceramic sherry pot hung around our necks which had to be filled at every opportunity.We had lunch in the forest and then carried on walking until we reached a place to have a bbq and watched the rest of the floats going by. The 3 dogs were the stars as they had lots of photos taken of them with their green scarves around their necks.

Golf

Derek has joined the Cadiz Golfing Society which allows him to play at a cheaper rate on super golf courses..These pics are from the Arcos golf course near Jerez.

New Year & Spanish Xmas

The Spanish celebrate their Xmas on 6th Jan with the procession of the 3 kings through the towns and toys & sweets are thrown to the crowds & collected by the children.

New Year celebrated twice in friend's awning with the 3 retrievers.

Xmas

Xmas day with a difference-a sunny morning on the beach with Josh at Conil.

Then on to Xmas dinner at the local Chinese with friends

Cadiz

One of the biggest cities on the Costa de la Luz is Cadiz which we visited with our friends Janice & Julian.

As you can see the light is amazing. We came across a procession of bands meandering through the narrow streets.

Mary even managed to go up the church tower and glance at the views below.