Benicassim-Butlins-By-The-Sea

‘Hither and Thither’….nobody seems to go there anymore.  But we did.

Monday 16th May 2022

Reggie was filled with water, and waste tanks were emptied again before we headed out of Camping Albarracin and motored south-west towards the Mediterranean Sea.  It should be about a 200kms drive to the coast.  And it was.

We arrived at Benicassim-Butlins-By-The Sea around midday and checked in for two nights.  We were told an email would be sent to our email address with rules and regulations etc., which we haven’t got around to checking.  The receptionist then issued us with wristbands; oh no, not those things, I nearly lost a nipple in the shower wearing one of those at a campsite in Italy.  We sneakily didn’t strap them to our wrists. 

In defence of my naming the campsite badly, it does have plenty of very nice bathrooms, the washing machine worked perfectly….. ahhhh….. clean sheets, love ‘em.  Plus we managed to get a nice private pitch surrounded by hedges on three sides, that will be handy for tomorrow morning. 

Tuesday 17^th May 2022

I started the day with a much needed 50-minute yoga session in our cosy corner in the sunshine; that felt good after so long.  Then mid-morning, we set off on our bikes to ride the Via Verde from the campsite to Oropesa del Mar.  It’s an old railway line that has been turned into a 6kms cycling and walking track along the coast.  Hence it is mostly flat and a really lovely ride.  We had a drink in a café beside the ocean in Oropesa before the return ride and opted for a laze by the campsite pool and a bit of a swim.

We should have read those emailed rules and regulations, because after 40-minutes we were told by a Dutch couple that we were on their sunlounges.  Turns out you have to book on their website for a one hour and fifty minutes session !!! We sneakily moved to another couple of sunlounges in a corner and hoped no-one else had booked those ones, while we had a swim.  We’ve never come across this set up before, but it kind of makes sense in such a huge campsite with 310 pitches and bungalows too.  We’re wondering what other rules we should know about, but we’re leaving in the morning, so we won’t panic.