Leaving Jaca we climbed up into the mountains peaking at 1250 meters with the most spectacular views of the Pyranees we have seen in a long time,  unfortunately there wasn’t anywhere to stop to take photos  or I would have filled my SD card on my camera 😦

The pass lead us down into Huesca, one of the places we constantly hear about on the news due to flooding or other issues … at least we have now been there and know where it is!!

It is a pretty place, but to be fair – the new town is far nicer than the historic center which felt a little bit of a mish mash of new and old without any real soul – very strange.  We parked in a car park which was close to the stadium but an easy walk into the center (GPS n42 8’8 w0 25’11) and despite the campsite being closed we were alone for the night which is a first in a long while as we normally have company in one form or another….perhaps everyone else knew something we were unaware of as despite appearing to be a tranquil location, it was a fairly noisy (although un-eventful, thankfully) night!

Moving on in the morning should have taken us to ‘Lleida’ or ‘Lerida’ depending on whether you use the Spanish or Catalan name however, when we arrived at the Aire which was also Motorhome repair/accessories place it looked a little run down and coupled with the fact that it was 7km outside the town we decided to give it a miss and continue our journey to Vic.

Having travelled recently in Portugal we keep forgetting that non toll-roads can actually be fairly good, almost motorway-like, making the journey pleasant and not a chore 🙂

In contrast to Lleida, upon arriving at Vic (GPS n41 56’3 e2 14’24) we found greenery, wildlife and open space and immediately felt at home listening to the birds chirping.  We did a quick reccy to find the laundrette and market – little chores that you get used to when travelling in a Motorhome – and then settled in for evening cooking up a delicious casserole using some of the incredible chorizo and sausage we bought from Jaca.

The evening passed tranquilly with a few additional motorhomes arriving into the night…. The last of which appeared to have mis-judged the space as all we heard was a ‘crunch’ before the engine stopping.  When the sun started to shine – it was brief – and we rose from the Motorhome there wasn’t any damage to be seen, so who knows what happened – perhaps it was the police when they were taking down number plates…..

Vic is known for its Pork produce, specifically ‘Fuet’ which is a type of dried sausage with herbs and spices, so in the morning we set off to see what the market had to offer.

As it was Saturday, in addition to the normal indoor market there was another in the ‘Plaza Mayor’ offering everything from underwear and pots and pans to live chickens, which despite the grey skies and rain falling still managed to create quite an atmosphere.  Miraculously returning back to the same spot a few hours later and the place had transformed back into a Plaza Mayor….

Vic has a certain feel to it which we haven’t seen in a while.  There were more delicatessens, fishmongers and specialist gourmet shops than you could imagine and the price of the produce was a good 30% higher than we have seen elsewhere in Spain. Ashamadely, demonstrating the wealth in Catalunia in comparison to the rest of Spain…. It is no-wonder that they want independence.

Begrudgingly leaving the tranquility of Vic behind (it was raining and the Aire was maximum 48 hours) we headed to Girona through clouds arriving at a little Aire for motorhomes (GPS n41 59’2 e2 48’49) which is part of a car park close to the park and river.

Somehow we managed to time our walk to coincide with a break in the clouds and it was dry…. We may have even seen the sun trying to break through 🙂   By shear co-incidence, Girona is celebrating the arrival of Spring with its ‘festival of flowers’, holding exhibits all over the city – Pretty spectacular…

Girona is a beautiful city with everything you could ask for and we are glad we came back as it has been a while since we have been here, but we will definately be back.  Having eaten and drunk our way through Spain we are now ready to move on.  Tomorrow we move over to France to gorge on all those fantastic French wines, cheeses and chocolate …. Let’s just hope the sun will start shining 🙂

Leaving Palencia we headed for the capital of the ‘Ribera del Duero’ wine region -Aranda del Duero….. Obviously a week away from the river was enough to give us the shakes. Although the same river, the Spanish ‘Duero’ wine is quite different to the Portuguese ‘Douro’ wine, despite only being a few miles apart. The countryside however is equally as beautiful although the hills are more of the ‘rolling’ type in Spain in contrast to the more ‘Ragged’ ones in Portugal 🙂

Aranda del Duero is known for its network of underground caves joining many of the ‘Bodega’s’ together (as well as its wine obviously). There are over 180 Caves in total roughly 30m below ground spreading across 7km. Many of the caves are private, but a few are open for visits and we managed to find a small bodega where for the price of a glass of wine we could venture down into their cave. Unfortunately, they obviously knew we were coming and didn’t store any wine in the one we visited ….so we had to stick to trying the wine in a couple of small bodega’s instead.

