May 21st ~ El Rocio Romeria : Day 1

Set off for El Rocio about 10 am, hoping to avoid the traffic jams, as over 1 million people attend the Romeria held here at Pentecost each year. In the event, traffic was light, but the van broke down in a traffic queue whist some gaily decorated carts and wagons crossed the road. (This was a reoccurrence of an electrical problem that we had experienced the week before, when the van had had to be put on a tow truck (Grua) and taken to an English garage in Alhaurin to be fixed @ 40 euros. Evidently, they had NOT fixed the problem !!). The Guarda Civil traffic cops arrived in force, shouting and gesticulating for us to move, as we were blocking the only main road into the village. After what seemed an age , probably only 5 minutes, the van restarted, and we continued on to the village, and parked outside the campsite to enquire about availability. To our astonishment, they still had spaces, but the reason soon became clear when handed the pricelist ( 95 euros per night).

On to Plan B – rough camping somewhere, although had been told this was illegal. However, the van wouldn’t start despite repeated efforts, so this was rapidly turning into a disaster. We were not permitted to camp outside the campsite, as it was near the Grua pound for storing the hundreds of cars being towed away for illegally parking in the village. The only option was to call Saga breakdown in the UK, who remembered us from the week before, and had all our details. Peter ....yes on first name terms now...routed us through to Madrid, who very helpfully found us an electrical specialist in Almonte, 13km back up the road. The Grua truck arrived within 20 minutes, and took us to Almonte, where the garage had to open specially (as it 3.30pm and closed for the Siesta). The chap fixed the problem (loose wire in steering wheel dashboard) in about 20 minutes, and charged 38 euros (having seen the Alhaurin bill), but it did’nt matter - we were glad to pay and get back to El Rocio.

The Grua truck driver had earlier pointed out a place just outside the village where it was possible to camp for free, and we headed straight there, and found a nice spot under a pine tree next to 2 Spanish couples, who were very helpful and friendly in advising the best place to park up. Victory had been snatched from the jaws of defeat.