Jeff

The next morning we got up and did our morning run which included a short diversion to see the elephants who were in the safari park which was apparently behind the camper stop. We then jumped in the van and headed north through Bilbao and upwards towards San Sabastian. On the way we had a couple of stops planned but we could only do one of them today, due to tide times. The one today was San Juan de Gaztelugatxe which was a hermitage on a rocky outcrop which requires a walk down a big hill and then a climb of 241 stairs to get to the hermitage church (which was also featured on Game of Thrones. Once we had managed the walk back up the hills (and managed to find a cat who happily had some fuss and then called after us as we walked away). We then carried on north towards our second stop but as this is also a rocky outcrop that you can only get to when the tide is low so we cant do it today so we found a creepy little stop for the night in the wooded hills with nothing but a building that made water gushing noises.

We got up the next morning we got up and headed for the town of Lekeitio where there is mirador de San Nicolas which you get access to via a small walkway only available at low tide. We headed down there about an hour before low tide and decided to rick it with the wall as it was clear but there were waves which were still crashing heavily against, and a bit over, the wall of the path. We walked as quick as we could over the path but it was like an ice rink in places and there was nothing to help us guess what would be slippery and what wouldn’t be. The waves did manage to get our feet wet but we made it safely to the stairs and climbed our way to the top of the rock. It was a lot easier than Calp (which we climbed near Benidorm and was no where near as high but it did give some great views as we were surrounded by sea. We watched some surfers practicing from the top and then headed down back to the beach across the path and managed to stay dry this time. On the walk back to the van we hunted down our daily baguette before heading off to try and find some electricity to charge the battery on the van. We haven’t had much problem with this before but everything decided to go against us today and it took several different stops to find some and even then it wasn’t the official electric (as this wasn’t working) but we managed to find a plug socket next to the official ones and this one was working so we used this before heading onwards towards San Sabastian. It was late by the time we got to the city and our plan was to park up in the old town, on the sea front and go out for dinner and a couple of drinks but again today conspired against us and the sea front was closed due to the storm out to sea. This meant we had to find somewhere else to park while driving around a very busy city in the dark and rain. We headed out of the centre (as its hard to find big enough parking in the city) to a stop about 30 minutes walk. We weren’t sure there would be any space but we were lucky and nabbed one of the last spaces but as it was still raining and cold we decided to give the city a miss tonight and grabbed dinner and a G&T in the van.

The next morning we got up and headed into town on the bus (as it keeps raining) and walked around the city centre for the day eating lots. First we started off by grabbing some toasts for breakfast and then walked around the old town before heading up to the castle (motako gaztelua) from which we could see the crashing waves and below and the statue on top of the chapel who is the custodian of the city. After enjoying the sun for a little up on top of the city we headed back down as the grey clouds were looming and releasing little showers of rain every now and then. Once down at the bottom of the hill we walked around the coastal section that had been closed yesterday but was reopened. It was really good fun as you could hear the waves crashing against the city walls and suddenly one would crash so hard it would send water up into the air and slam onto the footpath/cycle lane or road. This was particularly funny when it hit unsuspecting people and soaked them. We watched a few people get wet at different points, including some people who were taking lots of photos of the water coming up (and had been stood there for a good 10 mins) before a particularly large wave came and totally drenched them, much to the amusement of many people nearby (including us).

Next we continued walking down the coast and watched more surfers and people in kayaks riding the waves, some were really bad while others wiped out lots but they were all braver than me as I wouldn’t have got in the sea while it was that rough. After watching all this activity we decided it was time for tea and cake before heading to the park and English palace. While the palace wasn’t open we could walk around the gardens and it could have been any of the stately homes in the UK which was a little weird. After exploring this we decided to head back to the van for a change of clothes before we came out for the evening. Once refreshed we headed to Gintoneria which did amazing gin cocktails which were infused using dry ice and we had a couple before heading onto the vegan restaurant we had booked for tonight. We had a whole array of food, drinks and desserts for dinner including bao buns and roasted aubergine before getting the bus back.