The Aire (GPS n41.66833 w3.69583) was being renovated unfortunately, due to re-open in June, but we found a nice quiet little spot near the train and bus station to park up oddly with the only noise (both day and night) being peacocks…..???

After a very fresh run along a cycle path we headed to Burgos, one of the towns we visited roughly 18 months ago and loved the architecture and general feel of the town and surrounding area.

This time, instead of stopping at the campsite we found an Aire (GPS n 42 21′ 5 w3 40’50) roughly 3km from the center and sadly, reasonably close to a Laundrette …..I would like to say that I was down to the last pair of socks but that would be a lie as I had to use the last ones twice….. Sorry mum – It’s ok, I have bought some more now and we are back up to two weeks worth 🙂

Feeling much refreshed – both for washing pretty much everything we own and as the weather dropped to zero (or lower if you include the wind chill) – we spent a couple of days enjoying walking through Burgos and around the park, impressed by the quantity of Pilgrims there are at this time of year doing the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostello.

From Burgos we traversed the rolling patchwork hills to arrive at Logroño, bringing back memories of the beautiful British countryside.  En-route we passed a group of enormous and oddly beautiful Vultures – I think of the Griffon variety….but I was driving. Each time I see them I have to admit I am caught a little short of breath as they are such odd looking birds, but there is an incredible beauty there…..nothing like the ones I remember in South America from when I was younger destroying the carcass of a cow.

Logroño is the capital of the ‘Rioja’ wine region although most of the larger Bodegas for the region are in Haro a few kilometres away. Having visited Haro 18 months ago, I would say Logroño is a better balanced town, slightly less tourism and more ‘normality’ – but still with the wine theme 🙂

As it was Sunday we walked through the streets of the historic center admiring the architecture and soon found the hustle and bustle of the four blocks that contain over 50 tapas bars. Each bar has its own speciality Tapas, some only serve garlic mushrooms, patatas bravas or Skewers with meat, whereas others have a slightly more comprehensive menu of tapas – all however, offering a wide selection of local wines. We only got to the area after 3pm and despite it being Mother’s Day in Spain it was heaving… With mothers and grandmothers enjoying a gastronomique ‘pub crawl’.

The Aire we had parked at (GPS n42 28’45 w2 27’25) just so happened to be hosting the last night of the ‘Circus of Horrors’ …. Yay 🙂 To be fair, all was pretty quiet until the end of the show which was about 10pm and then there was mass exodus from the car park which took about 15 minutes, followed by the chink chink chink as they took down the big tent …. We were suitably impressed at how efficient the team was, by the morning there was pretty much nothing left.

Leaving the hustle and bustle behind us we worked our way through some stunning countryside as we approached the Pyranees where we stopped at Jaca (GPS n42 34’4 w0 32’42).  Jaca is a strategically placed town with a pretty fort, still containing high military presence looking out into France.

We have pretty much followed the ‘Camino de Santiago’ pilgrimage route over the last week being accompanied by dozens of people walking the opposite direction to us, so as we have found a beautiful town to stop in, a nice peaceful Aire to park in and the weather is due to turn later this week, we decided to take advantage and stay and extra couple of nights and walk a bit of the Camino de Santiago…..

Leaving the Douro behind us we continued the windy road to Chaves – a pretty little medieval town situated on a river roughly ten kilometres from the border with Spain. We parked up in the old town, by the side of the river (Parking only GPS n41 43’9 w7 29’55) and went for a meander through the ghostly quiet streets.

We had a good wander through the old town and along the river, finding a little lady selling local bread-type goods – a round loaf containing a meaty substance and two different cakes, one was scone-like with a hint of lemon, the other with filo pastry wrapped around a condensed milk type substance….. we tried the scone-like one which was pleasant enough 🙂 We also found a supermarket to stock up on some more Portuguese wine before we head over the border and obviously food and drink aside, had a good look around the Castle – or perhaps better described as Tower.

