22nd November A change in demographics.

 


Another good night sleep with both of us managing to slumber for a couple of hours longer than we would manage at home. Down for breakfast, where I have given the very fatty Spanish version of bacon a wide berth indeed, before our first task of the day, registering for the race. 

We had already encountered last night, the advanced party of the 70 or so from Smalley Runners who have taken over the Hotel Nadal.  And on route to the registration venue met three for Hucknall Harriers,one of whom looked at me and exclaimed "oh you look as if you're running the half". Must be the jet lag that had clouded her judgement.

It has been noticeable over the past 24 hours the chance in demographic, with the number of mobility scooters and walking aids now being matched by the amount of lycra on show. A great way to extend the tourist season by encouraging 15,000 runners to come and spend a fortune over a few days.

Registration was very smooth and efficient with bib number, starting gate and T shirt all collected within a couple of minutes. Now we just need to work out where TOM might stand to watch whiz past in a blur of fluorescent yellow. Or follow me on his rented mobility chariot.

At the moment the place is amass with people  carrying Ale-Hop bags as these appear to be one of the main sponsors of the race and every runner is given one at registration. Anyone unaware that there is a race taking place place tomorrow (more of that tomorrow) must be thinking that the Ale-Hop shop must be doing a roaring trade given the 1000's of bags everywhere.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the lack of obvious tat on display, by how clean everywhere is and generally by just how much more civilised the whole place has been. Yes and lot of the bars along the front are busy and do have music playing so loud you can't hold a conversation but we have managed to find lots of places that have offered a quiet refuge.

The area around the old Benidorm castle, which separates Levante and the other beach area that begins with P was a delightful place just to sit in the sunshine and soak up the atmosphere.

Another stunning sunset brought the day to a close then we wandered back to the hotel for a Spanish timed dinner ie a good 90 mins after we would normally eat. But as they say...when in Rome

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6th May Olbia

Image
  A chance to stretch our legs today with our first port of call; Olbia, Sardinia. And it was a quick stretch too due to it being only a five hour stay. Up bright and early, so early in fact that the hot food at the buffet wasn't even ready to be served. Still it gave us a chance to watch the ship glide into port past a host of oyster/mussel beds, before performing a 180 degree turn to reverse into it's berth. A couple of short bus rides later and we were in downtown Olbia. But there an hour or so before anything appeared to open, the disadvantage of being early birds and something we don't seem to learn! Not that Olbia had a great deal to see or maybe if we had done the slightest bit of planning beforehand there might have benn but we didn't. It was pleasant enough but that's about it. It was pleasant enough but nothing special, indeed we were back on the ship after just a couple of hours ashore and then managed to sleep away most of th...
Read more

7th May Naples

Image
 I'm sure I've heard the phrase 'see Naples and die' suggesting that it is perhaps not the nicest location in the Mediterranean but if it's good enough for Diego Maradona fir a few years then it's good enough for me for 10 hours. Although the millions of tax free pounds he was paid might have eased his stay. By the time we got up, washed, dressed and up to The Kitchens, the rest of the ship were already there. Compared to the Marie Celeste of yesterday it was absolutely packed, presumably with people having breakfast before heading out on 8am excursions, our excursion was simply going to be the city of Naples itself as possible trips to Vesuvius, Pompei or the Amalfi coast would have been too much / tired.  So on a day when the weather initially seemed uncertain, we jumped aboard route A for the Hop on Hop off bus and headed out into the mayhem that is the Napoli traffic where it was every van, car and scooter for the selves. I think it's bes...
Read more