Last Minute Pressie Buying On Christmas Eve

It has to be said that whilst Albir could probably be classed as a relatively “upmarket” Costa resort, with some rather expensive shops and a whole host of estate agents selling hugely expensive properties, it also has several cheapie Chinese Bazaars which sell pretty much anything at all you may need at knockdown prices! On the back of this, we agreed we would hit town early this morning and with a budget of just €20 each, we would buy each other a little bit of something/s to open on Christmas morning. So, off we set, on the bikes, locked them to a traffic sign on Albir’s main drag and went our separate ways for an entire thirty minutes – this was not only last minute Christmas shopping, this was last minute Christmas “speed” shopping! The main challenge here, to be honest, was to avoid being found by the other in the same shop at the same time! We failed miserably on that score! BUT we managed in the end and, with our purchases cannily secreted in rucksacks, we headed back to Sebo to don our walking gear and head for the hills for a Christmas Eve schlepp.

Whilst walking up to the lighthouse two days ago, we had noticed another trail which branched off the lighthouse path and climbed steeply up to the highest point of the headland. At 483m, Alt Del Governador promised fab views but the Trail Info board had warned that it was very steep and rocky in places so we made sure to wear decent walking boots and retrieved our walking poles from the depths of Sebo’s garage. Thank goodness we did! Steep and rocky doesn’t begin to describe it! Slippery could be another suitable adjective to be added to the Info board! However, we pressed on and eventually reached the top! Well worth the effort as it turned out. The view from the top was awesome – we could see for miles over the Costa Blanca and the Sierra Helada peaks. The Med sparkled in the sunshine and the only blots on the landscape were the non-dreaming spires of the dreaded Benidorm just a few kms to the South West of our viewpoint!

We had cannily made a picnic to treat ourselves on reaching the top – it was much needed by that stage, I can assure you! Harley lapped up almost a litre and a half of water too and hid in the undergrowth for shade whilst we ate our lunch! Wise boy!

Having slithered our way back down the hillside, we returned to Sebo to surreptitiously wrap our respective Crimbo purchases – no mean feat in a 2.3m x 7.7m motorhome! Roy was despatched to the shower block whilst I wrapped mine and I did the same whilst he wrapped his! On my return, I spied him cutting wrapping paper so, closed my eyes and knocked on the door before opening it so as not to catch him “mid wrap”. I needn’t have worried – he was merely continuing his artistic flair which had been discovered yesterday whilst icing the cake (!) and was in the process of making a Christmas Tree – out of wrapping paper! God bless his wit! Improvisation is key #vanlife…..

Pressies wrapped, Tree “erected”……we put our gladrags on and strolled into town in search of a Chinese takeaway! Some Semple Christmas Traditions will never die! Well, on this occasion, they may have to as we found a Thai restaurant offering a two course menu with a half bottle of Rioja and coffee for €9.95 each! Sod the washing-up, we’ll eat in, thanks! Great decision! The menu choice was more than enough to keep us hungry hounds more than happy and the sheer amount of food presented was pretty much enough to feed a family of four for a week but, heyho, don’t you know, we managed to pretty much clear the plates!