The next morning we got up and planned to walk up to one of the other hills to get some of the views as it had cleared up since yesterday. There was a funicular that went up the hill but this didn’t start running till 11am and we are early morning starters so we didn’t want to wait. We walked up the hill but unfortunately the top of the hill was closed for road works so while we got most of the way up we couldn’t get to the very top. We did manage to get some nice views and then started the walk to the bottom and back to Jeff to head out to our next stop – Bilbao. It wasn’t a long drive, especially as we took the toll road there, and we got to the camper stop at lunch time. The camperstop is a lovely location on a hill above the town but it is a steep hill. There was a bus we could get into town and back but we decided to ride the bikes in so that we could explore the town more. The ride down was difficult as the route the GPS took us was very very steep and was more of a pedestrian route so we walked the bikes down rather than riding them, vowing to find a different route back up. At the bottom we continued the ride into town and soon found it full of people so ditched the bikes for a walk around the old town. All the bars and restaurants seemed heaving and there were people everywhere. We felt a bit overwhelmed as it seemed to be the busiest city we have been in for a long time but we continued to explore and then got on the bikes to ride out to the Guggenheim museum where there are several structures/statues to see outside. One of the statues is a dog and the story behind this is that it was a travelling exhibition that stopped in the city and then was due to continue but the locals loved it and managed to get it to stay in spain. We planned to explore the museum tomorrow but wanted to see the outside and area today. We headed back into the city centre and it had calmed down a little so we walked a bit more before getting some food at a top rated vegan café. Then we carried on walking around the city and headed to the cultural centre which is a great building (and has won awards) and has restaurants, a roof top swimming pool, and exhibitions on. After exploring the building it was getting rather dark so we decided that before heading home we would need a drink so we found a craft beer place for a where we both had a beer and shared a cookie (well it was more like a vegan wagon wheel). The reason we shared the cookie is on the way to the bar we had seen a churro stand which looked very popular so on the way back to the bikes we decided to stop and get some churros which were really good (and we decided we needed the sugar hit before heading back up the hill). Next we navigated back to the van, avoiding the pedestrian route and got to the bottom of the hill where the sign indicated that it was a 15% gradient, we took a deep breath and headed up. Rich did have to get off the bike as it appeared to be a popular time to drive up the hill and it was steep with lots of turns so its not the easiest hill to climb anyway. Once we made it to the top we had the last little cycle to the van with great views across the city at night.

The next morning I had booked the Guggenheim for the first slot of the day so we got up and cycled into the city and headed for the museum which is split across three floors with exhibitions showing the 25 years of the Guggenheim. There were exhibitions which involved going into things which I really enjoyed (even if Rich said I was too old to go inside the big white square) and ones to look at. On the first floor was an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama who was famous for using dots and had a mirrored room of lights which was great to go in. There were also exhibitions on material life, pop art and a look back at the history of the museum. We spent a good couple of hours walking around the museum and participating in the interactive pieces before heading out in the sunlight and onto get some breakfast. We had planned a bit of a clean of the van for this afternoon (it being a Sunday and all) and we knew the weather was supposed to be a bit hit and miss. So after breakfast we started the journey back to the van but stopped at a vegan cake shop to get some dessert for latter and stumbled across a market which we had a walk around. At the rear of the market there was also some female weight lifters who appeared to be lifting some stones for a competition or record as everything looked very official. They were lifting around 65kg stones multiple times and it was great to watch for a little bit before we continued on and up the hill. Rich made it up this time without stopping but it is still a gruelling hill to climb. We then spent the late afternoon/evening cleaning and sorting out the van and planning the next few day as we only have three days before we are on the boat home.

The long walk back from San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

The hermitage church at San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

The view across to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe from the mainland

The view of mirador de San Nicolas

The view from mirador de San Nicolas

another view from mirador de San Nicolas

The rough sea while we were on mirador de San Nicolas

This was the calm walk back

as was this

San Sabastian bridge

This is an old square in San Sabastian where bullfighting used to happen and the balconies were rented out for people to watch from

The custodian of the city looking out over San Sabastian

The view from motako gaztelua and the location of the custodian statue

The waves that kept breaching the sea walls and hitting unsuspecting people

Rich was one of those people but managed to outrun the waves

The sea at San Sabastian, this doesn't make it look as bad as it was

After a morning of drizzle in San Sabastian it was starting to clear up

The English Palace in San Sabastian

Cocktails!

Using dry ice to infuse the flavours

The failed morning hike up to the mirador but we still got some lovely views

A sun setting picture from our evening in San Sabastian

The Puppy statue at the Guggenhiem

The spider at the Guggenheim

The Guggenheim at sunset

The Guggenheim marble statue surrounded by fog

Churros - when in Spain!

