4am Friday August 1st we depart after a short nights sleep and head south down the AP-7 to deliver furniture we had loaded Tuesday evening. The van was so full we wouldn't even have been able to pack our sandwiches in the back if we wanted to. The plan was to drive down the slightly longer way to head towards Denia and try and find ourselves a hotel for the night and then carry on inland on the Saturday to make the delivery in Alfoquia. Everything was going fine until suddenly, about 15 minutes from Denia, there was a loud explosion and the van was swerving all over the road. We looked at each other and thought ***t, and held on while working against the vibration and the vans desperate urge to take us down the ditch at the side of the road while the rear tyre flapped around like a Formula 1 blow out demolishing all the plastic-work on the side of the van and making a mess of the wheel arch and generally worrying us just a little. Finally coming to a halt on the hard shoulder and taking a deep breath, we put out the warning triangle, donned fluorescent jackets and surveyed the situation. Dented wheel arch, no plastic, bent wheel, tyre shredded, rear of van sitting on floor. Hmm.... Trolley jack out and try to lift it.. Bugger it's heavy, no can do, need the cavalry I'm afraid so the grua was called out to help. 45 minutes later here he is and using my own jack & a couple of planks of wood, really I expected him to have some better way of lifting the back of the van to change the wheel, the wheel was changed in about an hour by a very nice man, probably eastern European, who risked life and limb lifting the van in a very dubious manner and then crawling under it head first to stick the planks of wood in places that once again scared the ***t out of me so he could lower the van and then jack it up again using some other very delicate place to put the jack. Still I guess he was used to lifting Skoda's or something, built like a tank and able to withstand being dropped off a cliff without damage - But he survived somehow, and more importantly so did the van :-)
You will be used to hearing me say this but "Now we were running late" so it was a case of quick visit to Denia, quick look at Torrevieja (yuk) and then head for the nearest big town to get a hotel for the night, Murcia seems good - Over to Gertrude (you know who that is by now), hotel Ibis here we come. Well I must admit that my faith in French hotels has been restored, even thought this one is in Spain. After the Etap in Niece a few months ago this was like a palace and I cannot fault the friendly staff and service. After a very nice shower, evening meal, drinks etc it was time for bed and a very good night's sleep followed by a hearty breakfast, booking the hotel again for the next night and the final drive across to La Alfoquia to deliver the goods.
On arrival at the housing estate in the desert (The BBC soap El Dorado springs to mind) there was nobody home so we unloaded into the garden and then sat by the pool in the scorching sun for about 6 hours.... Until someone arrived and we put the stuff in the house, grabbed the money and headed back for the luckily pre-booked hotel because we were, well, "running late again!!" Initially the plan was to stay somewhere different but because of the nice relaxing atmosphere of the hotel we booked again that morning like I said which turned out to be lucky because otherwise we would have been trying to find ourselves a decent hotel at 10 O'clock at night which is never much fun. Once again a nice meal out, this time in a restaurant, drink in the hotel, good night's sleep, good breakfast, and then head back north towards home without a spare wheel which we hoped would therefore not be needed. Give or take 10 hours and 850km later we arrive on our doorstep after yet another eventful ride out into new places.
11th August finally managed to get the new tyre fitted at the garage, now just got to replace the plastic, T-cut the paintwork and overhaul the rear brake and then we can hit the road again, next time hopefully not literally!! Photo's are in the albums as usual.