River Ebro Babble

Permit me to let off steam…

This morning we were due to go on a sea-bird watching trip. I was hoping to add a significant number of  birds to my 2011 birding year. More than that I was looking forward to a few hours relaxation and calm after a horrible week in which I have received some upsetting news.  So we were up at 6.30am, walked the dogs, had coffee and cereal, made sandwiches and a flask of coffee and we set off in good time to be at the meeting point in Tarragona Port for 9.00am.

Tarragona has a big port so (sensibly) I’d checked the maps and Google Earth to pinpoint the meeting place.  I’d been told that the meeting place was near to where you enter the port at the level crossing.  Ha – easy! I thought.  The level crossing is at the East end of the harbour not far from the train station. We know our way there well enough so all we had to do was head for the station, drive over the level crossing into the Port and we’d be right there.

But as we know …”The best laid plans of mice and men – don’t take into account the tricks of the Tarragona Road Dept…

We couldn’t get to the level crossing because of  road works.  No warning. No signs beforehand. We drove up and down and round about but no - Nothing! Zilch! Nada! – to inform people where and how to find an alternative entrance to the harbour. “Well we’d better find somewhere to park on the outside then and take the footpath in” says hubby. Seemed a good idea. What a fruitless exercise  that was. Up and down the side streets the parked cars were crammed in like sardines. The underground car-park was some distance away and would have been a good 15minute walk back. We were starting to worry now because it was 8.55.  At this point we were back at the road works near the level crossing and were probably no more than a 100metres away from where the meeting point was -on the other side! So near yet so far!!  So I telephoned and spoke to one of the organisers.   You have to go to Serrallo she tells me. Where? I ask.  Serrallo – the residential area of the Port.  There is another  entrance there. Find your way back to Eroski (the shopping mall) and then turn left.  We will wait for you.

Ok fab – which is the quickest way back to Eroski through these one-way streets?  Disagreement No 1. Well we got back to Eroski – but no left turn permitted! Arrgh!!  Roundabout and turn round? Good idea.  But at the roundabout we see a sign for Port. Yayhay- that must be what she meant – go left after Eroski!  Not yayhay – it took us to the industrial side – authorized vehicles only.  Which way now? This Way? No -that way! Disagreement Number  2. This time we ended up at a works entrance!  Lets turn round and get back on the main road. We reached the main road. No right turn this time. We had to go left which was taking us out of the city and  further away. Nerves were getting decidedly frayed now.  My mobile rang: where are you?  We took the wrong road. I explained “we’re about to turn round now and come back”
“Ok – we will wait 5 more minutes.”

We headed back towards the city – keeping our eyes peeled for signs for Serrallo. Nothing.
Then the phone rang again. “sorry – the boat has to leave”. I understand, of course I do – you can’t have people waiting indefinitely for others to find their way there. And I honestly really appreciate that they waited as long as they did. But I was sooo disappointed.

A stony silence settled over the car.  We drove on. “Are we still going to find it” I ask. “Damned right we are gonna find it! At least we’ll know it for next time” he says.  We were approaching Eroski by now  - presumably we had to turn right from this direction. But there were still no signs for the harbour or for Serrallo.  At the last second, we took a little slip-road  which looked like it was going into the car park because the only sign said Parc Central (shopping mall). And 50 metres further on we found this:

See the sign? It’s almost a whisper. “psss – Serrallo – it’s down here”.  Just the one little sign when you’re virtually in Serrallo district at this point anyway.  Too little and too late.  Anyway, a couple of minutes later we were on the port-side of the level crossing, just 50 metres away from where I’d made my phone call about 30minutes previously. I couldn’t bring myself to look out to sea. I might have seen a boat. And seabirds.

But why oh why, given that the level crossing entrance was closed wasn’t there a dirty great sign  just before the slip road at Eroski? ..”LEVEL CROSSING ENTRANCE TO HARBOUR CLOSED.  HARBOUR ENTRANCE VIA SERRALLO  NEXT RIGHT ” (In Catalan of course).  And if there had have been we would have seen it at 8.30 this morning when we passed that way and have been saved a whole lot of stress, tears and  disappointment.

So thank-you Tarragona Road Department. For nothing. That just nicely finished off my week. Not.