Winter journey in our home on wheels - Part 2 - Tarifa
We had left Tarifa after 10 months living in the Pig Field in October 2012, that had been our second visit there and we had fallen in love with the place despite the strong relentless winds! 3 years later and we were back and it was such a good feeling. We arrived just a few days before Christmas and despite our 3 year absence we immediately met up with some old friends, also travellers living in their vans and spending a lot of their time in Tarifa. We also found out friends of ours had bought land very close to the Pig Field. Below is a shot of the Pig Field.
The Pig Field has been a travellers site for many years, not only is it a site for what you might call 'new travellers' or 'hippies' it is also home to many wind surfers and kite surfers who come and stay for days, weeks or months at Europe's top wind and kite surfing location. Tourists, sightseers, fishermen and locals also come in and out of the field on a daily basis. Some people in vans stay only a few days before moving on either East for Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol, West for Cadiz and Portugal or South to Morocco. It gets rather muddy when it rains and so sometimes a lot of vans either move to the tarmac car park at Punta Paloma or the Strip at Los Lances. Generally van dwellers are left alone by the police and the council who seem to realise that we help the local economy by spending in shops, restaurants and bars.
A few changes had happened in the 3 years we had been away. As you would expect with any town some shops, restaurants and bars have closed and new ones have opened. The best new addition for us was the new self service laundries on the edge of town. For €4 (£3.20) you get a 7kg wash and for €2 (£1.60) you get it all dried, not bad and a damn sight easier than hand washing! The other notable change was how much the sand dune had grown at Punta Paloma. Due to the strong wind known as Levante that makes this a kite surfing paradise there is a huge sand dune that has been trying to take over the small road, the A2325 into the pine forest and few houses. It has now grown so much that it has made its way over the road and into the forest going back some 100 metres. The council are fighting a battle daily to keep the road open and keep the sand away! As you can see spraying the sides of the dune with water is one way they hold it back.
We had fairly good weather over Christmas and New Year with a glorious day on 1st January, better than most summer days in the UK! But then the rain came and started to make the field muddy, we sat through a day of rain with hardly any food and needing to go to the town for the supermarket and after trying the local shop and spending €9 (£7.22) on a piece of cheese and a litre of water we decided to risk getting stuck and leave the field. Luckily we just managed to get out and after a shopping trip went to the safety of the tarmac car park at Punta Paloma as you can see from the picture below.
Whilst there we made some good friends and Simon got to do some tattooing including the one pictured below. Don't forget to check out his website at www.r6j6cttattoo.co.uk.
We also had a good friend from the UK come and stay for about 6 weeks which was great. One day he went out and collected some wood for our burners and whilst chopping up some bits to take into the van we found this hitch hiker pictured here. Thankfully he didn't get through our doors!
Another attraction at Valdevaqueros beach at Punta Paloma is the lagoon which is great for novice kite and wind surfers. Due to the large amount of rain we had been having the residents living on the river bank nearby were getting very close to being flooded. Apparently someone helped the lagoon drain away with the use of a shovel but we didn't see that, we just saw the sudden collapse of the sand holding the lagoon in as shown below. It was quite amazing to see the power of the water draining into the sea and how quickly the lagoon emptied. I'm sure those at risk of flooding were relieved!
Simon got the chance to learn how to control a kite using a smaller version of what the kite surfers use. He enjoyed playing with the kite and will hopefully get to try out kite surfing sometime.
We spent a lovely day with friends walking around the old town in Tarifa which is a beautiful place with lots of narrow alleys, cafes and bars as well as lots of shops. After a long leisurely breakfast we explored the town and went down to the point where the Mediterranean sea and Atlantic ocean meet. We then came back up through the town discovering even more alleyways!
After we had been at the car park at Punta Paloma for a few weeks we started getting itchy feet and so decided to move down the road to what is known as the Strip at Los Lances beach. Named due to the long straight track that runs for about a kilometre alongside the beach this is also a favourite place for travellers and surfers. The beach here is immense and it is about a 5km walk into Tarifa to the East and about the same distance to the West to get to the Pig Field. Below is our van on the Strip.
One day whilst staying at the Strip there was very strong winds and not Levante as is usual but wind from the opposite direction known as Poniente. A few brave souls went out with their kites but didn't last too long. I took a photo of the sea and the mountains of Morocco in the background and caught a seagull flying with the wind as well!
After about 8 weeks in Tarifa we decided it was time to move on. We knew we had to be back in the UK for the end of March for me to start back at work and we still had a few places to go and friends to visit. The weather in Tarifa wasn't quite as nice as previous winters we have spent there and it was sad that we did not spend much time in the Pig Field. Before we left I had to take a picture of the new artwork on the end of some blocks of flats.
