Day 10 : Here to stay in Barcelona

Route:	Santa Margarida i els Monjos, Spain – Mataró, Spain
Route details:	62 miles (100km)
Overnight stop:	Camping Barcelona (ACSI)      www.campingbarcelona.com
Overnight costs:	€22 (Mobile 4G+)
Diesel / litre:	€1.53 (€1.73 – 20c) (£1.31)
Exchange rate:	1.17
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The heat in Kaya woke us up in the morning.  We’d had a fabulous sleep despite the 2 coffees (maybe something to do with the 1/2 bottle of wine, 2 brandies and 3 double Frangelicos??? No?  Maybe we were just tired *shrugs*).  The car park was now full (we didn’t hear a thing!) and the market in full swing.  We wondered around but weren’t really bright enough to buy anything, so we settled for some amazing coffees and churros instead – just what we needed, deep fried, sugary sweet doughnut goodness to pep us up.

Loins suitably girded and we were finally on our way at around noon, stopped to fill up (£1.31 per litre!!!), and heading for Mataró just north of Barcelona.  We have been to Camping Barcelona in Mataró a few times before and, despite trying not to go back to the same place, we find ourselves being drawn back to this one.  Yet again, we were welcomed with open arms.  We had decided to forgo Tarragona and head for a campsite that we could set up sort of semi-permanently for the next 5 weeks.  We have got our heads around (although it has taken some time and a few discussion) the fact that we will be stationary for the duration.  But this trip is a little different with the gorgeous Mr T having to work 3 days a week.  Travelling would just be too much to try and juggle as well as working days, looking for a new place to stay, making sure we had everything we needed in fairly close proximity and setting up his temporary office.  So we’ve opted for a place we know well, with a lovely town within a free bus ride (provided by the campsite) jam packed with markets and shopping, with a train 40 minutes from Barcelona, with a pool and a beach close by and, most important, with the prospect of lots and lots of summer sun. So instead of travelling for the summer, we are instead, at our summer place.

Just a little shift in perspective is all it takes and we are happy.

We’ve arrived at Camping Barcelona early on a Sunday afternoon as everyone is leaving for the weekend so we have been given a great opportunity to choose a front line parcela in the ACSI parking block, with a view of the sea from the back window (by our bed), the pool within reach (but not within hearing!) and a quick hop, skip and jump to the ablution blocks. Small but perfectly formed.

We set up in record time with plenty of sunshine left in the day (and the next day!) for a laze by the pool to top up our Vitamin D levels and the prospect of Monday off before the gorgeous Mr T starts his working week on the Tuesday.  While the gorgeous Mr T started his work on the allotted day, I took a quick trip to town with my new shopping trolley in tow (nothing allowed in Kaya with only 1 function!!) made up of the folding trolley used when we have to cart heavy canisters of water and my bike panniers, as I feel my way around town and find my way to my natural environment.  Braai for tea then I suppose!

In my natural environment

Plaça de Cuba, organic market, Mataró

Final thoughts

Finding some amazing 1kg chuleton in the market so we can re-create our experience in Logroño … but for half the price, €20

Rigging up a trolley and bike panniers to double as a shopping trolley, ingenious, €0

Finding Cuquitos in Mercadona (for the South Africans, as close as you can get to Niknaks!), priceless.

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Setting up the pop-up office….

…doubling up as a kitchen at night

We never get tired of Kaya TV

A perfect end to a perfect day