Wandering with Wilf

 Such a beautiful place to wake up , we will miss this one. The bakery is open today so there’s warm bread and croissant for breakfast. Then pack up and successfully get off the pitch without slipping in the mud!  On the way out of the village we noticed a small market in the town and stop for a look but with not much fridge space we can’t really buy anything from the three food stalls in the town carpark…though they are obviously very popular with locals.  We’ve decided to loop back round to the coast heading a little further inland before turning north again. We’re still hoping for a bear sighting but actually more snow covered mountains would be ok too!  It’s a lovely drive south, if a little narrow, we are alongside the fast flowing river for much of the way. The valley seems more protected , or perhaps it’s just a week later, but wildflowers are coming into life everywhere and most trees here are bursting buds.  Another lovely drive and we stop from time to...

  Lovely night, the rain didn’t last long and it was absolutely silent. It was misty when we woke, but it doesn’t take long before the clouds start to lift and we can see the mountains again. It appears that the weather today is gonna be much better than we expected. I’m still keen to get the laundry done and Graham could do with a good walk, which I’m not really up to at the moment, so that’s gonna be the plan. The tourist office was open on his journey to the bakery (which was fruitless as all the bread had gone for today) and they’ve provided him with a map of local footpaths, so he’s going to construct a route from here. It doesn’t take long for him to sort himself out and set off.  I get the washing on and enjoy a hot shower. The facilities here are relatively new and spotless but the sloping shower floor is a bit of a challenge to my poor knee. The washing machine is powered up by reception for €5.50 with the same fee for use of the dryer. They are high capacity and I ge...

 Well thankfully the rain stopped in the night and any flooding concerns were unnecessary. It was a quiet night and although we stirred when hearing the first trains, they were electric and really not noisy enough to prevent more sleep! The van alongside us last night had left at around 11, possibly due to worries abut the water and by the time we woke up the other van here had disappeared too.  Somewhat confused by the locals taking a windmill for a walk but we’ve seen things that are more weird I guess. The town seemed quite small but had a lovely feel and we drove out along the waters edge until the river hit the sea where there was a great harbour wall and some sizeable waves to watch whilst I took a frustrating call from our new travel insurance provider. Back in the car it was just a few miles to Cudillero, yet another on the most beautiful villages list. We entered the town via a ridiculous narrow and windy road which was only one car wide for most of its length, so any...

 Well despite it being a ‘carpark’ our overnight was very quiet and comfortable. It looks like there’s a good cafe very nearby so we head there for breakfast. Called ‘Ariela’ it was two minutes away, coffee was great, the almond croissant were enormous and it had the cleanest toilets we’ve seen since we got here!  From here it was around half an hour to walk to the headland and the Eduardo Chillida sculpture we are keen to see. We cross to the waters edge and walk past the aquarium, some great housing that looks exactly like cruise ships and past the harbour, which brings us to the old town, then up onto the headland.  When we get there the sculpture is as good as we hoped and when we get to stand within it, it produces odd sound reflections of the sea just as we’d hoped. Definitely one to experience as well as look at. The park also has the remains of a military battery and, perhaps because it’s Sunday, a lot of dog walkers!! From here it was we walk back down via the be...

 Great sleep last night. Our best wild camp yet, super peaceful and watching the light fall across the river was lovely. The weather this morning, not so lovely! It’s grey and a bit drizzly and predicted to just get worse. We briefly contemplate returning to the Bufones this afternoon with reports of rough seas and high tides but decide that there’s a good chance we still won’t get water spouts and we’ve driven that road a lot now so more dino prints instead! First though we pop just along the coast to the port of Llastres. Literally five minutes away and on the ‘most beautiful villages’ list. Indeed it’s really pretty, even the grey skies can’t damper it too much. It’s a proper fishing village with building stacked into the cliff little somewhere on the amalfi coast. It’s a mixture of styles with some palace-style buildings evidencing its heritage as a prominent whaling port.  After a bit of a wet wander we head on to Tazones. Not far along the coast but a half hour drive as ...

It was a noisy night at times with loud gusts of wind followed by total silence. Make the most of the facilitates whilst avoiding our unpleasant German neighbour and have a long chat with the very pleasant French guy in the other side of us who has been to more places in England than we have!  It feels like we’ve stayed here a lot now with really seeing Ribadesella itself so start off driving down to the hermitage on the eastern headland. Once again Google is optimistic about how far we can drive and we park before the promenade starts rather than take the suggested route of driving on it! It’s a lovely walk down to the end where the geology of the cliffs is stunning but Graham takes the walk to the hermitage on his own as my knee can’t do the steps. The view from the top is amazing , seeing the whole town as the sella flows through it to the sea.   From the promenade you can also see the row of Indianos house built on the spit opposite which are beautiful but closer inspectio...

  Well after all the storm stress things maybe weren’t as bad as anticipated but there were some strong gusts and the front cover lifted so was flapping about for much of the night. It’s still gusty and quite grey but the showers are light and infrequent. We caught the bakers van today so warm crusty bread for breakfast and it was delish!    Then packing up interspersed with playing with the aire owners dog who lived a game of fetch in the long grass. This time we really are going to head for the caves at Ribadesella where we have tickets for this afternoon (€4.14 each). First a run to the excellent Potes ferreteria where they supplied us with the bolts and washers needed if we decide to try and repair the roof hinges.     Then out on the same road as yesterday but keeping going when we get to the visitor centre and joining the N621 a slow road with a green line on the map, so should be attractive, and it saves us from repeating a stretch of the coast road that ...