We have recently been travelling but as it was winter we didn't think that we would be able to do a blog as we went along as this often involves sitting on park benches or the ground in the open with a laptop to pirate someone else's wifi!
On Monday 12th November (2012) we left home in our campervan and caught the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff in Brittany arriving early on the morning of Tuesday 13th November. This church in Roscoff has quite an unusual spire. Roscoff is noted for its distinctive pink fleshed onions which for years were sold in Britain by Roscoff locals riding bicycles.
That afternoon we arrived at Cameret Sur Mer and parked our van for the night. There is a nice beach.
And some impressive megalithic alignments!
On Wednesday 14th November we moved on to Loctudy, Brittany. Beautiful place to stop with huge white sand beach, dunes, wetlands and boat harbour.
Next day, 15th November, we moved on to Quiberon, Brittany. Enormous waves were breaking on the rocky coast - very atmospheric place.
On Friday 16th November we visited the megalithic alignments at Carnac - these go on for kilometre after kilometre and it being winter we could wander amongst the stones at will rather than having to look at them through a fence as you have to when you visit in summer.
Another megalith stands on its own in a wood nearby.
That evening we parked or van for the night at Lochmariaquer in Brittany and before leaving on Saturday 17th November visited the megalithic site in the town. The Grand Menhir Brise pictured here was toppled by an earthquake in 1722 but before that was by far the largest prehistoric standing stone known - 22 metres high and weighing 347 tonnes.
There is also a Dolmen (megalithic tomb) at Locmariaquer
Inside are strange inscriptions which experts can't understand as the people who wrote them came from another time. We stayed that night at Piriac Sur Mer Brittany.
On Sunday 18th November we moved on to Notre Dame Des Monts, Pays de Loire. We met a french couple on the beach who had a holiday home in the village. The man said that he was a driver for the Ritz in Paris before he retired and was present in the hotel the night Lady Di was killed in a car crash!
On Monday 19th November we stayed at L'Aiguillon Sur Mer by the beach with piney woods around.
On Tuesday the 20th we moved on to the old walled town of La Rochelle. We met some vanners from Sheffield at the parking place. They had been away since September - down to Spain - now they were heading home as their fridge had packed in!
Moving on, we stayed at La Palmyre, Poitou on Wednesday 21st November. Nice seaside location.
They even had a zoo.
On 22nd November we took the ferry across the Gironde estuary to Medoc. This photo was taken while we were waiting to leave Royan for the crossing.
That night we stayed at Montalivet Les Bains. Great surfing beach, closed surf school and no surfers.
Friday 23rd November saw us at Sanguinet in Atlanic Region. Parking place is by the lake with great views.
On Saturday 24th November we made the longish journey through piney woods to the South East of Bordeaux to visit our friends Carys and Will who had moved to France some years ago from North Wales. Neither Will nor Carys are in good health and they are trying to sell their house with a view to moving back to Wales. Many thanks for your hospitality. It was great to see you again.
On Sunday 25th November we stayed at this layby by a river at Camu in SW France. It rained heavily all night.
After a short journey through beautiful hilly wooded countryside we stopped for the night of Monday 26th November at St Pee Sur Nivelle very close to the Spanish Border in SW France. Lots more rain today.
On Tuesday 27th we crossed into Spain and stayed at Hondaribbia on the coast. It rained a lot more.
On Wednesday 28th November we briefly went back over the border into France to find autogas then back into Spain and headed inland to Miranda de Ebro. More rain. There was a nice view of the river from the parking place.
After leaving Miranda de Ebro on Thursday 29th November we soon encountered snowy conditions as we climbed up onto the high interior plateau of Spain and headed for the City of Burgos. Approaching Burgos we were lucky to escape unscathed when a homicidal lorry driver tried for no apparent reason to force us off the road!
Burgos Cathedral was very impressive. It cost 6 euros each (for old people) to get in but was well worth while as we had multiligual headsets which gave us an exellent interpretive tour. It was very cold in Burgos with frequent snow showers.
That night we stayed at Palencia.
On Friday 30th November we visited the very impressive castle at Coca.
That night we stayed at Olmedo where Ann visited this cemetary (she likes cemetaries).
On Saturday 1st December we travelled to the old high mountain town of La Alberca. There were numerous shops selling Jamon Iberico and various nick nacks - real tourist trap. Very cold night.
