After a fallow travel year, we’re off. Hooray!

On a two nights Brittany Ferries ship to Santander on 9th January, the first available ferry to Spain in 2024, we are struck by how good the customer offer delivery is by the ferry company.

We’re also struck by the huge majority of passengers being in post-employment status, looking old & many with mobility challenges. Some going out on holiday, some going home after seasonal gatherings with families. From all of this, of course, we’re pretending we‘re not looking in a mirror when we look around. Chris has determined we’ll not be on this boat again.

We visited the boat’s tiny cinema on our whole sailing day: Wonka is as good as the original, albeit a prequel. And Hugh Grant is masterfully cast.

On our last ferry morning, Kath decided we would be woken by her alarm call at 05.10, not like everyone else by the one hour later’s ship system. So an early start! Eventually left the port at about 08.30 to drive to Valladolid – a great Main square, the rest so-so. The journey took us through beautiful mountains, topped with snow & clouds, & great plains with big skies. Transpires EV charging is a doddle, with rapid chargers from, so far, three different networks, all of which take VW charge card payment. One big challenge overcome.

Moved on, after a car charge, to Salamanca, a beautiful sandstone city with an ancient centre, mostly of religious buildings like the monastery below.

Salamancan Monastery – can you spot the herons’ nests on the chimey tops?

Had a tip off for a Cocteleria Niebla Cafe jazz gig, starting at 10.30 & ending at midnight 30. Well chilled. We’d forgotten how everything in the evening starts much later, eg eating before 9pm is not done.

More driving & painless car charging has brought us to Caceres. Its old town is supposedly one of the biggest & best kept medieval heritage sites. And, of course, it has interesting town walls. Couldn’t help thinking of Pop.

Going South

We chose to visit Zarautz, a smaller tourist town, on the way to our last stop. In the town we were pulled over by a police car. Slowly they got out of their car, ambled up to Kath’s window & showed us on a mobile phone a red box stating there was no road tax paid for Heidi (our new name for ID). We explained that there is no road tax for EVs in the UK. Somewhat perplexed, they eventually agreed to let us go. When we returned home, we had a form in the post requiring us to submit a vehicle tax form online, even though there was no charge. So the police were right!

We’re staying in an Ibis – it’s centrally located, has a garage & a charger though, at 2Kw, very slow. Free though. The car’s maximum mileage, courtesy of our gentle meandering & 20+ degrees temperatures, is now showing 334 miles. The sales spiel for the car only quotes 320!

We returned to our much loved Guggenheim, again to be disappointed with the exhibitions: always the building outshines the contents.

Our dinner was a pintxos trail, in the main city dining streets, to be followed the next day with yet another pintxos trail, this time the 10 best best bars trail, ending up in the old town. Excellent food, bettered only by consistently good white wines & at really good value prices.

Our last full day revealed the Bilbao Modern Arts Museum, not brill but really good exhibition of Milton Glaser posters, & a new convention / concert centre, remarkable mostly for the rudeness of a waiter in its cafe, ignoring us completely.

Finally, a half day to find some presents & boarding the ferry to Portsmouth, some 28 hours of gentle cruising distant. After reading all about the holdups in airports over the weekend, we’re not really surprised by the hour’s queuing to pass through customs at the other end. And home.

Sunday is a visit to the top of Mont Urgull, a former castle & defences against sea attacks, with a good museum on the city’s history. You can also go up to the top parapet, for five minutes. Here’s a picture of Kaff, doing her thing with the statue above. Yep. Jesus. And it’s Sunday.

The view from here over the eastern side of the city & Ondarreta Beach is fab. This is also the main surfing beach, seemingly at all times of day & weather conditions. The two sides are separated by the River Urumea.

On the way down we visit the aquarium, disappointing until the third level when you are surrounded in every direction by fish, including two mean looking sharks. Apparently all the fish are fed up to three times a week, presumably enough for sharks not to eat the contents of the tanks.

We have now taken the plunge & booked three restaurants for the next three days. The first had great reviews but, despite friendly, helpful staff, failed to deliver on the actual dishes. Shame. Also, first time we have been charged for bread &, first time ever, for tap water! Not going back there. Today we visited the last two ‘must visits’, so some rest days ahead for Kaff’s knee & Chris’s toe. There’s loads of people here on crutches, in wheelchairs, limping, so maybe this could be our home …..

