October 2018 – Selina and Toby – Grey Gap Tour
Posted on 20th October 2018 24th October 2018
From Leon we set out roughly eastbound towards Santiago De Compostela. We knew that we would not make it in one day, but we had some camper stops programmed in. The first 40 km from Leon were wonderful – the road followed the pilgrims route (or the other way around) so we saw many backpackers as we drove steadily down the highway – many with the scallop shell associated with pilgrims of St James (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago).
After 40km, our route diverged and we were on the main route west. Our programmed camper stop ‘on the outskirts of the a national park’ ended up being an industrial estate and for the first time ever we said, ‘Nope’ and we selected another stop this time in Lugo and drove the extra 40km.
Another four letter place name.
This was a great little stop in a great looking town. It was tricky to find and very tricky to get back out again – Sally sat nav got confused and there were some very steep hills to negotiate. But the Camper stop is a large tarmac area halfway up a hill and on the edge of a lovely park. A freebee and with water and sewage drop off.
T found an abandoned unfinished building and set up for a drone shot the next morning. We walked the town and explored the city walls – pretty impressive that they are almost complete!
The following day and a quick flight with the Mavic, then pack up and ship out. Sally satnav got very confused and we almost drove over a pedestrian bridge trying to get out of town. Some tight manoeuvring and a lap of the city walls later, we were on the right road.
Our dashcam footage might be a little toe curling at times, wonder if we can export it – we’ll check!
We parked at the roadside in Leon for an hour waiting for a way into a parking space. And then an evening checking out the cathedral and the nunnery and then back to the van for grub.
T has done without whisky for a couple of months now and felt he deserved one, so out came the 10 year old Laphroaig.
Next day we started we started off with a tour of the local museums. By about mid-day, there was a gap in the car park that meant that we could actually get out – kid you not, the camper stop is a shared car park and the cars are so close that you can’t get the camper out of a space if the space beside is occupied and if there is a car in front. You have to wait for a maneuvering space to be able to leave!
Another first for us was the milk vending machine in the shopping centre over the road from the camping stop – fresh milk by the litre – just pop your bottle in the slot and put some euros in!
After lunch we set out towards Santiago with another stop planned on the way.
Santilla del Mar and Gijon
They say Santillana del Mar is the town of three lies: it’s not holy (Santi), it’s not flat (llana) or anywhere near the sea (del mar). Strict planning rules date back to the 16th century and cars are banned. Or so we thought from our research! The village is wonderful and as we are way out of season it was not inundated with the many coachloads that it sees in the high season. But there were plenty of cars – it turns out that residents are allowed to drive the cobbled streets. So the photos look amazing, but there are still cars bouncing around.
The town is almost completely taken over by tourism – there are many shops all selling local produce – but they are all selling the same local produce – citron tarts, almond biscuits and local cheese. All products are great, but not sure that every shop needs to sell them!
We expected to spend half a day here and stop overnight – there is a free area put aside for campervans, but as we only spent a couple of hours wandering around we pushed on a little further and headed for Gijon.
The Gijon camperstop was picked at short notice by putting a pin on the map halfway between Santilla del Mar and Leon. Sometimes there is not much planning involved – sorry!
Anyway the camperstop overlooked a formal park and was just emptying out when we arrived – it was full of TV and movie company vans – they had been filming something in the sandy surfing bay just along the coast. We never did workout what! The park and coastal walk has a series of art installations, so the evening constitutional was a clifftop walk interspersed with pondering sea views and sculptures.
Next morning it was off reasonably early bound for Leon.
At least the vehicle was a landy!
Posted on 17th October 2018 24th October 2018
The municipal campervan site is at the top of a very steep hill with stunning views of Bilbao. We cycled down onto the city dreading what the ride back up would be like.
We spent the day cycling around the city but mainly visiting Bilbao Guggenheim, reminding ourselves of the question “Just what is art anyway?”
The ride back up the hill was fine in the end – a little punishing but we did it!
We only stayed overnight in Bilbao – it would have been great to stay longer, but we need to be in a specific place on a particular date in November so we need to crack on.
The big cities have never really appealed as camper destinations anyway – it’s normally necessary to park way out of town and commute, which is not what this trip is about. We said that we would come back here by ferry one day and do it and the surrounding area properly!
As it is, given the size of the town we did well to find a place within 3km of the city c
It’s amazing what people can get on their motorhomes – in case it’s not clear, this beast is carrying a boat.
Amazing architecture of Bilbao
Bakio & Gaztelugatxe
Bakio has a free camperstop that includes water and W/C. The camperstop is in a great location overlooking the town. Pretty quiet except for some surfer dudes here to enjoy the good waves in the bay. But the reason for our trip here is to visit the isolated hilltop monastery at Gaztelugatxe.
We started with a 2 km cycle ride to the car park and stayed off the main road – instead taking a tarmac road now closed to cars. We now know why. The gradient passed 20% in some places and we arrived at the *starting* point for the adventure as sweating, gibbering wrecks.
The adventure comprised walking down a 15% slope for about 2 km, then across a stone walkway a few meters above the sea, and then climbing about 300 steps onto an isolated island where a very small monastery has been built.
Suffice to say that everyone slept soundly that night. We got up so late the next day there was not even time to explore the town before setting off for Bilbao. But we did note that the north coast of spain is wonderful – we have toyed a few times with the Bilbao ferry and never got around to it.