The next day Sunday 2nd December was a complete contrast as we came down from the high mountains to Caceres where it was warm and spring flowers were out!
Caceres is a beautiful old walled hilltop town. Well worth a visit. At the parking place we met some vanners from Bradford. We were just losing our British TV programmes and they explained that if you rotate the LNB on your satelite dish 30 degrees clockwise (looking towards the dish) you can continue to receive "home" TV far further south than theoretically possible. Classic bit of "vanners' lore"!
The next day, Monday 3rd December we headed SW into Portugal and stayed the night by a reservoir (Barragem Lucefecit). This was the view from our van. It was sunny and warm with wild flowers all around. Big change fron the high interior of Spain.
On Tuesday 4th December we stayed at the hilltop town of Monsaraz, close to the spanish border in SE Portugal.
They had an impressive nativity display in town.
A cat came to visit our van.
On Wednesday 5th December we moved west to Alcacer do Sal on the coast just south of Lisbon and stayed on a campsite for the first time on this trip. Poor weather with lots of rain.
We went south down the west coast of Portugal and parked for the night of Thursday 6th December at this stunning clifftop location near Porto Covo. During the night it got seriously stormy and we moved 100 metres or so inland just to be on the safe side.
We continued south down the coast and found another fine clifftop location for the night of 7th December at Odeceixe. There were quite a number of hippy vans around - quite a popular destination for German Hippies in particular.
Continueing south we found this marvellous parking place at Carrapateira where we stayed on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th December. The parking place looks out over a lagoon which is separated from the Atlantic by a sand bar. To the north is an enormous sandy beach backed by huge sandunes and to the south there are steep rocky cliffs.
This part of the Algarve, on the west coast is completely different to the more well known south coast. It has national park status and is thus protected from "development".
Understandably the parking place at Carrapateira is quite popular. Our van is seen here second from left.
We went for walks both on the cliffs, in the dunes (seen here) and along the enormous beach.
On Monday 10th December we moved on to Cape Saint Vincent, the SW extremity of Portugal. We parked at the lighthouse for the night where there was a marvellous sunset.
Cape Saint Vincent is naturally where you will find the last sausage before America!
On Tuesday 12th December we headed east along the south coast of Portugal and stayed at Alvor. Lots of typical Algarve rocks around the beach.
On Wednesday 12th we moved slightly inland to Silves which is an interesting old moorish town.
Inside Silves Castle.
On Thursday 12th December we travelled east to just before the Spanish border and stayed at Castro Marim on this bit of waste ground between one of the town's two castles, a cemetary, the main road and a cultural centre which looked to be a bit of a white elephant.
Castle A wouldn't let us in as they didn't have change for a 20 euro note to pay the 1 euro each admission fee!
Castle B was shut for renovation work.
The cultural centre had this supposedly moorish garden for people to picnic in or whatever.
Ann visited the cemetary.
On Friday 14th December we crossed from Portugal to Spain on this impressive bridge over the Rio Guadiana.
We headed on SW through Huelva to El Rocio in the Donana National Park. El Rocio has unsurfaced roads, people ride around on horses generally rather than in cars and there are rails to tie your horse to outside shops and bars. Rather like what I imagine the "wild west" was like.
The Church at El Rocio.
El Rocio Street.
El Rocio transportation.
We stayed on our second campsite of this trip while we were at El Rocio and went for our first (and only) meal out at the campsite restuarant.
The weather was quite bleak on Saturday 15th December so after wandering around El Rocio we made the longish journey north to Sevilla to cross Rio Guadalquivir and then south west to the coast at Chipiona just north of Cadiz. This is the beach that day just next to our parking place. Roger's birthday.
On Sunday we went south going between Jerez and Cadiz to the coast at Sancti Petri a redundant tuna fishing port which is now a marina with a great beach nearby and pine woods to walk in too. We parked for the night on the roadside between the beach and wetlands.
On Monday 17th December we reached Tarifa, the most southerly town in mainland Europe lying at 36 degrees north of the equator. The hero of Tarifa is Guzman (the good) whose statute stands in the middle of town. The pigeon sitting on his head makes him seem a bit undignified! In 1292 the town was under siege by the moors and Guzman was the spanish commander. His 9 year old son "fell into the hands of the infidel" who brought him to the town walls and called on Guzman to surrender or his son would be killed. Guzman reputedly threw the moors his dagger and suggested that they might like to use it to kill his son but that he would on no account be surrendering!
