Category: Landscapes/scenery

Seaside Lunches, and (Finally!) Sad Hill Cemetery

The house painting got finished and it’s beautiful!  We got the sun room painted the same colour, even though we just got it painted white two years ago.

The Renault was ready before the campervan, and when picking it up we just continued on to the coast to Mojacar, where we stopped for a drink at one of the hundreds of cafe/bars along the coast road.  At least at this time of year it’s not quite so infested with tourists, although there were still quite a few brits around.  I imagine that many of them do live here year-round.

 We arrived in Carbonaras and had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant right across from the beach.

It’s owned by a brother and sister and the meal was one of the best we’ve had in a long time.

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A few days after picking up the Renault we retrieved the campervan – they still have a couple of little things to do but as we’re going back to France soon  we couldn’t just leave it there.  We took another little road trip to a bit further down the coast and ended up at the Isleta del Moro.

We had another lunch, but not quite as good as the one in Carboneras, although we did have some ‘entertainment’.

There was a ‘photo shoot’ happening on the beach with two very bored looking young ladies – it went on for almost the entire time we were there.

There were also some diving lessons going on…

We got on the way back to France and decided to take our time for once.  The first day was a bit long, but we stopped at Santo Domingo de Silos to try – for the second time – to find Sad Hill Cemetery.

The hotel we’d booked was quite nice – very quiet at night and good breakfast in the morning.

Once again it was a challenge to find the route to Sad Hill.  We ended up going the ‘long way’ and approaching from the north, which was, in fact, the easier drive.

It was well worth the effort of trying to find it – not once, but twice!  It seemed to us that a little bit of signage on how to actually get there would be beneficial.  It’s quite funny but in Spanish they call it ‘The Good, The Ugly and The Bad’ – not sure why!

The site itself is well presented, and even at this time of year there would have been at least 50 or more folks there throughout the day – as long as they could find it!

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The cemetery was originally made by the Spanish army for the film, although the site was left derelict and now has been reconstructed by a society.  There are what look like some real graves and there are many crosses for folks you know have never been there.

It was pretty cool to see the stone circle where the final confrontation happened in the movie, as well as the ‘hanging tree’.

Apparently Robert Redford is buried here – NOT!!  Although there is a cross with his name on it right next to the circle.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen little Max so excited – he ran around like crazy and literally flew over the ‘graves’ whenever we called him.

We took the other road out – the one that goes to Santo Domingo.

Near the top there’s a good view point where you can see the whole place, including the valley that Clint (the ‘Good’) rode down when the movie ended.

The remainder of the trip was pretty good, and also quite entertaining.  We took a less travelled road, and it was so nice!  The scenery was beautiful, but the really unique thing was that there was all sorts of ‘livestock’ everywhere, including on the road – cows, horses, donkeys.

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It was a nice short drive up to Logrono to pick up a few cases of Rioja, and a  one night stay at a nice hotel – Max had his own bed (although he still slept on my bed between my feet).  There was a very good breakfast in the morning – maybe the best since the place in Austria several years ago.

The rest of the journey home was alright, although we sometimes wonder what planet Miss GPS thinks we’re on.  In any case we got here just before dark, turned on the water and water heater and got a fire going in time for a nice cozy evening.

Return to Rio Luna, and Vuelta up San Lorenzo

We left the house on a Thursday morning and made it as far north as the lake just past El Tiemblo, where we’d stopped a couple of years ago.  I took a lovely photo of the lake near sunset, and when looking back at the last time we were here I seem to have taken an almost identical photo – I guess when I like something I like it!

After a nice quiet night we got going north again fairly early, avoiding toll-roads and arriving at our favourite campground Rio Luna.

We spent a few days just chilling out, going for a couple of nice walks, and watching the Vuelta on the tv in the campground’s bar – while sipping some nice Rioja.

On our second day here I had a fight with a folding lawn chair…

…I lost.

