Author: taraabit

Saturday 10th May 2025.

We drove the grand distance of 11miles today to get to this parkup which is situated 800m from the edge of the ancient village of Santillana del Mar.

This shot was taken from the entrance to the village, the park up is modern with full facilities all of which you have to pay extra for, you need a degree in IT to operate the machine to enter, including typing in details from your passport and your name, paying 12 euros is the easiest part.

Sadly we have had lots of heavy rain showers today one of which commenced as we walked into the village so it was brollies all round.

Despite the rain we have enjoyed our stay here, we are only approx 30minutes from Santander where we catch the ferry tomorrow, so very convenient.

Friday 5th May 2025.

We headed here for our overnight stop as we aren’t far from Santander and we needed to visit a vet to get Layla’s Pet Passport completed which we managed this afternoon at a cost of €40.

We stopped for lunch a short way before Comillas, as I found a large parking area with views down below of San Vincente de la Barquera, it looked good from above and as we drove through later it looked a good place to stop.

I spoke with some passion in yesterdays blog about the wonderful drive over the mountains into Potes, well today’s drive I would need to use phrases like buttock clenching, breathing in, tucking in the elbows and at times closing your eyes.

We took the N621 out of Potes heading for the coast, and intended to stay on it for approx 30km estimated time of travel 36 minutes, however what we didn’t know was that this road has been under reconstruction for about 6 years as it has slowly been slipping into the fast running river that’s runs alongside. In some areas slightly more than 50% of the road has disappeared into the river. Workmen are working on different sections possibly tackling the worst places first, this means for quite a distance the road is down to only one very narrow lane and contra flow was in place, we had to stop and wait about 5 times for up to 15 minutes for the road to clear. Then the fun began.

I only saw a piece of tarmac in front of me as we drove ( in some places there wasn’t any tarmac at all) my eyes swivelled back and forth to the wing mirrors as I tried to gauge the distance between us and the rock face and the concrete blocks placed to keep workmen safe. Michelle took these photos as we went along and as good as they are they can’t do justice to how difficult it was at times. We went along the road following 2 other motorhomes and I winced at times to how close one kept getting. to the rock face.

They are rebuilding the road by pile driving hundreds of steel tubes into the ground, then building out concrete buttresses over the river, then preformed concrete pads are placed on top and a 30cm layer of concrete over that before tarmac is laid. This means that the road is now much wider but one lane hangs over the river . It’s amazing what you can learn when you are sitting there for ages.

The wire netting in the top right photo was all along the road catching large boulders from above.

On reflection I think I may give it another 5 years before I think of travelling this way again, the areas they have completed are superb buts there’s a lot to go yet.

Thursday 8th May 2025

Today we took a mountain road from Riano to Potes in the opposite direction to that we took in August 2018. In my blog then I used the phrase “wow, wow and wow again” today I wouldn’t remove a wow from that description. It’s difficult to find a complete range of superlatives to describe the journey, we were novices in the motor homing world back then and we have driven some fantastic mountain roads since then, especially in places like Norway, but this road is still magnificent.

At the top of the map are the statistics for the journey, it took 1hr 23 mins to drive 33 miles most of it in third gear. We couldn’t stop to take photos and when we did reach a pull over at the highest point 1609m , we were surrounded by thick clouds and couldn’t see anything.

We are only 400m from the town so it was an easy stroll in this afternoon, it was pretty much as we remembered it from 7 years ago.

The Torre del Infantado is a robust construction from the 15th century and was home to generations of the Dukes of Infantado.

Potes is one of the most attractive towns in Cantabria and is in an area surrounded by spectacular mountains and converging streams. Its streets crossed by numerous bridges feature centuries old buildings and monuments.

There are a number of shops catering for the tourist trade and as you can imagine it is a hot spot for tourist coaches so you would need to visit slightly out of season.

Wednesday 7th May 2025.

We are staying here tonight in Riano on a free aire that overlooks the reservoir , we have been here before in August 2018 on an extremely hot day we drove through, the waters were a deep blue and we commented we would like to come back one day and now we have.

There were 2 routes here from last nights stop, one on a normal road, it was shorter in distance but would take at least 4 and a half hours, or via the motorway with a small toll section, around Leon and then north, taking 2 and a half hours, the latter won. The motorway was empty and the last 25 miles of our journey on a country road snaking up into the mountains we were in a convoy of one vehicle, us.

