People watching in Bermeo

May 19, 2023May 18, 2023 | Mairead

We had a great couple of night sleep beside a graveyard overlooking the sea. Bermeo is surrounded by steep hills and blue sea and we had to drive over the hills and down to the sea to get to it but it was well worth it. This beautiful town is full of character with tall colourful, narrow buildings, very narrow streets and a marina filled with boats.

The motorhome parking is located at possibly the highest point around, in front of the graveyard and beside the football pitch. The graveyard has a better view of the sea but as it protects the parking from the wind we couldn’t complain. We also couldn’t complain about exercise, the steep terrain did our hearts a power of good.

Yesterday morning I was able to indulge myself in my favourite thing to do when we are away – morning coffee and people watching. We walked to the centre of town via the old stone gate and on down the narrow streets, and out into the open areas near the water.

You can’t get lost because every cobblestoned road leads to the water. The open area consists of a park with cafes and restaurants on one side, a playground on the other and beyond that the port. We sat outside one of the cafes under an awning in the shade for almost an hour. Denis was reading but I was looking at the people.

There was a granny with her grandson, a lady throwing a ball for her sweet collie dog, workers putting up market stalls and a couple of police officers patrolling. A group of older woman sat down near us and practically every person who passed waved at them – locals.

It’s not easy to see in this picture but imagine… cars arrive via narrow streets to the top of those steps and then have to turn right between the yellow and orange building on the left… but what if they don’t turn? There’s nothing stopping them from going down the steps…

There was another lady who got herself a coffee and then a newspaper and sat with her back to the first group – a past falling out, do you think? I hoped she wasn’t lonely, she did look a bit grumpy but soon another woman appeared. The new woman was smiling from ear to ear when she saw the paper reading woman. Then they walked off together chatting and smiling – no drama here. All good in Bermeo.

Motorway Salad

May 18, 2023May 17, 2023 | Mairead

Less than twenty minutes away from the medieval town of Santillana Del Mar we found our home for the night. It was another old town, not quite as big but just as full of stone houses, walls and roads.

The town of Cartes provides parking for motorhomes beside the park where geese and ducks ramble freely. There’s also a (17km) greenway for walking and cycling that leads to the coast and a playground with zip wire and table tennis table. All for free and quiet at night.

We arrived just time to have a ramble around the old part of town before dinner. Dinner was salad. At one of the motorway services we had a surprisingly tasty salad. I’m not a great salad eater or maker but I did think I could replicate this one.

The ingredients had been sitting in the fridge for a day or two… but were still within date so I offered to assemble my version of Motorway Salad. In case you would also like to replicate a motorway salad, here are the ingredients… bag of salad leaves, mozzarella cheese (the one in the bag of water not grated), ripe avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, tapenade, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

And the method… wash and dry the salad leaves, take the mozzarella cheese out of the bag, drain and lay on a bed of leaves, slice the avocado, dot it and the sun-dried tomatoes around on the leaves, drop dots of tapenade likewise. Sprinkle the olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper over everything. Done and Yum. It also looks great… forgot to take pictures, sorry.

Isn’t this adorable? As well as real geese and ducks they have ornamental chickens

Santillana Del Mar

May 17, 2023May 16, 2023 | Mairead

On Sunday searching for a campsite (or even a place to park for the night) we drove to one of the highlighted towns on our tour. It was billed as one of the most beautiful villages in Spain.

Weathered stone wall, probably 800 years old!

Santillana Del Mar is very beautiful. It is situated between Gijón and Bilbao and not on the sea so I don’t know why Mar (the sea) is in its name. I will be adding it to the map… below.

The entire village looks like it’s from a medieval film set. Every building, every wall is made of stone and of course the roads are cobblestoned. Our guide says the entire town is a museum but people live here too.

I love this drinking fountain, making it look like the water tap is fed from the stone urn above

And you can stay in the houses, we saw people arriving with their luggage. There are also a few very attractive (from the outside and barred to non-residents) 5 star hotels.