The second restaurant meal is much better, an authentic taste of Basque cooking, but like all Michelin starred restaurants it’s really the imagination of the chef(s) that makes the difference. Anyway, we were impressed.

Our growing knowledge of the Basque language continues: eskerrik asko (thank you); kaixo (hello); gau on (good night). Bought some local wine (Godello, only from Galicia, & Txakoli, only from Spanish Basque area) this afternoon, so our 24 bottles allowance now complete.

Our last day in this fab city was spent nosing art galleries, well the ones that are not closed down anyway. For a late lunch & last meal we had a 3pm booking at Las Perlas, a conspicuous 1930s palatial building by the beach.

Inside the restaurant – the building has three bars & a thalasso therapy suite, too – it feels like a spaceship.

After a gentle post-prandial snooze on the beach, time to saunter back to the hotel, calling in at some of the many bars on the way. Seven days in residence & we still love this city.

Bilbao

The first is the Spanish version, the second Basque & this is very much a Derry Londonderry solution as we are in the middle of all things Basque. The signposts etc are all with two language versions. If you didn’t have a navigation system, you would find the road network bewildering with roads above, below & seemingly everywhere else. The city lies at the bottom of a mountain, exploding up it & benefitting from land reclaimed from the sea last century. One wrong choice & you’re heading back to France. We had updated our international Covid passes prior to crossing into Spain but, of course, the border is undetectable, we’re in the EU.

Our hotel is a 15 mins bus ride from the old town, the bus stop adjacent to the hotel, & costing a flat rate of about £1.40 per person per journey. We have chosen to stay here a whole week as our constant moving on has become a bit of an issue. However, the hotel is corporate-style & Kath has decided she doesn’t like it.

Our first day is consumed by Pinxtos, or we consumed them, fabulous fresh snacks of seafood, vegetables, meat etc recipes. Superb wines to accompany them make our revisit to the old town delighful yet hazardous: la goutte has returned with a vengeance, so Chris has to go teetotal & seafood free again. In this city, of all cities, this is purgatory. A cinema visit for Top Gun Maverick rounds off the day, so a taxi ride back to the hotel at midnight is needed. Not so for Friday & Saturday nights, when the buses run until 2 & 4am. Why do we love this city?

Friday turns into a fuzzy day, hours spent trying to find a charger that will work without a Spanish accessible only app, sorted by a VW garage charger at the bottom of the road, 3 minutes away! Then retraining the venues of the previous night, vainly seeking Chris’s reading glasses. We visit the San Telmo museum to learn about Basque history & traditions, but are only impressed by the museum’s old & new architecture. After waiting an hour to visit a jazz bar, for it to mysteriously stay closed, we concede, stopping off on the retreat at a local restaurant near the hotel to be given chicken, egg & chips, ham, egg & chips & a mixed salad with tuna. Our fault for not reading the menu properly. But the chips were good after all those squidgy, tepid frites in France. Not one good frites experience.

Saturday is better: the cloudy weather forecast delivers a blue sky almost uninterrupted, so beach is where we lie, in between swimming in the sea. Then a coffee in Wimbledon pub – there are many tennis courts here – & a ride in the funicular railway up Monte Igeldo for its stunning views of the city & the Pyrenees behind.

Hotel then to change & a bus to the old quarter for a bite to eat then music bar time. Except both venues were closed, no notice on their website or social media. Not good enough. Sent the one we’ve now tried for two nights a shitty review, explaining the digital world demands better. Not sure they’ll be bothered to read it, ‘though. We called into a few bars on the saunter home, as the European Championship Cup Final between Real Madrid & Liverpool occupied the audiences’ attention. We were told every local was supporting the latter, as seemed to be the case. Just like Cardiff or London attitude from the ‘sticks’.

San Sebastian Donostia – Pt II

A journey to an out of town shopping centre was the first stop of the day, where a new bank of seven Ionity 350Kw chargers enable a rapid charge, albeit expensive. Then onto Bergerac, a delightful old town with vines for miles in every direction, to sample then buy some wine. The first cave was the new town centre tourism centre, equipped with its own multi-wine facility. Tasted four & bought two each of two bottles. The next visit, to a co-operative cave, ended with two each of one white & two reds, after guidance from the host. Respect to the Bergerac area! And, of course, there’s a statue of one famous fellow.

