On our way out of the Picos mountains heading for Llanes we took a small diversion to explore and have lunch in Cangas de Onis. It's main feature is the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge), pictured below, alongside which we tried the Asturian delicacy Fabadas - a simple casserole with white beans, chorizo, black pudding and belly pork. Mmmmm.
Spent 5 nights in Llanes with Lucy's parents. They very kindly booked an apartment with all the luxuries we've been missing out on. A bed that can properly stretch out on, a bath, full size fridge, respite from the sun, etc., etc. Although now we're back in the van there's something to be said for only having 1 yard between the bed, kettle and toilet.
Llanes was a very pretty and nice place to stay. Did a few activities like walking to a really nice beach at Poó, John drove us in the convertible with the roof down to another beach I think at a place called Barro, we swam in the apartments pool, explored Llanes, ate in and out at various places, sat in the evening sun on the balcony. And I learnt (and lost at) a new card game called Whist.
After leaving Llanes we headed to Ribadesella for 2 nights. This is a pretty and quiet small town with a nice beach and port. It's in the news at the moment as they've just dated some cave art back to neanderthal times there. I wanted to look around the caves but alas they were closed the days we were there. Get the feeling this place gets heaving in July and August.
The weather forecast showed some rain on the way so we figured it'd be best to go somewhere interesting to take our minds off it so we headed straight to Gijón. Really liked this city, it had a really nice vibe to it a bit like San Sebastian. We've been on a bit of a stint of free camping since Gijón mostly because the campsites haven't been well located. In Gijón we spent 2 nights in a car park on the sea front not far from the town beach. This also signalled the return of some waves at last, I'm guessing the result of the huge storms battering the UK throwing waves south to the Spanish north coast.
The next stop for a couple of nights has been Cudillero. The first night was spent a few km east of Cudillero at Playa Aguilar where had the first surf in ages. Beautiful beach day followed by a nice night in the supremely picturesque Cudillero sat outside watching Spain trounce Ireland in the Euro 2012 thingy.
We'd then planned to head to a secluded little surf beach called Playa de Otur and to stay overnight in the beach carpark. We drove down the extremely steep and narrow little road to the beach to find a great little spot. Unfortunately there was a really strong westerly wind whipping up sand storms. After barely 30 minutes of lying on the beach being sand blasted we bottled it and headed to a more built up surf beach at Tapia de Casariego where we could stay in a bit more of a sheltered Aire. We subsequently spent 3 nights there! It's got a great balance with a nice old port area with good bars and restaurants, a good beach with some good waves and a great location for parking/camping.
After a night of horizontal rain and hair raising van shaking we made a move in rather pleasant sunshine for Viviero. On the way we stopped off at Playa de las Catedrales which is a striking section of coast line with natural rock arches (thus the cathedrals reference).
Viveiro turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Despite a great location with beaches (we parked overnight alongside Playa Covas with a view over the beach), rolling hills and a huge estuary, it lacked soul - something Spain otherwise oozes at will.
We continued heading round the corner of Galicia from north to west coasts with La Coruña being the next stop. This is a particularly special and surprising city. A lot of it is modern high rise characterless apartments but they don't spoil the history and presence of the place. This is where the Spanish Armada sailed from and it accordingly has loads of nautical heritage. We explored an old fort which is now an archaeological museum and we parked/camped in the car park of a Roman lighthouse called Torre Hercules. We also got to enjoy a free open air concert in the main square. I say enjoy, the second act Los Secretos nearly sent me to sleep with shoddy balad-esque Eagles rip off muzak. Didn't stop the middle aged Spanish women loving it though. We left part way through the headliner Mikel Erentxun's set - his act is essentially putting rough Spanish translations onto other peoples songs.
We've headed south from La Coruña to Santiago de Compostela, the most famous place in Galicia for being where the Sheen family got driven to in their luxury production companies bus. We've been spotting some genuine Camino walkers all the way along the north coast, which surprised us as the official original Camino route is in-land. I suspect most just use buses these days.
We're only staying a night which is probably long enough. It's very pleasant but I'd be a bit let down if I'd walked for a month to get here. It also might be the most expensive place along the route to buy a beer which would be quite galling after all that walking when 20 cervezas is probably exactly what you want.
So next up we're planning on heading to the west coast and seeing a bit of the southern stretch of the Costa da Morte.