We headed off to Gibraltar to buy cheap tobacco and spirits as well as a shop in Morrisons for a few English goodies and said a fond farewell to Tarifa. Next part is the rest of Andalucia and into Murcia region but that's it for now!
Thanks for looking :) xxx
The Pig Field has been a travellers site for many years, not only is it a site for what you might call 'new travellers' or 'hippies' it is also home to many wind surfers and kite surfers who come and stay for days, weeks or months at Europe's top wind and kite surfing location. Tourists, sightseers, fishermen and locals also come in and out of the field on a daily basis. Some people in vans stay only a few days before moving on either East for Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol, West for Cadiz and Portugal or South to Morocco. It gets rather muddy when it rains and so sometimes a lot of vans either move to the tarmac car park at Punta Paloma or the Strip at Los Lances. Generally van dwellers are left alone by the police and the council who seem to realise that we help the local economy by spending in shops, restaurants and bars.
A few changes had happened in the 3 years we had been away. As you would expect with any town some shops, restaurants and bars have closed and new ones have opened. The best new addition for us was the new self service laundries on the edge of town. For €4 (£3.20) you get a 7kg wash and for €2 (£1.60) you get it all dried, not bad and a damn sight easier than hand washing! The other notable change was how much the sand dune had grown at Punta Paloma. Due to the strong wind known as Levante that makes this a kite surfing paradise there is a huge sand dune that has been trying to take over the small road, the A2325 into the pine forest and few houses. It has now grown so much that it has made its way over the road and into the forest going back some 100 metres. The council are fighting a battle daily to keep the road open and keep the sand away! As you can see spraying the sides of the dune with water is one way they hold it back.
We had fairly good weather over Christmas and New Year with a glorious day on 1st January, better than most summer days in the UK! But then the rain came and started to make the field muddy, we sat through a day of rain with hardly any food and needing to go to the town for the supermarket and after trying the local shop and spending €9 (£7.22) on a piece of cheese and a litre of water we decided to risk getting stuck and leave the field. Luckily we just managed to get out and after a shopping trip went to the safety of the tarmac car park at Punta Paloma as you can see from the picture below.
Whilst there we made some good friends and Simon got to do some tattooing including the one pictured below. Don't forget to check out his website at www.r6j6cttattoo.co.uk.
We also had a good friend from the UK come and stay for about 6 weeks which was great. One day he went out and collected some wood for our burners and whilst chopping up some bits to take into the van we found this hitch hiker pictured here. Thankfully he didn't get through our doors!
Another attraction at Valdevaqueros beach at Punta Paloma is the lagoon which is great for novice kite and wind surfers. Due to the large amount of rain we had been having the residents living on the river bank nearby were getting very close to being flooded. Apparently someone helped the lagoon drain away with the use of a shovel but we didn't see that, we just saw the sudden collapse of the sand holding the lagoon in as shown below. It was quite amazing to see the power of the water draining into the sea and how quickly the lagoon emptied. I'm sure those at risk of flooding were relieved!
Simon got the chance to learn how to control a kite using a smaller version of what the kite surfers use. He enjoyed playing with the kite and will hopefully get to try out kite surfing sometime.
We spent a lovely day with friends walking around the old town in Tarifa which is a beautiful place with lots of narrow alleys, cafes and bars as well as lots of shops. After a long leisurely breakfast we explored the town and went down to the point where the Mediterranean sea and Atlantic ocean meet. We then came back up through the town discovering even more alleyways!
After we had been at the car park at Punta Paloma for a few weeks we started getting itchy feet and so decided to move down the road to what is known as the Strip at Los Lances beach. Named due to the long straight track that runs for about a kilometre alongside the beach this is also a favourite place for travellers and surfers. The beach here is immense and it is about a 5km walk into Tarifa to the East and about the same distance to the West to get to the Pig Field. Below is our van on the Strip.
One day whilst staying at the Strip there was very strong winds and not Levante as is usual but wind from the opposite direction known as Poniente. A few brave souls went out with their kites but didn't last too long. I took a photo of the sea and the mountains of Morocco in the background and caught a seagull flying with the wind as well!
After about 8 weeks in Tarifa we decided it was time to move on. We knew we had to be back in the UK for the end of March for me to start back at work and we still had a few places to go and friends to visit. The weather in Tarifa wasn't quite as nice as previous winters we have spent there and it was sad that we did not spend much time in the Pig Field. Before we left I had to take a picture of the new artwork on the end of some blocks of flats.
We headed off to Gibraltar to buy cheap tobacco and spirits as well as a shop in Morrisons for a few English goodies and said a fond farewell to Tarifa. Next part is the rest of Andalucia and into Murcia region but that's it for now!
Thanks for looking :) xxx
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