Blog 1.25: Days 31 and 32

October 22 and 23

By the time we left Calahorra at around midday on Saturday, we were the last van on the Aire. The pillock who parked outside it was still there too, but he was a pillock, so I won't dwell on that. We prodded on northwards with great views, and multiple soaring Pyrennean Vultures overhead,

towards the ever-expanding border-defining mountain range before us, on a road that would probably be described as a 'B' road (width-wise) in England.

Arizona, Spain

Whatever it's classed as, it's fantastic, but sadly came to an end at Estella all too soon, where we jumped onto the A12 motorway towards Pamplona - not before raiding the Mercadona there that eagle-eye M spotted, and stocking up on quite a few essentials. And non-essentials... We were still on a bit of a mission, to be honest, with the goal of the Basque Atlantic coast on our minds. And so it was that we fought our way through Donostia San Sebastian, past excessive numbers of large stadiums (well, at least two, but both large, and quite close together)

Real Sociedad's Stadium. San Sebastian

eventually reaching Irùn, slightly to the east and seemingly metres from the French border. We had no intention of visiting the town as such, instead fetching up at an unprepossessing Aire behind a huge shopping centre on what appears to be a worked-out quarry. It doesn't sound like much, admittedly, but it transpired that we had the most peaceful night possible, so it was worth every penny of the 15€, especially as the facilities provided are so new and completely spotless. The pedestrian gate access from the aire leads directly into the shopping centre, which is huge. We'd intended going to the massive Decathlon there to see if we could pick up a couple of light folding stools (it's not always permissible to use chairs on most free aires, so we figured stools might be a bit more 'stealthy'). As it happened though, there is the most enormous supermarket there too, with a large mall attached, and you can buy anything from a beer to a set of tyres. And guess what? They had the perfect stools, for 9€ each.

Stealth Stools 😉

Sorted. Especially as the evening was so ridiculously balmy. They paid for themselves in one night I think. A few other bits and bobs bought, and a couple of cerveza sin alcohol sunk, and we were back at the van, not the least hungry, but very thirsty. In truth much of that is down to the lurgy we've been suffering, but the dry warmth obviously plays a part. Anyway, after that quiet, restful night, I awoke feeling nothing like 69 (even though M insisted that somehow I'd passed that number while I slept), breakfasted royally on croissants and the local 1€ per pot orange marmalade (marvellous stuff, an economy-size stash of which is accompanying us northwards, but may not make it to Le Manche at the rate it's disappearing), and set about the chores. Somehow, emptying unmentionable things from various receptacles doesn't feel very birthday-like, but I'll take it given the upsides. Moving on, via the fuel station the other side of the shopping centre, we hit the road for the border. It was pretty busy in our direction, but absolutely chaotic southbound with huge queues of cars passing from France to Spain.

We're all off to Sunny Spain

Just a sunny Sunday day trip? Or were they looking for fuel? No idea, but there didn't seem to be any localised fuel shortages as we moved into France, contrary to reports.

Under the Pyrennees, this time.

The sprawls of Bayonne and Biarritz are something to avoid, it turns out, and so we did, taking a turn around Capbreton in search of somewhere to park for a while for a coffee and sarnie, and a look at the map, but the cupboard was bare. Or rather it was absolutely choc-a bloc with cars. So we moved on, eventually stopping in a sort of makeshift dirt layby. It'll do though. Next port of call was to be a paying aire a few miles up the coast at Vieux Boucau-le-Bains, just because it looked like a nice situation with the town situated right beside what they describe as a lac, yet appears to be saltwater and open to the sea via a narrow channel. That's just my perception from Google maps at the moment though. We'll find out tomorrow when we start exploring on the bikes.

Yep, we'll have two nights here I think. 9€ a night (with electric: not needed, but included in the price so we hooked up. At least it saves LPG!) with all the usual facilities, plenty of room to spread out, and a canopy of oak trees above, with the occasional acorn clonking the roof. Maybe the hook up is a good idea after all, though, with all that shade over the solar panel!

And now - relax. Tea and cake, I think.

Miles so far: 2306