Northern Spain

Time for a campsite, charge batteries, a bit of clothes washing and a spread out before the final push through France to the ferry terminal and home. This will be out third stay in Erromardie and our second time at this campsite, the first site being closed this time of year. It is a very convenient stop going to and from northern Spain. The site take the ACSI card and so makes it good value at this time of year. The pitches are a good size although not level requiring ramps for the "princeses" amongs up, needless to say we dont have any, and never need them. There is a cycle path into Saint Jean de Luz,  a very pleasant seaside resort town that at this time of the year is very quiet, but still plenty of shops and bars open and a beautiful sheltered beach. Day one was arrival day, sorting ot washing etc. Day two we cycle into SJ de L and continued round the bay to Ciboure and on to Socoa where the is an old fort and good views of the sea and back towards S J de L. Allong ...

Once again just an overnight stopover to break the journey. The aire was a bit disappointing, just a large car park on an industrial estate, with a few old caravans dotted around. We assume the locals use the area for storage. No facilities, we didn't need any anyway.  There is a good cyclepath into town along the river and around the harbour, so that gave us some exercise for the day.  Pleasant town and port with a large ship called the Norwegian Gannett. It looked like a fishing vessel of some sort, and the name would suggest the same but what was it doing in a dock in Zumaia? I had to Google it. It turns out it is a fishing vessel but it is designed for  the salmon farms of the Norwegian Fjords, and it was built in the shipyard here. First launched in May 2018. She is still being fitted out.

We tried to stop here on our way heading West, but the parking was full, we had better luck this time and parked on the sea front. It was a little busy during the day but once it was dark, everything was very peaceful. We took a walk around the old town with it castle and church with a very good view of the town and harbour from the top. Excellent stopover.

Just an overnight stop with the basic facilities. Showers in the van and an early night. Nice quite aire in a residential area near a sports complex.

We had and extremely pleasant day with an old work friend, catching up on 26 years of life, a lot has happened but little has changed, maybe the hair is a little greyer and the knees creak more, but it we if that time was only a few weeks. He has made Taramundi his home and made his home in Taramundi,  literally, he has rebuilt a house from what  was a derelict shell, and what a wonderful job he has made of it, but that was always his style.  Just by chance there was a fiesta in Pontenova with a firework display at the old iron kilns, so at 1130 pm we headed back there for a spectacular show including a portable stage with entertainment. A wonderful end to the day. Back to the van for an overnight in his driveway. Thank you N and R.

At Foz we also had WiFi, so we did a little more planning and found a Via Verde nearby at Pontenova. Via Verde are literally green ways, in most cases, old railway track open to walkers and cyclist. The motorhome aire and service point was at near the start of the VV so very convenient. We cycled the length of the VV a total of 11 km, 22 km return, almost level with 4 tunnels and a viaduct, very interesting. Three of the tunnels had automatic lighting that turned on as we entered. The 4th tunnel was short and didn't need it. We decided not to stop at the aire for the night and moved on to Taramundi for the night. An old work college lives near Taramundi so it is our intention to visit him in the morning.

Camper Parks are half way between a Aire de service, Area de Autocaravanas in Spain, and a campsite. There are the usual basic services plus electric hookup toilets and in this case washing up area, showers and, the main reason for stopping here, washing machines. We were running short of clean clothes so we booked in for 2 nights for washing and get the batteries fully charged. We were camped next to a couple from Manchester, so it was also a good chance to practice our English. The weather also took a turn for the worse with very strong gusts especially overnight, next door lost their table, we were more fortunate. We intended to cycle to Foz, but the wind was still a problem so we walked it. Foz is a seaside holiday town with one of the large beach of golden sands, but as is to be expected, very quite at this time of year. Found an ATM for some money and back along the beautiful footpath back to the van, most enjoyable.