Two days before the stage we came to see we took a little re-con drive to the general area, and decided to go to the second-to-last climb rather than the last one.

There are a couple of places along the way where the fires had swept down one mountain, across the road and up the other side.

Luckily there aren’t any bad ones around the area at the moment, although it was a horrible summer in some places.

Back at the campground one of the local ranchers was moving his herd of sheep, taking some time for them to graze in the field just outside the campground’s fence before moving them along.

We got up quite early the next morning to head to the mountain we’d chosen for Saturday’s race, leaving just as it was getting light.

It was still misty when we got to the top of the San Lorenzo, and we found a wonderful wide spot that only had two other campervans parked.

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We had a couple of nice walks – there are lots of horses and cows on the hills and they’re not all fenced in.

By evening there were many more campervans both behind and in front of us, and during the next morning we couldn’t believe how many more managed to squish in.

An enterprising fellow brought an ice-cream truck up – he also had chips and beer – looked like he was doing a good business.

Our ‘Belgian friends’ arrived in their huge bus, this time with Tudor on it rather than Quickstep.  They stopped and said a quick hello to me (I was out walking Max) before heading back down the climb to park.  Later in the day they walked up and we had a really nice chat – we first met them several years ago and have seen them regularly at many different races in several different countries.  They are Alaphilippe supporters thus the sponsor name change on their bus.  It was really nice to see them again.

At one point one of the black horses and her little foal started walking down the road and a car was coming up from below us – I made the ‘slow down’ motion to him.  When he stopped I realized he was the horses’ owner and he got them back up the track where they would be safe.

The Palestinian protesters had been busy – there were slogans painted on the road, and stickers on all of the signs denouncing Israel, etc.  Colin and I, and also one of our neighbouring campervaners scratched off as many as we could.  Then later Colin noticed that many of the signposts up and down the road had cardboard painted with Palestinian flags tied to them. I walked down about ½ km and tore them all off the posts – almost every single person parked along the road either gave me the ‘thumbs up’, said ‘good job’ or ‘thank you’!  

There was one woman sitting on the road almost across from our campervan who actually said ‘don’t you support other people’s right to their opinion?’ and I countered with ‘I do, but this is a cycling race, not a political forum’.  Our neighbour also told her to shut up.

We did get, of course, a marker for ‘top of the climb’, along with a bit of barrier – also several well-armed policemen.  I had a nice chat with one of them and they’re not going to tolerate any guff from any protestors.

There have been a couple of issues with protestors intefering with racers, and  there’s talk of changing the final day into Madrid.  Not to mention that the Israel Premium Tech team is under pressure to withdraw – they’ve already removed ‘Israel’ from their jerseys and I’m sure some of the riders are more than a little anxious.  Again – it’s a sporting event!

As usual we knew when the riders were getting close because of the helicopters and motos, then we could see them snaking up the hairpins below us.

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It took a while for everyone to pass, then we walked up to where a group of folks were gathered outside a campervan.  The fellow had swivelled his tv out the door and we all got to watch the final climb up past Saliencia with Soler – a spanish rider – triumphant at the finish.  A really, really good and fun couple of days on the side of a mountain.

Local Races, Doctors and Tests, Lunches and New Car

Most of the terrace plants are doing really well – we haven’t been at the house this long in past years so they’re getting tended and watered more.  The jasmine especially is very lush, and the two tomato plants have sprouted up like crazy.

Colin’s hernia operation went well – he has a follow-up appointment soon to make sure all is ok.  I convinced him to use my upstairs bedroom for a week while I used the spare bedroom/office/library.  Thus he didn’t have to go up and downstairs as much and all he had to do was move into the lounge to get to the couch and watch tv while he recuperated.

The ‘honey man’ is at the market every Friday morning – I’ve tried several of his products and all are delicious.  We also get what we can from the veggie people, and have tried scallops from the fish guy.

