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Spain and Portugal, December 2017 / January 2018 - North West Spain

Although we've visited Spain on several occasions we'd always kept to the North-East, East Coast and, last year, the South and South-East Coast, so this was our first time traveling West from the ferry ports in Northern Spain.

Our ferry was 4 hours late getting to Bilbao due to "inclement weather' (we hardly noticed it!) so we didn't arrived until after 6pm. We'd been told during the voyage that we would be late arriving so I spent some time using the internet to find somewhere close to the port to stay for the night. I picked out a couple of possible sites using the Park4Night App - which I found extremely useful throughout our trip.

Miono is a village less that 10km from Bilbao. There are some single track streets to negotiate but we ended up at a large car park overlooking the sea. There's a monument to the mining that used to take place in the area. It soon started raining the next morning and as it was forecast to continue we decided to drive westwards instead of exploring the local area and nearby town of Castro Urdiales.

As we travelled West the weather started to improve and we stopped at San Vicente de la Barquera for a late lunch.

We stayed overnight at a free Aire in Navia where we were able to fill up with water and empty our waste and the following day drove to A Corunna. We followed the directions to an Aire on the coast to the West of the town and parked up. We had a walk along the coast road and discovered a better car park which overlooked the sea and was much more level so we moved the van and stayed overnight.

Parked at the Aire on the most level section.

Sunset from the car park we stayed at overnight.

A beautiful morning with a great view.

We wanted to visit Cap Fisterra and as the forecast was good decided to move on the next day. Glad that we did as we not only had sunshine but virtually no wind!

Motorhomes are not allowed to park in the car park at Cap Fisterra however there is parking available just before main car park Our van and one other are parked just off side road, there's also parking for campers on the grassy areas. The lighthouse is at the end of the peninsula.

Cap Fisterra lighthouse.

Great views all around.

We sat inside the van with the sliding door open watching the sun go down.

The next morning we got up early and saw the sun rise in the East.

As we'd been driving through Northern Spain we saw lots of stone buildings raised above the ground. Most looked old but we also saw some more modern brick ones. I discovered that these are called Horreros and are used for storing grain and vegetables. The pillars that they stand on prevent rodents getting in and the slits are for ventilation.

A Horrero.

Driving along the scenic coast road.

Lunch stop besides a deserted beach. We could see Cap Fisterra in the distance.

Our final stop before entering Portugal was Santiago de Compostela. We were pleasantly surprised that the town, famous for being at the end of an important pilgrimage route, wasn't particularly touristy and that entrance to the cathedral was free.

Narrow pedestrian streets.

One of the town squares.

 

 

North West Spain

Portugal 1 - Christmas 2017

Portugal 2 - 2018

 

 

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The cathedral.