Another great stop last night. Noticing that cars were still arriving throughout the evening and mindful that it was a Saturday night, with the Spanish generally eating later, we decamped to the rear of the carpark in anticipation of post-dinner loud conversations & slamming doors when we would likely be sound asleep. 

We soon found what we believed to be the ideal spot. This, by the way, is that space chosen by Sophie after having considered every possible eventuality, all of which I have yet to fathom, but presumably must include such items as nuclear war, earthquakes, floods etc? My simple criteria of view, firmness of the floor, lack of slope, avoidance of trees overhead to avoid constant dripping in the case of rain, and as far as possible from human contact, are simply not yet fully comprehensive enough, but I am working on it. 

Back to the point, when we turned the engine off there was a very loud & high pitched noise coming from somewhere. It sounded like it was coming from inside due to the loudness. When we went outside it was obviously the cicadas in the tree directly above us. Now I like sound of cicadas as a sign of hot balmy Summer evenings as much as the next man, but I don’t really want to live with them in their colony, because I think it might make my ears bleed.

Anyway, we returned to our original parking space, where the sound of the otherwise lovely cicadas was more background noise, or mild tinnitus. There were some loud voices, engines running, music from car stereos, and slamming doors, but fortunately they were no competition for the exhaustion we felt from our day’s exertions & sleep carried us off pretty promptly. 

Next morning, given that the cicadas had now gone to sleep, we moved back to the rear of the carpark. As predicted, we’ve had a quiet, albeit practical day. You know, clothes washing (Sophie), reading, sorting (S), tidying (S), eating, planning etc. 

Now Sophie, clearly a gypsy at heart, likes to be constantly on the move. She’s never keen to know too soon that there is the chance we might be contemplating a second night at any of our stops. So, even if I think it likely, such an eventually is best communicated carefully, or what we like to call “organically”, ie I generally avoid saying anything and wait for it to be Sophie’s idea, and thereby all is now well with the world, and we are both at that point happy with the idea of a second night. 

Second nights are excellent breathing spaces, enabling planning to take place in a more leisurely manner, catching up with clothes washing, blogging, etc and general relaxing. Of course, they can only happen in ideal parking spots and if there are no facilities, then you will want to give some thought to the fullness of your toilet cassette before contemplating doing this. By the way, campsites are never on our radar and will only be contemplated if this is the only practical way we can visit a larger town, eg Nimes, 2 years ago, was the last time. 

In our experience, the organic approach works well, as I, like Sophie, generally prefer to keep on the move, but sometimes, to avoid exhaustion, they are necessary. By the way, we have invested in a solar panel for the first time for this trip, and given that we never “hook-up” to electricity, it’s great to know that the batteries are getting topped up nicely even on our rest days. 

We took a more leisurely walk around Peratallada this evening and the sunshine with the very dark grey backdrop of storm clouds showed this lovely small town off very well. 

Before we settle down for the night we must remember to move from under this tree otherwise we might be in for another onslaught from the cicadas.