* Steve and Jean Rogers have been caught by the lock down in Spain.
Llanblogger's motoring
correspondent Steve Rogers is one of thousands of British tourists trapped in
Corona virus torn Spain.
Rogers, 68, from
Wrexham, and his wife, Jean, 69, are spending three months in Roquetas de Mar
in Spain's south eastern province of Almeria and are not due to return to the
UK until the end of April.
He has just sent this update.
"As I write Jean is
trying to get through to consular sites for information about driving through
Spain. We want to make a dash for home but don't know yet if we can leave here,
let alone get through the French border 550 miles away.
"Saturday's stringent
Lock Down decision by the Madrid government seems to have caught out everyone,
not just the tourists.
"From Sunday we were effectively under 'house arrest'
able only to go a food shop or pharmacy. We understand only essential transport
is allowed on the roads but there are conflicting reports that cars with
foreign plates heading for home will be allowed to continue the journey.
"Our dilemma is leaving
the relative comfort and safety of our apartment, driving through Spain but
then getting turned back at the French border. Hopefully that situation will
become clearer this afternoon although Jean's efforts so far with the consular
offices in Alicante, Madrid and Malaga have drawn a blank.
"Contact with a person
is impossible and voicemail boxes are full so we are just trying to come up
with alternative solutions.
"Maybe we should have
anticipated such drastic measures given the fact that the Spanish government
seems to have buried its head in the sand while the rest of the world reacts
but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
"We have friends whose
flight home from Malaga was cancelled as a result of the lock down but they have
managed to get places on a rescue flight on Thursday. The situation for people
who have driven is clearly more complicated and stressful.
"Even though this is a
lovely warm area with more than 300 days of sun the majority of visitors from
November to May are from the UK, Germany and the Netherlands so it is
relatively quiet with many hotels still closed but even so when we went out
briefly yesterday it seemed the world had come to an end. Everywhere was
deserted.
"We have just heard
France will lock down from Wednesday so the decision has been made. We are
making a run for it."
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