A few facts:
More photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101454232293966616010/albums/5861911368949261441?authkey=CKrTqpbXqZepeQ
Spent 5 nights in Llanes with Lucy's parents. They very kindly booked an apartment with all the luxuries we've been missing out on. A bed that can properly stretch out on, a bath, full size fridge, respite from the sun, etc., etc. Although now we're back in the van there's something to be said for only having 1 yard between the bed, kettle and toilet.
Llanes was a very pretty and nice place to stay. Did a few activities like walking to a really nice beach at Poó, John drove us in the convertible with the roof down to another beach I think at a place called Barro, we swam in the apartments pool, explored Llanes, ate in and out at various places, sat in the evening sun on the balcony. And I learnt (and lost at) a new card game called Whist.
After leaving Llanes we headed to Ribadesella for 2 nights. This is a pretty and quiet small town with a nice beach and port. It's in the news at the moment as they've just dated some cave art back to neanderthal times there. I wanted to look around the caves but alas they were closed the days we were there. Get the feeling this place gets heaving in July and August.
The weather forecast showed some rain on the way so we figured it'd be best to go somewhere interesting to take our minds off it so we headed straight to Gijón. Really liked this city, it had a really nice vibe to it a bit like San Sebastian. We've been on a bit of a stint of free camping since Gijón mostly because the campsites haven't been well located. In Gijón we spent 2 nights in a car park on the sea front not far from the town beach. This also signalled the return of some waves at last, I'm guessing the result of the huge storms battering the UK throwing waves south to the Spanish north coast.
The next stop for a couple of nights has been Cudillero. The first night was spent a few km east of Cudillero at Playa Aguilar where had the first surf in ages. Beautiful beach day followed by a nice night in the supremely picturesque Cudillero sat outside watching Spain trounce Ireland in the Euro 2012 thingy.
We'd then planned to head to a secluded little surf beach called Playa de Otur and to stay overnight in the beach carpark. We drove down the extremely steep and narrow little road to the beach to find a great little spot. Unfortunately there was a really strong westerly wind whipping up sand storms. After barely 30 minutes of lying on the beach being sand blasted we bottled it and headed to a more built up surf beach at Tapia de Casariego where we could stay in a bit more of a sheltered Aire. We subsequently spent 3 nights there! It's got a great balance with a nice old port area with good bars and restaurants, a good beach with some good waves and a great location for parking/camping.
After a night of horizontal rain and hair raising van shaking we made a move in rather pleasant sunshine for Viviero. On the way we stopped off at Playa de las Catedrales which is a striking section of coast line with natural rock arches (thus the cathedrals reference).
Viveiro turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Despite a great location with beaches (we parked overnight alongside Playa Covas with a view over the beach), rolling hills and a huge estuary, it lacked soul - something Spain otherwise oozes at will.
We continued heading round the corner of Galicia from north to west coasts with La Coruña being the next stop. This is a particularly special and surprising city. A lot of it is modern high rise characterless apartments but they don't spoil the history and presence of the place. This is where the Spanish Armada sailed from and it accordingly has loads of nautical heritage. We explored an old fort which is now an archaeological museum and we parked/camped in the car park of a Roman lighthouse called Torre Hercules. We also got to enjoy a free open air concert in the main square. I say enjoy, the second act Los Secretos nearly sent me to sleep with shoddy balad-esque Eagles rip off muzak. Didn't stop the middle aged Spanish women loving it though. We left part way through the headliner Mikel Erentxun's set - his act is essentially putting rough Spanish translations onto other peoples songs.
We've headed south from La Coruña to Santiago de Compostela, the most famous place in Galicia for being where the Sheen family got driven to in their luxury production companies bus. We've been spotting some genuine Camino walkers all the way along the north coast, which surprised us as the official original Camino route is in-land. I suspect most just use buses these days.
We're only staying a night which is probably long enough. It's very pleasant but I'd be a bit let down if I'd walked for a month to get here. It also might be the most expensive place along the route to buy a beer which would be quite galling after all that walking when 20 cervezas is probably exactly what you want.
So next up we're planning on heading to the west coast and seeing a bit of the southern stretch of the Costa da Morte.
A few facts:
- The beard is continuing apace. I think it might be getting out of hand but I'm not sure of the translation for beard trimmers and I'm too scared to visit a barbers.
- It's not acceptable for Lucy to steal a pilgrims Camino stamp book and claim a certificate for herself.
More photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101454232293966616010/albums/5861911368949261441?authkey=CKrTqpbXqZepeQ
