The lovely town of Cognac and Brittany

Cognac - Saturday 29th March

We woke up to blue sky and sunshine - the sun was beautiful peeping through the pine trees. I took these photos before we left. 

We continued driving north alongside the sea. The sand dunes were mountainous!

The traffic heading towards us was really busy and queued back. I guess they were people heading out of Bordeaux to spend time on the beach on a sunny day though it wasn’t hot. 

We crossed the rivers Gironde and Dordogne both of which were running very fast and were a horrible brown colour. 

We were heading to Cognac, a town I have wanted to visit for a long time. The landscape was very flat mainly out down to vines. 

A quick supermarket stop then on to our stop over which was beside the River Charente, we could see the river from Kiwi. It was another Campingcar Park. Their sites are all so different, this one was nice but there wasn’t much space between vans though for one night it was fine. The fact that it was right beside the river gave it a higher score!  On average the Campingcar Park aires are costing about £12.50 a night and that includes electricity and the usual services. You can only enter an aire if you have booked and you have to either use a card or an unique number to raise the bar to go in. 

We took Rio for a walk along the river towards the town. We walked past the town quay along a lovely broad “promenade”. We passed the home of Hennessy cognac, it looked very impressive. We stopped for a while overlooking the Pont Neuf, which was built around 1850. It was a lovely walk in the sunshine. 

We found a sign giving flood heights.  There was one in 1904 and one in 1994 but the biggie was in 1982 when over €310 million in damages occurred.  I put Richard, at 6ft, by the sign so you can see how high the water was!

The town gives its name to one of the world's best-known types of brandy or eau de vie. Brandy must be made in certain areas around the town of Cognac and must be made according to strictly defined regulations to be granted the name Cognac.  I found out an interesting fact in that 95% of all of the Cognac produced every year is exported out of the country. French people, it turns out, simply don't have a taste for the spirit.

128 miles

Cognac - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Saint Vincent sur Jard - Sunday 30th March

We were woken up by a cockerel crowing, well to be honest he was crowing when we arrived, when we went to bed, when we woke up and when we left.  Thank goodness he was a fair distance from us, it must be very wearing if you live local to him!

We left Cognac in the sunshine but as we headed north the sun disappeared behind grey clouds. We even got a bit of drizzle. 

The drive was good, being a Sunday there were no lorries, except for those transporting perishable or refrigerated goods, until I saw a sign for asparagus!  I pointed it out to Richard who thought I wanted him to go right, so he turned right!  Google rerouted us through a village, down a narrow road then we came to a Deviation and that led us through another village.  I reckon it added 10 miles on to our journey, all because I suddenly remembered that we had some asparagus in the fridge!!

Our Campingcar Park was OK.  Not the worst and certainly not the best.  We have seven of these sites altogether so I might rate them at the end!

We took Rio across to the beach to be met with a sign saying no dogs.  Not no dogs in the summer or off the lead, but NO DOGS.  Poor Rio was so excited when he saw the beach but we had to walk away.  We found a small park beside the site so walked him there.  We let him off the lead and he had a good run around but he obviously felt that it wasn’t enough and was not going to be caught to go back on his lead.  He then found something which looked interesting.  I couldn’t see what it was but he was about to eat it so I ran over to chase him off. It was a piece of fish that the people opposite us were cooking on an electric grill round the back of their van, it was left unattended on the ground.  I don’t think he actually got any as probably the heat put him off.  We still couldn’t catch the naughty boy and by this time we were back at Kiwi.  We tried saying goodbye and shutting the van door, I even started the engine but nothing worked. Eventually I went out with his lead and he came over rather sheepishly and I picked him up. The trouble with Rio is that he has such a cute face that you just can’t be cross with him!

There is a small car park for users of the park and tucked away in the corner is an outside

laundrette!  Random!

107 miles

Saint Vincent sur Jard - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Sarzeau - Monday 31st March

What a beautiful morning, in fact it was a beautiful day!!

