El Rompido 15/16 December

Tuesday & Wednesday 15/16th December
El Rompido
Tuesday we decided to have a bit of a day off (what from I hear you thinking!) but there is something about getting up each day wondering where you will end up that night which generally adds to the stresses and strains of a long trip. As it is such a nice place we took the bikes and had a perfect day exploring locally. It is still sunny but bitterly cold as there is a north wind and lots of snow about 100 miles inland. The Spanish are all in scarves, boots, long puffa coats and woolly hats – they just don’t know the meaning of the word cold! But the Huelva Beauty Queens do; a beauty pageant is being held at the El Rompido (almost as good as Pornic) Golf Hotel. We’ve never seen such a teeth chattering collection of skinny girls before – I wonder what the collective noun for them would be?
There were several four balls out on the golf course as by 10am the sun has warmed the place up and the dew has dried. It all looks pretty perfect if you haven’t got anything better to do.
Wednesday 16th
We almost booked in for another night as the forecast was atrocious but at about the time we might have funked it the sun came out and there just wasn’t an excuse any longer.
As we left we had various destinations in mind but once again ended up in Huelva as we know the place and since the next stop was to be Jerez it made sense to be next to a railway station. Huelva is in the grip of Christmas fever and the streets were teeming with people and the square bedecked with palm trees in Christmas lights and carols over the tannoy. Even we began to get into the spirit.
On the way into Huelva we passed the Galleon – under construction and since it looked as if it was about to dump hail on us, we skirted past the 'Police No Entry' barriers and headed for a small tin shack which it transpired housed an Expresso machine. The hail began a minute later and a breathless man tumbled in to join as 10 seconds after that. He explained that the boat should be finished in about a month’s time and would set sail thereafter for a) Seville and then b) Shanghai where it is supposed to form part of the 2010 Expo Exhibition. Their route after Seville is the Med, Suez (bit scary after Murray and Amanda’s experience) and then who knows how to China. I (Vivi) didn’t think it looked very sea worthy and couldn’t see any sign of an engine room, but the man was very excited about having a place on board.