Back in Alvechurch UK and to hard work

A cleaned Big Ted back in his storage area

Who thought sleeping near Portsmouth and then driving to the Midlands on Good Friday would be a good idea? Well we were wrong, unsurprisingly it was a hideous journey back to Mums.

Helen and Ian popped round in the afternoon to bring us “box no 2” from their loft, 4 bowls, plates, mugs, glasses, knives and forks etc, and kettle and toaster. Important to be able to provide tea to tradesmen... Waved them off, did a little unloading of Ted before mum arrived and it all ground to a halt. First curry, we’d planned and booked, know we are home now.

The bluebells at Lickey Hills

Saturday was transport day, empty Ted before going to the storage to give him a shower. First we checked on the car, the car that has been sitting alone, and unloved for 6 1/2 months guarding Ted’s space. There were no birds nests in the engine compartment, there were 4 round wheels and amazingly it started first time. Phew, huge sigh of relief there. Three hours cleaning Ted then!

Mother and daughter heading to the summit fort at Lickey Hills

Easter Sunday was a scorcher, and neither we or mum had plans so we went for a little walk at the Lickey Hills, looking at bluebells, before returning to roast a leg of lamb. Not something I’ve done for a long time, very traditional, and though I say so myself very yummy. He was a good lamb, he’s been hot, cold with cauliflower cheese, biryani’d with chickpeas and today finally shepherds pie. 12 meals? Can’t be bad.

Look at that for a leg of lamb!

A leg of lamb wouldn't be complete without Jackie gnawing on the bone

Monday we planned administration, but actually went to see Sarah and John, to pick up the post we needed for the car insurance and ended up chatting for ages which was lovely.

Tuesday we could finally get in the house, we’d found some likely keys and walked round with Helen and Ian on Friday, but didn’t seem to have a full set, so we hadn’t been able to gain access, so this was is, was it really going to be as bad as we expected? 

A sad looking bathroom that needs ripping out and starting again

The kitchen was as expected, and needs changing, the bathroom was worse than expected and needs changing, the carpet through downstairs and the stairs and landing has been down at least 26 years and needs changing, the decoration that I did pre Brian needs changing so yes, we have our work cut out. We met Paul, the contractor who works with Colin our letting agent who seems lovely. He’ll do the kitchen, and bathroom, we’ll strip the wallpaper, and do the garden and whoever finishes first will do the decorating.... we started today, dado rail off, carpet up, to check on the floor which feels a bit weird but is actually fine and living room walls half stripped. From tonight we are staying in the house so we have no excuse not to get up and at it tomorrow....

A quite big lounge/diner that wasn't too bad, still with Jackies old baronial decorations. Its already half stripped from this

Lots of work needs doing in the garden

Leon, on to the ferry from Bilbao and home - Days 192 to 199

Big flower pot and small Jackie in Leon

I’m writing on the ferry, but whether it’ll get posted on the ferry is a matter for debate, there is WiFi but it’s very, very slow....

We left Portugal for Spain, a two hour journey to Leon but with the time difference three hours, to a busy Aire, with nine spaces, on a Friday. We should have left earlier....

We arrived in good time, to find nine spaces appear to have officially expanded to 21 so we were fine, though we were van number 12! (Aire location: 42°36'16.5"N 5°35'06.3"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 82 in list) Better go and look at the city then, though having lost an hour, showered and had lunch we were in sleepy siesta time, so we’ll just wander.

Art in Leon

It’s a compact old town, an easy walk from the Aire, I guess that’s why it’s popular. Feeling slightly demob happy, in our last city before home, we did ice cream and beer, before back to Ted for dinner. What we hadn’t realised that the Friday before Easter was the start of Semana Santa, Holy Week, so we wandered back into town to see the first parade. Much like all the others we’ve seen, only without the fireworks. All of a sudden it’s light so late and groups and families just come out, and drift about, chatting, it’s lovely.

Casa Botines in Leon, designed by Gaudi

First parade for Santa Semana in Leon

Woke to a gentle day, walk along the river, into town, bit more of a look around before stopping for lunch, though this was harder than we expected as we are normally a good hour before the locals, but not today, the city was heaving and outside tables in high demand as it went from jolly chilly, 7 degrees when we got up, to t-shirt and sunburnt nose weather in what felt like fractions of a second. We did manage a great table in a buzzing plaza, fabulous for watching the minstrels and stag and hen parties.... a few beers before returning to Ted and to watch carpark mayhem! There were vans arriving, driving round, parking, moving, we hadn’t seen anything like it since early December holiday weekend in Burgos.

From a very busy Aire in Leon to just us in Astudillo Aire

When we woke on Sunday, there were 21 officially parked vans, 29 just parked up in the carpark, all taking a minimum of two car spaces, there were 8 in a nearby carpark and two on the road.... it’s easy to be smug as we were there early enough on Friday to get an official space, but many of the ‘unofficials’ were Spaniards who we assume had all been working on Friday. We had to feel for them, but also for the locals whose entire carpark has been filled with vans of all shapes and sizes. Anyway, our 48 hours were up, so time for the start of the final push to Bilbao.