The view from our camper stop

the light box in the museum

Us in the light box

more art work, including a Japanese tree with notes on it

Bars with writing on them in different languages

The soft white box that Rich thought we were too old to go in, I showed him we weren't

Pop art tulips

More art work

Andy Warhol self portrait under his Marilyn Monroe pictures

A series of art works showing the effects of a war

One of the other exhibitions

Rich having a rest in art

So the first thing we noticed on the Friday night on the edge of the Los Picos Europa national park was it was colder here, due to the mountainous landscape. We had to put the heating on overnight as it was in the single figures which is the first time that has happened since we left the UK in September.

After a cosy night in the van (we set the heating a little too high for the night so we need to adjust this for the next night) we drove into the park and as we drove we got higher into the mountains it got icier then snowy until we got to the location we were set to walk from. We decided not to let a few inches of snow (which was continuing to fall) put us off and we wrapped up warm and set off. The hike was supposed to be 20km and take us up a mountain but there was limited phone reception and due to the snow we didn’t see the turn off so we eneded up on a different (and flat) walk to the next village. On the walk we managed to see more animals than people which was nice, even if some of them were big and a little scary (big bulls giving the stink eye or large dogs barking to protect their flock) but most were just scared of us.

We managed to get to the town (without slipping in the snow) in about 2.5 hours which wasn’t bad for the 10km it took and then had some breakfast of overnight oats in a church yard where there was some shelter to allow us to sit somewhere not in the snow before we headed back. Once back we jumped in jeff and made ourselves some hot drinks before heading off to drive to the location of the walk we planned for tomorrow (which also happens to be lower in the valley so should be warmer). The drive was due to only be an hour and a half but not long into it the sat nav tried to take us down a mountain road, which had a sign saying snow chains were needed in winter. We drove down the road a short section and decided that actually this probably isn’t worth it given we only have all terrain tyres so we tried to see if there was anywhere to turn around. We got to a corner and saw a tow truck reversing so we started doing the same thing and Rich did great and managed to reverse the 1km we had driven down the road with the tow truck in-front of us. Once at the end we re-routed and it added another hour to the drive which was hard going given the walking we had already done and the difficult driving conditions but we eventually made it to the stop for the night and settled in ready for an early morning the next day

Rich had set the alarm to get us up nice and early as today we had the ruta del cares walk planned which is a 12km (each way) walk planned and this is supposed to be one of the most beautiful walks in spain. First we had to drive a bit closer (although still 1km from the start) and headed off all wrapped up. We soon realised how much warmer it was down at this lower altitude so ended up with lots of layers in our backpacks, especially after we completed the first couple of km which were just up hill climbs. These first kms are the hardest and the rest of the walk was fairly flat but we didn’t speed through it as there was so much to see, from mountain goats and birds of prey, to waterfalls and cliff edges. We were also quickly taught that even though this is a popular route there are still dangers of these types of walks as we were not far into the walk when there was a little landslip above us and rocks came tumbling down. We were just out of the way but it did keep us alert and during the whole walk we saw another 2 landslides but luckily they were further away from us. The walk was mostly through a valley with a rapid canal of water next to the path and ended in a range of tunnels to get to the end point. We had to cross the river, at the bottom of the valley several times, including using a bridge which had two permanent signs up that stated the handrails were not to be leaned on as they were in poor condition and were next to be repaired (given that they had two signs for this – one at either side of the bridge – you would think it would have been easier to fix the handles rather than install the signs). After about 3.5 hours we reached the halfway point which was the village of Cares (which was very small) where we received a lovely warm welcome from a group of cats and a dog. They were very interested in us, more so when we sat down to eat and they thought there could be food for them (I think they would be disappointed with overnight oats, which is what we were eating again). After a short break back we headed for the 13km (12km walk plus the 1km back to the car) second section. We managed to get back a little quicker than it took to get there and we were soo glad to get back into the van. We drove back to the stop we had parked at for the Saturday night and as there was a laundrette there we did some washing and relaxed for the evening as we were really tired after the two walks.

The next morning we got up and had a bit of a lazy morning as it was raining and was due to rain all day so we thought we would have a little bit of an admin day. After chatting with some other British motorhomers who were also at the stop we headed north to a town called Torreleavega where we managed to sort out all the camper van stuff like water and toilet, as we hadn’t done it in a few days and get some shopping in before heading to Santillana del Mar which is an old town which is very pretty to walk around. However the rain continued so we decided to stay near the town and relax for the evening with a film and explore to town tomorrow.