Travel Musings

 We are currently in a site in a town south of Porto called Magdalena. Straight across the road is a magnificent white sanded beach that seems to stretch for miles in each direction. Very pleasant indeed.   The town itself is just a modern resort, of no great interest except for being close to Porto. A taxi ride in is only about eight euros, using an incredible app called Bolt - I should imagine it is much like Uber. The old part of Porto starts at Cais da Ribeira, down on the waterfront, with the overarching metal bridge called Ponte Luis I. The bottom section takes cars, the upper is for trains, and you can walk across the river at both levels. There are six bridges in all, and all very high. As you can see we took a trip on a Barqua - highly recommended, but hang on to your hat! From the Duoro river there is really only one direction to go - upwards. Despite the masses of tourists it was an easy walk to the top. The way is full of grand buildings, squares, alleys and open s...

 A tale of two cities - Vigo and Braga. Vigo, in Spain, is a big commercial port, with a busy city attached. It is tidy, bustling, safe and with a few interesting buildings. However it was....just a bit dull and uninteresting. I suppose this could be called the first bust on the trip, as there really is no good reason to go there. Braga, on the other hand, is great. The third biggest city in Portugal is known as a university town, and has lots of wide open squares and many trees lining the pavements. It was an enjoyable place to be. On Wednesday (early, to try and get ahead of the heat) we took a taxi to Dom Jesus de Monte, a very famous church which has 577 steps to get up to it - there is a water powered funicular railway for those of a lesser constitution. The views over Braga from the top were magnificent. The church itself isn't very big, but it and the grounds are immaculately kept. Although the church was full of the usual High Church imagery, I've rarely seen it done th...

 We moved along the northern Spanish coast, spending a night each in Llanes (pronounced Yanez), Foz and A Coruna. All were very different, but all very well worth while the visit. As I mentioned in last blog, the site at Llanes was perched above and between two lovely little beaches. At first glance the town just looked like, well, just a hamlet. However, turn a corner near the harbour, and all of a sudden there were small squares with the usual continental bars, restaurants and shops. If you kept your eyes at ground level, it looked like a modern town, but the fronts were all built into some very old buildings. There is a toll free motorway that runs all the way across northern Spain, and it is a beauty. Sometimes it has to rise into the mountains, but the views are at times spectacular. It was surprising how few British vans we saw over this way, as they all seem to just head south. There are missing out by ignoring this north west corner. Foz was another of these Council supplie...

 We did stop at San Sebastian in the end as Wallace's friend had recommended it, and what a pleasure it was. The accomodation was yet again a council supplied area just for motorhomes, with wide bays and dump facilities - all very neat and tidy. We got there early, and just as well as by late afternoon there was a constant stream of vans trying vainly to find space. It was a fair old walk into San Sebastian, but it opened out onto a magnificent beach called the Conch - and it was shell shaped. The western end was modern, but over at the eastern end was the old town, which was very pleasant to stroll around and find some pinxos (pronounced pinchos, a version of tapas). The next day we drove to Bilbao, and the campsite was perched on top of a small plateau overlooking the city, giving magnificent views. Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice. It was too far to walk, and the local bus drivers were on strike, so a taxi was called, quite reasonably priced we thought. Bilbao ma...

 We stayed on Saturday night in an Aire in Perigueux that had been set up by the Council especially for motorhomes. It was a flat, concreted area with enough marked wide bays for about 40 vans. No electric, but the usual waste and fresh water supply. Usually the charge was E10 per night, but as the automatic pay barrier was down it was free. Perigueux was another old French town with plenty of squares, some open and some under magnificently shady plane trees. There were many tiny passageways, but they looked a bit dank and dark, and just that little bit less interesting than Tours. Sunday was a long drive down to the coast to Saint Jean De Luz, just above the border with Spain. Although I had been here before (last September), the site and town were well worth coming back to. On the first night the clubhouse put on a band that played Santana type songs (and very well too) and laid on a cote de beouf - rib of beef. Delicious, if a little pricey.  The band went down a storm, bot...

 My first night away was at Telford to say goodbye to Mum, as she was off on a trip herself to Llandudno with Lois, Kerry and Kay. Monday night saw me at Wallace's house in Blaina, down in the welsh valleys. We tried to have a look at the local sites, but the weather was atrocious - but we did find a good pub to commiserate in. On Tuesday we travelled down to Newhaven, and stayed overnight in the ferry carpark (they let people catching the ferry do that) and were afloat by 9.30 the next morning. We got to Dieppe early afternoon after a very smooth four hour crossing. Our first stop was in an aire in the small town of Forges Les Eaux. It is an unremarkable French town, but pleasant enough.  Thursday saw us driving to Vouvray for what should have been a four and a half hour drive that turned into five and a half hour drive. The last twenty miles were spent at twenty miles and hour or less, stuck behind two huge lorries carrying what looked to be either silos or wind turbine bodi...