We took a drive to Confolens one day for fish and chips – it ended up being a bit of an ‘adventure’.  First of all we went in the campervan as the fish and chip shop is quite small and in case there wasn’t room we’d be able to park somewhere nice and eat inside the campervan.

There were roadworks on the way and the main diversion included going under a bridge with fairly low clearance.  We couldn’t fit under so turned around and ended up following another campervan that seemed to know where they were going, eventually getting across the river and into the town.  To top it all off the cafe was closed due to ‘it being too hot to open’!  

We’ve been to the little restaurant at Villognon several times now and always enjoy what we get, although I must say that the duck confit I had the first time was my favourite.

We helped out at the annual ‘kids’ races in Saint Angeau, parking the campervan at a side road near the finish line to marshall any traffic and prevent them from turning in either direction.  Luckily there was a french lady on the other side of the main road doing the same thing and she took care of most of the interactions with the drivers.  There was only one driver that was somewhat ornery, but at least he did as directed and didn’t try to run us over.

The following weekend we helped again at another race – the Paul Poux, which has about 300 entrants and covers three different routes of varying lengths.  This time Colin and I were at different places – he was right in Goue and I was just down the road at another spot.  I was very nervous about being alone and not being understood so I printed up four papers in french with phrases on them such as ‘there is a cycling race on’ and ‘you may only turn left when I tell you it’s safe’.

There ended up being many more cars than I expected entering and leaving my little side road, but every driver was extremely nice and co-operative and several laughed at my phrase pages.  Luckily the races had started early as it was getting very hot by the time we left around 10:30.

On our way to Aigre one day we saw that the restaurant in Villejesus had re-opened.  We were very happy to see that and stopped on the way home for a drink.  There’s a nice war memorial across the road…

…we went back several days later to have lunch but they wouldn’t let the dog inside and we didn’t want to sit on the outside area as it’s right on the road so ended up getting pizza from one of the places in Aigre.

The next weekend we helped out at yet another local race – this time the regional gravel championships.

There are many ‘white roads’ around here and it was a sunny and hot day.  We were assisting at the water table, handing out bottles as the riders passed.  I ended up taking over the opening of the bottles and setting them out on the table for the others to ‘hand’ to the riders as they pass – not as easy as it might sound in some cases.

Colin got a new car!  He’d been looking online for a Porsche Panamera but decided that the potential maintenance costs could get pretty high so we ended up at the BMW dealership in Angouleme.  He’s dealt with them for many years and ended up getting a lovely sporty coupe.

I wouldn’t want to be getting in and out of the back seat as a passenger but the dog likes it, and the hatch/storage area is huge.  Apparently it’s really nice to drive but I haven’t tried it out yet – I’m fairly comfortable with the ‘old’ blue one (which we have kept) but will eventually have a go with the new one.

We made another trip up to Confolens and had success this time with the ‘english’ fish and chips.  The shop is quite small and there’s only sitting outside with space for about 20 people.  We were lucky as we hadn’t made reservations and it was the best fish and chips I’ve had in a long time.  Having delicious local french cuisine at one of the many restaurants we now frequent is one thing, but fish and chips brings fond memories from childhood.

We took delivery of firewood for next winter – the pile seemed so large when we started…

…but it only took about 90 minutes – with a small break – to stack it neatly on the lower terrace.

Colin had a follow-up appointment with the hernia surgeon and she was quite pleased with his recovery.  He also had an initial appointment with a urologist – he was one of the rudest professional people I’ve ever encountered.  First of all, when we were in the waiting area a woman came out one door and muttered ‘that was very rude!’.  When we’d gone in we realized why – the doctor was constantly saying very nasty things under his breath in french because Colin’s french isn’t perfect, especially when it comes to medical terms.  Part of the problem was that I understood much of what the doctor was saying and it took all of my self-control not to reach out and slap him, then dramatically storm out.  I really hope that Colin doesn’t need surgery as that doctor was horrible.

