{"id":81,"date":"2026-03-19T19:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/?page_id=81"},"modified":"2026-03-21T17:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:51:29","slug":"itrabo-salobrena","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/itrabo-salobrena\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00cdtrabo ~ Salobre\u00f1a"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twelve days and 2155 miles of sometimes leisurely travel, sometimes a little bit too much travel for one day, and we’re at a milestone. \u00cdtrabo. A small mountainside village just a few minutes above Salobre\u00f1a. I can see wonderful walk opportunities for Tippi and me and we’re only minutes from the beach along the ‘Carraterra de los Borrachos’. You can look that one up yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mi no borracha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, day one here in \u00cdtrabo and my gracious host, Clive has us going out to a village festival of some sort tonight. I don’t yet know what it is, so will have to report back if it good\/bad\/indifferent either way. Maybe<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past twelve days have been good though. Tippi was a superstar, sleeping in the front seat with her head on the window winder, or spread out as wide as she could manage on her bed trying not to knock over her travel water bowl and doing a sterling job of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don’t tell anyone, I took this while driving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We flew through France a bit fast. Looking back I realise that I was treating the whole thing a little like trying to get to a final destination and not treating the journey with enough reverence. The roads were brilliant, so that made it easier. Compared to driving through Scotland and England, these roads were chalk and cheese. A good camembert at lunchtimes helped too. I had planned a quick stop to get Campingaz (like fricken hen’s teeth in NI and \u00a3164\/cannister) and maybe some of that lovely Cave wine out of what looks like a petrol pump, don’t knock it. Got the Campingaz at a BricoMarche for… wait for it… \u00a354.66 :\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Night Two<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I really enjoyed Carcassonne, even park on some random side street for the night didn’t diminish the value of stopping for a little sightsee. We got there a bit late in the day, so didn’t get to see everything and decided to do more in the morning. The morning disagreed. It rained SO hard I thought the castle might come flooding past. Needless to say, this is where my conspiracy theory started really taking shape. We said au revoir to Carcassonne and hit the road once more, looking for better climes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Queen Tippi of Carcassonne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Backstreet not boys<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tippi agrees with the Graffiti in Carcassonne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So the weather decided our moving on (this happened a LOT and I was feeling a conspiracy coming on) whenever we fancied staying in a spot. We departed in damp desperation and drove dourly until it was about time to look for a place to stop that would suit us. After only one false start, we found a great little Farm that lets you stay for free in the off season. They even gave us free water refills. Although, our water needs are tiny compared to some of the big vans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Don’t look now, dad. But I think there’s a giant duck in that bush!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Onward and Southward next morning (because it was, of course, raining…) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We crossed the Spain\/France border through the small, once vibrant border town of Le Perthus. It was way busier 18-odd years ago and I started looking for a mobile shop to get a Spanish SIM so I could stay in touch with the world a little better than looking for every WiFi available place I could. (All the major super markets are great for that though)
Thanks to the rain… we kept going and actually made it to Emma’s in La Torre de Claramunt by late afternoon. She doesn’t often have many guests, but typically we arrived when some friends were there. Freshly picked asparagus tortillas were gorgeous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jordi takes the kids for a ride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We stayed for two days and Emma showed us around their part of the world and Tippi proved she can cope with kids in her old age, Oscar enjoyed her company.
One of the reasons for staying was that I knew I couldn’t drive in the dark as one of my headlights was blown at some point and I really wanted to fix it before I might have to drive at night. I had looked at it before and for some reason I couldn’t get the bulb out. I felt silly, a bulb? Really?
