A day at the campsite

Being more or less the middle of the holiday, today was washing day.  The weather was nice so we had a good cooked breakfast of bread, mushrooms, boudin, butter and jam and then did a couple of loads of washing as we are getting close to half way through the holiday now.  The day stayed sunny so we were able to get everything dry which was pleasing.  We joined the special campsite festive dinner in the evening and had a great meal and good conversation with a Dutch couple and a Danish Couple.

France at last!

We did a tour of Burgos Cathedral today and were really impressed by how well preserved and spectacular it is.  We took a picture also of one of the City gates and then set off on the drive to our next campsite. We stopped about 10 miles short of the Spanish/French border and had another typically Spanish lunch of tortilla and other raciones.  We filled up with petrol as it’s about 30c per litre cheaper in Spain than France.  We stopped off near to our next campsite at an Intermarché in Castelnau-Magnoac for a few provisions then got to our next Campsite, Eglantiere, at around 6pm. We had a rather long introduction and tour by a slightly over-zealous staff member – who was of course just trying to be helpful.  We got the tent put up and went over to the nice bar/restaurant/clubhouse area for dinner.

Moving on to Burgos

We packed up and left Camping Los Manzanos today to do the long drive to Burgos, our next overnight stop.  The drive was pretty uneventful and we arrived at Burgos in the early evening to check into our hotel, Méson del Cid.  It was in a lovely location directly overlooking the really beautiful Burgos Cathedral.  After checking in and changing we went for a wander and found some dinner.

Santa Cruz and Betanzos

We didn’t want to drive too far today as it was our last day in Galicia and there’s a long drive tomorrow.  We had a leisurely breakfast at the campsite and then drive down into Santa Cruz, the nearest town to our campsite.  We looked at the Castello Santa Cruz but it wasn’t open so it was really just a nice walk around the bay.  We then drove the short distance to Betanzos which is actually a rather pretty town.  We walked around some of its churches and the city wall and got back to the campsite after topping up on a few provisions around 6.30pm.  We had dinner at the campsite restaurant ready for the long drive to Burgos tomorrow.

Lugo

We visited the town of Lugo today and found it very pretty and interesting.  It has an intact city wall that we walked all the way around, enjoying some good views of the city.  A surprising amount of the area inside the wall is either derelict or undeveloped.  We visited the provincial museum and then had a nice lunch in the open by the museum.  After lunch we went to the cathedral and looked at the town hall.  Lugo has an intact city wall that we walked all the way around, enjoying some good views of the city.  A surprising amount of the area inside the wall is either derelict or undeveloped.  Following the walk we had an ice cream at praza maior and then looked at a couple more churches before driving back to the campsite.  We had a dinner of crisps, beer, soup, bread, cheese and local rioja (costing the huge sum of 5 Euros!).

Beach and Malpica

We went beach exploring again today and went to a nice beach in Arteixo called Cambouzas.  It was a nice sunny and sandy cove with great facilities including bar, food, and toilets.  The sea was a bit rough but we managed a little dip before leaving the beach around 4.30pm.  We drove on then to Malpica, a little port town to the West of A Coruña.  We had an explore of that town and bought a few bits of food at some local shops there including a bottle of red wine for 1 euro that was actually quite nice.  We made dinner of pasta, chorizo, onion, garlic and tomato back at the tent.

Santiago de Compostela

We went to Santiago de Compostela today as it is the feat of St James, the patron saint of Spain.  The drive was about an hour and we had a good explore of the cathedral, followed by a nice tapas lunch.  We went to see the museum of pilgrimage and Santiago then we walked around the tour shown by the guide book we were using.  We visited the Convento de San Paio de Antealares and the Convento de San Martiño Pinariao.  We came back to the campsite for an evening of relaxing at the tent.

Beaches and old towns

Today we went exploring beaches and went to Doniños beach.  We also drove along to Cedeira, a very pretty town on the North cost of Galicia.  We visited San Andres de Teixido with its well preserved monastery and pilgrimage site.  A long drive back to the camp site won us a good meal of pizza and beer and some postcard-writing.

Exploring A Coruña

Today we decided to go into A Coruña to explore.  It’s quite a big city and we saw lots including the marina, the Hercules Column (although it was in a cloud), Plaza Santa Maria Pita, The Domus Museum, the Belas Artes Museum, Santiago Church, and St Dominica.  There was also a traditional mediaeval festival and market going on.  We came back to the campsite restaurant for another good meal.

The drive west across Spain to our first campsite

We arrived at Bilbao at 0745 local time after another great night’s sleep on the ferry.  We started the long drive to Galicia to our campsite which is just outside A Coruña.  It’ called Camping los Manzanos.  We got the tent up and popped out for some supplies then had a nice meal at the campsite restaurant.

A day at sea

We had a brief stop at Roscoff in Brittany to change crew and pick up supplies and then carried on South past Brittany.  There was an interesting talk about whales and other sea life prevalent in the area and we spent a relaxing day reading books and enjoying the lovely weather.  We had a nice meal in one of the ship’s restaurants in the evening followed by a quiz in the bar.  We came second.

Off on a long ferry trip to Bilbao

We had sung all the services at Westminster Abbey with CLCC this weekend so were quite tired.  We had the car and all our kit in central London so drove straight down to Portsmouth to get the ferry to Bilbao.  We had a curry on the way, which was rather good, and got to the ferry in plenty of time for our 2330 crossing.