Now We Are In Spain

Typed Monday 28April 2014

 

In Maccas on the edge of Burgos and the signal is very unreliable.  Don’t expect to be able to send this off today.

 

Pamplona was lovely, and it turned out to be the city’s birthday, so we got to see a lot of he locals in national dress dancing in the plazas. 

Coffee in Plaza Mayor, Pamplona

Deer and fowl in the old moat

View from the ramparts of the old fortress overlooking Pamplona.  Our van was in the car park on the left.

Gardens in the old fortress of Pamplona

Both of us at the entrance where the bulls enter the bull ring in Pamplona after their run through the old town

Kenny being a bull at the Plaza de Toros

Locals dancing to celebrate Pamplona's birthday

 
We didn’t see any bulls, but we did walk the route of the run and the bull ring.  Beautiful gardens throughout the remnants of the ancient fortifications, with a large pond inhabited by chooks, ducks, turkeys, swans, peacocks and deer.  Quite lovely.  The peace of the morning was shattered by the ringing of the church bells - it was Sunday - and a more discordant lot of bells I have never heard!!  What a jarring note in an otherwise beautiful old city.  There is of course a vibrant new city around the old one, but we were not really interested in that.

 

 

Having had our look around there, we headed for Logroño where we had a quick look around, but could see little that interested us.  The old part of the city was very small and the newer stuff was unexciting.  Spent the night in the little village of Luenmayor, a little south of Logroño.

Gateway to Old Town, Logrono

 

Today we continued to follow the path of the Comino de Santiago (the pilgrims’ walking trail to Santiago do Compostella) toward Burgos. 

Statue to pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago at Logrono

We bypassed that city as from the highway it did not look terribly promising - we are really NOT good tourists.  Old cities, churches, etc are starting to lose their appeal already - you have seen one you have seen them all.  However, the countryside we are passing through is very interesting. 

 

We are coming down from the Pyrannees now, and the geology of the region is changing somewhat.  Will explain what I mean by that in the next post.  Signal has just come back and I want to post this before it goes again.

 

Talk again soon - hopefully

 

Keep well

 

 

 

 

Typed 26 April 2014

 

I am writing today from Pamplona in Spain.  Since I wrote last we have visited with Joyce and collected our mail, crossed from England to Spain and visited a few lovely spots.

 

We left Torquay late in the morning to make our way to Portsmouth to catch the ferry.  As is often the case, the GPS (now known as ‘Mongrel’) took us by the shortest route, which was not the narrow winding way we had arrived, but involved a narrower road unsuitable for heavy traffic which went up hill and down dale for several miles until it got us back to the road we needed, which we had been on earlier that morning without the stress!!!  Stayed at Monkton Wyld camping on the way to Dorchester.  Refilled the gas cylinder as it ran out as we tried to boil the kettle for our morning cuppa.  That was good, because it means that our English cylinder is full and will last us about 10 weeks and we can use the European one as an emergency.  When the European one runs out we can then refill it.  Having the gas for the heater when we are not in a camping park is great, because it puts a terrific amount of heat.  Had fun trying to remember how to get the regulator off.  Consulted a few folk staying at the park who, though they tried, were not helpful.  In the end it was as simple as pressing a button and we worked I out ourselves.  I have put together a manual on the van so that Bea and Peter will not have to guess about this sort of stuff.

 

We were underwhelmed by the A35, which is the main/only road between Exeter and Dorchester on our way to Portsmouth.  The route was very hilly (13% grade in one place) and winding, and although marked on the map as a red road (which is supposedly pretty good - one step down from a motorway) it really only equals an orange, which is pretty dreadful.  There were places so narrow our mirrors touched the trees alongside the road. And several times we had to follow the poo-truck (a tractor pulling a trailer load of cow manure) for several miles  - and that’s always fun - as the farmers have no alternate way to get from one spot to another along the way.  Fiona (the van) performed well on the hills, much improved since we had the exhaust manifold fixed, although Kenny collected a following which I now call “Kenny’s Fan Club”, who were please to see the odd spot to overtake - there were virtually no overtaking lanes.  The poo-trucks have a bigger fan club than Kenny!!! 

