Friday 27th January 2017

It was nice and sunny in Portsmouth when we got up this morning. Here's the view from our van. We're in the centre of town right by the docks.  

  

Unfortunately it got quite murky as we headed for home. We stopped off for a cooked breakfast along the way. It's a long time since we last visited Le Petit Chef.

We got home about 14.15 and I was scandalised to discover what a mess the mole(s) had made of my nice lawn.

I have this solar powered mole repelling device stuck in the lawn and it is frankly worse than useless - I think it encourages the mole(s).

Today we traveled to our home in Widecombe a distance of 152 miles (245 kilometres).

Our journey which started on 4th December 2016 lasted 55 days. We covered 3599 miles (5794 kilometres) in our camper van plus the ferry crossings from Poole to Cherbourg and Santander to Portsmouth. I'm not sure how far we went on our bikes but we did get good use of them.

Many thanks to anyone who has taken an interest in this blog and special thanks to those of you who have commented.

Best wishes, Roger.

Thursday 26th January 2017

It was very calm crossing the Bay of Biscay during the night but it got a bit choppier as we rounded the Brest Peninsula this morning and turned east into the English Channel.

It's a long journey from Santander to Portsmouth by ferry but there are various things you can do to pass the time such as going up on deck and getting covered in spray and very cold.

Here are some of the lorries parked on the back of the ship.

It got dark long before we got to Portsmouth. Here I am seen trying (and failing) to solve a particularly difficult Sudoku problem.

It's quite spectacular coming into Portsmouth these days. Here's their nice new tower welcoming incoming mariners.

We passed what remains of the British Navy - two clapped out destroyers and a support vessel which seems to be being held together with polythene sheeting. 

We are parked tonight in a nice free car park just next to the ferry port in Portsmouth which we spent quite a while driving around trying to find thanks (no thanks) to our sat nav's very unhelpful directions.

Instead of travelling a few hundred metres as we should have done had Tomasina (the Tom Tom) been behaving herself we traveled 5 miles (8 kilometres) today. We are at N50.81585 W1.09135

Wednesday 25th January 2017

Before leaving Carbarceno this morning Ann went to say goodbye to the elephants.

We made the short journey to Santander Ferry Terminal. Here we are lined up ready to board Brittany Ferries sailing to Portsmouth.

The ferry left at 17.15 local time and we are due to arrive in Portsmouth at 20.45 tomorrow. Here's a view of Santander as we were leaving through our not too clean cabin window. 

Today we traveled 23 miles (37 kilometres) in our van. Our position this evening is somewhere in the Bay of Biscay.

Tuesday 24th January 2017

From San Vincente de la Barquera we made the very short journey east to the town of Comillas where we had this marvelous view of the Picos de Europa.

I think the striking dark and steep peak in the centre of this picture is The Naranjo de Bulnes (The Orange Tree of Bulnes) 2519 metres (8262feet) in height.

We had come to Comillas to visit Gaudi's El Capricho however when we got there we found that it was closed from yesterday to Friday for "works". Professor Sod and his law come to mind.

We did however manage to photograph bits of this amazing building through the railings.

And over the wall. Typical Gaudi genius and madness!

After the disappointment at Comillas we moved on the short distance further east to the Altamira Cave - "The Sistine Chapel of Prehistoric Rock Art". This is the only possible known rival to the cave at Lascaux (which we visited earlier on this trip) in terms of the quality and quantity of prehistoric cave painting.

Like at Lascaux the cave itself has been closed to the public for many years due to the damage caused to the rock art by people breathing when they visited the cave. Also like at Lascaux a reproduction cave has been created in which photography is not permitted. Unlike at Lascaux the reproductions of the reproductions of the prehistoric rock art in the adjoining museum are also not allowed to be photographed - presumably to boost the sales of postcards in the gift shop.

We moved on a little further east and stopped at the aire at Cabarceno.

We arrived just in time to take the cable car across the adjoining Nature Park. We saw deer.

And Buffalo.

And elephants.

From the top station on the cable car there were great views to the City of Santander.

Back at the aire there is a nice lake.

As dusk approached large numbers of Egrets flew in to roost in the trees on the lake shore.

Today we traveled 44 miles (71 kilometres). We are at N43.35857 W3.81884

Monday 23rd January 2017

The rain in Leon cleared up overnight and Monday dawned bright and frosty. We set off north and soon approached the high mountain chain which lies between Leon and the northern Spanish Coast.

There were marvelous views along the way. The railway line and the road ran close together as we approached the Pajares Pass.

There are a few small villages high on the pass.

We crossed over from Castile and Leon into Asturias region.

After a (deliberately) long journey we reached the north Spanish coast and headed east to the town of San Vincente de la Barquera crossing from Asturias into Cantabria region shortly before arriving. We headed for a parking place by the beach which we had seen on the Wild Camping database but when we arrived we were confronted by a number of these very unfriendly signs.

There were quite a few surfers and their vans parked at the beach but we decided to head into town.

We parked on the seafront in San Vincente. Here's a view from our parking place.

Here's another.

And yet another.

We saw this ? White Heron.

We also saw these cormorants which we initially thought to be people sitting in a small fishing boat.

There is a nice view of San Vincente Castle from where we are parked.

We took a walk around town. Here's the main square.

Here's the fishing port.

As dusk approached there were some nice cloudscapes.

Today we traveled 154 miles (248 kilometres). We are at N43.38288 W4.39746

Sunday 22nd January 2017

This morning was very frosty on Ponferrada. Just as we were boiling the kettle and toasting the toast our gas cut off. How could this be when we had a half full gas cylinder connected? I think that the problem is that very little LPG is used in Spain and Portugal and that garages are continuing to hold stocks of the summer mix which contains a high proportion of Butane which boils at -1 C as opposed to Propane which boils at -42 C. In cold conditions as time goes by the concentration of Butane in the cylinders increases and the gas becomes less and less usable while the temperature remains below -1 C. Anyway we changed cylinders and completed our breakfast without further problems. We moved on west to the city of Astorga. Here's the view from our parking place.

This truly weird building, the Bishop's Palace in Astorga, was designed by the brilliant and totally mad Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.

When this building was completed it was considered to be an eyesore and an embarrassment to the city for half a century. This was before it was realised that something could be so bad that it was good!

Inside, if that is possible, things are even weirder.

Typical Gaudiesque column.

What about this for ornate? Pity about the scaffolding.

There are many interesting artifacts in the palace. Here is the Virgin Mary with Jesus and St Ann?

In the cellar,which was presumably the bishops wine store, there are now many historical exhibits including this old sarcophagus. 

We had a quick look at the nearby Astorga Cathedral but it was pretty tame after Gaudi's extravaganza. 

We had this last view of the Bishop's Palace over the city walls as we were leaving.

We moved on west to the city of Leon and parked at the aire. We got our bikes out and had a ride along the river.

Here Ann is seen negotiating a tricky section of the riverside cycle path!

We stopped for a rest by the river where Ann took this arty shot of the bullrushes.

Soon afterwards the skies darkened and we had the first rain we had experienced on this trip since we were in southern France and about to cross the Pyrenees several weeks ago! 

Today we traveled 71 miles (114 kilometres). We are at N42.60512 W5.58524