The lovely old plaza in Astudillo

The castillo and cave houses in Astudillo

Starting off in Fromista, which the lady in the tourist office had circled, but where, for the first time, we hadn’t felt we wanted to stay, the Rough Guide has mentioned the town but said there wasn’t much to see except for restaurants and pilgrims. We had been aware of the Camino de Santiago but like many had assumed it is one route, but it’s not. We saw paths in France, and Portugal, but without doubt this was the busiest area by far, in Leon and along, ‘under ‘ the mountains from Santander and Bilbao.

Astudillo from the castillo

Santillana Aire (L) and the hill with the old fort ruins

Anyway there was another Aire 15 minutes away, albeit in the wrong direction, and I’d already been saying Bilbao seemed to be getting further away, so we headed there. It felt like a much nicer space with more to see in the village and right by the football pitch, where there was even a match! Not that I paid it any attention, but Brian went to have a look. (Aire location: 42°11'22.2"N 4°18'00.3"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 83 in list)

Walking back from our hill walk with the approaching rain clouds. We parked on the right, away from the other motorhomes, but later two other vans parked right up next to us - and with all this other parking space. Why?

The lovely old Santillana de Mar centre

Two hours to Santillana del Mar, which actually wasn’t by the sea, but we wanted to get there before the rain, which was forecast at 14.00. (Aire location: 43°23'10.8"N 4°06'02.7"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 84 in list) We arrived at 12.00 and rather than have lunch, we yomped up the local viewpoint to have a look round. Could see the snowy Picos mountains in the distance, B had wanted to go walking, commented it was hard to believe that it would be raining within an hour... back to Ted for lunch. First the wind blew up, and then at 14.02 it poured down, and continued for 12 hours! However we knew it was coming so were quite prepared. We think it’s the third time we’ve been van bound in 6 1\2 months, so not bad really. Unlike the couple we’ve just been talking to, also on their first trip away, 2 1/2 weeks of virtually continuous rain..... we are very grateful we had the Housesit when we did!

The old Roman bridge and fabulous scenery in Liergranes

A very pregnant cat is coaxed to Big Ted with cat biscuits

One more night away, our last Aire, closer to Santander than Bilbao, but all carefully planned, Mercadona, fuel and lunch before the port. Perhaps being away before Easter really begins isn’t such a bad thing.... kids playing football till 22.45.... (Aire location: 43°20'41.6"N 3°44'28.6"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 85 in list)

One night on the ferry where I barely slept, I was worried about Ted falling over, not overboard, just over, but he was still upright in the morning, and hopefully he won’t be too splashed with salty sea water, though he will still be getting a shower before going to storage. A night near Portsmouth tonight (campsite location: 50°50'38.2"N 1°14'48.4"W) (Campsite facilities with photos: click here then on item 87 in list), and then nip up to Alvechurch....

A few minutes later Jackie has coaxed it onto Big Ted's step....

A few more minutes still it's almost inside...

And finally, caution to the wind, it's in!

Lunch and beach walk stop at Pobeña, on the way to the ferry at Bilbao

On the ferry at Bilbao waiting to depart

Somewhere in the Bay of Biscay on the ferry. Big Ted is just visible on deck, fourth row from the left, third one back

Final campsite near Portsmouth that we left this morning to return home to Alvechurch

From Nagozela to Viseu, Quinta de Padrela vineyard & Braganca - Days 189 to 191

Big Ted in Viseu Aire

We knew Mike was on the ferry Sunday afternoon, landing Monday lunchtime. He reckoned it was 12 ish hours, so not to wait up, and not to leave the key in the lock..! However Tuesday morning, still no sign.... I had told him to stop if he needed to, and we knew his phone had been playing up, but we were still a little concerned, not panicking or anything, but we didn’t strip the bed...

Waiting in the funicular train to go 400m up a slight incline to the town centre. Not sure it was worth it really, but it was free and a bit of a giggle

Viseu cathedral

He rolled up about 09.30, looking slightly phased, little van and trailer, and that was the problem, he’d stopped before dusk to check the trailer lights only to find they weren’t working, nor was his phone. He found somewhere to eat, but not to sleep and no public telephone, so after a night in a recliner on the ferry, a night in the van, no wonder he looked a little phased.... but all was well, and Baby was pleased to see him, once she was close enough to sniff as neither seeing or hearing are actually her strong suit.....

Rui Dirieta in Viseu - the street to be in apparently

Steps to a Miradouro (viewpoint)

Lots of chat and an early lunch and finally the moment had come, would Ted start? Constant arming and disarming of the alarm does him no good, would he get off the by now soggy grass? Would he make it up the hill? And would the trees have grown lower? Knowing Mike was available with the tractor, none of these were really an issue, but as Mike said “didn’t Ted do well, sailing up the hill”

We didn’t sail very far, 45 minutes to be precise, Viseu a UNESCO town north and east. (Aire location: 40°39'53.6"N 7°55'02.6"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 79 in list) It was interesting enough, with a spectacular cathedral, but perhaps we just weren’t in the mood.... we found the funicular, though couldn’t for the life of us work out why they have bothered, but they have, and it’s free, so we sat on it, and waited, and waited. We could have walked up and down, twice, in the time we waited, but hey, it was a laugh, as the 40 or so other people that squashed onto it thought too...

