Thursday

A slightly more relaxed departure time of 10:15am gave the opportunity for some to use the pool (Lou, Lucy and Iain).

Then it was off to Javea Old Town for market day.  The main outdoor market is held, once a week I think, on top of a two level underground car park.  Not being sure whether our mini-bus could fit under the barrier, Richard and Nina offered to meet us in the Mercadona car park to ferry Sally into the market whilst the more able bodied amongst us walked the short distance uphill to meet them there.

Tony and I had a very quick look round and then headed off to find the museum which Nina recommended.  We came across the in-door market, the church, the library and many typical town centre back streets, but it took some time to find the museum and we only had a few minutes in there before it was time to meet the others.

They had obviously had enough time on the market as quite a few carrier bags came along with them.  We had lunch in Embruix, a café we have visited with Nina and Richard on a previous holiday.  Their bocadillos (baguettes) were huge and took us a bit by surprise – they certainly kept us going till tea time.

After lunch we popped back to the museum, but they were closed for the afternoon and so we moved on to the port area in Denia, just up the coast a bit. 

The moorings there are very exclusive with very expensive yatchs and power boats packed in side by side.  It was very windy on the front and slightly overcast so we sought refuge in a café for wine, beer and coffee.

Tiredness overcame us on our return to the villa.  Sally Lucy and Iain retired to bed for a couple of hours while the older contingent relaxed, reading, sorting photos, playing Angry Birds (Sally bought me AB Space for my birthday) and a little packing.

Lucy and Iain surfaced eventually and went out for supper to a café on the Arenal and a cocktail in one of the beachbars, while the rest stopped at the villa and had baked potatoes or omelette and finished off my birthday cake.  

Wednesday - Montgo!

Today was Montgo day.  This was one of the first items to go on the itinerary, many month’s back.   At 753 metres it dominates the landscape around Javea and he views from the top when not capped in cloud are difficult to beat.  It is not a mountain climb, but it is a serious challenge, especially in the heat., so an early start was planned, well earlyish anyway.  Satnav failure delayed the start somewhat, and missing the final turn down to the car park meant a long detour into Denia as the road twists tightly down the tail of Montgo with no turning places.

Our starting point was the gun club car park on the Carretera a Denia which is just past the turn off for Cap de San Antoni.  It is a bit of a cheat in that it lies at about 400 – 500 metres from sea level, so we didn’t climb the full height of Montgo, but it is a fairly flat ascent from Denia and the real challenge doesn’t start until a about half a kilometre on from the gun club.

The weather was kind to us, being a little overcast for our ascent which kept the temperatures down a bit, but nice and clear at the top and on the way down.  Time to the summit was about 2.5 hours, but that included time for literally hundreds of photo, a selection of which can be seen on the web album.

The most memorable aspect for me (having already been exposed to the views when I climbed here two years ago, was the number of butterflies this year.  There were thousands and they kept us company right up to the top. 

While Tony, Lou, Lucy, Iain and me were on Montgo, Eunice kept Sally company back at the villa, reading and exploring round about.  Sally got in some more sunbathing although intermittent cloud meant she has only achieved a sort of north African colouring so far.

At 6:30pm we called for Richard and Nina and went off to the Ca Pepe restaurant in Moraira for my belated birthday tea.  A very pleasant and obliging restaurant, with very good food.  Unknown to anyone but themselves, Nina and Richard had arranged a birthday cake, which came accompanied by the strains of Happy Birthday and a firework – a very nice surprise!

Tuesday

Another busy day. 

Iain and Richard were off to play golf and Nina had a couple of meetings arranged so the rest of us made our way into Javea port for a “relaxing” couple of hours shopping before lunch. 

Four pairs of flip-flops later and we were dining on the sea front at the place we ate Monday.  Leaving Eunice and Sally to do a bit of reading and sunbathing respectively on the beach, Lucy, Lou, Tony and me headed off to the lighthouse car park on Cap St Antoni to do a walk recommended by the girl in the tourist information office in Javea.

This involved a steep decent through sparse woodland and open space straight down to the port (the easy bit) and then straight back up again (the hard bit).  With temperatures in the high 20s this was a good test for tomorrow’s challenge, Montgo.

Once we arrived back in Javea we met up with Eunice and Sally for a coffee and then called at Nina’s to pick up Iain. After a Masymas shop for tonight’s buffet meal.

We’d had a bit of a problem with water pressure this morning, which dropped so low that it would not reach the top floor and made showering elsewhere a difficult process, but by the time we got back it was ok again.

Lou worked extremely hard preparing the food while Nina and Richard entertained everyone.  We ate outside as it was still warm enough at 9pm and then retired inside for wit and repartee.  A very enjoyable evening.

Monday

Monday started early, 2:30am to be precise.  I was woken by Sally who was concerned that the noises she and Lucy had heard in their bedrooms the night before had got much worse.  So bad in fact she had been able to record them on her phone.  It was very, very windy outside, so we set about securing the tables chairs and curtains, which seemed to do the job.

Today’s itinerary was to comprise a morning and lunch in the villa,  followed by a trip over to Nina and Richard’s for a mosey round their villa and to find out plans for our evening meal.

The morning bit went well enough, with internet access finally established, photos backed up, journals got up to date and some use made of the pool.  Lunch was a buffet with a Lou special for me and Tony (beans on toast with grated cheese and ham, the latter for me only).

A short text from Nina indicated that it would be a little later before we could get over to their place, so we took the opportunity to drive over to the Arenal for some supplies from the supermarket, a cup of coffee with apple strudel for Tony, me, Lou and Eunice, frozen yoghurt and boules on the beach for Iain, Lucy and Sally.

We got to Nina’s late afternoon.  It had been our plan to have my birthday tea tonight, but Nina’s text informing us that our chosen restaurant was not open had not reached us, so new plans had to be made.  Birthday tea was moved to Wednesday and then, after a little confusion, a reservation was made for tonight at L’Escut. 

After returning home to get ready, we met Nina and Richard at the restaurant at 8:00pm.  It was an inspired choice as we had the place to ourselves, the service was very friendly and the food excellent, even Sally managed to clean all 3 plates.  Total price per person including 3 courses (4 if you include the glass of lemon sourbet between starters and the main meal), about 4 bottles of wine, tip and tax was 18€ each.

A bit more stargazing back at the villa and then bed, for hopefully a less disturbed night!

Some Saturday and Sunday photos can be found here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/115876148290792812709/albums/5742496070919927649?authkey=CLWo-JWvicjL3QE

many more to follow!!

Sunday

I had a leisurely birthday lie-in till 9am, only to find that I’d missed today’s drama.  The house was deserted with everyone out on the terrace or around the pool giving advice on how to roll up the pool cover properly.   It seems it got stuck as Eunice and Tony where trying to open it, but with half a dozen opinions it was bound to get sorted sometime, later if not sooner.

We had a late breakfast after everyone had calmed down and then took a short trip into Javea  and walked around the port area.  Lunch was taken at a great café on the front with a very varied menu (anchovies to scrambled eggs with veg which was my choice). 

After lunch we walked across the road to the Church of our Lady of Loreto (commonly known as the boat church), which was just emptying after a first communion ceremony.  It was extremely busy and noisy for 15 minutes or so and then the church was deserted.   It was really nice to see the enthusiasm for the first communions, but also to see the contrast once they’d left, calm and very peaceful (or creepy according to Sal).

After a visit to the supermarket on the way back we abandoned Sally by the pool while the rest of us had a walk out to Cap Prim.  This is only a short drive and a short walk, but the scenery is stunning.  It was quite windy, but with temperatures in the high 20s it was very pleasant.  My gel buff came in very handy!