The evening was spent with our new family friend ‘Mr Nierpoort’ – Aka 10 yr Tawny, doing a bit of route planning, changing our minds again about heading back to the Northern Spanish coast and instead deciding to stay in land -bring on those chilly mornings – for a while.

We moved to our last stop in Portugal this time round – Braganca, with Keith deciding to take a road that if the map was correct, shouldn’t have been a pre-pay toll road however, upon entering, definitely appeared to be one. As we hadn’t pre-paid we assumed the worst but it appears that the 80km we travelled on wasn’t toll …. or if it was I am sure that we will get a nice letter from the Portuguese Autopista demanding some money in a few weeks time 😦

Toll roads aside, Braganca is a small but beautiful walled fortress town looking out into the vineyard cladded valleys. The Aire (GPS n 41 48’14 w6 44’45) is situated just below the old town nestled amongst the stunning tranquil surroundings…..apart from the water purifying plant that is…. Ahem – to be fair you couldn’t see, hear or smell it from the Aire, it was only when we got up to the historic part of the town and looked down we realised it was there.

The morning run was a little hillier than I have been used to even in the last couple of weeks, but it was tranquil and mostly alongside a fast running river. Monday was Independence Day in Portugal which meant that it was unusually quiet in the morning at least, even more so than Sunday’s …. Although I am sure that there would have been fireworks and celebrations later on in the day!

As we traversed the mountains crossing between Portugal and Spain the snow topped Cordillera mountain range came into view in the distance …. thankfully, we were only at 1000m, they were a few – hundred – meters higher 🙂

We stopped at Leon for the night (Aire with water and waste GPS n42 36’16 w5 35’3) to see if anything had changed and buy some of the lovely cured meat (Chorizo, ham, sausages, etc) that the region is famous for and as the sun was shining I even managed to get some nicer photos than our last visit :).

Leon is as beautiful as ever and we would both happily stop here any time we pass by, especially when the sun is shining however, we were keen to see new places so only stayed one night, moving down to the Aire in Palencia (GPS n42 0’14 w 4 32’4).

Thankfully we arrived early, or we possibly wouldn’t have found a spot as there appear to be a huge amount of motorhomes travelling through this area at the moment, mainly French, although in Leon we were surprised to see 10 Spanish vans travelling together parked up in the Aire …. how they managed to get all the spaces I don’t know, but thankfully we fitted in a parking spot and only had to pay 2.80 euros for 24 hours.

Back in Palencia, after a quick trip to see the very friendly lady in the tourist office we set off to explore the town, which has a lovely feel, beautiful architecture, lots of green space, a good market and nice shops and bars.

Whilst in the tourist office yesterday we picked up some information on other areas to explore within the region and decided to set off on the bikes along the canal to Becer de Campos which is roughly 20km away. It was a bone rattling ride and the town itself had more houses and churches falling down than standing up…. The Storks had found a good home in this one….

Needless to say we did the journey back on the road….

We woke to grey clouds but no rain and most importantly no puncture – the little bit of expanding rubber appears to be working 🙂

So, after a nice run along the canal and a bit of HIIT exercise we set off to explore what is apparently known as the ‘Venice of Portugal’ …. Aveiro. We found the fish market first and then worked our way round to the main market which appeared to be running a ‘bio’ week with some delicious breads, meats, cheeses and of course fruits and vegetables … One of the things we love about Portuguese markets is that you get the local producers who effectively are selling the produce they grow in their garden, one lovely gentleman parted with an Advocado an onion and a garlic for 1 euro … And not a hint of pesticide in sight.

I think ‘Venice of Portugal’ is a bit of an over estimation – Aveiro is built on canals but although we haven’t been there yet ….. it’s not Venice 😦

To be fair it is a pretty place with beautiful old buildings of all shapes and sizes clad in different coloured tiles – the old station being one of the most attractive examples.

…it must be cheaper and harder wearing to clad a house in tiles than to paint it … Why don’t more people do it in the UK….. perhaps the cold weather cracks the tiles?

Whilst walking through the old town it was obvious that there was a music festival on with lots of musicians in traditional attire sporting every variety of guitar-like instrument you could imagine, all enjoying a nice hog roast and a few beers in between the rain showers!

