Disco Fever?

 The colours of our last two days have been green, blue, and white. Green for the endless eucalypt forests that line the roads, blue for the ‘azul’ skies and the sea, and white for the mist over the water that we woke up to at last night’s location, Obrigueira. It is a town that hosts a world/folk music festival each year and sports a very attractive statue of a Galician piper in the town square carpark.

So far

Piper by sea

Obrigueira seemed like such a quiet, civilised town. Mountains reflected in the sea, lone seabirds wading along the waterfront, children clutching their lollipop gifts from the three kings on this their epiphany festival. However - at midnight last night I was wishing I had gone to bed in a lime Green Lycra body-hugging disco frock as my horizontal dance steps to the booming music that went on until 230am may have felt more authentic. If only we had had some soothing folk music instead of Elton John’s latest dance mix (which I now have as an ear worm, by the way) and other full on dance anthems.

A peaceful scene

This morning we couldn’t work out if it was a fiesta from the town centre or just a chap in a car with an extremely healthy sound system but we made it through the night and woke to a deceptively peaceful scene as though nothing had gone on. Maybe we’d been dreaming.

Morning view

All by myself

By the way, we did discover the world’s most - different -  Spar shop as we walked around town.

Unlike any other Spar shop I’ve seen

As we drove out of the town the mist cleared and we had bright blue skies all the way to Betanzos where we are currently parked. We had great hopes for a Sunday lunch of tapas and perhaps Mr Fluffy’s favourite, pulpo, but it was not to be. To use a cliche, ‘cafes, cafes everywhere and not a bite to eat’. The Epiphany holiday weekend strikes again. There were dozens of cafes in the square but,’Lo Siento’, they weren’t serving food today. Of course, after going back to the van for some cheese and biscuits, we returned to the town centre for a glass of wine in the sun to find many cafes in the back streets serving raciones and tapas. Sigh. We did find many Camino signs so Graham was happy as it’s 20 years this year since he walked the Camino de Santiago and we’ll be heading to Muxia tomorrow, the place where he actually finished the pilgrimage walk.

 

Parked by the river

Love laundry on a balcony

On the Camino Inglese

It seems unlikely that we’ll go hungry, however. Due to my poor translation skills we managed to order several thousand churros instead of the two we required and we’ve (by ‘we’ I mean Graham) have been working our way through them ever since.

Yes, I did have one too

A plethora of churros

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