Cabopino (Nathanial)

After a couple of days invading Alison’s life we head off to find a campsite to settle in for a few more days before heading off to Portugal. We are now in campsite ‘Cabopino’ in Marbella, just half an hour away from our Alison. This is a great campsite with loads of facilities for kids. There’s an indoor swimming pool, archery, shooting, a small ‘go ape’ style playing area, table tennis, pool, there’s even a small football pitch, and for the grown-ups, there’s a bar on site which seems to be the main meeting point for many of the campers. We have already seen some other kids here and it has a really nice feel to it. Maybe we’ll stay here for more than just a few days.

Coming from Nottingham, trying archery was a must

After settling in to the campsite and finding a great sunny spot, we meet up with Alison & Steve again, who are doing their best in helping us find a 12v TV since the robbin’ dogs took ours, but this is futile; for now I’m just going to by a normal TV and plug it in to the mains when we are on hook up. This is very frustrating as, not only have we been watching films etc. on it at night, but the boys have been watching educational programs in the mornings and writing about what they have learned as part of their schooling. This now means we won’t be able to do this on the road when we aren’t hooked up.

If I’m honest, I am struggling a bit moving on from this negative experience. Nothing knocks me usually, but I can’t quite shake this one off yet.

The night we buy the TV though, me and the boys settle into ‘Transformers 3’, and I think secretly Beth enjoyed it too.

Beth's under the impression that she did better than me at archery.......she's wrong

At the end of the week Alison & Steve take us to their favourite Indian restaurant for a meal. We have planned this for days, but somehow, as usual, the day has slipped us by and we end up driving down the motorway (with galeforce winds blowing the van all over the road) with Beth in the back looking for her best frock, getting thrown from side to side and trying to find some decent clothes for the lads - who are still in their shorts at this point - and me driving in the front whilst shaving at the same time.

By a miracle we make it to the restaurant in one piece and have a great meal. It’s easy to see why its Alison & Steve’s favourite, there were even chicken nuggets and chips for the kids.  Yes, sacrilege I know, but it kept them happy.

I've done this before, i know what i'm doing!!!

Back at the campsite, loads of Spanish kids turn up for a weekend break. This is great for Tom who just throws himself at them as if they had all been friends for years, which I thought worked quite well because they all accepted him, especially the little Spanish girls who fell in love with him. ‘Hola little Thomas’, ‘Well done little Tom’, bless him, he’s in his element. He has now done shooting, archery, the high ropes and played with the other kids from morning till night either playing football or racing around on their bikes.

Tom proving he will have ago at anything

Strangely enough though, Alf has had a different reaction to the influx of kids and felt uncomfortable around them, making up every excuse to stay around the van with me and his mum. After making him do the archery, which he didn’t want to do “because I’ve done it before”, he got very frustrated whilst being shown by the instructor how to get on and because he didn’t get a bulls eye on his first arrow, he got very deflated. This is Alf all over, if he can’t do something perfect on the first attempt, suddenly it’s ‘crap anyway’ or ‘boring’. He’s getting to a very awkward age.

On the high ropes, he's fearless

And on the wall, this shouldn't be climbed without an instructor present, So Alf climbed it on his own on the first day, Tom decided to tell this to the instructor, thanks Tom!

We have had such a great time at Cabopino that we have decided to postpone Portugal and book in here for a month. Stays of over thirty days give a 40% discount, making the nightly cost around €17, or £12.75 at the rate we’re getting now, including electric. One of the main reasons to go to Portugal was to save money on sites as there are more aires there, but the amount of facilities on this site make it fantastic value for money and we’ll save money on diesel too. Everyone is very friendly (and mostly British) and we are very much enjoying the activities and our swims in the warm indoor pool, often alone. After a few moves we are on a great, sunny pitch and have set up a comfy camp. 

Tom hard at it..................building lego!