I had a quick dip in the pool before getting ready to go out for supper to Montgo’s.  Not being sure of the way, (we had no Richard with us) it took three navigators, but we got there in the end.   This is a very friendly and relatively cheap restaurant  (menu del dia 11.75€) with extremely large portions.

Back  at the villa it was stargazing from the penthouse suite (our room) and then lightning spotting over Ibiza.

Memory of the day:  watching a peregrine falcon (or similar) from the balcony searching for supper.

Saturday - our first day

Up at 3am, out the door 4am, arrive airport 5am (it was a bit of a walk from the car park) and in the air just after 7am.  A quite uneventful start to the journey, apart from having to completely disassemble my carry-on luggage to have it all swabbed for explosives at security – they’ don’t seem too keen on lots of electrical stuff, he kept muttering “unbelievable” every time he uncovered another charger.

We arrived at Alicante slightly ahead of time to bright and very warm sunshine (25deg C)

The Mercedes, or similar, 9 seater we had ordered turned out to be a Fiat (nothing like a Mercedes), but apart from a terrible gear change should serve well.

After heading south for a short while (should have used the satnav!) we managed to turn round and head north and we arrived at the villa just in time to meet the rep, but too late for any lunch.   The villa definitely lived up to expectations (if not quite as clean as certain parties would have liked) with stunning views. loads of technology and a welcome Welcome Pack.  Unfortunately the pool was not available as it had just been cleaned and was full of chemicals.  We were told that the pool man would be back at 6:3pm to sort it out, but in the end he didn’t get there till the next morning (we are in Spain!).

Into the Arenal to find a supermarket and a quick late lunch (for some – beer for others) before heading back to the villa, via the Masymas.  After a cup of tea me, Eunice, Lou and Tony took quick trip to find the quick route down to the beach.   This unfortunately is vertical, so I think we’ll be yaking the long route down in future.

One or two (well just one really) wanted to eat out, so Iain took Lucy out to Scallops on the Arenal while the rest of us had very tasty baked potatoes with cheese and the odd glass of wine.   Got to bed about 11:30pm.

Memory of the day :  Lou’s baked potatoes.

[photos to follow when we sort out the internet]

Hang on to your hats!

I suspect that today is the last day of relative calm before preparations move into top gear here tomorrow.

Not that nothing has been done so far.  Boarding passes are printed off along with documentation for the car hire, and Alfi has been dispatched to the kennels.  Sally has survived the stage 1 trauma of watching him led away, stage 2 will be waking up without him tomorrow, but hopefully she'll be too busy to notice - ok that's probably a bit optimistic, probably very optimistic.

But it's tomorrow that things will really start happening here.  Firstly there's Micky to hand over to the cattery.  I think he will be the one traumatised not us, as he is terrified of travelling and is guaranteed to be sick before we get to the top of the road.  Still, with no-one pushing him out twice a day for "necessary functions" (he has an ensuite room ie his litter tray will be next to his bed) I'm sure he'll settle in nicely once he gets there.

Next will be packing.  Neither of us has sorted any clothes out yet, but with 22kg allowance each, we should be able to almost pack everything.

Then the difficult bit, what "accessories" to pack.  I'll be taking my MacBook so that I can work on the blog, my iPod for some music, twitter and angry birds, a couple of satnavs, a couple of cameras and my ebook reader.  Doesn't sound too bad when put like that, but it's the necessary power supplies that double the bulk as I don't think any will double up.  There'll be binoculars too, but at least they don't need charging.

Tony and Sally are coming across in the evening to save a very early start (or should that be a very, very early start) as we'll need to be leaving here at 4am Saturday at the latest.  Lou, Lucy and Iain will join us in the morning.  We'll be travelling in the Volvo and Lucy and Iain's Punt, but Sally's, Lou's, Tony's and Eunice's cars will need to be accommodated on the drive.  This will be another job for tomorrow after Tony and Sally arrive.

I'm sure there'll be much much more to do, but Eunice, as a seasoned traveller, has a comprehensive list, so I'll be able to leave most of it up to her!