Two Go On A Trip Through Spain and France

Oil and filter change done, brakes, tyres and suspension checked, headlights switched to LHD, washed and dried, boot packed and charming new accessory fitted to the back and we're ready for Europe.
Pleasant drive down from Stockport to Portsmouth with the sun shining so Mrs J decided to model her new touring hat.
Currently crossing the Bay of Biscay onboard Brittany Ferries Cap Finistere approaching Santander to begin our two week tour of northern Spain and western France.
Glad we're under cover and not stuck out the back like some are.
Hopefully the weather and the roads will be kind to us and we'll have more updates for you as we go.

Must be a fair sea spray hitting that open deck out back. Glad your tucked away else where.

Have a great trip and be sure to keep us posted, when you get a moment.

Could just be coincidence but i was at my Indy pal ( Neil / Mill Street Grt Harwood) this morning having a brew & a natter , he mentioned a 2.5 he looks after who was off on a euro trip :?
Anyhow keep us posted & piccied , can't beat a roofdown roadtrip :driving:

Used that ferry a few times on biking trips and took the Z4 over to Santander a couple of years ago in August....temps in the 20's which was hot enough for a Scotsman.
Have you got any plans from leaving the ferry as I highly recommend the Pico's....circular trip through a mountain range with a dead end road in to Funte de.....this is to a cable car which goes up to a plateau with spectacular views,cafe,etc.
Northern Spain is a delight compared to the southern touristy coasts but each to their own of course......enjoy your trip and stick up loads of pics.

It must just be coincidence Mr Wilks as after a lifetime of tinkering and then building a kit car I'm more than happy to do my own spanner work.

So as promised here's an update on our progress so far. After docking we only ventured across the city to our first stopover so that on Sunday we could enjoy the drive along the coast and into the edge of the Picos mountains to our next stop.

This place is a training college and staffed by hospitality industry students.
Sunday we headed to Comillas on the coast which is a beautiful little town with historic squares, a villa called El Capricho that was built by Gaudi and a really nice beach.


From here we went inland to Covadonga to our home for two nights at Casa Aspron which is in the shadow of the basilica that Covadonga is famous for.




There's also a holy shrine in the rock face above a waterfall and pool and the place is heaving with coach loads of visitors all trying to get a bit closer to God.


Today started a bit murky in the mountains but we headed out to Cangas de Onis and the sun came out to play. Cangas is a pretty busy town by the region's standards and has an impressive roman bridge spanning the river, we also managed to spot another old item which was a little Seat 600.

After Cangas we went up into the mountains to the Mirador del Fitu. A great twisty road up and down, views to die for and close encounters with some local cattle, one which decided to have a close look at the Z and another which thought it was a traffic island.



So, do you go left or right around the cow? I took the safe option and went right on the grass verge. Luckily the one taking a close up look kept it's head and horns up and away from the car.
Tomorrow we'll be heading into the Picos properly before moving over toward Pamplona on the way to France.

Enjoying your Blog. Some amazing architecture and a few mad cows. 8) :lol:

On Tuesday we headed over to Ezkurra near Pamplona with a detour into the Picos de Europa on the way. Didn't take any photos really as I was going to do some filming on the action camera. As it was so damn hot I got a bit worried about the camera mount giving way in the heat and decided to mount it inside the windscreen which was fine. What wasn't fine was that I forgot to change the view on the camera as it was now upside down, so now have a heap of upside down footage of the run through the mountains!
Here's a shot of the territory we were heading into.


After two hours we had to admit defeat and actually put the roof up and the air-con on and when we arrived at Ezkurra after checking in to the hostel we were staying at we retired to the terrace for a couple of beers where the temperature was showing as 45 degrees C in the sun and slightly cooler at 35 in the shade!


The hostel was the heart of the little village providing rooms in three separate buildings, the village pub and restaurant as well as breakfast stop for all the locals off out to work. The food was good, rustic Spanish fare and at 15 euros for three courses including wine and coffee it was a bargain too. I'm pretty certain from some of the local artwork we were well into Basque separatist territory.




Wednesday we drove across to Pamplona home of the infamous bull run, where if you're feeling brave you can attempt to run the 830 mtere course from the holding pen to the bull ring ahead of the charging bulls. This is the start to the San Firmin which is the fiesta that goes on for a week and has among other attractions daily bull fights. While not our sort of thing the Spaniards obviously love it and judging from the queues for tickets and the TV trucks present not many were being put off by the protest we caught the tail end of.
As it was the day before the start of the fiesta half the roads in the city centre were blocked off and we were lucky to come out unscathed with frustrated Fernando Alonso wanabees coming at us from all directions trying to get to their destinations while we tried to find somewhere to park. Once we did get parked up we had a good wander about and traced the route of the bull run from the holding pens at the start to the bull ring gates.






No that's not me in the bottom photo, just some randomer photobombing my shot!
Thursday will see us heading over the border into France and up to the Gironde region near Bordeaux.

It's now Monday of week two of our trip and the last night of our five night stopover at Teuillac near Bordeaux. The weather has still been hot until today where it dropped to the mid twenties and we've been most grateful of the pool that the gite we're in has to offer. I'll spare you all from the speedos photos!
We've just chilled out here really and spent a bit of time visiting the sights and villages around the area as well as the many vineyards that abound here, all of them offer tasting sessions to try to tempt you to buy.



We also had a trip to the Dune Du Pilat, the largest dune in Europe then carried on to Arachon just up the coast.



The villages of Bourg




and Saint-Emilion which is a UNESCO world heritage site, so we had lunch in the square here and tried to absorb a bit of the culture and history.




That's it for this area of France, tomorrow we're moving up to Chinon in the Loire Valley for more wines, chateaus and culture.

Thanks for the updates, really enjoyed reading them and looking at the pictures.

The weather certainly looks better than you'd be having in Cheshire - very heavy rain today

Great write up, were off to North East France for a week in June next year, then onto Western France for the second week, setting up base in both locations and touring daily, can't wait

Enjoyed catching up on the second part of your trip.

buzyg said:

Enjoyed catching up on the second part of your trip.

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Wonder if they are still there? :wink: :lol: