Return to Eden

We just spent a lovely, relaxing weekend at Patty Pan's Paradise, just outside Estepona on the Costa del Sol. While still on our honeymoon, we had spent a great week there and we'd been itching for the chance to get back down, see the friends we'd made and catch some sea air. The 4-day weekend seemed an ideal time, so we loaded up Delilah and headed off. The drive was pretty easy - a cool 6 hours - though there were some hair-razing moments as the road twisted spectacularly through the mountains towards Jaen. Amazing views for Kate, sweaty palms for Theo! We arrived to a very warm welcome from Patty, who promptly put us up in her (absent) daughter's room - much comfier and warmer than Delilah!


It has suddenly got chilly in Madrid, with coats and jumpers coming out of cupboards, so it was wonderful to wake up to flip-flops and T-shirt weather. Naturally, hitting the beach before lunch was the only sensible option. Only Theo was brave enough to go swimming, though in fairness Kate's still getting over a chesty cough, so the bracing waters probably wouldn't have been a good idea. Funnily enough we had the sunny beach and views of Gibraltar pretty much to ourselves.

That evening Patty cooked a delicious roast, and we were joined by Patty's boyfriend, San Steveo (patron Saint of vans), plus our friends we had met at the Rocket Festival, Andy and Kerine. Our attempts to poison Patty, who has a nut allergy, with various chocolates and a nut roast all failed, so we had to resort to beating her at Scrabble. The evening went on late enough that our vague plans for a daytrip to Cadiz on Sunday faded out of view.

Instead Sunday was another wonderfully chilled day of reading, Scrabble, home-cooked curry and an enjoyable stroll along the beach with Patty, Steve and assorted canines. We left earlier today, clutching gifts from the garden and an awesome travel backgammon set made of coloured cloth, which Patty had brought back from India. Hopefully we'll be back soon, especially as Patty wants to be the Jewish godmother of our as yet unborn child. There is definitely a touch of Maureen Lipman about her...

east of eden

Before we left we picked fresh lemons from the trees and gathered windfall avocados to take with us. That's how much of a paradise Patty Pan's place was and is. A more characterful campsite and friendlier host would be hard to find. It's not ideal if you don't like animals (Patty has three dogs, Lika, Charlie and Norman and two cats, including a certifiably insane black moggy with three legs called Tripod. Theo was very taken with her in particular - I think it was the vigour with which she attacked him that attracted him) and I can't imagine it being favoured by the efficient Netherlanders in their spotless motorhomes (although they might get the washing machine working) and the roaming retirees, who tirelessly cross the continent in their shiny Winnebagos. Nope, it's definitely one for the more alternative type of traveller, who's more interested in making new friends and a lifestyle which contains a few quirks. One other thing about our genial hostess which particularly pleased Kate: she whooped Theo's arse at Scrabble. Yes! Anyway, the time has come to move on, so this morning we got back on the road.

The Spanish are in the wrong time zone. In a line North to South with the UK and thus on the same longitude (or is that latitude?) with London, Spain should, geographically speaking, be on GMT like Morocco and Portugal. Instead the Spanish use CET - Central European Time - and so share their hours with Germany, France, Italy et al. This is a masterstroke as it means the Spanish get long summer evenings, with sunset around ten, and can catch the dawn, even in May, at a not inhuman hour.

So, after spending a warm evening bathing in fresh water rock pools in the hills behind Estepona, we hit the road early to be greeted with a spectacular sunrise over the Med at 6.30am as we rounded Marbella heading east from Patty's eden.

We are heading to Barcelona, to the Primavera Sound Festival to see, among others, our good friend SJ Esau. It's a long drive, over a thousand kilometres from Estepona, so we're doing in it two days - after nearly 12 hours in Sheena today we made it to the Costa Blanca near Valencia. There is such a huge variety in Spain's landscape - we're seen nothing like the Basque country or the plains of Castile since we left them - and today was no different. Almeria was just a maze of polythene, each hill rounded bringing yet another series of plains and terraces of long, low, industry greenhouses. Murcia was dry and dusty, with unattractive bungalows sprawling across arid plains. Valencia, so far, seems beautiful and picturesque, full of orange trees and striking hillsides, with even the high rises of Benidorm appearing (from the road at least) attractively built and well laid out - a huge contrast to the usual, unthought out apartment block monstrosities we've found on the fringes of most Spanish cities.

Tomorrow Barcelona - if we have half as much fun as we did last time we were there we'll be in for a treat.