On a nicer note we got a small bird-bath for our feathered friends – it has a solar-powered pump that makes a little fountain so now they have a fat-ball feeder, a lovely seed feeder (made by Claire) and now a water source.

Quick Trip Back and Forth

We decided to return to Spain for another couple of weeks as we’re not heading up to Belgium until late March for the Spring Classics.  Rather than go in the campervan we zipped down in the BMW, stopping at a hotel southwest of Zaragoza.

At one time it must have been quite the place – lovely gardens, and thermal hot springs/spa.  The room was nice, but there wasn’t much sound-proofing.

Breakfast the next morning was nearly the best we’ve had – next to the one place in Mutters, Austria a few years ago.

We made it to the house mid-afternoon and it was especially nice that the piece for the pellet burner finally arrived and it’s up and running again – how nice it is to have heat!

We’ve arranged for the driveway to get done, although they still need a week without rain to be able to do it properly.  The pool is as full as it’s ever been with all the rain – no need to get the tanker truck up this year!

We had a couple of nice lunches out at the bar in Los Cerricos – happy kitties getting bits of swordfish and pork tenderloin as usual.

We only stayed two weeks before heading back north again, experiencing only one highway delay due to a truck losing a load of oranges.

Just past Pamplona they’re twinning one of the tunnels – it is quite a busy road as it goes to Irun on the coast.

Just before the French border, in the small town that gets a lot of French visitors for the cheap fuel, tobacco and liquor, we saw the results of an accident.  There was one car stopped and four people crouched on the road next to a bike-rider – they’d already gotten a neck brace on him and also on his left leg.  He was conscious, which was good, but I started crying anyway – you never want to see an injured cyclist lying on the road.  A mile or so beyond the border we passed an ambulance racing towards us to take the cyclist to the nearest French hospital.

The Basque folks are still defacing road signs, and there are still remains of burned tires, etc in some places left by the farmers’ protests months ago.

My little Sly guy back at the spanish house is very happy that the dog is gone again – he spends most of his days stretched out on the heated rug in front of the pellet burner now, and goes outside whenever he wants to.

There’s a new dog at the bar – an adorable little black chihuahua named Valentino Bello – I think someone gave him to them – not as a replacement for Snoopy, of course, and he does seem to be settling in quite nicely.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Being back in Spain is mostly great – we’ve pretty much fixed the water issue and are no longer running out.  The lower pump has been replaced again and seems to be doing the trick.  We’ve put up another raised-bed garden container and planted more veggies.  

We all went for lunch together at the bar in Los Cericos and the bar cats had a feast.  Colin fed them bits of his swordfish and they got bits of pork tenderloin from me.  The small female is pregnant again – she still looks like a baby herself but no one seems to ‘fix’ their pets around here.  Max, as usual, was very well behaved – he sat on one side and the three bar cats completely ignored him on the other side.

Having solved our water woes we now have a problem with the pellet burner – after getting a ‘computer’ issue fixed we now are dealing with a broken motor.  Our plumber has ordered a new motor (still under warranty, thank goodness) and we’ve now been waiting several weeks for delivery.  In the meantime the house is freezing – it’s actually quite warm outside but the inside is a different story.  We’re constantly running several small electric heaters and our electric bill has tripled, even with our solar panels.

Colin and I had to return to France in early Feb for yet another hospital appointment and more blood tests.  We took a different route north as we wanted to visit Sad Hill Cemetery – Colin has been watching a lot of behind-the-scenes videos about The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and thought seeing the cemetery would be interesting.

Finding the place was a bit of a challenge, but we finally narrowed it down and got on the right road just south of the village of Contreras.  It was a chilly, cloudy day and there was a small amount of slushy snow on the ground and the gravel road.  I voiced my concern about the road but we plowed along anyway.  The road was narrow and about 2 ½ km along we spun out and couldn’t make it up a very small incline.