Rio made a bid for freedom and just would not be caught. I tried everything but

he wasn’t having it. He was running round and round in circles around me. I had

a bag of treats and the lead, but the game was too good. Eventually I sat on a large

stone and dropped a treat at my feet. He came warily, seized the treat and ran. I didn’t

try and catch him. The second time I lunged and caught him by his ear - he squealed

and gave in!!  What a waste of time!  We are going to have to work hard on his recall!

Today was one of our longest days, which was a shame as it was such a lovely

day. 

We needed to replace the levelling wedges that we left at Costa Nova. I managed

to find a caravan accessory shop which was only a few minutes off our route.

Thank goodness we were able to get some as for the last few nights we have

been sloping down hill. 

We were followed into the little town of Sarzeau by a police car.  In fact he was

going the other way until he saw us, turned round and sat behind us until we

pulled into the aire!  Richard is always very good with speed limits in small towns

and villages, he can’t feally do much else with all the speed bumps that each village

has.  It seems to me that there is an inter village competition to see who can get

the most of them!

We found our site.  It’s a nice new one, but the power wasn’t enough to boil the electric kettle.  We moore up and took Rio to the beach.  As we got nearer to it he was pulling on his lead with excitement, he must have smelt it!  He ran and ran, he just loves the beach so much.  

Back at Kiwi both Richard and Rio fell fast asleep - I just don’t seem to be able to sleep in the afternoons.

The beach was littered with lovely shells and stones.  I just had to take some home to go in the porch.

144 miles

Sarzeau - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Grey Spain and into sunny Spain

Vitoria-Gastiez - Wednesday 26th March

It was a very grey day with just a little bit of drizzle. I'm afraid that the photos show how grey it was.

We used the services before we left and I found a sign by the water tap which referred to the Peka Association. I looked it up and discovered it is a group of Spanish people who use recreational vehicles. They say they defend the freedom to choose. They were founded in 2017. We have a similar organisation in the UK called CAMpRA, which were founded in 2021. They ask people to contact their local councils to see if they will provide something similar. I wrote to one of our local councillors on Hayling Island, who didn’t even have the decency to reply to me. 

We seemed to be climbing up for ever. I checked the altitude and we were at 3200 feet. I think we were in part of the Cantabrian Mountains. 

Our stop over was in Vitoria-Gastiez, the capital of the Basque Region. It was a section of a large car park and I had booked it. The trouble was finding the entrance!  We found it at the third attempt!  There was a market in the large car park but it was 99.9% clothes and all the same clothes!  

We took a tram into the city but it was grey and a bit drizzly. We had a coffee then walked around a bit. Richard’s knee was playing him up so we couldn’t walk too far. From what we saw it is a lovely city and is on our list to come back to

The city was founded in 1180 by the Navarrese King Sancho VI, who conquered the small hill village of Gasteiz and decided to call it New Victoria.  Now it holds the Basque Automomous Communities House of Parliament, the headquarters of the Government and the Prime Minister’s official residence. 

In the medieval quarter, the Gothic-style Santa María Cathedral features a sculpted facade and towering columns. 

The Church of San Miguel has a large, baroque altarpiece and houses a statue of the White Virgin, the city’s patron saint.

The 17th-century Plaza de la Virgen Blanca has a monument to the 1813 Battle of Vitoria. 

The Plaza de España is a neoclassical building that forms a perfect square measuring 61 metres on each side.  Its construction began on October 17th 1781, the 600th anniversary of the founding of Vitoria, and was completed In December 1791.

These three photos are here because I like them!

On the tram back, Rio made a friend, a Spanish girl who kept calling him cute!!

There is a laundrette just across the car park, we weren’t desperate for clean clothes but it made sense to do some washing while we had the chance.  It looked all shut up but as Richard pushed the door the whole place sprang into action!

Parked in the outskirts of a city and the internet was dire, we couldn’t watch the TV, not that it mattered!