Lots and lots of steps

To a statue of a smiling monk (for some reason)

After a good nights sleep, we set off in the rain, the plan had been Peso de Regua, on the Douro river, maybe a little detour along a short scenic section of the river, maybe a boat ride.... talking to the guy in the next van, they were also going north, maybe the same detour, but they were going up the motorway (toll, and we haven’t paid anything yet) and maybe to Mateus. We went up our wiggly, windy, slow, scenic road, veered off towards the scenic drive (the rain had finally stopped) and I looked up Mateus on Park4night, (one of the many Apps with places to stop.) 

Big Ted coming back into view on the way down

However what popped up was a vineyard and olive oil farm, on our route, free, free WiFi, free wine tasting and more 5 star reviews than we’ve ever seen. It’s not quite as far as we wanted to go, and it’s not on the river, but we’ve been living by the most beautiful river for a fortnight, so were actually scared of an anticlimax anyway, and it sounded wonderful.

Just then we came upon some stairs, and parking by the side of the road, instant screech to a halt and trot up the stairs, only I wish I hadn’t trotted quite so fast, there were a lot of stairs.... a lovely view, and a jolly little monk at the top, but what it was all about, no idea...

Big Ted in the parking area at Quinta de Padrola vineyard

Big Ted a long way away

Tried emailing, tried calling the farm, but no response, probably working then, well it’s hardly a detour, we’ll go look, though we did study the route through Tabuaco carefully after reading a review of having to reverse down 2m wide streets with cobbles and balconies.... Doris did us proud though, but we were pretty confident as we seemed to be following signs to “bombieros” fire station, so if they can do it... (Vineyard parking location: 41°07'41.1"N 7°34'59.0"W) (Parking facilities with photos: click here then on item 80 in list)

The Rijomax clock in Tabuaco

Lovely welcome on the gate, park up, here’s the WiFi, we’ll come and say hi. Just having lunch and Pedro popped by, said hi, would we like a wine tasting? He really wanted to do tomorrow, probably hoping it wouldn’t just be us, but as we wanted to be on our way tomorrow, we settled on 17.00. He suggested we walk into the town, through his land, 2.1km to the tourist information, to see the clock. The clock was amazing, built by one man, over nearly 30 years to tell everything, time, date, leap year, phases of the moon, signs of the zodiac, saints days, the list was endless. It looked wonderful but sadly it had “Stopped short, never to go again, when the old man died” in 2002 at the age of 90. Here's a link to an online pdf document that explains the whole think (it's really interesting - honest! file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/RIJOMAX%20EN.pdf)

A close-up of one of the clock faces. It's all a bit 'Heath Robinson' but fascinating

Our private free wine and olive tasting with Pedro

It didn’t look like we expected, stuck on pictures, and old fashioned dymo tape, but we were so sad it no longer works. We spent ages in the tourist information, talking to the lady, and with the clock, so we really only had time to walk to a mirador in order to ensure we were back for our hour wine tasting session. It wasn’t an hour of tasting, it was explanations start to finish, from a lovely man with so much enthusiasm. Two hours later we came away with a bottle of white and a bottle of red, costing far more than our norm, but really very reasonable. Just as well we’d prepped dinner before we went, and that we’d persuaded him 17.00 was better than 18.00!

Tabuaco from the highest viewpoint we walked to

Wasps or bees had started to build a nest overnight on Big Ted

It was only us, so beautifully quiet, except for a lone woofer, who did go on a bit... Woke to fog though, so did a shorter version of the scenic drive, more wiggly windy roads, before hitting a free motorway, what a novelty, and a much more relaxing final hour, to arrive at Braganca.

We had a little (overpriced) tapas and a beer and a really interesting walk around the walls of the citadel. Two friendly cats and back for tea and blogging. Tomorrow back to Spain. (Braganca Aire location: 41°48'12.1"N 6°44'46.7"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 81 in list)

Here it is after we removed it. It's amazing how intricate and quickly built they are

Here we are on the Aire in Braganca with the castle behind. Our last stop in Portugal

And a nice tapas lunch and beer in the castle grounds

This insect decided to join us at the table. Not sure what it is

This is one of the oldest buildings in Braganca, built in Medieval times. Apparently gentlemen used to meet here to discuss things and underneath is a water reservoir

Interesting buildings inside the castle walls

Up onto the walls. I'm sure this could be used for a filming location - it's fabulous (perhaps it has)

More bits of the castle, it is so photogenic

Down the bottom there is another staircase leading down. It was really dark and damp down there, even with the torch on my camera on. We went so far down then turned round as we were a bit worried about slipping on the wet, muddy steps

There's Big Ted down there, spotted as we walked the full circuit of the castle walls

And finally, we mentioned in the last blog that we have applied to take part in the next series of Race Around the World and, as part of our application we had to submit a 1 minute video. I didn't post it last time as Jackie told me not to, but so many people asked to see it, here it is. Would you pick us?