Europe 2026 - Oviedo, As Catedrais and a Sunny Day by the Sea

Tuesday - March 10th

I had a really bad nights sleep - I reckon about 3 hours and a few dozes.

We woke up to blue sky and sunshine, we certainly deserved it after yesterday.

By 9.30am we were ready to find the train station and head to Oviedo - the cleanest city in Spain!

It was a short walk to the station where I couldn’t fathom out the ticket machine even though it was in English, so had to use the ticket office and negotiate with a lady who spoke no English! I translated using my phone so she knew what I wanted but I had no idea what she was talking about! I think it was about the dog being muzzled, but we had his backpack so he was fine.

The train ride was 25 minutes and once we had found our way out of the station we were off! You will probably hear me talking about Google Gemini quite a bit during this trip but I’ve entered the world of AI and it’s been really helpful with my planning. Today it had planned a walking route round notable landmarks.

Our first port of call though was to a pharmacy as my carpal tunnel has blown up again after a very long time and the pain when I woke up this morning was a 9+, excruciating. I bought a splint to wear in bed tonight, I just hope it helps for tomorrow morning.

We walked to San Francisco Park and meandered around taking photos of Oviedo’s statues. The city has over 100 statues scattered across its streets, ranging from historical figures and literary characters to quirky modern pieces and even a tribute to a cartoon character, who we found first.

 Mafalda

The Portrait Photographer

Out of the Park we went to look for Woody Allen

On our route we came to a lovely square with a fountain as well as a statue.

Tribute to Moms

We found our way into the old town which was really attractive. We even found an outdoor market where Richard bought a new pair of trainers and some slippers.

 

Las Vendedoras del Fontan - (The Vendors of the Fontan)

We wandered through the old town, it really was very attractive and reminded me of York where we were a couple of weeks ago.

As we headed to the cathedral we found 

The Regent

We found a restaurant that overlooked the cathedral so sat outside and had lunch. Our waiter was excellent and helped us with the menu and kept checking on us - he got a good tip!

Sadly the cathedral was closed so we wandered back to the station and caught the train back to Pola de Siero.

On our way to the station we found

A Good Ass

Tino Casal

I really liked Oviedo and it certainly was clean. We got the feeling that all the streets had been washed.

Once back at Kiwi we did a quick empty and fill and set off. I had two places in mind and the first one was absolutely amazing. We were stopped right by the beach, almost on it! The sun was shining and it really was a wow moment.

We also saw this gorgeous pair.

Wednesday - March 11th

A brilliant nights sleep with the waves, well not crashing and not lapping, so somewhere in the middle.

We had admin to do, fuel and shopping. The supermarket had a couple of motorhome spaces and a service point so while I went shopping, Richard did the necessary, which wasn’t actually necessary but it would be rude not to use their lovely facilities. There was also a laundrette.

We had planned to drive out to Cabo Vidio, a stunning headland but with the drizzle and mist it just wasn’t worth it.

We drove on to Tapia de Casariego and found the park up. Well, thank goodness we weren’t planning on staying there overnight. It must have been the worst one ever. Still we only wanted a couple of hours. As we were having lunch the rain started again - it wasn’t really conducive to walking, so off we drove again 😢

I wasn’t going to let the rain spoil the next place which was As Catedrais ( Cathedral Beach), which is designated a Natural Monument and is one of the most famous beaches in Galicia. It is known around the world for its rocky formations carved by the wind and sea, creating curious shapes that visitors' imaginations get to interpret. You can only get on to the beach 2 hours either side of low tide and we were there in time. However the sea was quite rough which seemed to make the beach less accessible (if that makes sense!). We didn’t get to see the arches which was a shame but the rocks we did see were pretty amazing.

As we were leaving As Catedrais I saw this sign. It made me smile which was much needed after all the rain we had had.

Our aire for the night was in Foz and it turned out to be much nicer than I thought it would be. Once again we were on the edge of water but this time it was more of a harbour and the tide was out, but still it was a lovely spot.

Thursday - 12th March

We woke up to a lovely morning, blue sky and sunshine. We did some ball throwing for Rio before we set off for the northern most point of Spain - Estaca de Bares.

It makes such a difference driving in the sunshine. We noticed that all the rhododendron flowers were out and the trees are really beginning to green up now.

When we got to Punta da Estaca de Bares it was very windy - we decided to keep Rio on a lead in case he got blown away! We didn't quite make it to the northern most point, but I took a photo of it! We wondered why the Spanish lighthouses aren't high like ours are, so I asked Gemini. This is what he said. (Our voice is male, so we have called him Jem).