We were tired from the driving and searching so we took it easy, bought ice cream and walked around soaking up the atmosphere of an outdoor museum.

Wandering around did make me wonder how this place was able to stay untouched over the centuries. It could be the saint buried in the church…Santa Juliana is said to have imprisoned the devil.

Zelda and the Viaductos

May 16, 2023May 15, 2023 | Mairead

Even the manholes have shells in Santiago de Compostela

When we woke up in Santiago de Compostela it was Friday and there was something very exciting happening for Denis… the latest version of the computer game Zelda was out. This may not mean a lot to you (or me) but to Denis this is gold. On top of that there was a shop called Game within walking distance of our car park home. So off we set at opening time to see if there would be a Zelda left for Denis.

Coming attraction, Viaducto… as seen from the town of Mondoñedo

I sat in the cafe reading an article about how to get more followers on Instagram (synopsis – stop trying!)) while he queued. Oh yes I forgot to mention, you have to queue to buy Zelda. While waiting he sent exciting updates by text.

Text 1. He met a woman who was queuing to collect for her son who had reserved the game. Tense moment as Denis realised he hadn’t reserved a game…
Text 2. The woman had been given specific two hour window in which she could collect her game or loose it. More hopeful moment, maybe someone hadn’t picked up their game and he could buy it?
Text 3. He was next…
Text 4. A picture of Zelda in his hand. Phew.

And then we were on the road again. This time to the north coast of Spain and a town called Ribadeo. We were ready to spend a couple of days in a nice campsite. Unfortunately, when we got to Ribadeo, the campsite was closed.

Can you see Ruby reflected in the tank of chocolate?

You drive to these campsites without checking and expect them to be wide-open and we’re surprised when they’re not. Stuff happens, businesses close or someone gets sick or tired of working with the public. Who knows what happens.

The campsite in Perlora which was open. Can you spot Ruby?

Fortunately we happen to know a great supermarket car park in Ribadeo where we’re allowed to park overnight. It’s not very visually beautiful but very handy for buying groceries, coffee and drinking glass (going around a particularly challenging roundabout broke a glass) and we did all those things and next morning we were heading along the north coast to a different (and hopefully open) campsite in the town of Perlora.

It was open! In fact it had been open since 1968. It’s a gorgeous place. On the way we were not expecting gorgeous because we went through a very industrial area called Aviles on route but we arrived at the coast on this little peninsula of a campsite. There were showers and a little café next door. We were still on cereal rations so we didn’t need a restaurant.

Next day we were heading for the Pecos (steep and rocky mountainous range south east of Gijón) but again another campsite was closed so we ended up traveling on. That’s why I have a lot of road pictures.

We see a lot of these things we call viaductos… They are the scariest thing (to me) – a long bridge on the motorway over a deep valley. They are often higher than the tallest trees with only a little blue railing to keep me safe.

Poio Pictures

May 15, 2023May 14, 2023 | Mairead

With all the food pictures yesterday I didn’t have space to share the peaceful park up about 20 minutes drive outside Pontevedra, called Poio. So here’s some calm for a May Monday morning…

While Denis worked I sat listening to the water and the birds and taking one picture after another. Plenty of Camino pilgrims passed and as I was wearing a small rucksack I looked like I belonged there too. Many wished me a Buenos días (good morning) or said Ola (hello) as they walked on.

It wasn’t until the afternoon I noticed all the stone blocks in the park had writing on them. I went around trying to read the inscriptions.

“I only ask one thing of you if one day my people should need me that you will help me do my duty” Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese politician/diplomat/author)

My favourite view is of the red tiled houses. I’m going to have a go at painting a version of it. From a distance it looks like the houses are all higgle-piggly but of course they’re not.

They’re organised in streets that we can’t see from this distance. People walk up and down those streets every day going to and from their homes.

Very, very grateful to this community for setting aside beautiful spaces like this for our use.

I Love Tapas!

