We finally got out for some bike rides, going several times to Aunac for coffee.
We also got a load of nice dry firewood for the winter…the pile looked huge,
but between the two of us we got it neatly stacked in about an hour and a half.
We try to take Max down near the campground at least every couple of days so he can run around off-lead – he’s got a lot of energy!
After Colin having a bone-scan and getting his most important prescription filled we left for Spain again on a Thursday afternoon, making it along secondary roads almost to Bayonne. We stopped for the night at an Aire, then took a very convoluted route following the GPS to cross the border south of Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle.
We ended up on a very winding road up and over into Spain, then finally hit a more main road north to Irun. What followed was a long day of driving along a motorway, heading further and further west all the way past Gijon. We planned to find a nice quiet town or village near the ocean but got a bit of a surprise.
The coast is lovely, but must be a magnet for the locals as the beaches were totally packed and there was absolutely no place to park, especially for a campervan. The town of Lluanco for instance, had a beautiful beach but was so crowded we immediately gave up and drove around the point and a bit further on the motorway and then away from the coast to the town of Pravia.
We crossed the river and found a very nice parking area off the main road and stopped for a well deserved quiet night.
The next day was a much shorter drive westward along the north coast to Foz, stopping at Ribadeo for fuel and groceries.
We’ve been to the campground just west of Foz a few times now and they have decent wi-if and nice hot showers, although no laundry.
I did get to see the last part of the day’s Vuelta on the tv in the bar – they’re still somewhat south but are coming north in a few days.
It wasn’t too terribly far the next morning to our destination of Baiona (where Tuesday’s Vuelta stage ends) and we arrived early afternoon.
Once again we found it very crowded and nowhere to park.
We hadn’t intended to stay the night anyway so ended up trying to back-track along the route to what will be the last climb of the stage.
Well…talk about an excersize in frustration! The GPS was useless and because my mobile wi-fi device was out of data we basically drove around and around the general area and finally gave up and stopped for lunch at one of the few places that actually had room for a campervan to park. We watched the day’s Vuelta stage on their tv until we noticed that they were closing up and we had to leave without seeing the end.
After trying once again to find the route the GPS led us up a perilously narrow road that we had to stop and back down very very slowly. I got out and directed Colin as he had to keep on a very precise line to avoid falling off the pavement on either side. Luckily we made it safely and headed back to a large park we’d seen along the way and settled in for the night.
The area has large amounts of open land upon which both cows and horses roam freely so drivers must be aware – several of the horses came around in the evening to browse near the campervan.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 