"Compared to the towering, needle-like lighthouses you see on the flat coasts of the US or the UK, many Spanish lighthouses (especially in Asturias and Galicia) look like "stunted" little houses. The reason isn't a lack of ambition; it’s actually a clever use of geology. The coastline in Northern Spain is dominated by massive, sheer cliffs (acantilados). If you build a lighthouse on a cliff that is already 80 meters above sea level, you don't need a 50-meter tower. A short 10-meter structure on top of that cliff does the job perfectly. Building a short, stout tower is cheaper and much more resistant to the brutal Atlantic gales that batter the Bay of Biscay. The problem with clouds and fog is the most technical reason for building them short. If you build a lighthouse too high, it actually becomes useless as low-hanging clouds and sea mists are very common in Northern Spain. If the light is too high up (e.g., 200 meters above sea level), the beam gets trapped inside the cloud layer. To help sailors see the light under the fog, engineers often deliberately keep the focal plane (the height of the lamp)."

Next stop was Cedeira which is home to some very high cliffs and also the highest cliff in all continental Europe. We parked up by the pretty bay and had lunch while I looked to see where the cliffs are. Oh no, they were miles away from Cedeira and in fact we had gone quite close to them. I did find a view point with a little chapel on it, so we went up to that. The chapel was built in 1661 and its only notable event is that it was looted in 1747 during a battle between Spanish and English ships.

We then headed to Valdovino where there is a 3.5 kilometer beach. Rio had a great time with the ball thrower, in fact I think we almost exhausted him.

We were staying in a camp site as we needed to charge the batteries up a bit more (power bank and laptops) as well doing some washing. I had booked a small site which had a lovely view. We were on grass and after the recent rain, the pitch was rather soft. We got a bit stuck while we were trying to get on our wedges, with the wedge getting well and trule wedged under the cab steps. A rope and a couple of strong people managed to get one wedge out which then helped the other one out fairly easily. The laundry room was fine and can be operated by an app which saves on using the treasured Euros.

 

Europe 2026 - The crossing of the Bay of Biscay and the Picos de Europa

Thursday - March 5th

We got away at about 8.45pm after a rather manic and stressful day. My back had had enough by about 4pm but it had to man up and keep going! Mad panic about 6pm in that we couldn’t find Rio’s muzzle. We turned out every drawer both in the house and the motorhome. Eventually Richard grabbed Rio and shot off to Pets at Home. Fortunately they had one! Victoria and James came round for pizza and it was really nice to sit down for a bit! We set off and had to stop at some road works. The guy in the van behind us came running up telling us we had no rear lights. Memories of last year flashed across my mind as the motorhome had been in the garage until the last minute with no back lights! Fortunately Richard realised that, when the MOT was done, the garage had switched the lights to off! It’s very rare that anyone is grateful for road works - especially on Hayling Island where there is really only one road and off.

We got to Portsmouth and then had the long wait to board. As usual we were the last to board, I guess it’s because we have a dog. A quick unpack (there was nowhere to out things really) and into bed at 12.30 am

Friday - March 6th

I woke up about 6am and the ship was rolling. I’m not sure where we were. Richard didn’t wake up until 9.30am! Unheard of 😳 Gradually the rolling eased a bit but when I went for a walk there were a lot of drunk looking people staggering all over the place - I guess I probably looked like that too 🤣. I took Rio on deck and we were just passing inside an island, which I’m pretty sure was Ushant, which is off Brittany. At 2pm we hadn’t even got to the Bay of Biscay!

The rest of the day was very calm, Richard said that the wind was behind us which was great. I stuck with my armbands and Stugeron though. I was watched a recorded Netflix series (girlie) and Richard played his game on the iPad.

Even on the morning of the day bookings opened I couldn’t get an outside one cabin so we had an inside one which, of course, have no window. However they have a lovely photo of a window and lots of sunshine. They are backlit and really helped cheer us up. I didn’t want to switch it off!

There had been some dogs barking around dinner time which were making Rio growl, so I ate in the cabin, as I didn’t want to leave him, and Richard ate in the cafeteria!

So that was Friday. Much, much better than we anticipated after the gale warning as there certainly wasn’t a gale around us!

Saturday - March 7th

We both slept really well on a calm sea. The ship’s alarm woke us up at 5.45am. There was the usual chaos of trying to get down to the car deck with the dogs. This time it was dogs last to go down, sometimes they are first. Even once we got to the van we had to wait until the very end and when we got out it was pouring with rain.

Santander docks are huge and it seemed ages before we got out.

Shopping was next and I escaped into a Carrefour. We decided to fill up with LPG and then we were off, out of the Milton Keynes of Spain! In fact I reckon it has more roundabouts!

We had promised Rio a walk on a beach and I had researched a good one. The rain had more or less stopped by this time and Rio had a really good run.

We had hoped to visit the Gaudi house but gave it a miss as we would have had a long walk from where we could park the motorhome to the house and we just couldn’t trust the rain. Also Rio wouldn’t have been allowed in the house and it was a bit mean to leave Richard outside in the rain!!