After not such a good night’s sleep as some idiot was doing donuts most of the night, we set off mid-morning to tackle the windy mountainous roads to get to Guarda where we parked up in a nice little park looking up to the city (Free with all facilities exc. elec. GPS n 40 32’58” w 07 14′ 32″).   Guarda is the highest city in Portugal sitting at 1056m and on approach is not exactly what you would call pretty, but when you get to the historic center, it is small, a little rough round the edges but quite interesting.

As we were back at Mika reasonably early, we decided to travel in the afternoon getting to Viseu (Free with all facilities exc. elec. GPS n 40 39′ 53″ w 07 55′ 02″) in time to do the bi-daily bake as the skies opened 🙂

Viseu is a really pretty historic city built on a hill with more churches than you can count. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily most of the time we were exploring it so we will have to come back to see it in the sunshine.

As we had 50km of cycle path on our doorstep I checked out the first part for my run and found some beautiful houses with fantastic views…. The city certainly doesn’t lack money and we will definitely be back to cycle the valley as the scenery was stunning.

Finally we come to the reason why we came back to Portugal …. The Douro – and probably more importantly the regions produce…… Our first stop was Lamego where we stayed at a fantastic little privately owned Aire looking down over the town nestled between a wine producer and the Sanctuary. The owner at Camping Lamego ((13 euros exc. elec. GPS n 41 05′ 29″ w 07 49′ 18″) was really friendly and helpful and although I have never been a massive fan of Alsatians, the one who lived here just couldn’t have enough cuddling – he was lovely, if it wasn’t for the quantity of fur and his size, I could have happily taken him with us in the Motorhome.

The sanctuary was very similar to Bom Jesus and equally as impressive, enjoying views over the rest of the town and the multiples of churches that it contained.

As Lamego is famous for its sparkly wine we stopped in the bar at the Aire to enjoy a couple of glasses before finishing the rest of the bottle with Fajitas later that evening :). I would say that the Brut is as good, if not better than any Champagne I have tried – although possibly that is due to lack of champagne tasting opportunities 🙂

Getting ready to leave Lamego I put the GPS for our next destination into the Sat Nav and it said that it was in the middle of the Douro river ….. possibly we should have taken it as a sign.

15km and about 45 minutes later we had worked our way through some of the Douro hills with vineyards covering every inch of land around us. As the first sights of the River Douro came it was obvious why it has been in the news so much over the last couple of weeks – it is probably twice the size it should be and possibly 5m higher.

The Aire (3 euros inc. elec. GPS n 41 09′ 46″ w 07 47′ 32″) was positioned just below the pedestrian bridge (on the right in the photo above), which I found out actually marks the highest level on records…. Back in 1909.

Despite the rain falling, the water level was dropping when we arrived and in a couple of hours it had probably dropped 2m, then in the following 24 hours another 2m although it did rise a bit in the middle which made us a little anxious.

Keeping an eye on the water level we headed into town to continue our tasting spree…. Finding a little place to try out some of the more local Port wines rather than the better known brands we found in Porto. We only learnt during this visit that it was only upon the entry into the EU in 1986 that the organisations who owned the vineyards outside Porto could actually sell their Porto wine. Previous to this, only the few larger organisations such as Croft, Taylor’s, Sandemans and Kopke could actually sell Port wine, the other (Smaller) producers sold their grape to those who monopolised the industry. This is why we only really know a handful of names (most of which are British owned) in the UK but there are many more that have come into the market in the last 30 years. The government still regulates the quantity of Port wine sold but it is a much more interesting market. Anyone interested may wish to invest in 2015 Port as apparently it is looking like it is going to be a vintage year for both Port and Douro Wine.

As we didn’t want to mix our drinks we only tasted Port wine on Thursday, so decided to go back and try some of the Douro wines which we don’t see much of in the UK on Friday.

Well we always said that the weather in Portugal is pretty much like England ….It definitely has more sunshine but when it rains, it absolutely chucks it down!

We can’t complain though as we expected the week to date to pretty much be a puddle …. With us trying to swim through the middle. It has however been intermittent, with spurts of sunshine thrown in to keep us happy.

