Homeward Bound - Day 46/47

 We spent a lovely morning and lunch with Hilary and Jim in Chandlers Ford  and then headed north to Telford to Pete and Sheila for the night. We left Telford about 10.30, saw there was a crash and huge tailback on the M6 so took evasive action, stopped for a bite to eat at Tebay and were home about 5.30, pretty tired after the long drive. We compiled this map of all the tracks

The ‘Cruise’ - Day 44/45

Tuesday 11th October - We had breakfast in the old farm house where we were staying. It was raining after breakfast but as it cleared slightly we took a short walk with the umbrella down the hill to overlook the city a bit more. I don’t think we have ever been here without rain! 

Then off to find fuel at Carrefour - none there! - then onto the ferry port for a protracted checkin and boarding process. We arrived about 12 and we finally boarded about 1.50. The boat is the Salamanca, launched in 2021. Nice cabin and a super boat overall. Vastly superior to our other two ferries. We also had taken Club lounge access so had a bit of lunch and wine, then spent the afternoon sitting on the deck in the sunshine - the weather was much better when we left the coast. Chatted to a couple who gave an apartment in L’Estartit - Marlyn and Keith - nice folks.

Old folks asleep on deck..the cruising life! 

Back to the lounge for drinks and nibbles at 5.30 and dinner at 7.40. A very good quality dinner. We are very impressed with Brittany Ferries. After dinner we went back to watch one of the films from the Ferry Library. An mostly indolent day! 

Wednesday 12th October - a day much the same. Breakfast, lunch and a bit of dinner before we got off the boat, walks along the deck to get the step count up. The weather got greyer as we came into the Channel, and the ships became more frequent. We docked at 8.45pm and were on our way through customs etc by 9.30pm. An Ibis In Portsmouth and bed.

Valladolid to Balbao - Day 43

After a check out from the Ibis at 9.30 we headed to a big Carrefour just along the road to stock up on. wines to take home. Red and white wine, PX sherry and some Osbourne brandy. We couldn’t not do it as these Osbourne bulls have been everywhere on our Spanish travels!

Our drive through the Spanish countryside (top down, off motorway) was a little bit cooler than of late. It got down to 13.5 degs and we were often over 1000 metres. For the most part it was fairly desolate high plains and later fertile farmlands. We loved the chance to be on quiet back roads, with the option to stop at any time. We passed this Cristo del Otero, about 70 metres tall in Palencia. A very strange statue.

Our photo taken from the road

An internet image of it

For lunch we stoped in Villayro but found lots of busy cafes that only served pinchos and were effectively out of stock by 2:30PM. And no menu del Dias anywhere. Slightly disheartened but not hungry we drove on! We drove through some glorious scenery especially in the Ebro gorge (the river which flows through Zaragoza). We stopped at a bridge in the gorge and took these photos and found this strange statue - a modern menhir, one of 15 a sculptor has placed along a route in the hills. Some look very intricate 

The Menhir Route

The menhir number 15

As we got closer to Bilbao the landscape became even more dramatic with mountains in the distance, and a much greener landscape. The photos don’t do it justice of course.

Our hotel, Artetxe, sits above Bilbao and is a lovely rural  little place with twilight barking and cocks crowing. We had a picnic and drinks in the garden so no one had to drive again. And as night came on we got a great view over the twinkling city from our window.

Daily Mileage 183 miles

Total trip 4797 miles

Valladolid - Day 42

 We walked into town along the river which is a lovely shady route. We stumbled on the city’s ‘beach’ where folks were sunbathing as at the seaside, a paddle steamer cafe, a picture of extensive floods in 2019 and details of on the place where a Spanish inventor demonstrated a diving suit 300 years before the Brits! 

We were enjoying the riverside walk so much we went as far as the Parque Campo Grande where we saw peacocks and tame red squirrels plus a few very lovely statues

The plan had been  to go to the Columbus museum but, by the time we had explored the centre and the Parque Campo Grande  it was closed for the afternoon siesta. So we were forced to join the Spanish habit of a leisurely Sunday lunch at a cafe with views of the cathedral. The venue was great, the staff attentive, the food was excellent and the wine equally good - what is not to like. 

