Road Trip - France, Spain, Portugal

[willwander]

Day 19
scenic drive back up to the coast, staying at ‘camping playa del regaton’ in Laredo, average site in a poor location on the outskirts of an unattractive town, who chose this place? haha
Cheered ourselves up with a dog walk along the beach, followed by 1€ wines in a dodgy local bar full of old men buying lottery tickets.

 

[Azteccamper]

Day 19
scenic drive back up to the coast, staying at ‘camping playa del regaton’ in Laredo, average site in a poor location on the outskirts of an unattractive town, who chose this place? haha
Cheered ourselves up with a dog walk along the beach, followed by 1€ wines in a dodgy local bar full of old men buying lottery tickets.

You’ve been too kind!
Agree - a beautiful sweep of a bay with a backdrop of continuous featureless flats. Not even the ‘old town’ saves it. Actually stayed at ‘Playa del Regaton’ too.

Following your journey with interest. We love northern Spain and there are a couple of cracking spots. Enjoy

 

[willwander]

You’ve been too kind!
Agree - a beautiful sweep of a bay with a backdrop of continuous featureless flats. Not even the ‘old town’ saves it. Actually stayed at ‘Playa del Regaton’ too.

Following your journey with interest. We love northern Spain and there are a couple of cracking spots. Enjoy

I always look for the positives, but that stretch of flats was actually f’king depressing haha

Tell us your best spots

 

[willwander]

Day 20
Puppy, Guggenheim, Bilbao


Visited the Guggenheim in Bilbao, didn’t actually go in, we are such bad tourists. We did buy some dog food and had a coffee, Bilbao is actually a great city, we enjoyed it.

We’re going to push on tomorrow, will be heading further along the coast or maybe into Portugal, depending on the weather. Fancy some beach time. Suggestions welcome.

 

[Azteccamper]

San Vicente de la Barquera
Ribadesella
Colunga
Three nice little towns with lovely beaches and sites nearby.
Also a little inland, Potes is worth a visit in the Picos de Europa.

 

[soulstyledevon]

There’s a restaurant in Potes that does the best rack of ribs I’ve ever had.
Can’t eat ribs without mentioning that place. One day, I gotta go back…!!!

 

[Barbara]

Day 17
Pamplona, what a lovely place, gorgeous, really relaxed and chill vibe, home of the famous bull run through the medieval city also home to probably the best car park in the whole of Spain (zoom into photo)

View attachment 129319

Just arrived at a free aire in Olite, our home for tonight, packed full of the usual great whites, you’ve got to admire these guys, they know all the best spots.

Spent the evening in Olite, really cute place, the entire village is like Hogwarts Castle from the Spanish version of Harry Potter.

Planning out next spot, we are in two minds, should we head back up to the coast and visit Bilbao? Or head further south into the Central Spain.

Do you know the name or coordinates of that car park? It is always very useful to know where to park. Looks like you have had a great trip.

 

[willwander]

Do you know the name or coordinates of that car park? It is always very useful to know where to park. Looks like you have had a great trip.

We find park-for-night really useful for finding normal day parking too, it often has reviews specifying height restrictions and what type of van it is suitable for. This one was the size of a football stadium and twice as big as in my picture.

“Guarded and shaded parking for motorhomes inside the bus station, Centro Pamplona.”
https://park4night.com/lieu/266150/

 

[Barbara]

Day 20
Puppy, Guggenheim, Bilbao

View attachment 129407
Visited the Guggenheim in Bilbao, didn’t actually go in, we are such bad tourists. We did buy some dog food and had a coffee, Bilbao is actually a great city, we enjoyed it.

We’re going to push on tomorrow, will be heading further along the coast or maybe into Portugal, depending on the weather. Fancy some beach time. Suggestions welcome.

Did your dog like the flower dog? Good picture

 

[willwander]

There’s a restaurant in Potes that does the best rack of ribs I’ve ever had.
Can’t eat ribs without mentioning that place. One day, I gotta go back…!!!

Remember the name of the restaurant?
We’ve just arrived in Potes and your rib story is making me hungry.

Btw I have a similar story about a steak I once ate in Fuengirola.

 

[willwander]

Day 21
Spent the day on the beach in San Vicente de la Barquera, thanks @Azteccamper, you little beauty, full of cool surfer dudes, gorgeous, debated on staying at the campsite which looked good, but moved on to ‘la Viorna’ near Potes in the Picos. Not gunna lie, it’s lovely here and we are blessed with good weather

 

[Azteccamper]

Day 21
Spent the day on the beach in San Vicente de la Barquera, thanks @Azteccamper, you little beauty, full of cool surfer dudes, gorgeous, debated on staying at the campsite which looked good, but moved on to ‘la Viorna’ near Potes in the Picos. Not gunna lie, it’s lovely here and we are blessed with good weather

Great little campsite La Viorna. And a great little town. If you fancy a spin and a nice walk up the mountains Teleférico de Fuente Dé is worth a shout

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Interesting read, thanks.