With nowhere to turn around we proceeded to back up very slowly with me hanging out the side door to watch the right-hand ditch.  About halfway along we met a jeep coming up – they backed up to the only possible turning area and waited for us.  After consulting with us they recommended a course of action and Colin followed their advice.  The place was a very small side track with a deep ditch on either side of the access ramp – I knew it was a problem but had no time to shout a warning before the right rear tire slid off the edge and the campervan completely bottomed out with the tire in the ditch.

More consultation between the two spanish fellows and Colin, and out came a brand-new tow rope.  The jeep they were in was pretty heavy-duty – they attached Colin’s tow-hook to the front of the campervan and the younger fellow took over the driving – one good tug and it was freed!  After about a twelve point turn the campervan was heading the right direction down the road and we were on our way.  Such super nice folks – we would have made it to the main road eventually with our very slow backing up but it turned out to be another unplanned adventure and meeting a couple of friendly and helpful locals.  We could just imagine them going home for lunch and telling their family about the crazy foreigners!

Apparently we were only about 1 km away from the cemetery – now that we know where it is we’re going to return at a better time of year.

Back at the junction of the main road we parked for a few minutes to un-wind – the local storks are building a nice large nest on top of the bell tower.

We made it to the border by late afternoon and spent the night in the flat, spacious car park of one of the local shopping malls.  Being right on the spanish side of the border the town is always packed with french folks coming over for cheap goods and gas.  It was a nice, quiet night and we got going at a decently early time in the morning.  Once again the only way you realized you had left Spain and entered France was a slight change in the road signs.

We made it back to Mansle in good time and are glad to have the wood-burner – at least we’re not freezing!  Colin had a good blood test and his oncologist is happy with all of his results.  We went to the BMW dealership in Angouleme but weren’t really that serious about shopping for a new one – I really liked a blue one but it was gas rather than diesel so that eliminated it for Colin.  We made an appointment to get the campervan serviced, and also got the BMW done since we’re here.

We’re currently having a bit of a problem with people blocking the car in at the house – we’re on the end of a small local parking area and when we have the campervan and the car parked there is still space for six or seven other cars.  However recently we’ve been blocked in more than once and been unable to get our car out.  I’ve now left two typed notices (in french, of course) and hope that at least those folks won’t block us again.  What if we had an emergency and couldn’t get out?  I can’t believe how inconsiderate some people are – we never block roads, gates or any kind of access, even if you can tell by the length of the weeds that it doesn’t ever get used.

There’s some very sad news from the bar – their adorable little dog Snoopy has passed away.  He’d been poorly for several weeks and they found out he had a brain tumour.  Everyone is very sad as he was super friendly and well loved by all. RIP little guy.

Logrono for Rioja, Rouillac for Sausage

Colin had some more appointments in France so he and I headed back up in early/mid October.  We stopped in Logrono as usual to pick up a few cases of Rioja.

As we were staying overnight in the large camper parking area just north of the river we took the opportunity of going across the pedestrian bridge and walking around the ‘old town’ a bit.

We stopped at a bar in one of the main squares and had a drink, then moved along to another one.

We were actually hoping to find a nice tapas bar but perhaps were on the wrong street.

In any case we had another drink, then Colin got a frozen yogurt cup from one of the many yogurt shops.

We kept seeing folks passing us carrying guitars, etc – they were buskers as that seems to be a big thing here.  Also we were approached by a couple of beggars – also seems to be big here.

Logrono is an important stop along the Camino so there are lots of statues and signs along the way.

After a fairly quiet night we were on our way early in the morning, passing by Bordeaux with no problem, and arriving back in Mansle in the early evening.

After reading for the last couple of months about all the rain and crappy weather in Mansle we seem to have timed our return right as we’ve had relatively nice weather. We even got out for some bike riding which felt very good – it’s hunting season here so I did use a high-viz vest.

We spent one Sunday going to the monthly market in Rouillac – it’s a huge one and was very well attended.  I actually made a purchase – some new black track pants.