Riano town is located on the River Elsa in the Cantabrian Mountains near the foothills of the Picos de Europa and is 3,650 ft above sea level, and you can certainly feel the difference especially with regard to the temperature.

A dam and reservoir (Embalse de Riano) was created in the 1980’s for flood control and generation of hydro electric power. The original village and six others in the region had to be relocated to New Riano as a replacement. The old Riano is underneath the new bridge.

On our evening walk we came across this covered arena. It has been built to house La Luche Leonese, Leonese wrestling, specific to this region and takes place in a “corro” a circle 12-18m in diameter with traditionally a grass surface. Contestants wrestle bare footed in short trousers and shirt with a leather belt that can be gripped by the opponent.

So a day without any castles or other historical buildings in a town of approximately 40 years of age, what a change😊

Tuesday 6th May 2025.

We got off to a slow start this morning trying to track down a fuel station that according to the sat nav was on a road that didn’t exist. When we eventually found it we were able to fill up with diesel. LPG and AdBlu all at very cheap prices, so the effort was worth it.

The journey here to Ponferrada was a very attractive scenic route through mountains with deep gorges, rivers way below us and on occasion a large dam or two. The road went across valleys on long viaducts and on occasion through tunnels, all with a maximum speed of 90k.

When we reached Ponferrada the sat nav took us straight through the centre of the city with narrow one way streets and loads of traffic I was quite pleased when we emerged on the opposite side in the old part of the city.

Ponferrada is surrounded by mountains and has the river Sil running through it, it is the last major town on the French Route of the Camino de Santiago before it reaches Santiago de Compostella, and as such provides accommodation for pilgrims such as the hostel above.

This castle was originally built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century but following the dissolution of the Knights Templar the property passed into the hands of the Catholic Monarchs. It is a notable example of medieval military architecture with an enclosure of over 8,000 square metres of robust walls, defensive towers and a complex system of courtyards and internal outbuildings.

I know we have only been in Spain a few days but we had forgotten how everything shuts from about 12.30pm until 4.30 pm , we usually wander around the places we visit mid afternoon, but everything is shut and hardly a soul to be seen.

If anyone wanted to invade Spain they would meet very little resistance during these hours😊

Monday 5th May 2025.

We stopped part way on our journey today at the city of Ourense, which is situated down steep roads into a valley. It isn’t a tourist destination but it should be famous for its bridges over the river, I think we saw 4 in a short stretch of the river including the most recent the millennium bridge.

There are walkways constructed from both sides of the bridge which meet at a viewing platform in the centre, we didn’t venture up too many steps.

This is the view from Homer tonight, it is the monument of San Vincent’s Del Pino it has the Tower of Homage, 30m high with 3m thick walls, the Condal Palace home to the Counts of Lemos and the Benedictine monastery. Of course being out of season it was closed on a Monday.

As we wandered around Monforte de Lemos we came across this huge building.

Colegio Nissan SRA, or Da Antiga e a Sua Pinacoteca a school with a facade of 100m which commenced construction in 1593 and wasn’t completed until 1910. The building has four famous key aspects , cloister, church, staircase and museum which contains 2 El Greco paintings amongst other fine works of art.

There are pleasant gardens alongside the river which lead back to tonight’s free aire.

Sunday 4th May 2025.

There is much confusion to the mind in Homer this evening and signs of withdrawal symptoms as we have spent a whole day without seeing/visiting a historical or religious building. No castles, no cathedrals, no grand churches, monasteries, convents etc not even a walk around a historic town.

Just a drive on a twisty turny road that followed a large river as we rose higher and higher into a mountainous area with hillsides clad in trees , heather and other wild flowers until we arrived at tonight’s free stopover.

To be fair the description about the park up did say it was within walking distance of Roman ruins and thermal springs that fed open air baths the Romans used.

We were of course not going to be able to stay here and not visit these items of interest but we didn’t take into account “nature”

The footpath running alongside the river to the site of interest was well under water and was too deep to wade through, an English couple staying here took a walk along the main road to get around the flooded footpath only to find everything at the historical site under water.

We elected to have a walk down river instead only to find after 100m a similar situation.

