The first week at the Denia aire was great. Beach walking for Digger, a fine local tapas bar which we were very happy to introduce some fellow members to 

Those that played it safe ordering bocadillos etc were quite obviously envious with our groups choices of a selection of the freshest local tapas - when in Spain and all that!

Saturday was the giant paella day and very good it was too. the owners of the Aire supplied this free to us and it was much appreciated. Following the paella we drew our raffle which had made a total of €132 - Thank you again all those that contributed.

All too soon the first week was over and we all (well, nearly all) transferred to the Aire at Calpe for the second week. Another 'super' Aire and within a few minutes walk to the beach and bars, restaurants etc.

To the left hand side of the resort is a coastal walk which wends its way along the rocky coastline...

And, at the other end of the walk is a bar!.....

The resort beach is very nice too, the setting is a lovely bay with the huge Calpe Rock to one side.

During this second week C7KEN excelled himself again with the entertainment and meal at one of the beachside restaurants. This coincided with it being caromac's birthday and she (we) was really touched that some of the group had arranged a special cake for her..

We had a real blast for these 2 weeks and are really looking forward to next year's event already....... C7KEN has said that he will not be doing another so.... we are going to do a smaller informal meet in April next year (see A Taste of Spain 2013).

Our latest rip is to the combined Club Motorhome, Motorroamers and Facts meet at Denia and Calpe on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

We arrived a couple of days before the start of the meeting and were nicely settled in by the time everyone else had arrived.

The meet has got off to a good start thanks to the excellent organisation skills of C7KEN!
Yesterday was the first official day and Ken held a welcome meeting to elaborate on his plans ( at the local bar ). He's got plans for a cycle ride to show new visitors the local facilities and a ride into Denia.

We got off to a flying start with a raffle that we are holding to contribute to our chosen charity Asthma UK with over 90€ raised so far - A BIG thank you to all that have bought tickets. The draw will be on the Paella Day which if I remember rightly is Saturday. The prizes being: 2 Club Motorhome Tee shirts, A Club Motorhome baseball cap, A £5, 2 x £10 and a £30 memership vouchers . (If you are not at the rally but would like to help by donating we have a donation button on the front page of the Club Motorhome website)

But its not all busy, busy, busy - The beach is only a short walk away...

Well, we're still waiting around for our overdue grandchild but tomorrow is going to be the day!

In the meantime we took the opportunity to stay at our latest Pub Stopover - The House on the Green at North Wootton on the outskirts of Kings Lynn in Norfolk. Its a lovely old country/village pub and I've made it a featured stopover on Club Motorhome.

The landlord is very keen to encourage motorhomes to stay over and we are happy to recommend the pub if you are passing that way.

The trip up through France was much as planned, the only change of nightstop was Biarritz instead of Hendaye Plage. We wanted to have electricity where possible for heating as we had been expecting some very cold temperatures.

Typically unsecured WiFi was as hard to find as usual, hence the lack of blog updates en-route. As things turned out we were quite fortunate with the weather, only getting misty, foggy stuff from the northern half of France upwards.

Pets Passport at the Eurotunnel terminal was straightforward and they actually checked Digger's chip this time, unlike last time when we could have had any old dog with us. They even gave us a free copy of Practical Motorhome Magazine and a couple of Dog magazines too.

We've been in the UK a week now and are getting through our list of jobs while here and still waiting for the new grandchild to arrive......

I discovered 2 consequences of our last minute packing efforts:

1. I forgot a bag that contains all the various electrical chargers that we need for our various gadgets, phone, kindle, camera etc etc

2. Our road tax ran out while we were in Spain at the end of December so I dutifully renewed online and arranged with my mother-in-law to have the disc sent on from our UK address to us in Spain. It arrived and I put it to one side for our trip. I forgot it! Sod's law came into play when a motorcycle policeman spotted our out of date disc and pulled us over for a 'chat'. I explained the situation and asked him if he could check that I had paid up to date via their computer systems these days? Apparently not - so he took my details and has reported me to the DVLA...... Oh well!

One new tyre for the van - £161... Ouch! The fitters kindly greased the Al-Ko chassis rear axle while it was up on jacks though, so that was helpful. AutoGlass came out and re-sealed the top edge of the windscreen that had started to let the rain in, so hopefully that will be the end of that. I've had our local sign-writer make up some Club Motorhome logo graphics which have now been applied to the front, sides and rear of the van

Come and say Hi if you see us about 

If you have read other motorhomers blogs with interest you may have wondered how to go about starting your own. Maybe to keep a record of your travels or maybe just an online diary that your friends and family can read?

In order to start a blog you normally need to acquire your own domain name and a hosting package for that domain, you then need the software to set out the layout and content of your blog. There are free methods of doing this but it can be quite complicated and somewhat confusing if you don't feel to confident with computer technology.

Well, after trying other blog software in the past we have now invested in some dedicated blog software for use within the Club Motorhome website. This makes it very easy for any subscribing member to start their own blog and of course it's free!

There are 2 ways to get to the start point:

1. Subscribing members will notice on their profile page that there is a new tab 'My Blog'. Clicking on this gives the option to 'Write an entry' - that's it! Just write away and submit your copy to build up your own blog.

2. Under the 'Members' section of the main menu there is a link to take you to the 'Members' Own Blogs' software where again you can 'Write' an entry which will take you to an editor page where you can type your entry and 'Publish' it when you are happy with it.

Either option also gives you the option to edit your profile settings. This enable to personalise your blog even more by including a (optional) short biography of yourself etc.

Anyway, please try it out, have fun and play around with it and we look forward to seeing your results!