Our stop for the night was at Potes in the Picos de Europa mountains. To get there we had to drive through the Hermida Gorge. The scenery was amazing, I don’t think I have ever been through a gorge like it before. (There will be more on the gorge in the blog). The leaves were beginning to come out on the trees and the blossom was gorgeous. As we were driving we noticed nets above us obviously for catching loose rocks and there were certainly a few of those up there!

The Desfiladero de la Hermida, is 21 kilometers long, making it the longest gorge in the country. The current road was started in the 19th century, mainly to transport the wood produced by the forestry industry in the Picos de Europa. The first road through dates from 1863. Among the hills and gorges that overlook the gorge you can find prehistoric paintings which are more than 20,000 years old. There is no shortage of towers built by the Cantabrian peoples to protect the territory from a possible invasion by the Castilian population, and later by the Romans.

We drove through Potes which was a lovely little town. Our site was just the other side and we parked up with a lovely view.

We had intended on walking back into Potes but with our early start we were really too knackered.

We connected up to the electric point, paid our €4, but it wasn’t going to work. I tried several phone numbers for help until I finally found one that worked. The lady on the other end tried to make it work remotely but in the end said that she would come out. She fiddled around and finally plugged us into the post next door. Meanwhile I was cooking a meal using three pans and the oven! I never use three pans at home so this was rather crazy and it took some concentration 🤣

We finally sat down and watched a couple of episodes of Bridgerton and that was us for the evening.

Sunday - March 8th

I think we must have jet lag, or should that be ship lag?! We didn’t wake up until 8.30am and then it was me who woke up first - very unusual.

After both of us showering and me causing a flood because the plug hole was blocked, we got away later than we should have.

We drove further up into the Picos Europa to the Teleférico Fuente Dé Cantabria, a cable car to you and me. The weather was lovely but there were a few low clouds but not enough to spoil anything. We love a cable car and I found out about this one while researching the gorge. Rio was very put out as he had to go in his back pack to go in the gondola, mind you so was Richard as Rio is 2 kilos heavier than last year! The gondola goes up over a 753-meter slope rising to a height of 1,823 meters in 4 minutes. Up the mountain, swinging and swaying about, there was a lady with us who was terrified! We had a coffee and a short walk before heading back down. The real idea of the cable car is for people to either go trekking or cross country skiing but there were none of those mad people around today. The thermometer on my phone said it was 3 degrees but we certainly didn’t need our hats and gloves on.

Back on terra firma we had lunch then set off back down through the gorge. It was a very different view from yesterday with the sun shining - you could say it was gorgeous (sorry!). There were quite a few “wow” moments as we rounded corners and the road was pretty spectacular too. It has been widened, which has meant building out over the river and has metal Armco along the side which has been faced with wood helping it to blend in with the surroundings.

We drove into Colombres intending on stopping and having a wander around but the car park just wasn’t really big enough for a 7.5m motorhome, so we turned round and drove on. The town’s history is closely linked to the Indianos, Spaniards who emigrated to Latin America at the end of the 19th century. They then built huge houses and palaces on their return to Spain. These houses are known as Indiano houses. We saw a few, but I’m sure there must have been more.

We drove to Llanes where we were supposed to be overnighting in an aire, but the local council have dug it up and, we hope, are intending to upgrade it. Fortunately there was a parking area just behind it where other motorhomes were, so we pulled in there.

We took Rio for a walk on a camino a stone’s throw from our parking spot which took us along the cliff. It was a lovely walk but the water below was really scummy.

We had driven through Potes again and on a sunny Sunday afternoon it was buzzing. Maybe we will go back one day and have a wander around. Apparently it is known as the "town of bridges and towers." It has a distinct medieval feel with stone buildings and narrow alleys. There is a 14th-century fortress, called the Torre del Infantado that dominates the town centre. There is also an Old Quarter (Casco Viejo). There town sits at the confluence of four valleys and is the ultimate base camp for outdoor lovers.

I love a wonky and different roof, and as we passed by a little town called Espinama, there were some really lovely ones. In fact there were quite a few more of them as drove we drove down the gorge, but not a whole village full.

Monday - March 9th

We have had some extra locks put on Kiwi. Dead locks on the cab doors and one that goes across the hab door which can be operated from the inside or locked with a key from the outside. We used them last night as we were in a more vulnerable place. After being burgled in the car in 2020, I didn’t feel as safe last year as maybe I could have. I certainly felt safe last night 😃

The forecast for today was wet, 100% rain all day in Gijon, our first port of call. We drove to the park up in Gijon, but it was pouring with rain so we made a cup of coffee and rethought our day. It certainly was not a day for sightseeing. In the end we chose an aire in a place called Pola de Siero where we could get a train into Oviedo tomorrow. We found our aire which was a car park with 5 dedicated motorhome spaces and services but no electricity. It was very close to a railway track but the trains were few and far between. There was one space which is all we needed! It really was a dreadful afternoon so we hunkered down for the afternoon while the rain just poured down outside

That was Monday 😂