94 miles

Vitoria-Gasteiz - Searchforsites

Milady Beach, Biarritz - Thursday 27th March

I can now tell you a story!  A week ago, when Rio had to go to the vet, I asked the vet if she could give him a European Pet Passport.  She did, but I wasn’t happy, I thought something wasn’t right with it.  I put some photos on a Facebook group and, yes, it was wrong.  The vet had used the date of Rio’s rabies injection that he had done in the UK back in January and then scanned his microchip and put the date of the 20th.  This is wrong for the passport.  The scan date should precede or be on the same day as the rabies jab.  I asked all sorts of questions on Facebook and eventually found a vet in Vitoria-Gasteiz, who could speak English.  Rio’s appointment was for today.  He had a medical examination and then another rabies jab.  The vaccine is not a live one so it doesn’t matter if dogs have more than one.  Rio is now a Portuguese citizen, or should that be citidog or dogizen!  He is also registered on the Portuguese database.  The Animal Health Certificate that, since Brexit, we have to use, can cost anything from £99 to over £200!  The passport cost us £76 in total.  As we are going to France in May we have already saved ourselves money.  The rabies jab lasts for three years so we will need to get another needle stuck into Rio in 2028.

We left Vitoria-Gasteiz in the drizzle.  Our time there really had been grey.  The road up into France was the AP-1 which took us right through, I believe, the Basque Mountains.  And I mean through!  We went through 22 tunnels!  The second one was the Isiskitza Tunnel which, at 3.7 km, is the seventh longest tunnel in Spain.  I started to write the names of the tunnels down but they all had Basque names with lots of “z’s” and “g’s” in, and I just couldn’t remember the spelling!

When we drove down to Spain four weeks ago, the weather was good in France, but it changed for the worse when we crossed the border.  The same happened today, but in reverse.  We crossed the border into sunshine!!

Our stops for the next seven days are CampingCar Park sites.  You have to belong to the organisation and can then book a site in advance online.  They nearly all have electricity as well as the usual services.  Tonight’s was in Biarritz.  You don’t get much room but we were on an end so had bushes on one side.

It was a very short walk to the beach, it was so lovely to be walking in the sunshine.  Rio had a wonderful time, running and sniffing around.  We found a cafe and had a beer. It was the first time in four weeks that we had sat out and had a drink.  The beach is called Milady Beach named after Lady Mary Caroline Bruce, the wife of the Marquis of Ailesbury, who was affectionately nicknamed "Milady" by the people of Biarritz and whose villa, "Marbella," is near the beach.

This is Ilbarritz Castle. It was built between 1895 and 1897 by Gustave Huguenin (an architect from Biarritz) for Baron Albert de l'Espée.

90 miles

Milady, Biarritz - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Biscarrosse Plage Le Vivier - Friday 28th March

Our first night with electricity for five nights. Being off grid for that long has worked well. We have a power bank as I have sleep apnoea and use a CPAP machine every night. We’ve been charging the bank up on 12v as we have been driving along. I think I could go two nights without charging. The hairdryer won’t work on the power bank - I’ve got a travel one at home that would draw less watts, so will add that to the list!

We headed north to our next stop. Last nights was a pretty grotty but the beach so wonderful - let’s see if we can get both a good site and a good beach!

Just 98 miles today. The first two thirds were motorway then it was onto two lane roads and through a couple of towns. Good old Google did it again and took us the shortest way, but it was left, right, left and zillions of roundabouts!  We finally came out on a main road and, lo and behold, the lorry we had originally been following swept passed us!!  Thanks Google. 

We found our stop over - well you couldn’t really call it a stop over or an aire. It was a site (but without any toilets, showers etc.) in amongst the pine trees. You could see the pitches,155 of them, as each one had a white electricity bollard. It was one of the nicest places we have been to. I would say that there were probably only about 15 vans on site, but it is probably very different in the summer.  We weren’t quite level so Richard went to get the levelling wedges out, but they weren’t there!  We worked it out that we must have driven off them in Costa Nova and left them there!  Another thing for the check list. 

Through the trees we could see the sand dunes. Forest AND beach - what more could one ask for. Rio was in his element nosing around the forest then he found the sand dunes and, the icing on the cake, the sea. Bless him he was just so excited. I think it was the best walk he had ever had. 

