Spain Day 9 - Folllowing the Ebro

Lazy morning, fresh croissant from the local bakery and another shower, as they were hot today! Despite not having time to visit any museums yesterday, we decided that we’d had enough city time for now so they can wait for next time. 

We made a decision to try and follow the river to the Delta. It was a bit of a slow start, we had to argue with google maps as it refused to believe we wanted the slow road, but well worth it as once we got on our way it was a corking day of driving! Early on we passed an amazing sight when we realised that the power lines for the adjacent train track, and most pylons were each topped with a stork nest , many of which had two storks standing on them…it was quite spectacular. 


At the edge of Sastago we spent quite a while thinking the traffic lights were faulty, before realising they controlled a one way road throughout the entire village and so had a slow change. Thankfully, they were there as it was definitely a single width road.


As we left the village and crossed the river on a very distinctive bridge we stopped for one of the first of many stunning views.

From here the road rose very steeply. We were still seeing solar farms but now covering entire hillsides, there were vultures overhead and the occasional kite, but increasingly this became a drive through fruit tree orchards with blossom just starting to break …just beautiful.






We diverted a little to drive through the town of Caspe but it wasn’t the most attractive so kept on trucking! The weather was starting to get ‘interesting’ we could hear thunder occasionally and there was always rain somewhere on the horizon. Just short of Fayon we noticed another sign to a mirador. Generally these have been close to the road and been worth a swift look, but this time it snaked up a hill and G was all for turning back and five mins or so. We didn’t though, and what a treat! We arrived at the hermitage at the top of the hill just as the storm passed over. With probably our most far reaching views yet we watched the storm come towards us , sheltered as the hailstones fell and then watched the rainbows appear. A really special moment.


Having spent longer than expected travelling, we decide to rethink our destination and look for a nearby stop. We found a great fisherman’s campsite next to a reservoir. The reservoir was created by flooding the original town of Fayon, now rebuilt higher up the hill and you can still see the remains of the old railway tunnel going into the cliff face.


It’s a tiny site. We are the only van here but there are about 10 pitches and a number of cabins and caravans. Being in front of a cliff face and beside water means there are lots of birds, and we used the last of the light to walk a little and watched birds heading in to roost. G of course had to go a bit further and climbed all the way back up to the new Fayon town. 

It’s a really peaceful site except for the amazing noises coming from some sort of pumping/discharge station which sounded like a jet engine shooting out gravel every 15 mins or so.  There’s a nice looking restaurant on site too, but as we already had groceries, its dinner in the van with a Mother’s Day call from Daisy and a nice glass of Rioja! For G even the washing up was a delight tonight when s fox joined him at the washing up sinks.

Whilst I turned around the van for bed , Graham ventured out into the dark for some star gazing which added to the delight he had earlier.

Miles so far: 519

Steps today: 5940

Overnight:  Port Massaluca 19,40€ (10% ASCI discount)

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