October 2018 – Selina and Toby – Grey Gap Tour
Posted on 20th October 2018 24th October 2018
From Leon we set out roughly eastbound towards Santiago De Compostela. We knew that we would not make it in one day, but we had some camper stops programmed in. The first 40 km from Leon were wonderful – the road followed the pilgrims route (or the other way around) so we saw many backpackers as we drove steadily down the highway – many with the scallop shell associated with pilgrims of St James (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago).
After 40km, our route diverged and we were on the main route west. Our programmed camper stop ‘on the outskirts of the a national park’ ended up being an industrial estate and for the first time ever we said, ‘Nope’ and we selected another stop this time in Lugo and drove the extra 40km.
Another four letter place name.
This was a great little stop in a great looking town. It was tricky to find and very tricky to get back out again – Sally sat nav got confused and there were some very steep hills to negotiate. But the Camper stop is a large tarmac area halfway up a hill and on the edge of a lovely park. A freebee and with water and sewage drop off.
T found an abandoned unfinished building and set up for a drone shot the next morning. We walked the town and explored the city walls – pretty impressive that they are almost complete!
The following day and a quick flight with the Mavic, then pack up and ship out. Sally satnav got very confused and we almost drove over a pedestrian bridge trying to get out of town. Some tight manoeuvring and a lap of the city walls later, we were on the right road.
Our dashcam footage might be a little toe curling at times, wonder if we can export it – we’ll check!
We parked at the roadside in Leon for an hour waiting for a way into a parking space. And then an evening checking out the cathedral and the nunnery and then back to the van for grub.
T has done without whisky for a couple of months now and felt he deserved one, so out came the 10 year old Laphroaig.
Next day we started we started off with a tour of the local museums. By about mid-day, there was a gap in the car park that meant that we could actually get out – kid you not, the camper stop is a shared car park and the cars are so close that you can’t get the camper out of a space if the space beside is occupied and if there is a car in front. You have to wait for a maneuvering space to be able to leave!
Another first for us was the milk vending machine in the shopping centre over the road from the camping stop – fresh milk by the litre – just pop your bottle in the slot and put some euros in!
After lunch we set out towards Santiago with another stop planned on the way.
Santilla del Mar and Gijon
They say Santillana del Mar is the town of three lies: it’s not holy (Santi), it’s not flat (llana) or anywhere near the sea (del mar). Strict planning rules date back to the 16th century and cars are banned. Or so we thought from our research! The village is wonderful and as we are way out of season it was not inundated with the many coachloads that it sees in the high season. But there were plenty of cars – it turns out that residents are allowed to drive the cobbled streets. So the photos look amazing, but there are still cars bouncing around.
The town is almost completely ta
ken over by tourism – there are many shops all selling local produce – but they are all selling the same local produce – citron tarts, almond biscuits and local cheese. All products are great, but not sure that every shop needs to sell them!
We expected to spend half a day here and stop overnight – there is a free area put aside for campervans, but as we only spent a couple of hours wandering around we pushed on a little further and headed for Gijon.
The Gijon camperstop was picked at short notice by putting a pin on the map halfway between Santilla del Mar and Leon. Sometimes there is not much planning involved – sorry!
Anyway the camperstop overlooked a formal park and was just emptying out when we arrived – it was full of TV and movie company vans – they had been filming something in the sandy surfing bay just along the coast. We never did workout what! The park and coastal walk has a series of art installations, so the evening constitutional was a clifftop walk interspersed with pondering sea views and sculptures.
Next morning it was off reasonably early bound for Leon.
At least the vehicle was a landy!
Posted on 17th October 2018 24th October 2018
The municipal campervan site is at the top of a very steep hill with stunning views of Bilbao. We cycled down onto the city dreading what the ride back up would be like.
We spent the day cycling around the city but mainly visiting Bilbao Guggenheim, reminding ourselves of the question “Just what is art anyway?”
The ride back up the hill was fine in the end – a little punishing but we did it!
We only stayed overnight in Bilbao – it would have been great to stay longer, but we need to be in a specific place on a particular date in November so we need to crack on.
The big cities have never really appealed as camper destinations anyway – it’s normally necessary to park way out of town and commute, which is not what this trip is about. We said that we would come back here by ferry one day and do it and the surrounding area properly!
As it is, given the size of the town we did well to find a place within 3km of the city c
It’s amazing what people can get on their motorhomes – in case it’s not clear, this beast is carrying a boat.
Amazing architecture of Bilbao
Bakio & Gaztelugatxe
Bakio has a free camperstop that includes water and W/C. The camperstop is in a great location overlooking the town. Pretty quiet except for some surfer dudes here to enjoy the good waves in the bay. But the reason for our trip here is to visit the isolated hilltop monastery at Gaztelugatxe.
We started with a 2 km cycle ride to the car park and stayed off the main road – instead taking a tarmac road now closed to cars. We now know why. The gradient passed 20% in some places and we arrived at the *starting* point for the adventure as sweating, gibbering wrecks.
The adventure comprised walking down a 15% slope for about 2 km, then across a stone walkway a few meters above the sea, and then climbing about 300 steps onto an isolated island where a very small monastery has been built.
Suffice to say that everyone slept soundly that night. We got up so late the next day there was not even time to explore the town before setting off for Bilbao. But we did note that the north coast of spain is wonderful – we have toyed a few times with the Bilbao ferry and never got around to it.