On our way out of the market area we stopped and got some fresh beef sausage – excellent for lunch with new potatoes and peas.

The following weekend we returned to the same area and went to the Roman ruins ‘Les Bouchauds’…

…which has a large amphitheatre and sanctuary, and is still an active archaeological dig site.

The amphitheatre is built into a hillside and there are fabulous views from the top.

The bike ride we went on a couple of days after Nov 1 – All Saints Day in France – all of the local cemeteries had loads of new fresh flowers, mainly chrysanthemums.

As we went through the village of Monpaple on the way home that same day we heard a loud noise – it was a flock of cranes above us heading south for the winter.

Rio Luna again, Water Issues again, Pogacar Dominates again.

Having already decided to skip Saturday’s stage that ends in Villablino we went north on the same road that goes there, but then turned east to our ‘go-to’ campground Rio Luna.

In our years and years of traveling in the campervan we’ve been to dozens of campgrounds – and Rio Luna is our very favourite.

We’ve been there several times now and will drive miles and miles out of our way just to stay there – we love it!  It is very basic with showers, etc and a bar and also has many lovely hiking trails and very few children – a big plus for us!

Also they will let the dog in the bar and put the Vuelta on the tv for us – as long as there’s not an ‘important’ soccer game on.

We got to see Michael Woods make an extreme effort and get a triumphant solo mountain stage win on Friday – excellent!!

We took a couple of nice short walks, had some excellent coffee and just relaxed for a couple of days in a lovely place.

We left our little paradise on Monday intending to take it very easy on the way back to Saliente.

Taking the motorway for some time we covered a lot more ground the first day than I thought we would.  We took a different route than on we’d done before and went through some very lovely countryside.

Getting back to the house was great in some ways, and not so great in others.  We both love the area in general, and the house in particular but once again water was an issue.

We went over a week with no water, resorting to fishing jugs of water out of the pool so we could flush toilets.  And of course the day after getting some agua from the tanker guy the co-op finally delivered also.  At least we’re topped up and are considering getting another large tank installed for a backup supply.

We managed to get a small fall crop of veggies planted in one of the raised beds – little seedlings of lettuce, kale and onion, as well as seeds of carrots, beets and chard.  It’s nice to look forward to harvesting our own food even though it’s only a few things for now.

We’ve had some fierce winds as well as some lovely sunsets.

A few days ago we took a day trip to the village of Gorafe – a place we’d seen on a video about the cycle race along ‘The Badlands’.  The route is both beautiful and brutal and passes through a desert and down to the coast.

Unfortunately at this time of year there’s not much happening – Colin asked a local lady where a restaurant was and we found it by following the voices from above (it wasn’t really marked but we could hear talking through the open windows).  They weren’t doing lunch but the owner was kind enough to make us a small plate of tapas so we didn’t starve.

We stopped at a restaurant we’d passed near the highway and did get a good lunch – as usual we were almost finished as more and more folks arrived to eat.

We also need to replace the pump that moves the water from the upper tank into the house – it’s not pleasant to be partway through showering and have the water die out.  Luckily hitting the reset button on the pump is getting it going for now but a new one the doesn’t stop spontaneously will be nice.

We enjoyed watching the cycling world championships on tv and were so happy when Remco Evenepoel won the time trial and Tadej Pogacar won the road race – and in great style too having gone on his own with just under 100 km to go.  He’s going to look very good in the rainbow jersey for the next year!

Finding the Vuelta

Leaving the lovely park in the morning we tried once again to find the climb on the next day’s route.

We knew we were on the right roads part of the time but just didn’t know where all of the turnoffs were as nothing was marked yet.  We back-tracked to Baiona and decided to go a bit west just for fun – once again we’ve found the Camino! – 150 km to Santiago.

And there’s a parking area with fantastic views of the ocean and a lovely smooth foot/bike path.

We stopped to take in the views and I laughed a bit at the fact that some folks, when presented with breath-taking vistas choose rather to look at their phones!