Monday’s run was accompanied by humidity and then possibly the fastest last 1.5km that I have done yet as the skies opened and the cold rain coupled with the wind chased me home…. One way of increasing my speeds I guess 🙂

We left the reservoir and meandered our way through the Eucalyptus forest to get to Avante where we stopped by the river, walking up to the old town and castle to eat our rolls whilst watching the black clouds form around us.

After lunch we continued on through the Eucalyptus to get to our destination for the night of Tomar where we parked up near the bus station along with a handful of other motorhomes (GPS n39 35′ 59″ w8 24’47”). Tomar is a town of three parts …..a beautiful walled XI century town with a convent inside, a lovely historic town at the bottom of the hill and a new town on the other side of the river. The original – containing the convent – was the last Knights Templar town to be constructed in the XI century. Very impressive and well worth a visit if you are close by.

With more rain looming we worked our way across to Pombal (GPS n39 54’30” w8 37’47”) where we caught up on the chores and then back to Coimbra (GPS n40 11′ 58″ w 8 25′ 44″) to visit the market and eat cake…. We really liked Coimbra last year and it presented itself at a convenient time to sit out the torrential rain. I wouldn’t have thought that the cloaks that the music students wear would be quite so useful …. Amazing how they can turn into waterproofs. In addition to re-visiting some of last year’s beautiful sights, we did find the rather spectacular Monastery of Santa Clara which was built in the XII century but wasn’t ever finished and finally abandoned in XVII century as it had sunk below water level and therefore was prone to flooding.

The remains have been recently excavated and it looks like they have protected it as much as possible from the close by river taking it over, but it can’t be an easy task with the quantity of rain we have had and the river so close by.

Now to the real reason we came back to Coimbra ….. Leitao… Better known as suckling pig to the rest of us …. Yummmm (yet another apology to my Jewish ancestors – I blame my dad as I am sure they will appreciate you can’t stand by and smell the bacon without wanting to have a bite…). This time we ventured to a small town north of Coimbra which is known specifically for Suckling Pig, Mealhada. The meat was seasoned perfectly and succulent as it could be – we weren’t disappointed.

With happily contented bellies we set off to Aveiro (GPS n40 38′ 35″ w8 39′ 30″), only to find that upon arriving we had a nice large nail embedded in our front right tyre ….. Yep we had a puncture 😦

The slow hissing sound at least drew my attention to a problem and although it meant we missed out on taking advantage of the dry spell yesterday afternoon to walk around Aveiro, it did enable us to get the puncture fixed and not wake to a ‘surprise’ over the weekend when it would have been more complicated.

Thankfully we are still covered under Fiats 3 year roadside assist and within three hours the tyre and Keith had been whisked away, plugged with a bit of expandable rubber – the tyre not Keith – and refitted ….. All costing us the total sum of 4 euros 🙂

When the rain started we had been forewarned that it was here for the duration. Unfortunately the weather forecast was right, so after buying a few essentials we set off to cross the border into Portugal – just in case you wondered…. The border crossing was mine, I took it with both hands on the steering wheel (as we were being blown from side to side) and with glory…. arriving at Evora for lunch. We parked up close to where we were just over 15 months ago for New Year (GPS n38 50′ 35″ w 07 54′ 24″) and once the rain slowed down late afternoon, set off into town to get Wifi’d up and see what had changed in the last year or so.

Not much had changed – although you get a lot more wifi data for your money nowadays – Evora is still as beautiful and peaceful as it was. It is one of those towns that you can keep going back to as not only is it in the Alentejo region which is known for its excellent wine and food, it also has everything you need from history and culture through to nice shops and ample patisseries, restaurants and bars.

Not wanting to spend too much time on repeated ground, we relocated to the Intermarche on the edge of town for the second night where there is now a service area (GPS n 38 42′ 03′ w 08 03′ 53″) enabling us to do the necessary for Mika whilst also doing the washing before moving on.

Leaving Evora behind, we set off towards a small hill village called Marváo, stopping briefly a Estramoz en route for a wander around. Estramoz is one of Portugal’s biggest Marble mining towns, as you walk through the streets of the old town you can see how it is influenced by its surroundings as many of the houses have white/pink marble around the doors and windows. The most impressive – although personally I wouldn’t say attractive – marble building however was definitely the convent at the top of the hill.