May 14, 2023May 13, 2023 | Mairead

And then we were back in Vila Nova de Cerveira (you’ll be needing my map for this one…) for the night. Travelling the way we do means we often have ~~problems~~ challenges to work out. Our attitude when one of these challenges arises is key to getting through it without ~~killing each other~~ life changing consequences. So whenever we solve something like the lack of strong data we celebrate with a high five or an extra coffee or even a meal out.

My Aubergine gratin and behind it Denis’ mushrooms in lemon with a little cheese grated on top

We found (thank you google maps) a great tapas restaurant called Curt’isso in Vila Nova de Cerveira. Tapas is a Spanish thing and it means a small snack but they are so much more. They are usually small but small is a relative measure so you can end up very easily ordering too much. I suppose it’s like getting lots of starters instead of one big meal. They can be cold or hot, simple or exotic. I love it. It’s difficult but I always try to start with one and order a second if I’m still hungry. Denis does something else…

Denis’ fried potatoes with two different dips, one tomato the other possibly red pepper

Anyway we decided to celebrate and go to Curt’isso and we were not disappointed. Every dish was different and my mouth is watering just thinking about them now. Denis was a little disappointed because he couldn’t finish… he ordered 4, hmmm.

My sardine on pesto bruschetta. Look at me eating fish!

Next day we head for Spain and the city of Pontevedra (see map below) and would you believe we have a problem again with data. So off we go along the inlet to what turns out to be a beautiful place called Poio. The data there was great and at the end of the day we returned to the city.

Unfortunately, there was a new problem when we arrived back – no space at the motorhome parking. Made worse by the fact that we had received a recommendation for a tapas place from a local and we had been imagining all day rushing off to dinner the moment we arrived back. But no… we had to drive on. And on. Two hours later we arrived at a car park in the Camino city of Santiago de Compostela! (Hello Helena!)

This is the only picture we took in Santiago de Compostela at Cafe Bar 13. Denis had scallops and I had a potato, chorizo and fried egg dish

Fortunately for us the Spanish eat late. We were sitting down to our celebratory tapas dinner at 10pm. The following night we had breakfast cereal for dinner. Living the dream.

My map is suffering from lack of advance planning. I may have to move to Map Edition 2. Also, I seem to have hugely underestimated the size of north west Spain. Plus, there’s a very attractive and large inlet missing at Vila Nova de Cerveira and another at Pontevedra… map making is not without its own challenges

No Data No Cry

May 13, 2023May 13, 2023 | Mairead

We arrived at the border town of Vila Nova de Cerveira and we thought this would be our last full day in Portugal. We were already missing the people and their natas and then we had to go to Spain for the day. Bear with me while I try to sound like I know what I’m talking about, there are technical reasons.

See that tower on the hill? That makes working on the journey possible

Ok so 4G and 5G data for mobile phones can do something interesting that the 2G and 3G can’t do and it’s especially useful at borders. They can decide in which direction or how strong they want to send their signal. So today we are in Portugal and we are accidentally getting Spanish data service. Unfortunately it’s just not very strong Spanish data.

That might be because they don’t want to be sending strong data across the border and away from their customers… But for some reason this data from Spain has meant the Portuguese data is gone. So… we have to move to Spain for Denis to work and take video calls.

We found a place about twenty minutes over the bridge and around the headland facing the Atlantic. We weren’t expecting much except better data which we got… but we also got amazing views! Plus, we’re parked beside a Camino path so we see pilgrims passing by. They have another 160km to walk to their destination of Santiago de Compostela.

We feel very lucky. We’ll be back in Vila Nova de Cerveira tonight and we’ll get our last Portuguese coffee in the morning but for now we are breathing in this amazing Atlantic air.

Esposende, you make me feel good

May 12, 2023May 11, 2023 | Mairead

After Vila Chã we drove up the coast of Portugal. We were on our way to the last Portuguese town on our journey. Soon we would be crossing the border into Spain. But first, we visited a different town on the coast called, Esposende. We were stopping for a break and a coffee, I was not expecting to feel anything for this town and I definitely didn’t expect to be writing about it but here we are.

