We thought we would
give Spain another chance this year mainly staying inland and avoiding
the main tourist hotspots of the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca. We
travelled on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and had a
leisurely drive through the western provinces then zigzagged across
Andalucia before turning north through Murcia and central Spain. Once
across the Pyrenees we drifted northwards through rural western
France to the Loire and back to England via the Dieppe to Newhaven
ferry.
Leaving
Portsmouth early evening we luckily had a calm crossing but didn't spot
any whales crossing the Bay of Biscay despite an enthusiastic talk. A
short drive from the ferry port at Santander took us to the
free aire at an animal park at Cabarcena but we didn't see any wild
animals there. We slowly headed south west, mainly on back roads
across
the flat plains to reach the city of Salamanca and a campsite in the
grounds of a hotel with a regular bus into the city centre. We visited
the interesting city sights the next morning when it was sunny but very
cold
for the end of April.
Continuing south we drove up to the 1728m
summit of Peña de Francia for a terrific view in all directions before
reaching the old village of La Alberca (a National Monument).
After a night on our own in
a remote village aire we stopped at the Monfrague Natural Park to look at
the eagles and reached the free aire at Caceres and enjoyed a
stroll around the busy city main square on a warm evening. We then
crossed the Sierra de Aracena and stayed a couple of days on a campsite
discovering some interesting small towns among hills covered with sweet
chestnuts forests. The weather was hotter as we reached the amazing
pilgrimage town of El Rocio then skirted around Seville on the busy ring road
and down to the coast at the small resort of Sanlucar de Barrameda and along the Costa de
la Luz where we came across the most interesting hilltop town of Vejer de la Frontera and a nearby sculpture park. |
Our route through Spain and France 2014
 |  |  | | Córdoba Patio Festival | Córdoba mosque | Romería de San Isidro |
|
Heading inland we took a winding route through the rugged Parque
Natural de la Sierra de Grazalema then to another hilltop town of Olvera and to Córdoba to
coincide with the annual Patio Festival fortnight as well as
the amazing mequita. By chance we found that the nearby town of
Villafranca de Córdoba was holding its annual Romería (pilgrimage
procession) of San Isidro, a sight worth seeing for the colourful
floats, horse riders and Flamenco costumes, capped by the cooking
of 15,000 fried eggs for everyone in the evening! These few days were
definitely the highpoint of this year's trip.
We now headed
back towards the coast via the valley of Las Alpujarras, south of the
Sierra Nevada and through the "sea of plastic" along
the Almeria coastline taking a diversion around the cowboy filmset
country of the barren desert region towards Murcia. As it was now
rather hot and the scenery not very attractive we decided to head north
towards France rather rapidly, stopping at Teruel, a city with Moorish
brick towers, and the ochre coloured village of Albarracín set in the
mountains, before bypassing Pamplona and crossing the Pyrenees to St
Jean Pied de Port in France. From there we slowly drifted north
through pretty bastide towns to Cahors then on to the Loire Valley
before the final stretch to Normandy and the ferry from Dieppe to
Newhaven.
Costs
Ferry :
Outbound: Portsmouth to Santander Britanny ferries
£399, booked
direct
Return: Dieppe to Newhaven Transmanche £88 booked direct by phone for over
60's discount
Fuel : £762 for 4257 miles - about
28 mpg.
Gas: Gaslow LPG 40 litres £26 total :
Initial fill
in UK
12.6 Litres £8.67; three top-ups in Spain/France 27 litres €21
Campsites and Aires
Fees £345 total
Campsites 21 nights
€347 (€12 to €26) 16 nights using the ACSI discount
Camping Card €256
3 nights at CL sites in the UK £24
Aires 30
nights: €41.50 (€5.50
to €9.00
inc services) 24 nights free
