- DAWN RUN!
By Andrew Atkinson
The race is on to get the best spots on beaches in Spain this summer – including Torrevieja and Benidorm – as beachgoers ‘Dawn patrol’ gets underway.
In Torrevieja queues form daily in the midst of beach cleansing operations, often still under moonlight, as holidaymakers wait to race onto the beach to claim selective frontline places.
Keen beach lovers are queuing as early as 5am.
At Benidorm Calle De Finnestrat beach police patrols are active in removing chairs, loungers and towels, as the dash to berth on the shoreline escalates.
Warnings have been given for those undertaking the illegal activities of reserving beach places.
It has been an offence to do so since the government passed a law prohibiting beach reservations in 2017 with the police able to impose fines of up to €750.
At La Cala Poniente beach in Benidorm beach umbrellas, loungers and chairs are being placed along the beach while it is still dark.
Mary Fraga Fernandez said: “In the area of La Cala de Poniente every day a group of eight or nine arrive with chairs and green umbrellas.
“The grandparents also come down at 6am – to place their chairs and umbrellas, then disappear, eventually returning to the beach at 12 noon.”
Victoria Escudero said: “I arrived at 9.50am and there was a place filled with four chairs and an umbrella. I left at 12 non – and no one had arrived. Shameful.”