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After a bit more to-and-fro we were once again heading north along the coast when we saw a large group of riders making a turn inland – today is the rest day and it was the entire Movistar team doing a recon of the final climb and then down into the finish.  The road was not marked and if we’d timed it differently we might still be circling the area!

There were quite a few nice wide places to pull over so we got a bit ahead of the team so I could hop out and take some photos.  They were very happy to see us and Enrique Mas posed for a photo with a team-mate as they rode past.

We found a spot for the night on the route and finally relaxed now that we knew we were on the right road.

In the morning the fellow from the campervan that was parked near us was busy putting Belgian flags up everywhere, and he had a lot of them!

We put a few of ours up as well, and as usual as the day progressed more and more fans showed up parking where they could along the road.

There was a bit of excitement at one point when a fan coming down the hill on his bike crashed and the ambulance had to come.  There were police with flashing lights directing the traffic and the ambulance took the guy away up the hill – it seemed like a collarbone or shoulder injury so hopefully not too serious.

The race arrived right around 5:00 with Wout van Aert in the lead (we found out later that he won the stage).

Roglic and some of the other main contenders were about five minutes behind.

As soon as the race passed…

…we started to pack up and were on our way to our next chosen race watching place for Thursday.  We made it to the city of Tui and found a Lidls to stock up on food, then continued on past Ourense looking for a stopping area along a secondary highway.  We did find a place to stop but it was one busy little road and the cars and big trucks just whizzed past all night long – not much sleep happened!

Across Northern Spain and on to the Vuelta

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.

Lazy Days in Sunny Spain

The trip back to Spain in late June was pretty good and we made it in two days as usual.

We stopped not far from the border before crossing over to buy some sheep cheese from a local producer, and it was delicious.

Getting back to good weather was great, and having the sun shine every day was wonderful.  We had a few high winds, and as usual have been dealing with water issues.

We ended up getting the tanker truck up to top up the pool, and also the lower tank as getting water from the co-op is kind of hit-and-miss at times.

We thought we were going to lose a bunch of the new oleanders but we got the water delivery just in time.

Also, the pump from the lower tank to the upper died so we had to get a new one – the new one was defective so had to be exchanged for another one, and that one only lasted a week or two.  Luckily the store we got it from is very kind and took the pump back and we got a different kind from another store.

Then the pool pump wasn’t working, but fortunately it wasn’t the pump that died, just a ‘condenser’ that was cheap and easy to replace.

Colin and I both had a health issue – he had a UTI and spent most of one day at the hospital to get a test, then wait for the results and get a prescription for antibiotics.  My illness was similar to what happened in the spring and I wondered if it was covid, or perhaps a sodium deficiency – many of the symptoms are surprisingly similar.  In any case I was tired and had no energy for several days but luckily it passed and I seem fine.

Max seems to like it at the house as he can easily jump over the wall and go exploring.  He has three favourite places to go – up the steep hill to the east of the house, up the track past the neighbour’s house (he gets their dogs barking so we usually know if he’s over there) or else down on the rambla.  

We don’t Iike it when he goes on the rambla as he has to cross the road to get there but he almost always comes running if he hears me whistle.

The Tour de France was better than usual, and Tadej Pogacar won in very convincing fashion, with Remco Evenepoel coming third overall.  Then the Olympic time trial and road race were both won by Remco – it was great to watch!

Saying goodbye to my fur-baby we once more had to return to France for Colin’s prescription.

It was quite funny going through the tunnel on this route – leaving sunny Spain and several km later entering foggy France.

Having enjoyed the sheep cheese so much we got some more on the way back, this time a more mature/robust one.

We took a slightly different route than when we came down, following smaller roads rather than taking the peage so we did see some new sights along the way, including some interesting roundabout displays…

…as well as some roadside statues…

Arriving back in Mansle we were glad to find that the almost constant rain we experienced in June had finally given way to nicer weather.