Our walk was somewhat shortened and as during the afternoon it rained for at least 4 hours I would suspect that tomorrow there will be even less footpath above water.

This morning we parted company with our travel buddies Alison and Peter, they have a week longer than us to travel so they were heading NW into Spain whilst we headed East out of Portugal slowly travelling towards Santander.

So yes tonight we are back in Spain.

Saturday 3rd May 2025.

Tonight we are stopping on a free aire in Ponte de Lima, bridge over the River Lima. It’s a very historical bridge and dates back to an initial construction during Roman times the 1st century AD.

The weather after our arrival was somewhat mixed with rumbles of thunder and heavy showers and so our walk around was a little limited.

On the way to Ponte de Lima we stopped at Bom Jesus do Monte which is a catholic shrine high above the city of Braga, its name means Good Jesus of the Mount.

Work commenced on this sanctuary in 1722 and continued with all its additions until the mid 1800’s. In 1882 a water balance funicular was built to make the ascent easier, it was 4 euros each return.

The striking feature is the monumental Baroque staircase that climbs 116m.

The staircase (which we descended) has 583 steps, pilgrims were encouraged to mount the stairs on their knees experiencing the Scenes of the Passions of Christ with a station of the cross on each level where there was also a water fountain.

Here are a few extra photos.

A very spectacular place and well worth a visit.

We ended today with a very nice meal in a restaurant in town where the portions were very generous😊

This was the image of the church as we walked back to Homer.

Friday 2nd May 2025.

Yesterday was a national holiday, Labour Day, and so we decided to stay another night at Costa Nova, ramble around the town and enjoy another evening stroll on the beach. Here are a few more photos of Costa Nova.

We had heavy rain and an impressive thunder and lightning storm over night.

We drove 94 miles today using both paid and unpaid motorways until we reached Guimaraes.

After lunch we paid 10 euros each and took a ride on the Teleferica de Guimaraes or cable car. The journey is 1.7km long and rises 400m in height travelling over the tops of peoples house and gardens. There was rain on the outside of the gondola so getting good photos was difficult.

The teleferico travels to the summit of Monte da Penha which is the location of the Penha sanctuary, the building of which commenced in in 1930 and it was inaugurated in 1947. The sanctuary has a modern feel and is not at all ornate, there is not just the main building but also chapels, caves, statues, fountains, gardens, parks and what on a fine day would be spectacular views.

Sadly as we emerged from the gondola station it began to rain heavily and we conducted our tour underneath umbrellas, it was quite cool and windy and whilst walking around we heard quite a lot of thunder rumbling around. This lead to the the teleferico grinding to a halt for health and safety reasons and we had to wait a while for the service to resume before we could descend. I’m assuming it didn’t stop mid ride and people were left hanging there 😵‍💫😄

After we reached the bottom station we wandered into town and had a ramble around the old quarter of the city, we didn’t attempt the castle which I’m sure from what I’ve read would be well worth a visit.

Wednesday 30th April 2025.

It began to rain heavily this morning and continued to do so until mid afternoon , the first rain we have had for weeks, plus the temperature dropped to 11 degrees after the previous few days of being in the high 20’s.

Where we stopped last night, Tomar was quite a way inland and so today via the autoroute and toll motorway we have travelled 97 miles NW to the coast below Porto.

We stopped initially in Aveiro which is a city on the west coast of Portugal set alongside a lagoon called Ria de Aveiro,it has canals running through the city navigated by colourful boats (barcos moliceiros) traditionally they were used to harvest sea weed but now are a tourist attraction providing rides around the canals.

Virtually all footpaths and some streets are paved with small black and white cobbles which they use to make patterns.

We weren’t staying in Aveiro and so drove on a further few miles to Costa Nova where we are staying tonight by sand dunes that are separating us from the Atlantic waves.

There is a tradition in Costa Nova of painting the exterior of your house in vertical stripes, sounds weird but looks good.

A few hundred metres from us is Igreja Matriz da Costa we thought it was a lighthouse from the distance but it turned out to be a beautiful but in some ways simple church.

It has beautiful and modern stained glass windows that create a wonderful effect and there is tiled artwork around the alter, tabernacle and baptismal font.

It is now early evening and the sun is shining warmly and as we are the west coast we should get a good sunset.