From France to Spain, Donostia San Sebastian, Lekeita, Biblao, Cabarceno & Burgos - Days 62 to 66

2 beers on a sunny afternoon in Lekeita

In answer to my question at the end of the last blog, was the cat still here when I got out the shower? No, I saw her walking away, so opened the window and called to her, asking if B had been ignoring her? Obviously the answer was yes, she came running back and spent another couple of hours with me, and again in the morning when she was most surprised that we were carrying cat biscuits, that’s not normal, but anything to keep her out of the yogurt, though she did lick the bowls clean! She was passed round a number of vans in the morning, and I left her perched on the knee of a Spanish lady....

The very cute cat who wouldn't go away!

Crashing waves at Donostia San Sebastian

We did a last French shop, though not a very good one, forgot all sorts of things, but there are shops in Spain..... which leads on to “are there? Really?” Not in the same way we are used to, on the outskirts of towns with big car parks. We arrived in Spain on Monday, by Wednesday we still hadn’t managed to shop, ok, so, Thursday on our route between Bilbao and Cabarceno, there’s a big Mercadona with a LIDL and an ALDI just close by, Doris, sat nav, did her thing...... but no, all shut, that’ll be Constitution Day then, so that leaves today, with tomorrow being Immaculate Conception day. Read the Aires book for where we are going, just happens to be in the car park of a big supermarket, hurrah, we have shopped, but it was chaos. We didn’t really need much, but got the feeling that everyone was deprived from yesterday, then two shut days for the weekend. So we have meat and bread, and I’d already worked out I could do 10 meals without repeating myself with what was already in the van, though the Fray Bentos pie is the fallback of fallbacks.....

Beachside view at Donostia San Sebastian

Casco Viejo at Donostia San Sebastian

Anyway, we left my cat and headed west though decided not to stay in St Jean de Luz but cross the boarder, into Spain, which we did, with no ceremony, or quite knowing where it was, just suddenly aware it had happened, looks like we dug the passports out for nothing! Our first stop, in the rain, was Donostia San Sebastián, a bigger town than expected, so more of a driving challenge, to a tiny, close packed Aire by the university, still we got parked and wandered into town. Campsite location: 43°18'29.1"N 2°00'51.3"W. For some reason I had actually looked in the Rough Guide, so made him turn left at the sea rather than right to the Casco Viejo, or old town. At the end of the beach is a sculpture of ‘hands’ clawing at the sea, but it wasn’t them that did it for me, it was the blowholes, that breathed and blew and spouted as waves crashed underneath. Absolutely wonderful, if that’s all we see, I’m happy. We then went to Casco Viejo, and another lovely tourist information lady. We had a good look round, but then rather than get the bus back which I was sort of hoping for we stopped for a drink, and pinxtos, the tapas that the area is famous for, fab. So better do it again, amble a bit further and have another drink and snack, life’s hard. Well it was for the rejected sausage and bean casserole, a little bacon and mushroom sandwich was all we needed.... tomorrow!


                                          Here's a little Youtube video of the blowholes

Views on the road to Lekeita

Bilbao was his next planned destination, but with a wiggly windy scenic route, I vetoed the full distance so we stopped 2/3 the way at Lekeito, a little seaside town with not much to offer, except the harbour, well, we’d better have a bite if something for lunch then. Shared a plate of little squid in their own ink, and a beer before walking to the lighthouse. It was a lovely village and a very pleasant Aire, so a good decision.
Campsite location: 43°21'29.9"N 2°30'26.2"W





It meant our journey to Bilbao would be relatively short which was good as the Aire was more like a campsite, WiFi, electricity, a guy on reception, but was €15 so we only wanted to stay one night. I was a bit dubious about even that, I have to admit, a big city, we need a bus to get into from the Aire, what about the drive.....? Campsite location: 43°15'35.9"N 2°57'50.2"W