Determined not to use the motorway, our journey to Pau, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, took about four hours but involved crossing mostly unused forest & farmland roads, through villages & small towns & was delightful. Our arrival in Pau, however, was met by long traffic queues, so finding our way to the hotel within the semi-pedestrianised old town centre was quite easy.

Pau is upmarket tourism, starting with the Brits skiing passion back in the 19th century; its streets are wider & buildings generally grander than the medieval tourist hot spots we have visited recently. It also has a funicular train running from uptown to the station.

The city is also famous for motor sport & Tour de France competition. Many cafes, restaurants, bars make it a very convivial stay, especially when seated in a crowded restaurant in very close proximity to friendly locals. We took their advice on which wine to order. This is rugby territory, so being Welsh is a definite help. By the station is an open air exhibition with every winner of the Tour de France, since its inception in 1903, recorded on individual stands, linked to a website via QR codes. Charming to read their stories.

The EV chargers are arranged in a bank of eight in the underground car park where the hotel has arranged for us to park the car. Extra bonus is the charge being foc, so no charge as it were. Two days to savour the atmosphere & occasional rain showers, with the Pyrenees appearing in the background between clouds, then time to cross them mountains as our much loved San Sebastian awaits.

San Sebastian Donostia – Pt I

So called capital of the Dordogne is this characterful old city, surrounded by lesser urban sprawl. We’re staying for two nights in a cute duplex apartment, on the second & third floors above the owner’s antiques shop, at the edge of the old town. It has a huge cathedral, 17th century with five domes, and a number of squares, most occupied by cafes & restaurants. The nearest charger is not working, but there’s a very fast charger in an out of town complex nine miles away awaiting the next stage of our journey.

The city has a long history of flooding by L’Isle river, as above. It also reveals the different topography of The Dordogne, hills & valleys, as opposed to the total flatness of most of the French west coast area.

A visit around the Museum de Beaux Arts du Perigord included the last day of José Correa’s watercolors exhibition – utterly charming. Local, Perigord (equates to the Anglicised “Dordogne”) specialities include foi gras (everywhere!), truffles & Bergerac wines. So far we’ve tried the wine.

The city is renowned for its huge, five domed Saint Front cathedral and, less so, for the Vesunna Gallo-Roman Museum, where an extensive Roman site is covered by a modern warehouse construction.

Bergerac and Pau

I only remember coming here as an 8 or 9 year old on one of my family’s camping trips, I didn’t remember anything else other than a big beach. Well, after another three hour journey, down mostly motorways that are so less crowded than the UK’s, we dropped our stuff off at the charming little L’Ostrei hotel over a restaurant near the port and walked.

The town has huge beaches wrapped around from its Atlantic front to its Arachon Bay frontage, with calmer seas. Kath excited by swimming the latter. All manner of boats charge up & down the bay, creating a buzzing nautical feel complemented by a huge harbour. And near the harbour lie …. yep, fish restaurants. Ate in the local port bistro last night, superb, & booked into The Kraken (Kath’s choice) tonight.Before that we have to charge the car, swim loads, book the next hotel in the next town. I know, arduous.

Our last night’s sleep was awful, so hot. Despite our hopes to save the planet, we might turn on the air conditioning tonight. There have been weather warnings over the last two days, apparently the temperatures through western Europe are running up to 10 degrees higher than the norm. This has meant we have been enjoying late 20’s degrees, mostly with hazy blue skies. Fab. Had some rain & thunder the last three days, so not all paradise.

The next day’s morning is spent car charging – only 22 Kw/hr chargers available in this city & the one we used charges at only 6 or 7 Kw/hr. We used the opportunity to visit La Dune de Pilar, Europe’s biggest sand dune. And it is huge.

Dinner in Kraken, an aspiring Michelin-style restaurant, where the food was superb until the Gourmand dessert arrived, each element proving they need a dessert chef in their kitchen. Tried to use the bedroom’s air conditioning this time, but had to turn it off as it was leaking. In the morning the owner informed it was a brand new system, never been used before so thanks for telling him. Two bad sleep nights, then. And away …… to the Dordogne, as Chris wants to see what all the fuss is about, even though it’s heading north west.