We had two weeks on northern Spanish coast about 5 years ago. It was grey and rained almost the whole time. V disappointing.

Caught in another rain storm on deck of the ferry back, I made some remark about “I’ve had enough of this %#*%ing holiday”. A couple sat next to us asked us what had gone wrong. I explained we had had a very wet 2 weeks. Something we didn’t expect in Spain. Spent the whole time in anoraks. Doubly worse as the places and sites we visited would have been great. They told us that it’s often grey in August, and September is much better. I’ve always remembered that.

We now go to Spain for a few days in San Sebastián and Pamplona etc and then head home through France in August.

 

[willwander]

Interesting read, thanks.

We had two weeks on northern Spanish coast about 5 years ago. It was grey and rained almost the whole time. V disappointing.

Caught in another rain storm on deck of the ferry back, I made some remark about “I’ve had enough of this %#*%ing holiday”. A couple sat next to us asked us what had gone wrong. I explained we had had a very wet 2 weeks. Something we didn’t expect in Spain. Spent the whole time in anoraks. Doubly worse as the places and sites we visited would have been great. They told us that it’s often grey in August, and September is much better. I’ve always remembered that.

We now go to Spain for a few days in San Sebastián and Pamplona etc and then head home through France in August.

I does rain a lot !
We had torrential rain all night last night, heading off this morning it was miserable and we debated heading straight for the Costa’s.
We’ve been lucky so far, with rain almost every night but days being nice with temps in low 20s. We have a couple of days of more nice weather forecast before another front comes in.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

We left Cudillero a few days ago. It's worth stopping at for a night or two. Lovely port walkable from the campsite but very steep into town.

 

[willwander]

Day 22
Potes. Not a lot to report today, Picos are lovely, Potes is lovely, campsite is lovely, weather is lovely, it’s been lovely.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Day 22
Potes. Not a lot to report today, Picos are lovely, Potes is lovely, campsite is lovely, weather is lovely, it’s been lovely.

Indeed. A glorious day in the Picos and a big running event Panes to Potes today. One more good day and then the weather is unsettled for a few days.

Have you considered the cable car "Teleférico Fuente Dé". Or a bit further afield the Bulnes furnicula?

 

[willwander]

Indeed. A glorious day in the Picos and a big running event Panes to Potes today. One more good day and then the weather is unsettled for a few days.

Have you considered the cable car "Teleférico Fuente Dé". Or a bit further afield the Bulnes furnicula?

Ah, were you running?
Thanks for the tips, we’ll look into them.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Ah, were you running?
Thanks for the tips, we’ll look into them.

Absolutely not but wondered why the main car park had been cordoned off for a while. Might go for a nice cycle round the mountains tomorrow - ebike is fully charged!!!

 

[66tim99]

So beautiful that we have decided to retire in that region. We are buying an apartment in Oviedo. The wheels are in motion. We will of course take our van with us. You can't really go wrong visiting Asturias, Navarro, all of that side of Spain.

Sounds great. I see you’re in Somerset. How have you found the process of sorting the legalities to live in Spain? Or are you lucky to have an EU passport anyway?

 

[CaliforniaSeb]

Sounds great. I see you’re in Somerset. How have you found the process of sorting the legalities to live in Spain? Or are you lucky to have an EU passport anyway?

Being British I have no more rights to live in Spain than anyone else outside the EU. The first step is to get a good solicitor. The legalities are straightforward but the qualifying criteria are quite tough.

 

[willwander]

Day 23
Potes. Again not much to report, spent the day just sat outside the van, enjoying the nice weather, sometimes that’s all you need.
We were planning to continue along the north coast but the forecast for the next few days is not good, so we’re going to try dodge the rain and head for Salamanca tomorrow.

 

[Azteccamper]

Day 23
Potes. Again not much to report, spent the day just sat outside the van, enjoying the nice weather, sometimes that’s all you need.
We were planning to continue along the north coast but the forecast for the next few days is not good, so we’re going to try dodge the rain and head for Salamanca tomorrow.

Lovely city. Can recommend https://campingdonquijote.com/ nice site with a lovely restaurant. We walked and cycled into the city centre (easy and flat).

 

[Tycho]

Lovely city. Can recommend https://campingdonquijote.com/ nice site with a lovely restaurant. We walked and cycled into the city centre (easy and flat).

Yes, nice place, we were there in March and realy liked it.

 

[Wannabecamperman]

Being British I have no more rights to live in Spain than anyone else outside the EU. The first step is to get a good solicitor. The legalities are straightforward but the qualifying criteria are quite tough.

Different topic, but I'm in the process of arranging a non-lucrative visa. It's guaranteed as long as you have a DBS proof and (bloody expensive, despite no health issues) private Spanish medical insurance.