After lunch we moved on and up to the beautiful village of Marváo where we parked up in an Aire (GPS n39 23′ 39″ w07 22′ 26″) with views out into Spain and beyond …. There were even a few mountains in the distance with crisp white stuff on top 🙂

As you can see from the photo, despite having stunning views… We were quite glad that it wasn’t raining as we would have been washed down the hill.

Marváo is a walled village with a IX century castle both of which have been kept impeccably. We were truly surprised when they only asked 1.30 euros to go inside as the views alone were worth ten times that.

What I can’t work out is how they don’t have any decent postcards as I have a dozen beautiful photos (if I don’t say so myself – ahem!!) – perhaps I should be going into business…

Leaving our perch on the side of Portugal, we headed all of 13km down the road to Castelo de Vide where we parked up next to the stadium and athletic track on the edge of town (GPS n39 24′ 37″ w07 26′ 57″). Castelo de Vide describes itself as having a bit of everything and I think we can happily confirm that is pretty much true.

After a quick visit to the tourist office and finding a couple of walking routes, we set off into the hills onto the other side of the valley. The walk was mostly off road and incredibly tranquil, giving us views of Castelo de Vide from almost all angles. Castelo de Vide is on a fault line – which we didn’t realise – but that is what accounts for the dragon like rock formation along the top of the surrounding hills.

Returning back to the Motorhome we decided that we should try out our local bar, where in exchange for 1.60 euro – ahhh, that brings back memories of our first day in Portugal in 2014 – we received a bottle of beer and a glass of wine with stunning views…. Happy days

As we were next to the athletic track I thought I would give it a go in the morning, so set off to do my laps pushing myself on the first straight each time round and came back exhausted and with an average speed 1.3km faster than I have been doing recently…. Note to self, must try harder on my normal runs 😦

Breakfasted, we set off to explore Castelo de Vide, heading up to the castle…. today it was only a twentieth century construction so not that attractive, but then down into the Jewish quarter which was full of twisty, steep, narrow cobbled streets. It is pretty impressive how the older generation still manage to get up and down some of these streets – or perhaps that is why they last so long!

Happy that we had explored Castelo de Vide to the full, we excelled and managed all of the 17kms to get to the Aire at Barragem Povoa (GPS n39 29′ 02″ w07 32′ 51″), located on the side of the reservoir in pure tranquility. Yesterday we set off round the north side of the reservoir for a leisurely stroll meeting a couple sturdy bulls en-route …. One of them jumped out of a hedge just in front of us …. I am not sure who was more scared, him or us. Today, not a bull in sight, we walked the longer route to the south getting back as the dark grey clouds were gathering strength for the storm that is due over the next week or so 😦

I am sure that you can see the similarities from the photos, it is very scenic in this area of Portugal and there is definately a hint of Tuscany here, maybe it is the Olive groves, maybe the rolling hills, but there are definately some similarities.

Well, we did it…. we finally managed to part company with Alicante and headed up into the mountains to get a change of scenery….. And that we certainly got 🙂

We had planned to stop for a night in a small village called Alcala del Jucar, but when we looked at the weather forecast and it was predicting snow at 500m in the area we decided to make a run through the hills and get the majority of the mountainous bits behind us, arriving at a UNESCO walled town called Ubeda late afternoon.

Leaving Alicante we worked our way up into the mountains,  winding between vinyards and olive groves, occasionally getting snippets of some of the beautiful Cherry and Almond blossom whilst the temperature slowly dropped. By lunch time shorts and a t-shirt had been switched for jeans and a jumper, it had got down to 6 degrees in just a couple of hours…. Oh and about 800m of altitude 🙂

The Aire in Ubeda (Free with all facilities exc. Elec) was clean and tidy, nestled by the side of a Guardia Civil training center just outside the historic town center. GPS n38.00611 w3.37972   We selected this Aire as it enabled us to cycle over to Baeza (another UNESCO Heritage site) as well as explore Ubeda which was on our doorstep. So, after a quick baking session – yes, still making rolls – we set off to stretch our legs and see what was in store for us tomorrow.

After a peaceful night we woke to a crisp morning with blue skies and despite the 4 degrees and the Guardia Civil looking on, jumped into action and got on with our morning Tabata exercise to warm us up.  A quick shower and a bowl of porridge later and we were ready to cycle over to Baeza ….. What a beautiful place, despite being a slightly misty day the views were stunning (The enormous house behind where I was standing to take this photo was for sale….. tempted hmmm….)

