Our solar issues are at last resolved at last, and we recharge fully every day a blog on all the solar stuff later on!. Now its onward after a lovely stay at Beas in Granada we sadly left our new friends John and Jane behind as we had booked tickets for the Cathedral – Mosque at Cordoba.
Cordoba Cathedral – Mosque
Ah it was a bank holiday, and the town was rammed and finding a place to park ‘Buster’ was more than a little difficult. Eventually we made our way through the crowds, and got to the Cathedral for our allotted time, along with the other 500 people! But we soon got in and relived the joy of perhaps the most beautiful building in the world. Truly an amazing place built by the Moors using material they took from local churches with a real eye for detail and beauty. Then after they were ejected from Spain it was converted into cathedral. But marriage is lovely and worth the crowds to experience.
Ecija – Siena of Spain?
We departed and headed to Ecija for our overnight stay at a free Aire provided by the town. It has all the facilities we needed so wonderful to have this facility provided for visitors. The town is nicknamed the ‘Frying Pan of Andalucía’ and yes it was that hot 36 degrees, but is also a bit like Siena in Italy very beautiful and accessible so if you are near there check it out. The Aire is on Park 4 Night.
Babarte, Vejer – Gastronomy capital of Cadiz?
Next stop was Zahora near Cadiz one of our very favourite places the beaches, walks, food and feel makes it where we like to visit. Also we spent nearly 5 months there during Covid and so off we went. We stayed at a lovely campsite Pinar San Jose, which is lovely and they continuously invest in improvements we like it. But there are two restaurants in the area one in Babarte, Pena El Atun we feasted on fantastic locally sourced tuna prepared in a myriad of ways, all so good its worth going to the area just for this one experience.
But the we followed up visiting Vejer where back in 2016 we spent 3 weeks singularly failing to learn Spanish. But we did discover it is the home to some great food. The Jardin del Califa being for us the most special. The finest Moroccan cuisine you will every taste and you don’t have to go to Morocco! These joys did not come cheap but were worth it and we will be eating in the van for the next ten days!!!
Van life Security? What happens when it goes Wrong?
But when you are enjoying yourself you can take your eye off the important things, security for example. Parked up on a campsite you can let your guard down. In this case me, as we headed for bed Karen asked me to lock up the bikes, but I just used our 2 thick cable wraps locked them together and went to bed.
The next morning disaster, the fence the campsite had be cut through and the cable wraps, and the two bikes were gone. We were devastated, and now we were looking at an uninsured lost of over £5000. Plus no local transport. We have found that it is virtually impossible to insure the electric bikes on the road. For that reason, we have a number of locks to secure them. I had only attached the simple ones.
Apple AirTag’s – Are they worth it?
BUT all was not lost, we went to reception and the manager immediately put us in his car and took us to Babarte to see the police. But we had something else we knew where they were. As we can’t insure then we have a GPS tracker in one and an Apple AirTag in both. The Guardia Civil initially just wanted to give us a crime report for our insurance. They were curious as to if the AirTag was accurate. One bike was in a block of flats, and they said this would be a problem, so they decided to visit the house where the other one was appearing in the Find My App.
Patricio stayed with us and translated and assisted us so much. While we were waiting in the station for some news the other bike pinged showing it was going right by the police station so Patricio, Karen and I hotfooted out the door and down the street. Amazingly there it was outside a barbershop. We grabbed it and walked away, and we decided to meet up with the police at the house. We met up with them and they pointed out that it could be in any one of four houses. So I checked my iPhone and we were able hunt down the bike and show it was 5 ft behind a door.
But they can’t just break down the door without a warrant so it was waiting game. Eventually the landlord of the building was found and he accessed the house and returned the bike. We now had both bikes back, but if we wished to press charges the bikes would need to be kept in evidence. We needed to move on and were grateful just to have them back. So paperwork was processed and we were able to take them home home. Probably a few £100 out of pocket for new locks and bits missing from them. But it was a very a close run thing.
That said the police were happy to have an instant clear up, and know who was behind some local crime. Lessons learned are the ones we have learned before and forgotten. Lock your valuables up, with bikes use the best quality locks of different types, chains and shackles, wire is useless. Even if you are in a safe environment there are always someone who will want it, so protect it.
Lastly if it is valuable put an AirTag in it the battery lasts a year so make sure you change it every year. But if it is really really valuable put two in! You will get millions of iPhones looking for it and it works.
AirTags for us work what do you guys think?
Anyway we have moved on now as I will be meeting friends next week to play golf so we are on Tavira in Portugal and enjoying a different vibe before heading back to Spain to swing some sticks.
Moral of the story……..
Lock up what you want to keep, and if that fails rely on Apple to sort it plus the lovely guys from the Spanish Police!!
Lois Francis says
So pleased you got your bikes back and what great advice.
k9xkye says
Wow, the Apple air tag sounds great. Where did you hide them in the bikes ?
David says
You just have to work out where they will fit on your bike. Each is different, Options include: frame, seat, handlebars, mudguard or even in the tyre. It is up to you.
Stef says
Wow, so glad you got the bikes back :-), whatan amazing stroke of luck especially the ping whilst you were waiting at the station!.