                            Driving views on the road from Donostia San Sebastian to Lekeita

Big Ted parked up with amazing views of Bilbao

It was up a very long, very steep hill, definitely getting the bus, do not even mention the bicycle word, but the view over Bilbao was stunning. The reception guy was great, map, bus, probably does it 20 times a day, and off we went into the City. The main reason for the visit was to look at the Guggenheim museum, which I have to admit was a lovely building and I could even appreciate the art outside, though the big spider ‘Maman’ is the thing of nightmares! Back through the old town (they all have one) by which time he’d started going on about churros and chocolate, just as well I’d read the Rough Guide, again (a dangerous habit and one I will have to get out of or he’ll expect me to know everything....) and knew where to go, right by the cathedral, and jolly yummy they were too. As it happens though, I did know where to go, and we were very happy, but we were actually at the bar next to the one we should have been at, we discovered on leaving, which may explain why it was more expensive than I expected!

Bilbao at night, photo taken through our windscreen!

River walk in Bilbao

Lazy start the following day, to make full use of electricity, to heat some water, to shower and wash some pants, and WiFi to upload all the photos and check the bank etc. Still away at a sensible time though, to Cabarceno, via a supermarket, or that was the plan anyway. Cabarceno was lovely, we arrived by the lake, took a leisurely drive round to decide where to park among the other 4 vans and went for a little walk, to look at the elephants...... all Cabarceno has is a safari park and a lovely Aire. €30 each we decided was a bit steep and Ted was scared of driving through lots of fierce animals...... Campsite location: 43°21'29.8"N 3°49'08.8"W

The amazing Guggenheim building in Bilbao

The giant spider sculpture outside the Guggenheim

Instead we said Hola to the UK registered van with two Ozzie inhabitants and had a long chat before inviting them over for a wine, later. Or a whine which they probably needed, they are on their way back to the UK from Santander in their new van to get the window, safe and all the door locks replaced after someone broke in through the window having broken the drivers and habitation door locks. They stole the TV and hit the safe which sprang open revealing money, their passports (a UK and Oz one each), their kindles and the spare keys to the van. 

Dry docks at Bilbao

They only actually took the money and one of the passports, throwing the kindles and the keys back into the van! Could have been worse, but what a nightmare! They tried to get the work done here, but with the language barrier managed to get the habitation lock replaced without the guy understanding they needed it to be on the same key as the others, eventually in a huff he took the whole barrel out, so they now have nothing at all there. They contacted a place in France, the manufacturer of the van, but again it was all too difficult, so they are going back to the UK to where they bought the van, though good on the insurance. They are paying the return ferry fare.... We have just been told that they won’t be getting the ferry they were expecting on Saturday though, and have no way of telling them this, they have our email address but no WiFi, so till they contact us I can’t tell them that a lovely lady has just knocked on the door, to ask if we are heading to Santander, as all crossings have been cancelled due to weather.....

Churros and gloopy hot chocolate in Bulbao - fabulous!

Elephants at our campsite in Caberceno

We are now 2 1/2 hours away, so can’t pop back..... and anyway it’s probably full, when we got up this morning, there were 29 vans parked up, all making the most of two holidays so close together I guess, though you would sort of expect them to have arrived on Wednesday night.

It was a lovely scenic drive, I read about on the caravan club forum, just after Brian had done his route planning. He’s glad he built it in though, the scenery was amazing, so varied, and all on a decent road too. So now in Burgos, we’ve shopped and hoped for WiFi from the supermarket, but again our iboost has let us down and is receiving nothing! Ho hum, might send him back indoors while I prep dinner then! Campsite location: 42°21'02.5"N 3°40'50.1"W

Views into the safari park at Cabarceno this morning. The elephants have just appeared and are on the right (plus one more out on the left and there is a herd of deer up and behind the cable car pole

This was our van parked up at Cabarceno on Thursday afternoon. A huge car park and only four motorhomes. By midnight there were 29 motorhomes and we were hemmed in all round!

The lake and safari park beyond. You can just see the motorhome park (and Big Ted) in the centre

Just one view on the N623 road to Burgos today. Have a look at the short video below for a bit more of it

A short video (less than a minute) of part of the very scenic drive on the N623 road from Cabarceno to Burgos