Spain Day 2 - Guernica to Lekeitio

 Wild wind and rain overnight. Not escaped the British weather yet!  Lazy start having decided to brave the wet and stay north. Weather forecasts look pretty ropey for much of Spain so little incentive to head south yet. Slight drama of escaped cows entering the campsite but are quickly encouraged back to the adjacent farm and just as we are leaving we became aware that all the time we’ve been here the Guggenheim has been visible  from our pitch! 

Drove through the beauty Basque Country to Guernica. Swiss type chalets and fields of sheep and vines. Well worth taking the ‘no tolls’ route. Not far at all so thought it might be worth a wander on minor roads and we were right! Guernica is a beautiful town built from horrendous events. Today there appeared to be some kind of medieval fair with pipers and market stalls and music coming out of speakers all around the town giving it a little of a Disneyland feel. 


Fantastic museum of peace with super friendly staff (4 euro as retirees) We arrived with only an hour and a half to look around before they closed and there was plenty to see, so a little rushed. A great way to fully appreciate how the town and its people suffered and the forgiveness they somehow summon up.


Onwards via the market, where we shared a cone of local cheese and crackers, to the towns famous oak tree and a wandering to find the Henry Moore and  Eduardo Chillida’s sculptures in the peace gardens. 




Walking back we passed an elderly couple who encouraged us (only speaking in basque) to enter the underground shelters used for air raids. Turned out to be a mini museum. Minimal information but atmospheric and well worth a look (no charge)

Back to the van and decided that although we’d seen a suitable aire on the edge of town we should move on towards San Sebastián and perhaps squeeze in another town or two. 

Couple of diversions on the way. The site of the Santismine cave paintings - closed up for the day but a lovely spot to be in as the sun popped out, and the tbirding centre at Urdaibai, not much happening in terms of migration but an amazing set up with great information and fantastic views of the estuary wetlands (7€) 

Arrived in Lekeitio just as it gets dark ( and raining again). Our spot tonight is between the big white vans in an allocated car park. Free to use and will enable us to see the sea tomorrow!

Bread and soup for tea and shared an enormous bun bought at Guernica market… hoping for a warm night! 


Miles travelled so far:

Todays steps: 10,444

Overnight at ‘Parking 1’ Lekeitio - free

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 41 - Riberduero to Embalse de La Cuerda del Pozo

Image
 Waking to sunshine and cuckoos, definitely spring now. Really hard to leave with the sun shining so we take our time doing all the necessary tasks when you are taking advantage of staying at a campsite.  A little later than we should leave we hot the road but only for a couple of miles to the limestone castle in the adjacent village of Penafiel. On paper this is a walkable distance but being at the top of a high hill the drive is very welcome.  The castle is unlike any other we’ve seen. It sits along a narrow ridge and to do this had to be built long and narrow. It’s almost ship like with one tower in the centre like a giant funnel. It’s also unlike any other in that the only way to visit it is on a Spanish speaking guided tour and on a ticket that includes seeing the ‘wine museum’ that is housed within the castle walls (€6.60). We tack onto a tour but are unable to keep up with the Spanish, so wander at the tail end of the group enjoying the sunshine and trying to work ...
Read more

Ready to go!

Image
Seems a long time since we were heading back from Scotland and talking about avoiding some of the British winter and taking the van to Spain, but nine months later we are about to hit the road.  The last couple of weeks have been filled with packing and re-packing to make the most compact version of everything. With a vague idea that we might keep going for six weeks and temperatures that could easily stretch from single figures to 30+ deciding what is needed is a challenge! Ten years on I’m still managing to find tiny mods that add space (like the magnetic knife rack holding little metal boxes) …and adding more fairy lights. The long ferry journey will be a new experience. Graham lacks 'sea legs' so it remains to be seem how crossing the Bay of Biscay will go. Particularly as they’ve brought the sailing forward tonight due to impending high winds! There’s also the added complication of having to have some things in a bag to take to the cabin …this destroys my van organisation...
Read more

Spain Day 5 - San Sebastián to Pamplona

Image
Bright sunshine to wake to at last! Off to Pamplona. Mostly motorway but we moved to the smaller road for the last 20 mins or so. Blue skies and snow capped mountains visible as we climbed. Stunning roadside mirador opportunity where we also got our first view of circling vultures and saw trees filled with nests of processionary moth caterpillars high in the pines.  Finally got a chance to make a brief visit to a bigger supermarket and fill up the fridge and the fuel tank just before we reached the city. The aire here is very new, on the outskirts of town next to the fire station, but only a short walk away from the centre (with a glass lift to save the climb). Google wasn’t happy with the address but got us near enough to follow the signs. It’s the first time that we’ve seen lots of English vans, mostly returning from winters on the ‘costas’. It’s nice to chat about their recommendations and experiences. The aire seems to be somewhere that young people hang around and smoke weed w...
Read more