When we got back we actually sat out for a bit for only the second time in four weeks. An intruder had crept into the van while we were sitting out. There was a pretty wagtail panicking as it couldn’t get out. I opened a window and it gratefully flew out. Thank goodness it didn’t leave a mess. 

98 miles

Biscarrosse Plage Le Vivier - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Port, storks and two lovely buildings

Peso da Regua - Sunday March 23rd

We left our little oasis, that's really how it felt. Istas Garden is a great place to stop and the owners and staff are very helpful and welcoming.

We left Porto calling into a supermarket first. Google wanted to take us through the middle of Porto so I worked out a very convoluted route which took us a very long way round but I don’t think Richard noticed, but he would have if we had gone through Porto!  

Our journey took us through the mountains (and under), the scenery was stunning with lots and lots of small white villages. The mountainsides were all terraced for wine and, more likely, port. 

The road we were on was the A4 which is known as one of the most dangerous motorways in the country, particularly the descent from Campo to Valongo. Many improvements are being projected by the government in this respect.  We went into a tunnel which seemed to go on forever, in fact it was 3.5 miles long.  There were also lots of viaducts, some of which stretched a long way.  It was started in May 2009 and opened in May 2016.  

The road has a lot of lorry runaway tracks, some of which go up and up!

Our stop for the night was Peso da Regua where we really did wild camp beside the Douro river. 

We took Rio for a walk along the river bank keeping him firmly on the lead as the river was running extremely fast. 

A really lovely spot, one to definitely go back to.

99 miles 

Peso da Regua - Park4night

Area Montamarta, Zamora - Monday March 24th

We were due to cross from Portugal into Spain today.  We had enjoyed our miles on the Portuguese A4 but, oh dear, as soon as we were across the border the road changed from a super straight dual carriageway to a two-way road with a very poor surface.

As well as putting our watches forward an hour onto Spanish time we were able to put the dashcam back up.  Dashcams are not allowed in Portugal - goodness only knows why!

We had had a good, dry drive up to the Spanish border but I think we caught up with the weather front as we started getting some showers, though nothing as serious as we had in Porto.  I kept looking at the weather forecast and was in no doubt that we were travelling with the weather front.

Our stop for the night was in a small village called Montamarta, where there is an Aire which has been made by the local council.  It is on the edge of a children’s play area, an outdoor swimming pool and a basketball court, and has about 6 motorhome spots. There is fresh water and facilities for grey and black water.  We were the only ones for an hour or so until we were joined by a German van.  It looks over the Esla Reservoir which, even with all the rain, is looking very low.

We looked right over the hermitage of the Virgen del Castillo. The Hieronymite friars founded the Monastery of Santa María in 1404, but In 1534 the monks requested that the monastery be moved to the city of Zamora due to the unhealthiness of the place,

Montamarta is popularly known as the "town of the storks", due to its countless nesting sites.  The storks come every year attracted by the wetland of the Esla reservoir and the proximity of the Villafáfila lagoons. However we only saw one and it was too far away to photograph!

148 miles

Area Montmarta, Zamora - Park4night

Santa María del Campo - Tuesday 25th March

We left under a blue sky 😁 though it did cloud over but it did NOT rain.

We called in to the Carrefour in Valladolid.  I only wanted a few things but the store

was huge and it took ages to find everything.

We continued on our way and passed the lovely Castillo de Simancas, which is

near Valladolid.  It was built between 1467-1480 by the Enríquez family.

We arrived at our stop-over or I really should call it an Aire.  It is absolutely

amazing.  There are 8 concrete pitches - all level, fresh water, grey water and

toilet emptying.  It is next to a swimming pool, which is closed just now, and is

all fenced in except for the gate which was a long way from us.  We let Rio run

around and he just loved it, he even found a couple of birds to chase!

The town of Santa Maria del Campo, takes its name from the large church which

sits high on a hillock.  It was originally built in the 12th century and called Saint

Maria of the Perch!  The church was rebuilt in 1440.

We were joined by another couple of vans later in the afternoon - I thought we were going to have the whole place to ourselves. 

133 miles 

Santa Maria del Campo - Park4night