The other Costa del Sol

For a basic beach holiday, where you just want sun, sea, an inexpensive hotel room and lots of cheap beer (and aren't too snobby about your fellow holidaymakers), then the Costa del Sol is fine. Personally, I find lying on beaches for hours intensely dull, although a refreshing swim on a hot day and the chance to read a good book without feeling guilty do have a certain appeal. In fact, where we're staying now gives us ample opportunity to do both, but we're also getting the chance to meet the local English/Spanish community - not the people who have moved from the UK to sit in smart villas and restrict their mixing to fellow ex-pats, but the people whose lives have become woven into the fabric of southern Spain.

Patty, our landlady, has been here for twenty five years or more. When we went into Estepona with her, it took ages to get from one side of the street to the other as numerous friends and acquaintances kept stopping to say "hola" and exchange news. Estepona itself is quite an attractive town with some charming cafe-lined plazas, smart shopping streets and a busy fishing port and marina. Mind you, the shops aren't so smart they don't include the odd front room-grocery seller. We stopped in one complete with sofas, sideboards and TV, where an elderly woman was selling fruit, veg and free-range eggs. We bought a big bagful of goods for less than five euros.

Back at Patty's Paradise our fellow campers include Heicke, a German traveller with her two old-style Mercedes cars (which she uses interchangeably, depending on which one happens to be working), her beautifully painted blue bus and her three energetic dogs, one of which is an improbable cross between a chihuaha and a husky.

Also, newly arrived in his long wheelbase Volkswagen truck is Andy, who we'd already encountered at the Rocket Festival. He's recently quit his job in the UK and sold most of his possessions to move out here. The seed was planted when his friend Kerine (who gave us Patty's flyer at the Rocket) moved to this area around five years ago. Last year Andy spent a few months doing a solo motorbike tour of Western Europe and that was that, going back to life and work in the UK didn't hold enough attractions anymore, so here he is. It gets you that way. I wonder if Theo and I will ever slot back into our former lives, but we shall see. Plenty of time yet.

Kerine herself has also visited a few times, sharing funny tales of her life in Spain and the people she meets in her upholstery job at Estepona Port. Patty's daughter Rosie is currently taking time out from her own travelling (Central America so far, the UK then other parts of Europe are next) to see her mum - Rosie's boyfriend Raffa is also here. He's from Madrid originally, but she met him while they were both in Belize. We've also met Patty's ex, Steve (christened the patron saint of vans since he fixed the busted fuel pump on Andy's vehicle), a lively Spanish family friend called Jasmina and another mate called Simon. We joined the ensemble up at Patty's house for late night wine, chat and bread and butter pudding. As you do in Spain. If we're not careful, we'll start feeling rather at home here ourselves.

Patty's Paradise

Some people just don't deserve their country. That's certainly true of the British, our ratio of ugly, insensitive developments to beautiful surroundings being sadly weighted in favour of the former. And it's definitely true of the Spanish, who seem intent on raping their stunning landscapes with acre upon acre of concrete monstrosities. The building boom has seen big, boxy appartment blocks going up wherever there's the slightest bit of space and beautiful towns like Salamanca or Cordoba are becoming increasingly swathed in wastelands of depressing urban sprawl. On the Costa del Sol, huge hotels to feed the (often British...we definitely shoulder some of the blame here...) swarms of tourists have been mushrooming for some decades now. So too, the rash of white, balconied villas over the lush hillsides, facing what was once a charming and picturesque coastline...all too many of our fellow countrymen and women are living in those too.

It was with a mixture of horror and gloom that we passed by Malaga, Torremelinos and Marbella on our way down the Costa to Patty's alternative living campsite, near Estepona in the far south of Spain.

Patty herself collected us from a rendezvous point nearby and led us to the orchard below her house, only ten minutes walk from the nearest beach (very unspoilt for the Costa del Sol, with a view to the rock of Gibraltar and the Atlas Mountains in Africa) and boasting electricity hook-ups, plentiful fresh water, loo, hot showers and laundry facilities. For that, we are paying ten euros a day plus ten euros on top for unlimited and excellent wifi internet access. In fact, pretty much the same facilities we payed 25 euros a night for in Torre del Mar, Lisbon and Salamanca, but on a far smaller scale and in a scruffier, more unruly but much more friendly site.

We are now comfortably ensconced beneath a lemon tree with a bucket full of windfalls ready to be squeezed into home-made lemonade.

Rocket review

My review of the Rocket Festival is now up on efestivals plus loads more photos....

we're currently chilling out on an unofficial (and therefore very cheap) campsite in Estepona, doing some laundry and enjoying the sunshine....