Wet, Wet, Wet

 Today we’ve run the gamut of the weather from wet to wetter. I can almost hear my British friends playing their tiny violins as, I believe, the UK has been in a pretty bad state of flooding since we’ve been away. We’ve been lucky so far. The colour of our drive to our current location at San Cibrao in Galicia was grey with just a hint of more grey. There was rain, hail, then more rain.

Our location is lovely - by yet another beach.

Beach view from the window on arrival

We’ve decided the theme for our trip is the coastal route of the Camino de Santiago which we seem to have been following for some time. We haven’t seen many pilgrims so far but that may just be the time of year. It would be a stunning walk and Mr Fluffy is being sorely tempted. He’s just returned from getting drenched on a walk up to the light house which, hopefully, might put him off.

Mr Soggy returns

I wisely stayed in the van.

 But he did get some good shots.

All alone

Not sure what this is a ruin of…

Lighthouse reached and a hint of blue sky

Hoping for more blue skies tomorrow as we work our way along the Galician coast.

Lake to Sea

 Yesterday - a day of lake, ribs, and barking dogs. Overo has a perfectly functional Aire near a lake that’s surrounded by eucalypts. I was reminded of Australia with every nasal inspiration (aka sniff). The lake was large and sported the occasional canoeist but was strangely un photogenic - hence my lack of photos. And, by the way, if you like going to sleep to the constant sound of large dogs barking, then Overo is the place for you.

Aromatic eucalypts and outrageous ribs

What was photogenic was the size of the ribs Graham ordered for his lunch. I’ve never seen anything so huge. Today’s lunch of pimientos del padron , in the much more attractive town of Cudillero, was more to my taste. We’re parked in the harbour of this fishing village surrounded by boats and lobster pots. The houses are built high up into the hills that surrounds the town - the tourist info states that the houses hang from the clouds - very poetic. 

Close to the edge

I love a padron pepper

Our view with the village in the background

Sunny to Soggy

 As I sit here in my undies surrounded by the smell of wet dog and despair, I think back to better times of blue skies, sunshine and warmth - well, it was yesterday actually and I know, I’m being dramatic. My jeans are making an indigo pattern on the bathroom floor as the rain drips from the hem. Graham is worried the down on his expensive walking jacket will never be the same again.

This morning, after a quiet night by the beach, we arrived in the Aire at RibadeSella which can only be described as a glorified quarry complete with a 45 minute walk into town to get food. (The info said it was 15 minutes to walk so i don't know what they were on when they gave those instructions.) The walk, while excessively long, was attractive with yet another gorgeous beach and lovely houses to check out along the way.

Hugo enjoys the walk

Most restaurants were closed but we found one open by the harbour. When I ordered the ‘wok with gambas’ I expected something with a noodle involved. The noodle element in this case turned out to be baby eels with three prawns and a couple of fried eggs. Mr Fluffy was happier with his pulpo gallego (octopus) and ended up eating my left overs. Of course, after lunch, as we strolled around town, everything had just closed so we had to entertain ourselves with window shopping only.

Eel noodles

All was well weather wise on our walk in so we decided to have a wine on the beach front as we walked back, as one does. This is where it all went a tad wrong. As we sat sipping our vinos tintos the skies opened so we had to neck the wine and we got totalmente drenched on the remaining 30minute walk back to Dickie.

Just before the deluge 

Loving these railings 

And so now I sit, wearing only my jumper and socks (and undies, of course) waiting for the clothes to dry and tapping away at this blog as the rain pours on the roof. It does feel good to be safe in the van even if it is in a disused quarry. I would take a photo of the but it’s now raining too much to go out.

New Year, New Beach

 If we were in any doubt that midnight had arrived to herald in the start of 2024 we were soon assured of the fact by the constant (say, about an hour) sounding of a fog horn/truck horn and the endless fireworks seemingly surrounding our vehicle. Hugo was not impressed and even though we tried to ignore the fracas we could feel him trembling uncontrollably in the well of the cab. 

Luckily, we all survived the night unscathed and enjoyed another stroll on the beach. Hugo is happiest when he can pad along in the soft sand and sniff the odd bottom.

Trying out panorama mode on the camera

Not having enough of the surf and sand we took the long journey (about 11km) to yet another gorgeous beach, Playa de Canallave. This one has more rocks, more dogs, and more swimmers than the previous one but is equally as stunning. Not a bad way to start the New Year.

Hiding

Honeycomb rocks

A face in the clouds

We’ll try to get a bit further on tomorrow.

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