Jordi offered to have a look as he works on their van all the time and definitely knows more about these things than I do. We went out and got to work with torches and spare bulbs galore and… the bulb wouldn’t come out. Then the neighbours got back for the night and being mechanically inclined got involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How many ol’ boys does it take to change a light bulb?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It wasn’t just my ineptness then. The bulb was somewhat welded in for some reason, and we did eventually get it changed. Thanks to Jordi and the neighbours too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Morning arrived and after saying farewell we set out for Montserrat. At least it… wasn’t raining…
So, the view was a smidge limited but still a great place to visit<\/p>\n<\/div>

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This was about as good as the weather got while we were here, but I was hesitant to leave the van as when I went over “The BIGGEST F-ing ditch at 5mph, the central locking decided it was on a dirty protest and I hadn’t yet figured out I could use the wee ‘hidden’ button right there on the dash to lock all the other doors and then lock the drivers door with the key. Tricky Hobbitses. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sant Per De Ribes came next, not very far from Montserrat at all but a great looking village for a short stop for lunch after a good walk around the town.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Morella was not on the original schedule when setting off, but we got recommended it by a nice Dutch couple from the Duck Farm (Foie Gras) we stayed at and their other recommendation was a bit out of our way, Albarrac\u00edn. Looks absolutely beautiful and will have to try go there next time we’re in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The view that greeted us on the drive up the mountain to Morella. It is a World heritage site, too!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Finally up the mountain and Queen Tippi agrees that it’s ‘Okay’<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Then she ‘met’ a Velociraptor and wasn’t quite so amused<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Then she found her regal self once again.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Peniscola was a convenient place to bed down for the night and really not quite as bad as the name might suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sniffs abound<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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No comment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Great morning sunrise there Tippi, you’re missing it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m glad we got up for the sunrise here actually. We were able to take our time doing our morning rituals before heading off on a slightly longer stint as it turns out. Also missed getting a police parking\/sleeping\/campervan\/don’t spoil the rich peoples view\/plebs fine by about 30 seconds! The Dutch couple next to me took one for the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palomares turns out to be one of the little gems so far. Well, not so much where we camped but the beach just a short 40 minute drive away, Bordenares. We camped at Palomares along with probably another 100 vans (the place can probably park about 500!) and during the day we went to Bordenares. The reason for this is that the beach there is in a national park and there’s no camping is allowed. An extra hour and a half driving for the day was well worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the building on the left, the vans go on and on and on all the way around the headland on the right, where more vans are parked.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nice panorama of our new fav<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So no I hear you asking the question; why are there NO other campervans there? Good question, and one that has a few parts, I suppose. The last 3.8km to this beach is a dirt track that doesn’t take\/allow vehicles or five metres. The TeePee is 5.01 I think. Another might be that there’s no camping allowed. And finally, it’s a nudist beach. Or ‘clothing optional’. We saw a grand total of fourteen people on the two days there and only six were exercising their option. Five of whom just took a dip and left. Basically alone on a paradise beach. Tippi and I were happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“When’s lunch?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The other side of the further hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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TeePee and one other van<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tippi thought that sailboat was getting a bit close, growling ensued.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After two days of mostly brilliant sunshine, we set off for Salobre\u00f1a and \u00cdtrabo, only two and a bit hours away, and on a Sunday, very little traffic which suits us perfectly. An uneventful trip apart from the 18 year old nostalgia hitting me as we came across things I remembered from my first visit here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A great little Pano from the 4th floor balcony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, I know that you’ve been waiting with baited breath (no, you’ve probably forgotten all about it) for my first night out in \u00cdtrabo and the ‘event’ we were invited to. It was… in a, no. In THE church of the village of one thousand and twenty three people (more or less) and I wasn’t sure if I would burst into flames upon entering or the church would… never mind. It was the local band having an exhibition of their hard worked on set of about (I didn’t count) ten tunes. I was only mildly disappointed they didn’t play any Star Wars but they did apparently play some Pirates of the Caribbean a few months back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Band is taking up the whole front section there and the crowd filled about 90% of those pews!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So we sat for the entire performance of approximately fifty band members doing their thing (very well, I might add) and marvelled that almost 5% of the entire village population were band members, including the barman from one of the two bars. Well done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, nothing and no one exploded into balls of holy\/hellfire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twelve days and 2155 miles of sometimes leisurely travel, sometimes a little bit too much travel for one day, and we’re at a milestone. \u00cdtrabo. A small mountainside village just a few minutes above Salobre\u00f1a. I can see wonderful walk opportunities for Tippi and me and we’re only minutes from the beach along the ‘Carraterra … <\/p>\n

Read more “\u00cdtrabo ~ Salobre\u00f1a”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"inspiro_hide_title":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-81","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_media_urls":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81\/revisions\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneblacktoe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}