 

We were amused by the quaint names of the villages along the way; Litton Cheney, Lower Compton, Winterbourne Abbas, Puddleton, Poole, Piddlehinton, Upper and Lower Bockhampton.  We didn’t actually SEE any of the villages, but I thought Winterbourne Abbas had a classy ring to it, and I it would be my pick of places to live.  Kenny says “Yeah, but who would want to live in this weather and with these roads”.  Good point.

 

We passed a lovely looking pub called the Botany Bay Inn, with murals of Captain Cook and the First Landing on its outer walls.  Kenny wanted to stay there and said that if we missed the ferry we would come back to it.

 

We got to Portsmouth and booked the ferry and then went and did the shopping.  I was pleased to get the booking done because had the ferry been booked out, we would have had to wait till the following Saturday (today) for the next one.  Had lunch and read our books in the shopping centre car park.  Then down to the ferry and off.

 

As I think I said last time, I was a bit nervous about the crossing as I had hear horror stories about the seas in the Bay of Biscay, but that turned out to be no worry at all.  We had very smooth seas.  Unfortunately, I have been suffering with sinus congestion since we got over to the UK, and THAT caused me a great deal of trouble.  Fay you will identify with this.  We sat in the bar for a while and had a drink or two, then retired to our tiny little two berth cabin to go to bed and read our books.  When I woke up and got up to go to the loo, I was smitten with vertigo.  I immediately retired to my bunk again and didn’t get up until about 2 o’clock in the afternoon when Kenny (who had no problems at all) took me up to the bar area and I stretched out on a lounge for the duration of the trip.  Every time I sat up I got head spins and felt very dizzy.  Fortunately my stomach sat very quiet for the whole trip.  I was glad to get off and felt better immediately I did.

 

Whilst I was feeling unwell, Kenny got chatting to Malcolm, an Englishman who was travelling on his own.  Malcolm was a mine of information on good spots to free camp, and he recommended a little town not far from Santander where we had actually planned to find a camping park.  So when we  disembarked the ferry, we went as planned to Santillana Del Mar, and spent the night in the main square - next to Malcolm’s van - and after he had shown us around the old town (it turned out to be quite a tourist spot, because it was quite lovely), we all went and had dinner in the bar by our vans, and had our first Spanish meal of the trip whilst we watched Real Madrid beat Bayeux Munich in the football finals on the TV with most of the men of the town.  Had a great night - Kenny learned to asked for 2 red wines in Spanish - and really enjoyed the meal of paella for him and anchovies for me.  Yes that is right - just anchovies.  But they were bigger and not as strongly flavoured as at home.  This area is apparently the world’s largest producer of anchovies for the market - and I just put them on chunks of crusty bread with some of their oil they were served in and it was lovely.  Kenny was a little disappointed that his paella was of noodles rather than rice, and can’t wait to have another go at it along the way.  We must get his glasses fixed!!!

Wendy in Santillana Del Mar

Charming street in Santillana Del Mar

Wendy and Malcolm in Old Town square

Church in Santillana Del Mar

 

Next morning we took the Autovia Cantabrico from Santander to via Bilbao to Vitoria-Gesteiz and thence Pamplona.  Couldn’t believe the difference in the roads between here and the UK.  Three lanes each way, 6 major tunnels through lower Pyrenees and huge modern bridges.  There are tolls, but they are not big (€4.50 for 50 kilometres) and well worth it for the great quality roads and road systems.  I am always nervous and anxious when travelling in mountain areas, but we have hardly noticed the climbing as the road is so good.  The van is dealing with it beautifully, and we are making really good time - unlike in the UK.

 

Along the way there are lovely roadside stops for picnics, etc.  Proper pull-ins with a lane each way, and lovely treed areas with picnic tables, etc.  Just lovely.  Lovely the place already.

 

We thought we would stop at some lovely little village for the night, but found ourselves in Vitoria-Gasteiz before we knew it.  We did our shopping at a huge Eroski shopping centre and were about to continue on to our little village, when we noticed as we returned to the van, than one of our tail lights (blinker and brake light) and gone missing!!!  Fortunately, the Eroski complex included a Feu Vert (auto parts store) where we managed to explain our situation to the one member of staff who UNDERSTOOD English, and he gave us the address to get it fixed.  We then had to wander into the middle of town to find the repair centre.  When we got there, imagine our amazement to discover that the place only operated from 4pm to 8pm three days per week!!  Luckily that was one of the three days and we sat and read our books in the van until the workmen turned up.  They were great - one of the guys had SOME English, and installed a replacement for us.  As we were fixing up the bill, we discovered that, like me, he had bad French, so we could have managed the communication a little better.  We have discovered since that French is a good alternate language to try as it is more similar to Spanish than English, and not many people have much English here.

