Christine Seward had another ‘different’ experience of COVID 19 ‘Lockdown’… Here is her ‘Tales of the Lockdown’ ….
“We like to overwinter in warm weather so each year we have headed for Southern Spain – we have a caravan and like to tour around different places. In previous years we have left England in January, but last year we decided to go early for various reasons, not least the uncertainties around Brexit.
We left home on the 12th November, staying overnight in Kent and catching the early ‘Chunnel’ to Calais. We only travelled to our first stop Marcilly-Sur-Eure staying for two nights to explore. Our next overnight stop was St Georges-Les-Baillargeaux. We then carried on to Creon where we stayed for two nights. We crossed the border to Mendigorria for one night and then on to Albarracin, one of our favourite places. This was our last stopover before arriving at our first long-stay site in El Verger just outside Denia. We planned to stay there indefinitely until we decided to move somewhere different. We had stayed there previously so knew the area well and met up with friends living there.
On 11th March I flew home alone to attend the funeral of an old friend. I stayed with my son and his family rather than opening up our home in the village. It was then that I truly learned about the serious situation we were all in regarding the Corona Virus, Covid 19. The funeral was on Thursday the 12th and I had a flight booked to return to Spain on Monday 16th March. I learned on Saturday that my flight, and all Jet2 flights had been cancelled. I then had to try and get an alternative flight to get back to Spain, & to husband, in order to get the caravan home. Fortunately I managed to get a flight with Ryanair late on Sunday. I was shocked when I arrived at the East Midlands airport to see it was virtually deserted; looking at the departure board most flights were cancelled. My flight was the last one out for the duration and had very few passengers! On arrival, Alicante airport was likewise deserted except for police and airport officials in masks and gloves who stayed well away from me. We didn’t even have to go through passport control, just straight out of the airport!
We had heard something about a virus that had started in China and affected Italy, although we didn’t realise the extent of it. When touring with the caravan we never bother to take a TV and in Spain we rarely listened to the radio or read the local papers. We were completely cocooned in our own little world on the campsite!
The following day, Monday 16th March I was surprised to see that the campsite had virtually emptied while I was away. Our German, Belgian, French and Dutch friends had left or were arranging their departure. The receptionist on the campsite came to see everyone remaining, with a letter from the authorities detailing the lockdown which had started on 14th March. All campsite facilities were closed, i.e. restaurant, pool and showers and toilets.
We were not permitted to leave the campsite except for the following reasons,
- Essential food shopping
- Medical reasons
- Walking a dog, but must be within 100 metres of home address and only one person.
- Travelling by car – driver only.
When leaving the campsite you must carry ID and proof of address. There were penalties for not complying; we knew of several couples, stopped by the Guardia for having two people in a car, who were fined 500 Euros.
When shopping social distancing was strictly enforced. Before entering the shop you were given antibacterial gel hand wash and then a pair of gloves to wear. Only a certain number, were permitted in the shop/store at time. The floor was marked out at two metre intervals and the tills all had plastic screens around them. It was very good as I felt quite safe doing my shopping – much safer than in England! There was no sign of stock piling; the only thing that was in short supply, in the first supermarket I went to, was meat and fish. Next I went to a small butcher shop and bought as much meat as I wanted. The Spanish seem to have their priorities right, plenty of toilet rolls on the shelves!
On 19th March we were told that the authorities has decreed that all campsites had to close by 24th March. All non-permanent occupants of campsites had to leave for their home country. We were disappointed as we felt really safe there, although we were yet to realise how far reaching and for how long the pandemic was to last.
An exception to having passengers in a car was made for repatriation. We did have to have proof of a booking for ferry or ‘Chunnel’ – also to travel through France we needed additional documents. An attestation had to be completed for each person stating the reason for travel with full details of identification. There were others preparing to travel back to U.K. so we decided to travel in convoy – there were three caravans and one motorhome.
We left on 26th March – we all had bookings on the Chunnel for 30th March so we had to drive a lot of miles each day. All campsites in Spain and France were closed. We knew our overnight stops would need to be in service stations, something that is usually unadvisable for safety reasons, and we would never normally do. We had all determined the route we would take and would use toll roads for speed. Although we soon discovered that there was no choice as if you attempted to leave the motorways the police quickly directed you back on!
The journey was unreal as the roads were so quiet. We occasionally saw other caravans or motorhomes heading home. There were some trucks on the non-toll motorways but most of the toll roads were eerily empty. We saw the police at one point stopping some cars but we were just waved on. In northern Spain we were stopped by armed police – they wore masks and gloves and stood well away from the car window – we confirmed we were going home, and were merely advised to wear masks for our own safety. They also had stingers, so they were not mucking about!
At the Spanish border, again the border officials and police were armed and masked but we were merely waved on. I suppose it was obvious that we were travelling north to home! We lost the convoy at one stage – they took a wrong turn into a village on the border, were stopped and closely questioned but then directed back to the motorway where we all met up again! While we were travelling we all kept in touch on WhatsApp. It was entertaining for the passengers and there was no real danger of getting completely lost.
We did overnight at service stations and fortunately we were lucky enough to find nice quiet ones with a shop open. We parked close to each other and as all the caravans had dogs who barked at the least noise, we felt quite safe! Many service areas were closed with barriers, particularly those without fuel, but some with fuel were closed too. It was quite worrying at times but all ok in the end.”