Tarifa is a very windy place, much favoured by windsurfers and the like. In this photograph you should be able to pick out the Rif Mountains in North Africa, the coast of which is only about 15 kilometres away across the strait. Perhaps because of the windsurfers, Tarifa is not a very van friendly town and all the nice seaside parking places have officious notices banning campervans from parking. However the municipality did provide a car park where vans were allowed which had at least a "sea peep" and in which we stayed the rather noisy night as neighbouring vanners were having a party which went on till dawn.
Tuesday 18th December was Ann's birthday. We left Tarifa, went past Algeceiras and Gibralter and up to a beautiful Mirador near Gaucin in the Sierras. There were some really stunning views.
The Mirador where we stayed on 18th December.
Hoppy Birdy to you! She's got the key to the door - never been 69 before!
Wednesday 19th December was not a very good day for us. We travelled NE past Ronda to El Chorro (above) where we had been many years before. We didn't find it really to our taste this time so we moved on east towards Antequera. The area we passed through was an absolute disaster area having obvously suffered devastating flash floods in the not too distant past. Roads and bridges washed away, fields washed away - even houses in some places. Travel was very difficult with many barely repaired roads. In one place we had to ford a river. When we got to Antequera our sat nav led us into tiny town centre streets which we were very lucky to escape from. Eventually found a car park in Archidona where we stayed the night.
Autogas which we use for cooking and central heating plus water heating and running the fridge when we are not on mains electricity is quite hard to find in Spain so on Thursday 20th December we went into Grenada to where one of our guidebooks said there was an autogas supplier. When we got there the depot was closed and there was a sign saying it was only open until 12.00 and we had got there about 13.00. We decided to return the next day before 12.00 and in the meantime we went up to the ski area in the Sierra Nevada which is nearby. Above is our parking place at 2350 metres above sea level. Ann's not too good at altitude these days but we did have a walk around the car park before turning in for the night.
Cloud inversion seen from our parking place in the Sierrra Nevada at dusk.
On Friday 21st December (the winter solstice), we returned to Grenada and eventually managed to refill our autogas cylinders (though not from the garage in our guidebook which we found out had now permanently closed!) We left Grenada and travelled eastwards towards Murcia through spectacular desert scenery like this.
We stayed in a car park at Cullar. In this part of Spain many people used to live in undergound houses and some still do. We found these abandoned ones on a walk near to our parking place.
The next day 22nd December we headed north into the Sierra de Segura. To begin with we were in thick mist but as we gained height we came out into clear weather.
The weather improved further as we travelled north on minor roads through beautiful high country.
We stayed overnight at a receation area at the source of the Rio Segura which is this deep blue pool coming straight up out of the rock.
On 23rd December we travelled north east through beautiful countryside.
Stopped for the night on a bit of disused main road at Fuente Alamo, SE of Albacete. Fantastic sunset followed by moonshadow. You can see the new main road behind Ann.
On 24th December we moved on to Jalance which is roughly half way between Albacete and Valencia. It has a very impressive castle and a nuclear power station.
We walked up to the castle and got this great view rom the top.
On 25th December we briefly went into Valencia to top up autogas cylinders and then went north and slightly inland to roadside parking at the railway station in Segorbe. There was a medler tree with ripe fruit on an allotment just next to where we were parked so we stole a fruit as neither of us had ever tasted it before.
We had the traditional Richards/Haworth family Christmas meal of beans on toast (Heinz of course).
On 26th December we moved north to the hilltop town of Morella which is roughly halfway between Valencia and Barcelona but a bit inland. We stayed there for two nights.
View of Morella from our parking place.
Morella street scene.
View from the top of Morella Castle. You can see the town walls on the left. Our parking place is in the trees in the centre distance.
On Friday 28th December we moved on from Morella to Asco on the river Ebro. Like Jalance Asco has a nuclear power station. Not much else going for it really.
On Saturday 29th December we came north to Leirida, then east to Navacles where we parked by a lake.
Next day, 30th December, we travelled to Port Lligat on the coast close to the French border which was the home of Salvador Dali for most of his life.
We found a piece of wasteground close to the village to park for the night from which we had this view.
