The engine was all complete, just a few areas where rust and water had caused some deterioration, but the cylinders looked OK if a bit rusty, the pistons were stuck and the gearbox had water sloshing around inside where the cover screws had been left out and rain had entered. I made some notes on things to look into later, but generally it wasn't at all bad. The following detailed photo's show the various parts that the general pictures cannot.
On the way back we split up, Maria returned home while we went back to the campsite to collect the trailer. On returning, Rita and Maria had a chat inside out of the sun, while yours truly loaded the engine. It was damned hot, but regular doses of freshly squeezed lemon drink made up for it! The engine loaded inside half an hour, with a further hour or so for strapping it all down securely and putting all the tools and straps etc away in the van. Following pictures are of the loading procedure.
We had two large pieces of timber which were 8" X 3" section and just a bit longer than the trailer deck. By pulling these out at the back of the trailer and making them just wide enough apart to leave a gap that the flywheel could rest in and be supported, the engine could be pulled onto the timbers from its resting place. The side bearers of the engine were gradually introduced onto some other timbers as can be seen in the pictures. The last picture shows the engine loaded up and ready to roll. We left the trailer there overnight, as we didn't want the problem of trying to manoevre the trailer in the confines of the campsite in the dark.
We headed straight out onto the motorway that ran just above Alicante and Campello, and were soon making good progress westwards towards Portugal. The trailer ran well, with no obvious problems, a brief check after a few miles showed the tyres to be running cooler than we expected, and nothing coming loose in the new beams department. From Alicante we headed towards Murcia, then Granada, then Seville, then Huelva and then over the border into Portugal. It was 794 km or 494 miles to the campsite at where we stayed on our last trip.
While the distances are quite high, it was on very quiet roads of good quality. From joining the motorway at El Campello to the turn-off for Quartiera, we drove on dual-carriageway that was up to motorway (freeway) standard most of the time. We stopped only for fuel and to buy food, and while it was pleasantly cool in the hills, it was very hot down on the plains, and we had the temperature gauge on the van up towards the red in a couple of places where we climbed in 3rd gear for some time.
The scenery is interesting if not majestic. The changes over the miles were sufficient to make it interesting for passenger and driver alike, and the lack of traffic made the driving less of a chore for me. The fridge had been left plugged in up until we left El Campello, and now dispensed cold drinks as we drove along. In a few places the mountains and hills were covered with a network of rows of trees or vines, making the hills look as though a camouflage net had been thrown over them. A huge earth fissure looking like a smaller Grand Canyon appeared as we drove near to Granada, and other features kept us in conversation topics as we drove on.