We followed the app’s directions to a parking spot and then got out to walk back to the centre of the town. Where Vila Chã was narrow streets, Esposende is wide open. Yes we saw narrow streets near the church but beside the water it was wide open. I don’t know if that was what made this place feel so good but I wanted to spend time taking pictures and walking along the water here. So I did.

I’ve been thinking about Future Me lately, that’s me in 10 or 20 years time. Specifically thinking about what she’d want me to be doing now so that she is healthy and content, way out there in the future. Walking along the water seems like one thing she’d want. Taking time to smell the seaweed might be another. Cutting down on the Portuguese nata’s is probably another…

Not easy to get the long named towns into the frame…

Changing habits is not easy, especially the habits of a lifetime but spending a little time in this town made me realise that the less tangible things that make me feel good (like walking, smelling seaweed/flowers/fresh air, meditating, taking photos, writing) are actually magic things that can help me let go of things I think make me feel better. Things like pastries! Things like worry or guilt. (I do seem to think if I worry I can solve the problem I’m worrying about! I do, also, seem to think guilt is good for me and will make me stop procrastinating!)

Future me will one day look back at this post and I want her to be smiling to herself for the habit changes I made for her today.

Fishing in Vila Chã

May 11, 2023May 10, 2023 | Mairead

View of the sea from front gate of campsite

After Porto, we needed some rest and relaxation and spent two nights in a small campsite in the town of Vila Chã. It’s right by the sea, well near enough to see the sea in the distance from the gate.

It’s a beautiful place, very simple, there’s no big supermarkets (although there is an outlet shopping centre 3km away) there’s no big shops, there’s very small cobbled streets and lots of tiny cafe/bar/restaurants. There’s also a boardwalk that runs along beside the sea.

We’ve been here before, I think it was 2019, when Denis’ laptop failed and we stayed here while we were waiting for it to be repaired. We waited a week, a long glorious week of me walking the boardwalks taking pictures and not much else. I saw the small fishing boats come in every morning. There’s a long tradition of fishing here and as we heard from Clara in Porto the Portuguese love eating fish so they have no trouble selling their catch.

This is a perfect place to come after the busy city and we needed to do the washing. Not exactly glamorous but I love to be able to hang the clothes on the line after washing and because of the warm weather they will actually dry. And it didn’t take very long until a washing machine full of clothes was dry. It’s funny how something like a load of washing can play on your mind because you have to plan to be at a washing machine (did I mention, there’s none in the motorhome?) so it’s a little bit more tricky.

Instructions in Portuguese, French and English

There’s the tokens you need to buy and the instructions you need to read (different every time) and there’s the queuing if all the machines are full. Then you need to be in a campsite if you want to hang out your clothes and some campsites don’t have washing lines. We did recently pass a petrol station where there were washing machines outside and beside the washing machines were clothes lines! Yes! And a woman hanging up her sheets! I have never seen that before. Also maybe it could only happen in Portugal? Is it only me who thinks someone would steal your sheets? Maybe I think about theft too much…

On my way back from hanging out the washing I passed a barbecue set up outside someone’s tent, and there were three fish propped up on a small barbecue, cooking. I did not have the courage to stop and take a picture of the three fish. They smelled absolutely gorgeous and I don’t usually like fish but if someone had offered me just a little bit of that fish as I passed I would’ve taken the hand off them (in other words, I’d have said, Yes, please!)

Here’s the only picture I took of the fish on the barbecue. Can you make it out? In the distance?Probably not…

Which is kind of strange so maybe I should just buy some fish and cook it on the barbecue. Or I should just learn how to cook fish on the barbecue. I think it’s the whole fish on Friday thing?

When I was a child we had to eat fish every Friday we couldn’t eat meat, well sometimes we would have a fried egg instead but it was mainly fish. Does anybody remember that? I think that put me off fish, except for anchovies, I love anchovies on pizza. I’m hungry now… possibly even hungry enough to eat some fish.