Baeza has been maintained to an immaculate state

and the shops are mostly boutique-style with many a patisserie (very un-Spanish-like) to bring in the slightly wealthier clientele, but it still felt very welcoming and normal…. or perhaps that is because Keith and I found a Madrid Football Club bar to stop and have a drink in so we saw the darker side 🙂

After eating our delicious homemade rolls in the sun opposite one of the fancier patisseries we jumped on the bikes and headed back to further explore Ubeda.

Ubeda is also very attractive, but seen on the same day as Baeza it would be better described as ‘shabby chic’.  It is much more of a working town with normal shops, although thankfully also had its fair share of patisseries and I am pleased to say that we are back in the land of beer/wine and free tapa which is always a good thing 🙂

After a couple of hours being entertained by the next generation of military drummers we settled into a quiet evening to prepare ourselves for a brisk run along (down and up) the cycle path in the morning.

Showered, breakfasted, emptied, filled and packed up we set off to Córdoba ….. Where we have been before, but neither of us remember much except that it was raining.

With mixed reviews,  we decided to park up at the Parque Centro Historico Aire (11 Euros for just under 24 hours with all facilities at an extra charge) GPS n37.87454 w4.78648. It was easy and we knew we would probably only be there for one night so wanted to be close.

Walking around Córdoba didn’t trigger many memories oddly, not sure what happened on our previous visit, but I can assure you that it is very pretty and worth a visit, although full of tourists.

After a long, hot afternoon of walking through the streets of Córdoba we settled in to a local (non-touristy) bar to watch the Madrid vs Barcelona game, eating tapas for dinner.

Four days back into travelling and we are definately getting back into the routine.  Obviously we have been living in the Motorhome all year, but moving, parking, emptying, showering, washing up, etc. all takes a little bit more thinking …… We are pretty much there now, although and I am sure that by the end of the week we will have forgotten what it was like to be on a proper site!

Tonight we are stopped in a little place called Zafra where the Aire (Free with all facilities exc. elec.) GPS n38.42544 w6.41186 is close to a pretty-ish little walled town.  For us, a bit of a convenience stop as we are heading over the border into Portugal tomorrow and we wanted a last night to sort out admin in Spain….. And to stock up on a few of the bits we can’t get in Portugal ….. It is really odd how Lidl stocks different items in different countries 🙂

Just a reminder, if you want to see a map of the route we are taking you can either click on ‘Our route so far‘ on our Home Page, or just click here

Well, I have to admit I have been a little slack in regards to keeping on top of the blog over the last month, but I am pleased to say we are back…. And we are back with a vengeance as we are dusting off the tyres, polishing up the wing mirrors and stocking up on the wine ahead of our departure this week.

Six months ago we were both a bit apprehensive about staying in one place for three months …. so it is difficult to believe that with one thing and another, we have ended up spending six months here and most importantly we are still talking to each other 🙂

The last few weeks has been full-on with all the normal entertaining, socialising and sporting activity in addition to incorporating Keith’s mum, sister and brother-in-law visiting us and a quick trip back to the UK for a few days to sort out some property bits…..somehow managing to squeeze in a very quick visit to Bath to eat cake…oh sorry, yes and to catch up with a few friends 🙂

Back in the land of Alicante, Emma and Paul popped in for a night on their way back north and although they are both training for Marathons and off the alcohol, I am increasingly concerned about the drinking habits of the dogs…..

As a few of you will know, we have been deliberating our next steps and whether we go East to take in some of the beautiful parts of Eastern Europe before heading up into Scandinavia, or go West from here across to central Portugal to see a bit more of the Douro and ahem, naturally learn more about Port. Following that we would then work away across Northern Spain into France just near to a little town called Valence which is on the Rhone to do some Cherry and Apricot picking. Unsurprisingly – just to be different – we have decided to go Cherry and Apricot picking ….. And why not 🙂

So, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia have been earmarked for next year now ….. but who knows, plans are made to be changed!