 

After we got the light fixed, we told the GPS to take us towards Pamplona - where Kenny wants to see where they run with the bulls.  He is NOT going to, but he wants to see where it happens.  Anyway, we were on our way out of town - and it is about 7pm by this time, but still broad daylight - when we spotted about 20 motor homes in a car park on the main road.  We quickly went round the block and pulled into the car park which turned out to be an Aire de Stationmente for Autocaravanas.  Just like in France!!  And you could stay for 2 nights.  Way to go.  Kenny wandered around chatting to other travellers and found a Scotsman who had the book with all the Aires de Stationmentes for Autocaravanas for Spain AND Portugal.  He lent it to us and I entered several of them into the GPS as Favourites. Kenny just happened to mention that the Scotsman was on his way home, and I said “well, he won’t need his book anymore”.  So Kenny offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse (it was worth it to us) and came back with his book.  What a man!!  Other information that he picked up whilst visiting with the neighbours, was that Vitoria-Gasteiaz was worth a closer look, so we decided to stay an extra night  - especially seeing the parking was free and we could use the services in the Aire (in this instance, toilet dump, garbage drop and fresh water for our tanks).

 

We were glad we did.  Vitoria-Gasteiz is lovely.  It is the capital of the Basque area of Spain, and is a very appealing city.  It is laid out in grids, and all the population seems to live in the CBD area, mostly four or five storey apartment buildings whose ground floor is all shops.  Because the population is so concentrated, there is a great tram and bus service, which results in little traffic, but the roads are (mostly) broad treed avenues with separate bicycle lanes and trams running through central traffic islands - in some places through lawns.  The city was Europe’s greenest city in 2012 and it is easy to see why.  There are parks and gardens throughout and it is lovely to look at, and easy to live with.  We caught the modern tram into the city from just across from the Aire, and explored the old city with its winding lanes, narrow buildings, old churches and quaint shops, bars and restaurants. 

Heading for the Old City

Inside the Cathedral

Typical street in Old Town Vitoria Gasteiz

Part of the old city walls

Stairway and up-escalator in the old city which is full of narrow steep lanes

New Cathedral in Vitoria Gasteiz

 

We had a Menu De Dia (Menu Of The Day) at a tiny little one-man restaurant and had so much to eat we couldn’t eat dinner.  This particular deal was for €10.50 and you got a choice of salads for entree, a choice of five different main courses, dessert, bread and a glass of red wine, and a tea or coffee.  We accidently got a BOTTLE of wine, which we then had to drink of course, (fortunately we were travelling on the tram), and so straight after lunch we returned to the van where we settled down for a little nap.  Lovely day.

 

Wendy waiting for a tram in Vitoria Gasteiz

Today we left Vitoria-Gasteiz and have come to Pamplona, where we are settled into a camping park just out of town.  We have done the washing, sorted the photos, (updated the blog to be ready for wi-fi somewhere - it is too dear here), and tomorrow we will drive into the edge of town and go for a wander.  A couple of hours is enough for us to see what we want to see, and then we intend to move on to Logrono. 

 

Travelling through the foothills of the Pyrannees - looks cold?  It was!!

This is the furthest east we will be until we get down south, and Logrono is west of here.  We have almost decided to give Portugal a miss, but will reconsider that as we go along.  At the moment the plan is to visit cities towards the Portuguese border and hopefully interesting little villages in between.  As we have discovered already on this trip, talking to other travellers helps you to find out where the interesting places are.  We are looking forward to more surprises.

 

Since we got to Spain the weather has been a decided improvement on England.  We have had sunny days with a chilly little wind that is too lazy to go around us.  This is to be expected up here in the hills I guess.  We have had a couple of rainy nights, but are mostly managing to wander bout without our big jackets on.  It will hopefully get warmer when we come downhill and move further south.  Looking forward to that.

 

I think I have bored you all enough for now, so will sign off for a few more days.  Hope I am not boring you.

 

Keep well till next time.