Sea, Sand, and Sandwiches

 With the aroma of freshly laundered towels wafting around the van, we headed for our next destination by a beach just outside Santander. Isla Del Mar has sand, rocks, and a very wild sea. I would have liked a New Year’s Eve swim but wasn’t keen on the risk of being swept into the Atlantic by a giant wave. See below…

A trifle rough

Parts of the beach are ok while the tide is out and Hugo found it the perfect place to be snooty and not play with the other dogs. He contented himself with following Mr Fluffy around like the loyal companion he is.

‘Wait for me…’

I’ll show you my bottom if you so wish to sniff it…

Meanwhile, we spotted a chapel on a hill dedicated to the Virgin Del Mar. On our way up to visit, the wind certainly played havoc with my lustrous locks and the fluffy one’s hair took on a life of it’s own - even more so than usual. Contained within this simple white building is a gilded altar complete with virgin and baby Jesus (for Navidad purposes only)

Chapel of Virgin Del Mar

The lady herself

Feliz Navidad

This parking area comes complete with Taberna Bambara, an inexpensive (despite the view) cafe restaurant that serves the largest tortilla sandwiches I’ve come across. I managed to consume it in its entirety - with a little help from the boys. 

Happy New Year, everyone

Oh my, what a big one…

Heading West

 Two nights in Lekeitio were had before moving down past Bilbao to a site not far from Santander. We enjoyed seafood at Norai on the harbour and some more rustic fare at Egaña on our second day. It’s rather a joy when the wine (at Norai) is cheaper than the water - 1euro 90 cents for a very nice crianza vs 2euro 80 cents for a bottle of water and an entire bottle of (again) very nice crianza is included in the three course meal costing 15 euros per person (at Egaña).

I want this house

Loving the green

It was not only the cheap wine that impressed us. The over the top Christmas window displays were extremely eye catching (not). What was more impressive was the view of the harbour as the fishing boats came in with their daily catch. I have a video of the harbour which doesn’t want to upload on this programme so I’ll put it on Instagram

Creepy

This was the most festive window we saw

Today is a day of getting chores done after a chomp on some tapas in the El Puente village square. Washing, cleaning, and feathering the fridge - don’t ask - Mr Fluffy knows what he’s doing so he tells me. The sun is shining, we have electricity, and we’re surrounded by mountains.

Ignore the undies

Into Spain At Last

 The night before last was spent in the amusingly named village of Pissos. A fairly non eventful day apart from the yummiest pork and puréed carrots we’ve ever had and our British motorhome neighbours performing around an hour of Tai Chi to some lovely Chinese music in the village carpark. I didn’t think it was polite to get a photo.

We woke to fog and frost but as we neared Biarritz the sun came out for us and I could finally change out of my fleece-lined Rohan trousers, don a pair of jeans and pop on a lightweight sweater. (This is not before time as those trousers are covered in Hugo fur and in desperate need of a wash.) There is virtually no WiFi here so I will be posting this later but the proximity to the beach, around a 100 m walk, more than makes up for it.

Sunset in Biarritz

Searching for a bottom to sniff

 

How pleasant it was to sit al fresco by the beach chomping on giant gambas and slurping on a Corona. Mr Fluffy stuck to water. But the best part of our day was our sunset stroll along the sand to watch the sun go down. Hugo met a couple of dogs to keep up his bum sniffing practice.

A new friend

Could these gambas get any bigger??

Another morning stroll was followed by a 3 hour drive into Spain along some very hairy cliff top roads, past San Sebastián and down to Lekeitio. We spent some time here on our last trip and enjoyed it so much we decided to return. More seafood for lunch today - could get used to this.

Lekeitio beach

Mermaids, Oranges - Oh, and Christmas Lunch

 Yesterday’s theme turned out to be mermaids. We started the day with Graham finding a mermaid’s purse down on the beach and, despite moving inland, we ended up finding two mermaids on a pole - in an 11th century church at Plahecq. 

Mermaids …

And…

Their purse

We were spoiled last night with free electricity and water and this morning our neighbours, a Dutch couple who live in Portugal, gave us some free oranges from their garden. Hugo wasn’t so impressed with their dog, Jenny. They’d saved her from the rough streets of Portugal only to be growled and snapped at by our very grouchy, and very jealous, chorkie. Despite the grumpy advances of Hugo she had a lovely temperament and performed some very impressive tricks including spins, rolls and weaving through legs.

Hugo now being standoffish

Oranges R Us

We’ve now moved on to spend Christmas Day by The Lake of the Moon in Clérac, not far from Bordeaux. Our festive repast consisted of a prawn ring (my fave), stale (ish) bread and some paté, all washed down with a couple of cups of tea - we know how to live. Goose cassoulet for dinner though.

Not a bad spot

Lunch

Graham’s Bit 

(NB: I had to cut and paste and can’t make the text smaller - not loving Blogger)

Yesterday’s drive was interesting. 
We deliberately planned the route to avoid the impressive, but very high, suspension bridge at St Nazaire as Kerriann hates (is terrified of) crossing these structures.

Unfortunately our route did take in a lesser, but nonetheless equally frightening to Kerriann, flyover. 