Perigueux

Via a ridiculously expensive (& second longest in France) bridge, completed in 1988, this island extends westward into the Atlantic from La Rochelle (just beat Racing 92 to be in the Challenge Cup Final against Leinster at the end of the month). That was irrelevant. Sorry. We love this place, about 4km by 2km with a resident population of about 15,000. Apparently this bolts to 175,000 summertime.

Beautiful sunny with clouds and breezes weather & not too many people around makes the many beaches delightful; Kath not agreeing as Atlantic waves crash in. Visited the island’s wine co-operative taste & sales depot, in front of their winery, tasted & bought some white & red Ile de Re wines. Fun, eh?

Had a long walk on their partly rocky beaches, played EV charging with two of the island’s offers, neither delivering at anything like the published speed but hey-ho, & enjoyed the cafes etc in both St Martin Ile de Re & La Flotte.

Sotheby’s have an office in St Martin, the island’s main town, so that explains ritzy summer homes & expensive bridge. The bridge toll is 8 euros – only onto the island – come to your own conclusions.

Our hotel is in a cute set of houses & has a swimming pool. It’s located at the edge of a small village where we dined both nights in L’Escale restaurant. Friendly family runs it, though food not brilliant, but ambience & outside seating make it comfortable experience.

Time to hit the sotherly road again.

Arcachon

The oh so helpful staff of our Vannes hotel sorted a doctor’s appointment for me in the afternoon. And in the SOS clinic, only 30 minutes late I was seen by a doctor. That wouldn’t have happened so easily in UK methinks. Armed with a prescription, then the medicines from a Pharmacie visit, we’re on the road again.

A 45 mile journey takes us to La Baule-Escoublac, a sweeping curved beach that seems to go on for ever backed its entire length by holiday homes, hotels & other tourist stuff. This is a bit of time out for my foot to recover & also some planning of where/when our trip leads next. Just booked a ferry from Bilbao to Portsmouth for 4th June, so the end is fixed & sheds some light on next steps.

Had a delicious meal last night, including a main course of two types of beef carpaccio, in the town centre before driving back to out aparthotel, located towards the rear of town, too far for me to hobble. The room has a balcony from which we took the full moon shot.

Today’s agenda includes a charge up for the car & a visit to a laundromat, hopefully coinciding. Laundry successful, charge needed relocation to walled medieval town of Guerande. Lucky to have been forced into this beautiful old town. Amongst many highlights, this covered fountain in the main square is stunning.

Charged up, we went swimming at the front of La Baule & ended up dining at the next door restaurant to last night. Not in the same league, with poorly mixed tastes & less efficient, knowledgeable waiting team.

The south of France is calling, so time to leave.

Ile de Re

On the way to Vannes, we stopped off at Quimper, the oldest town in Brittany, where we saw this hyper-settled building.

Then we dropped into the medieval walled island of Concarneau, with another collection of timber fronted, architecturally challenging buildings; bit of a tourist trap, ‘though, so very busy, especially as it was market day so main square devoted to stalls, not cars.

In Vannes towards the end of the afternoon, where the crazy one way schemes in & outside the old walled town make driving a bit stressful, but once the car is parked the beauty of the old town more than compensates. So many medieval buildings in, generally, excellent nick it’s jaw dropping. Many reveal the art of extending outwards by floor (corbelling), thus maximising the internal floor area.

Illness eventually captures holiday-makers & we’re no exception: Kath has been fighting being overtaken by snot, which has now passed onto me & I’ m suffering with la goutte. Guess who forgot to bring ample supply of his pills to the most famous seafood eating part of the world. And everywhere Biere Artisinale awaits. Having to take a timeout on those ingredients as I hobble about with swollen foot.

Much of the old town walls are obscured by being built on/through/around, but there still chunks to see & walk along. We spent this afternoon in the ramparts gardens from where this photo was taken.

This afternoon we visited Vannes’ nearest ‘beach’, more like a playpark next to a river, bit it did feature the biggest sea water swimming pool we ever did see. Suffice to say Kath had several swims whilst Chris was unable to get to work the nearby charger for the car. A slight modification to the car courtesy of a pesky low level concrete wall was this morning’s outcome. So not a good car day. Tomorrow we move further south again.

Further South