All I can say is that we have had a fantastic time in Alicante and in addition to spending more time with the group of friends we already had here ……. A nice BBQ yesterday….

we have met some fantastic people on the Camper Area El Campello and made some wonderful friends, including Michelle and Teresa who we will be joining for Cherry and Apricot picking where the competition will begin as to what we can make, cook, bake with Apricots and Cherries 🙂 (As you know I am not competitive at all and really don’t like desserts …. Nor does Michelle)

So, the next blog will be from somewhere else….who knows where, but it won’t be here.  So, Happy Easter – hopefully you have had more Easter Eggs than we have …… Although I did make some Chocolate Fridge cake as compensation 🙂
As it has been a long time since we have moved anywhere I thought I should update the distances before we start racking them up…..just a reminder, this is since 16th Aug 2015.

Driving 2420 miles
Walking/Cycling 3395 Kilometers

Life has been a bit hectic (although possibly a bit dull for the reader) since the last blog as not only have we had two sets of visitors but we have also been doing a bit more ‘worky’ work than usual….. Serious stuff.

Richard (who also came out to us in Seville and Perugia) arrived on the 31st January and the weather was especially kind, enabling him to stun the Spanish natives with his pasty white legs…. Not sure he was doing his part for international relations!

As the break was more to catch up and relax we didn’t venture too far afield, but we did introduce Richard to Alicante, San Juan Pueblo and our local bar as well as taking full advantage of the good weather and eating outside all three days – two of which in the form of Bar-B-Q’s at the Motorhome. Picking up from when he left us last time, we even managed to squeeze in some card games … although Richard has obviously been practising on the sly as somehow he was on a winning streak….. best get practising for his next visit 🙂

With only a few days respite, my parents came out, arriving on the 6th February just in time to celebrate my mum’s birthday on the 7th 🙂

Between Richard leaving and my parents arriving the weather had started to change, although still warm, the wind was definitely getting up a bit more. We were a little nervous when at 6am on Sunday morning (the 7th) Keith and I woke to torrential rain and the Motorhome being blown from side to side….. somehow my parents slept through it (although to be fair they were in a hotel) so it was only when they walked down to the seafront to admire the views they were a little curious as to why the ground was slightly wet!

The sun shone all day – although it was a little windy – and to celebrate my mum’s birthday we went to a lovely beach front restaurant called ‘Azul Playa’ where we ate copious amounts of delicious food and waddled back along the seafront so my dad could take advantage of a proper Spanish siesta 🙂

Although my parents have been to this part of Spain before they can’t remember coming to Alicante, so we took them in to show them around the market and an obligatory visit to Corte Ingles, then the following day up the coast to ‘Villa Joyosa’.

We hadn’t been to Villa Joyosa before but had heard that it was pretty and that it was known for its multi-coloured houses and chocolate….. what more could you ask for?

We had a good walk along the seafront to the port fighting a little against the wind and then were rewarded after lunch with probably the best Churros and Chocolate I have tasted. It was a risk as my mum had high expectations of the Churros and specific requirements that she needed to be able to stand a spoon up in the chocolate, but Valor (who have their Chocolate factory in Villa Joyosa) came through and despite a 15 minute wait as they had just changed the oil and needed to heat it to cook fresh Churros, I don’t think that we could knock it!

Thankfully my parents left when they did as later that afternoon we were walking along the seafront and the heavens opened on us ….. although they left a beautiful rainbow (in fact it was a double rainbow) as the rain disappeared out to sea….

With colds nipped in the bud and the Christmas festivities well and truly over we have started to get back into a slightly more normal routine again over the last couple of weeks incorporating cycling and swimming back into the week … Although it has to be said that we haven’t actually been back in the sea since New Year’s Eve – the temperature has definitely dropped another degree or two.

The weather has been reasonable and we have been out on a couple of bike rides, one to Buzot to get us back in the saddle as such….and another up to Aigues which is slightly further.

We also ventured out with Nuria (Pilar – who runs the campsite we are staying at sister), Jaime and their two dogs into Sierra Gelada for a walk.

Translated literally, ‘Sierra Gelada’ is ‘Frozen mountain range’, however as it is only 800m at the top even on a cold day near Alicante I don’t think that it sees any of the white stuff very often. The stretch of mountain is along the coast between Benidorm and Altea, so a little bit of fresh air from the bars and chaos below.