She grabbed the side of her seat and her knuckles turned white. An atmosphere of terror filled the van. On this occasion I sang ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ to help lower the tension - it didn’t work.  Maybe I was off key?

It was at least half an hour before the atmosphere in the van returned to its usual calm state.

 

From Stone to Sea

 This morning we were greeted by a double rainbow above the stones. We had sunshine then a drizzle of fairy rain, just enough to cause a tiny frizz in my extra short hair. We took dozens more photos but I presume there are only so many pictures of stones people can take so I’ll refrain from adding any more - except for this gorgeous one below.

Such a lovely halo

Just managed to catch the rainbow before it disappeared

Having been slightly inland for a few days we felt the call of the sea and are currently parked just above a nudist beach near St Nazaire. Unfortunately it was a bit rough for a swim (nude or otherwise) but Hugo enjoyed a run on the sand and we met a pug called Willy with a very long tongue. 

I have a faux halo this time

Caught between a rock and a hard place

Posing

Solstice, Sun and Stones

 The sun shone for our arrival in Carnac today as befits the winter solstice. We thought it might be busy here as Stonehenge attracts a crowd but we are the only van parked by the stones. Perhaps early this morning the area was alive with druids and drumming and, as usual, we arrived too late to catch the action.

Carnac

After yet another crepe (three days in a row) for lunch we thought we’d have a stroll through the stones. The gates were locked and our effort to walk around the perimeter was thwarted by a diamanté clad french bulldog who attacked Hugo and wasn’t too keen on me either. I took Hugo, who was shaken but unharmed,  back to the van and Graham bravely continued alone.

Nasty beast

The glamorous dog tried to have a go at Graham but when she saw the camera she thought she’d have a quick pose so he managed to slip by without getting bitten. He took some good photos and a few orbs appeared - one in the shape of a broomstick - how apt.

Broomstick orb

My favourite stone

They’ve had a bit of rain - and those stones above are moving

Oh, and I met a donkey.

I missed writing a piece yesterday mainly because nothing very exciting happened. We were in Chateaubourg which was a nice enough town. The most exciting thing was the overpowering smell of apples coming from a several hundred metre trainload full to the brim with - you guessed it - apples.

Just a few apples

Off to Brittany

Last night was spent at Pont L'Eveque. The thought of stying somewhere that was also a cheese was just too tempting. It is a fairly attractive town that was severely bombed in August 1944 so a lot of the buildings have been rebuilt. We parked for free overnight in the main carpark and had a rather fabulous galette in Cafe Normandie. 

Strangely, the Tourist Office has a sign letting visitors know that they’re 331 km from Ottery St Mary in Devon. Well, we were wondering…and a corkscrew laden Christmas tree was a delight to behold. Santa has to have something to open his wine as he sits by the fireplace after delivering his gifts to all the children.

Phew! We were wondering …

Best decorations ever on the Pont L’Eveque wine shop
………………..

Aerial view of the castle in Fougéres 

We’ve now arrived in Fougéres in Brittany. There is a rather lovely medieval quarter and a castle which is not Hugo friendly so we gave that a miss. Once again, we’ve parked in the centre of town for free and we can stay here overnight. Speaking of Santa, we noticed him in the Tourist Office obviously getting directions to the local children’s chimneys.

Are you lost…?

With any luck we’ll arrive in Carnac for the solstice in a couple of days time.

The old laundry

A rather amusing angel

Great topiary

Festive stained glass

St Viviane sleeps

A less amusing but lovely angel in the church

Festive Food and a Flat Bird

Monday evening. As we strolled through the town of Le Crotoy, which is full of restaurants, all we saw were closed shutters and signs saying ‘FERME’. Our spirits dipped and we thought we’d end up going back to the van for cheese and a baguette until, joy of joys, at the very end of the high street we saw flashing lights and a very welcoming ‘OUVERT’ sign.

We’d eaten at Le Mascaret a few years ago and knew the food was fabulous - they happily let Hugo in and he didn’t even attack the waiter. Seafood beckoned. Scallops, prawns, and a couple of french desserts hit the spot. On the way back to the van we marvelled at the stylish (of course) French Christmas lights by the harbour.

It’s looking at me

We walked Hugo down to the bay this morning and were greeted by a very flat penguin. I stupidly thought it had been run over before I realised it was a cardboard cutout of an oyster catcher. I must work on my bird identification skills.

Flat out

Late but Lovely

 As always, we managed to arrive at our next destination just as the restaurants were closing after lunch. Note to self - get up earlier tomorrow.

On the waterfront - a tad chilly

Le Crotoy is a place we’ve come back to many times. We park by the bay and it’s a short walk into town to the many seafood restaurants that serve local seafood (when they’re open). We’re hoping to get a meal out tonight but it is Monday - in France - near Christmas. There’s a fallback cassoulet in a can if everything is closed.

A bit weathered

An elfin Graham

There is a decaying boat on the shoreline which we photograph each year to note its decline. Its condition has worsened a bit but it makes for an interesting photo. And I found the water-management architecture rather interesting.

Attractive sluice gate control