Monday, 28 May 2012

Biarritz to Mundaka

Picked up Lucy from the airport and stayed a couple more nights in Biarritz.  Had a bit of an issue as picked Lucy up fairly late and by the time we'd made it back to where we'd planned to stay it was full.  So ended up having to drive a bit further out and finding a layby to pull into for the night.  I'm not certain but I suspect it doubled as a dogging and horse rustling area, there were certainly a lot of odd noises and comings and goings through the night.

The following morning went back into Biarritz and parked in an Aire near the beach for the next day and night.  Had a nice time exploring again and lying on the beach.


Unfortunately this all coincided then with the slow arrival of a huge storm, so the next couple of nights in St. Jean de Luz were quite overcast and menacing.  But nonetheless we were treated to an aerial display from the French equivalent of the red arrows and got to explore a very pretty little seaside town.  Our last stop in France.



Next crossed the border through hammering rain and masses of lightning and aimed for the first Spanish town which is the amazing San Sebastian.  On Mike's recommendation got to fully appreciate the tapas ('pxintos' in Basque) which thankfully has become a recurring theme further into Spain!  San Sebastian may have stolen the crown of favourite place yet from Biarritz.  This despite the hammering rain, the urgent need to learn more Spanish and the complete lack of surfable waves.

From San Sebastian progressed on to a quiet little seaside resort called Orio.  Fortunately the sun came back to us for some quality beach time, unfortunately still no waves though!  Did a whole load of long overdue washing at the campsites facilities and I had a nice little hike climbing Kukuarri, a 360m-ish tall mountain alongside the coast.



Lucy has managed to find us a set of Points of Interest for the sat nav which tell us where to find Aires (car parks specifically for campervans) and free camping spots in Spain.  So we took advantage to stay at Lekeitio for a couple of nights.  Had a fun evening experiencing the Spanish love of football.  Following a practically day long fiesta where even the dogs wore Atletico Bilbbao shirts, Barcelona thrashed Bilbao 3-0 to win the final.

Met this little fella on the beach at Lekitio

I'm doing my best to improve my Spanish but am presently finding the Basque region is fighting me.  All their signs are written twice.  It's a bit like being in Wales but without knowing English.

So the latest travelling has been to spend 3 nights in Mundaka (where I'm writing this).  We went via Guernica and popped into the museum for peace.  Guernica got bombed by Franco with the help of Germany during Spains civil war.  Quite a harrowing, indiscriminate and perplexing story and a very thought provoking museum.

This whole area of Spain is very beautiful, the drives have been lovely going up and down hills through woodland with constant glimpses of the ocean and huge vistas across valleys.  Mundaka is kind of the pinnacle of that as the village is lovely with some great views across the estuary.  Unfortunately no signs of the worlds best left breaking waves this place is famous for (unless you're a squirrel I suppose - then those 0.5ft waves would probably be head high).

So now we continue west, next stop Bilbao and the Guggenheim then slowly on toward Llanes where we meet Lucy's parents for a few nights on the tail end of their holiday.

A couple of little updates:
  1. The beard is bushy and beyond the itchy stage.  Its growth appears to have slowed as it becomes "fuller".  Not sure I like it.
  2. After a months Internet amnesty we're now fully connected with Vodafone pay as you go mobile broadband.
  3. The Internet has paved the way for 80 Spanish words to be planted in Memrise.  20 a day and maybe in a few more months I'll get the hang of it!
  4. I'm back to work on a pet project: https://sourceforge.net/projects/jizz/.
More photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101454232293966616010/albums/5861908863978130881?authkey=CMi0k9rHyIXNYQ

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