On 31st December we visited Salvador Dali's house which has been preserved a a museum in rememberence of him and his wife Gala.
In the entrance hall of Dali's house.
In Salavador and Gala's bedroom.
In Dali's garden. When Gala, Salvador's wife. died aged 87 he moved away from Port Lligat and never came back. The Dali Foundation has preseved the house and garden exactly as he left it.
After visiting Dali's house we moved north just across the border into France and stopped for the night at a layby with this good view of the Med within easy walking distance of the Town of Cerbere. It being new years eve we were expecting a good firework display from the town at midnight but I think we were asleep or it didn't happen.
On Tuesday 1st January (2013) we travelled north to Perpignan and then west into the foothills of the Pyrenees. We saw two Cathar Castles on the way. The Cathars were persecuted by the Pope for holding unorthodox christian views and eventually wiped out by armed force in the 13th Centuary. In the meantime they had to shelter in castles like this one.
That night we stayed in a layby in the Gorge of the River Aude.
On Wednesday 2nd January we travelled north and stayed the night at the town of Fanjeaux just west of Carcassone.
On Thursday 3rd January we stayed in a car park next to a lake at Felix-Lauragais, not far from Castres. Lovely spot with walking trails along irrigation channels.
On Friday 4th January we continued north to the city of Albi on the River Tarn. Albi has the largest brick cathedral in the world. This is the view from our parking place. We "did" the cathedral and managed to find an open post office to get stamps for cards (not always easy in France).
Before leaving Albi on Saturday 5th January Ann visited the Toulouse Lautrec Museum (next to the Cathedral). Toulouse was born in Albi. Roger wandered around town and posted cards.
That night we stayed in a car park in the town of Naussac.
On Sunday 6th January we travelled to the Lascaux Cave site only to find that it had closed the day before for a month! At Lascaux an exact replica of the nearby cave with the best (or second best?) known prehistoric cave art in europe has been created. Great disappointment. We stayed the night at the nearby town of Montignac in the Perigord area. Here's the view from our parking place by the river.
On 7th January we stayed at Les Cars, just south of Limoges.
On Tuesday 8th January we visited the ruined village of Oradour Sur Glane, just east of Limoges, where in June 1944 Nazi troops murdered 642 people, almost the entire population of the village as a reprisal against attacks to their soldiers by local French Resistance fighters. After the Nazis had murdered everyone they burned the entire village down in an attempt to conceal the evidence of their crimes.
The French have preserved the place as they found it after the massacre as a warning from history.
I felt very sad as I wandered around seeing the relics of peoples' ordinary lives horrifically cut short by people who must have been profoundly evil.
We stayed that night at Moulismes south of Poitiers.
On Wednesday 9th January we travelled to Saint Muare de Touraine, just south of Tours. Apart from this quite nice old Chateau in the town centre it didn't have too much going for it but it was an okay place to wander round and stay for the night.
We were well on the way home now. We stopped at Gace, just north of Alencon for the night of Thursday 10th January. We parked in the town hall car park (as guests of the Mayor?) Again Gace was nothing special but alright for a night stop.
On Friday 11th January we got to Dieppe which is a very interesting town on the Channel Coast.
There is a nice old church in the town centre - unfortunately it seems to be getting into a bad state of repair.
On Saturday 12th January we moved on to Dunkerque Ferry Port car park and on Sunday 13th we crossed to Dover and stayed at Ann's Daughter Kerry and her partner Gareth's house in Kent. It was their son Henry's 9th birthday celebration lunch that afternoon which was a truly memorable meal cooked mainly by Gareth who is very good indeed at cooking. Many thanks once again to Kerry and Gareth for your excellent hospitality.
On Monday 14th January we returned home to Devon. Not everything was totally perfect when we got to our house - we had to kick in the front door to open it and now we can't close it- the dishwasher packed in after we used it for the first time back and our car's rear wheel was locked up even though we left it with the handbrake off while we were away. However none of these little matters are significant compared with the opportunity and privilege to go travelling and experience and see all those amazing things, people and places.
Our journey lasted for 64 days and we covered 4868 miles (equivalent to 7837 kilometres) excluding the ferry crossings from Plymouth to Roscoff on 12th/13th November, over the Gironde Estuary on 22nd November and Dunkerque to Dover on 13th January.
Bye for now, Roger.
