13th Apr TARRAGONA (Campsite)

Another grey day and it rained a lot in the night too. So we decided, as we’ve been wildcamping for a few days, to go to a campsite to get everything charged up, empty waste water and fill up with drinking water etc.

Whilst in Portugal the shabbier looking campsites were the ones we liked the best; they tended to be the cheapest (and we like cheap), they also have the over winterers who have lots of tips and good advice to share. So we headed for a campsite called “Don Quixote Camping”, from the road it looked like a shanty town! We asked the price, the man said “Si, good price, not expensive” and walked in front of the van gesticulating for us to follow and then showed us where to park; Brett asked again, “how much?” the man thought for a bit and then said “22€” - 22€?? We’ve never paid that much for a campsite before, not even in Britain, so we left. The next campsite wanted to charge us 27€!!! So now we’re at the ‘cheap’ campsite of 19€, and that doesn’t include internet, they wanted an extra 5€ for that; so basically it’s costing us 19€ for an electric hook up – we can get water and dispose of our waste at aires for free. I’m not happy, I thought camping was a cheap option; oh yes, and they charge extra for each person so a family of four would pay 25€. Brett says I should forget about it, it’s done now – but it’s praying on my mind!!!! What a waste of money, it makes the 12€ one, which I moaned about on the Algarve, now seem really cheap.

The showers here are crap too; you have to push a button to get the water to come out, it only lasts for about 20 seconds or so, then you have to push it again. AND there’s nowhere to put your clothes and towels to stop them getting wet, fortunately I had a plastic bag with me but my shoes got wet – bloody stupid, expensive campsite!!!!

We’re only a few hundred meters along the beach from where we were wildcamping, where we had a fabulous pitch right on the beach; but here, if we wanted have a ‘premier’ pitch (with a view of the sea), it would cost more, of course, an extra 3€. We’re going back to wildcamping tomorrow.