We looked briefly in the cathedral but a service was taking place so we did not stay, the interior is very stark unlike all other churches we have visited in Spain, much more similar to cathedrals back home.

A slow stroll took us to the Columbus museum for its 6PM opening, in fact we were earlier so we found a nearby cafe for a coffee. The museum was fascinating although we had to use Google Translate a lot because none of the information was available in English.  He died in Valladolid in 1506. He was buried here, then his body was moved to Seville Cathedral in 1513. In 1536 his body went to the Dominican Republic and in 1793 it went to Cuba, and in 1898 at least some of him went back to Seville Cathedral. (DNA confirmed in 2003). However an arm and a leg may still be in Dominican Republic but no DNA testing of these bits has been allowed!

They.knew that the world was round at the time of Columbus’s travels but not that there was another continent the! 

Our walk back to the hotel took us to 16Km of walking for the day so we had a coffee to relax and chilled for the test of the evening.

Toledo to Valladolid - Day 41

Howard’s Titanic! Fabulous views

Another fine breakfast at the Parador with a table looking over the terrace to the beauty of Toledo. At check out we found out just how much we had paid for our 1 extra night of luxury…Ouch!!

We drove due north going through some very pretty hill country, where we were up to about 1400 metres.

We continued our journey north with a serendipitous encounter with the walls of Avila (complete medieval walls, 87 towers, 9 gates - stunning). And surprise surprise it’s another UNESCO World Heritage Site!

We walked the wall until we heard thunder and lightning then so quickly headed back to the car and were barely on our way when the rain started, and it was heavy. But we quickly got away from it and we returned to Sunshine and 23 degs. Between Avila and Valladolid it was High Plains Drifter country with large herds of grazing cattle in a flat, dry landscape. 

Our destination for the day was Vallodolid where we are staying for a couple of days. After checking into the Ibis and a bit of chill time we walked over the river and found a nice family oriented bar before walking back along the river for dinner at the hotel. 

Daily Mileage 160 miles

Total trip 4614 miles

Toledo - Day 40

A very nice breakfast, but I missed the Cava so took a glass onto the terrace with me afterwards 

From the terrace we noticed a couple of folk on a nearby knoll so we thought we’d don our walking shoes and explore the area. So after really quite a short if tricky walk we got to the top (steps cut into the rock and an iron handrail was very necessary) we had a great view of the Parador and the city

We decided we’d leave exploring Toledo until the afternoon, as we thought we would stay on and have dinner in town. Thus we got a taxi about 3 (10euros - with a mask).

We were dropped right by the Alcazar but we decided not to visit that (not sure that it’s worth a visit) and wandered through the narrow lanes and streets doing a bit of window shopping. Lots of shops with Toledo steel - swords, knives, armour - and then lots of pastry shops, like this one with marzipan sweets like I had last night.

We found some fabulous views over the river….

..and we ended up at the Museo El Greco. At the ticket desk we were advised to wait 5 minutes then the entrance would be free! This house was bought at the beginning of the 20th century by someone thinking it was El Grecos house - it wasn’t! However he continued to enrich it as though it was and has an impressive collection of El Greco paintings, plus some good video explanations as to why he fell out of favour for a time. Afterwards we headed to the cathedral where we bought tickets and an audio guide. Once again a huge and impressive gothic (with some Baroque thrown in) Cathedral - built to completely cover the mosque it is built on! Once again the photos don’t do it justice. 

Giants just as we saw in Barcelona! 

We had to be out by 6.15 so wandered through the town to the east side where we could get a photo of our parador from the city, and had a couple of drinks overlooking the gorge. The whole setting is so dramatic. In fact we both agree the best bit of To,eso is looking at it from across the river - it is such a dramatic setting. 

The parador is in the middle of this photo on top of the hill

We decided we should head back to the Parador for a bite to eat as nothing seemed as nice in town. A taxi was found really easily and we booked dinner for 9 when we got in. A light plate of migas for me - absolutely fabulous. - and another wonderful plate of cheese for Howard.

Our free delicious amuse bouche, and a glass of free cava again