Castelnau-Magnoac and the market

We got up to go and visit the market in Castelnau-Magnoac.  It was a good market with a wide choice of drinks, vegetables, cheese and meat.  We bought plenty of food and drink and went back to the campsite to get them refrigerated.  We had a nice lunch of bread, olives, cheese and saucisson.  The cheeses we bought were Napoleon (a local sheep’s cheese), Saint Nectaire (from the Auvergene) and Brie. We also explored a war memorial in the area.

In the afternoon we went for a walk around some of the trails on the campsite – it covers a big area – including up to the old farm where there is more accommodation and a sauna. In the evening we cooked our own dinner at the tent with some steak haché that we had bought at the market.

Auch and Condom

We went to visit two towns fairly close by today; Auch and Condom.  We had a nice lunch in Auch and had a wander round the cathedral there.  Auch has a big monumental staircase that goes down to the river Gers which we explored.  It included a statue of D’artagnan – the hero of the three musketeers.  In Condom we visited the cathedral and saw the statue of D’artagnan and the three musketeers outside it.  We had a look round the cloister of the cathedral and came back to the campsite for dinner.

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!).