Gandia then Dénia - 18 & 19 September 2024

18.09 - Gandia then Dénia, Alicante

Strange sort of day. The rain started at 2am, and continued and continued - mega heavy. In fact, so heavy that when I was making my bed this morning - realized that the bedroom window had been leaking, so bottom half of bed with the duvet etc by window was all wet! Tintin took the inner frame out, so we could dry in between the bug net, and silver blind. He cleaned it all up from the outside - and once again, Gorilla tape was his friend. On the list for jobs to be done when we get home - take the window out and re-seal. 

The forecast didn’t look good, but late morning once rain had stopped, we serviced Dave and I drove about 90 minutes to Gandia. We were really looking for somewhere further down the coast, but with hard standing due to the predicted rain. Didn’t enjoy the drive today. Quite heavy traffic around Valencia and lots of trucks - don’t really like being a truck sandwich! Also, for the last 30 minutes it was such heavy rain…

Gandia itself wasn’t particularly pleasant to drive through for a moho - lots of being in the middle with cars either side - ok if everyone is where they should be!

The actual parking place didn’t have a picture on Park4night, so we were pleasantly surprised to see it had recently had tarmac laid. However, dog 💩 all around, plus rubbish, plus broken glass in the carpark. 

Had a late lunch. Packed coats and umbrellas and went for a wander. Gandia gives us the impression of being sprawling, unloved and not very desirable. Despite that, my guidebook says it’s pleasant and spacious! Population 74,800. Walked down some decidedly iffy streets! 

The park had been flooded from the rain last night - couldn’t sit on the benches!

The Palacio Ducal dels Borja was just opening at 16.00 - but neither of us felt the need!

After our 8,000 step visit, and after a cuppa back at Dave - we decided to move on! There were little kids crouching down by Dave and walking around him - all harmless enough - just didn’t fancy them being replaced by youths later on!

It’s nice to see so much growing - so many orange groves. 

Tintin drove nearly an hour (weird surface!), and we’re parked in a public carpark in Dénia, (population 41,500) right below the castle and will go exploring tomorrow - weather dependent! 

Again, forecast had been for rain this afternoon - but it has been about 24° and mainly sunny 🤷‍♀️

19.09 - Dénia

We closed the hatches last night - forecast was for rain overnight. About 4am, I was hot and opened them up - no rain overnight. When are we going to stop looking at the forecasts?! I think it’s the fear of sleeping through the rain and waking to find everything wet, as the only thing we open at night are hatches…

However, my word did it rain heavily for a couple of hours from about 9am! We sat it out and waited for it to stop. Packed our bags with bathers (!), coats and umbrellas!

Walked to the beach. Whilst I love swimming, I’m also choosy about where I swim - and the sodden beach didn’t look very appealing. The dark sand was all churned up, with lots of seaweed - so gave that a miss!

Walked all around the multiple marinas to the rocky beach the other side. 

Found the main pedestrian area and stopped off for a drink. €6.10 for the same beer and coke as previously - more expensive here!

Tintin fancied a pizza for lunch, so used Google to find some places with good reviews. We started off with an Aperol Spritz for Tintin, and I tried a Sangría Italiana. I even tried a different pizza - with potatoes (along with mushrooms, rosemary and oregano). Very different pizzas, not especially tasty - but did we eat them - of course! €42.50

From there we wandered up to the castle - €5 admission for both of us. As stands to reason from an old castle - not a lot to see - and information boards only in Spanish. However - very good views over Dénia. 

After a quick sit down in Dave, we decided to use the laundromat we’d seen just up the road to hot wash all the bedding. Whilst that was washing, I nipped to the Mercadona supermarket - mainly for more water, fresh fruit etc. 

The 17kg wash was €6, and it only took 20 minutes to dry - €3. I’ve learnt to use the hottest setting to dry… As ever, not convinced washing done away is ever as good as your own washing machine. I mean - how can it be when 30 minutes is the longest wash?! Anyway, in my mind - it’s all ‘clean’!

So, we’ve managed to stay dry all day. It’s been about 25°, but thankfully cloudy a lot of the time. Dénia has a nice feel about it, so very different from Gandia!

As we’ve both been drinking, we’ll stay here another night - no one seems to care what anyone else does, or where they’re parked - so that helps!

Over 13,000 steps today.