Fun & Disaster in Villariocs!

4th - 6th August 2021

Situated in the south east of the Province of Almeria (Andalucia) in Southern Spain, Villariocs is a small unspoilt fishing village with a harbor at each end.  Our good friends Graham, Sue and their children Abbie, James and Joe own a wonderful property and one of our all time favourite Spanish activities is meeting up with them.  This year we joined them for 3 days and 2 evenings of fun filled activities and the odd hairy moment!

When we arrived we were lucky enough to find a perfectly positioned parkup overlooking the pretty harbour. This isn't a good parkup at the weekends as Villaricos host a wonderful market each Saturday so that road needs to be kept clear, but for a cheeky night or two mid-week it was exactly what we needed. Arriving late morning, we spent an amazing afternoon at the Luna Water Park, which is a fabulous manmade waterpark with giant inflatables, cable wakeboarding,  kayak and SUP boarding and a nice bar for a chilled glass of wine while your family tire themselves out.

For dinner that evening we headed back to one of our Villaricos favourites; Lucky Bar. Steve and Graham both tucked into Lucky Bar's famous moussaka and I absolutely adored my calamari.  It was during dinner that our first disaster struck! Steve bit down on his fork, and a crown fell out. This is a crown right at the front of his mouth that had last been repaired almost exactly a year ago in France!

​Disaster 2 struck around 1.30am, when Harry's tummy bug from the day before landed with me, and then George and then Eddie.  We were all vary sick that night and felt very sorry for ourselves for much of the next day too. I spent most of the night sitting on the harbour wall, dangling my feet into the sea while hanging on to a bucket.

The next day dawned beautiful and clear and Sue helped Steve find a local dentist who could help him with a temporary fix.  While Steve and Graham visited the dentist, the boys and I relaxed with Sue at the pool. 

Returning from the dentist Steve was inspired by a fantastic idea, or as I like to call it Disaster 3.  He thought it would be fabulous to move the van down on to the beach and wild camp down there for our second evening!  And it probably would have been if I had been well enough to add my usual "caution" to his impetuous energy.  While in my delicate tummy bug state, I wasn’t thinking quickly or clearly enough, so before I had fully processed his idea and assessed the parkup options, he had driven us right on to the beach and got us stuck!!  Luckily, Sue has an incredibly calm approach to life and suggested that we ring our breakdown cover and request a tow.  Thank you so much to Comfort Insurance who provide our breakdown cover as well as our travel insurance.  

Within 1 hour of making the call, we were being hauled off the beach to safety. It is very little consolation that the man pulling us off the beach was experienced at dealing with this kind of rescue!  Good old Sue and Graham again came to the rescue by ordering pizza for dinner and making sure the boys were safe and fed while Steve and I watched the rescue. 

I cannot imagine that Sue or Graham will be excited for us to visit ever again, but we did love our time with them, and hey - what doesn’t kill us...