A New Adventure in France

October has been wonderfully mild but we were also very fortunate in the second half of September when we took a couple of weeks away to explore Northern Spain, an area that neither of us knows well. We crossed the border south of Biarritz and, with an eye on weather forecasts, we headed west straight away to cover some distance along the Northern Spanish coast heading towards the Picos de Europa, a mountain range a little south-west of Santander. Our travelling rig is slightly changed as we were towing a new scooter. Joe sold his BMW motorcycle before we left the UK and we have mulled over options of bicycles, electric bikes and scooter to explore surrounding areas when we are travelling in the van. We recognised that we didn’t need anything as powerful as the previous motorbike and the idea of a classic scooter (Vespa, Lambretta) appealed but we needed to be realistic. We’re two big people and, apart from looking a bit ridiculous on a small scooter, they don’t have the oomph to get us up the hills at more than walking pace, engine screaming, and we risked being overtaken by pedestrians! So we investigated a modern maxi- scooter which strikes a balance with power, size and comfort. So  we now tow the new scooter on a small trailer and this trip was the first opportunity to try it out. 

We made our first stop at a motorhome aire overlooking the sea on the edge of the town of Comillas. The view over the old port and beach was already attractive but, putting the new scooter to use straight away, we discovered the centre of the town was really impressive with some very interesting architecture. Originally a small fishing port, the town became an elegant spa resort in the 19th century. I particularly wanted to visit ‘El Capricho de Gaudi’ or  ‘Gaudi’s Caprice’, a house designed by the young Gaudi and one of only a few of his works outside of the Catalonia region. The house was designed for a Spanish bachelor, an ‘Indiano’, the term given to Spaniards who made their fortunes in America. The term ‘caprice’ was given to the architectural style because it mixes materials, colours and architectural elements such as a Persian tower.  it certainly is an amazing building and a real surprise to find it in this area.

The weather window in the mountains was still looking good so we headed there via an amazing gorge road where the mountains towered above us on both sides and took us to the town of Potes.  We made a brief stop for coffee and supplies and carried on into the mountains to the end of road at Fuente Dé where there is a cable car that takes you up into the mountains. Our stop for the night was a small campsite with views up to the mountains that we planned to see more of the following day. 

There are a choice of walks once you get to the top and we planned to do the walk downhill back to camp which takes around 5 hours. We were pleased to set off with the promise of blue skies – it’s such a gamble as to whether the mountains will be visible once you get higher. We had a beautiful walk down – why does downhill still mean there are uphill bits as well? – amidst scenery that was almost alpine. We could probably have done it a little quicker but we kept stopping to look at the amazing views behind us, coffee at a mountain lodge and an al fresco lunch with a stunning view. Joe thought his feet were a bit sore but only found when we got back that he had huge blisters on the underside of his heels – time for new boots perhaps.

We moved on the next day, retracing our steps first to Potes with a stop at  Mogrevejo, billed as one of the most beautiful villages in Spain and a filming location for a recent new film version of Heidi.  Certainly it felt like an Alpine village where Julie Andrews could appear over the hill at any moment.

Back at the gorge road we continued on a circular route with another detour for an overnight stop at Riano, a small town next to a stunning reservoir with a mountain backdrop.

We continued the next day through the Oseja de Sajambre gorges eventually popping back out at the coast at Ribadesella. This part of the northern Spanish coastline has some beautiful sandy beaches and small ports. We started heading back eastwards and found a beautiful campsite with terraced pitches overlooking the beach and coast. We used this as a base for a couple of nights to explore some nearby villages including the fishing port of Llanes . We continued west avoiding major roads where possible and sticking close to the rugged coastline where possible. As a result there were fewer overnight stop opportunities but we found a beautiful spot high on a headland with views overlooking the Bay of Biscay and the islet of Gaztelugatxe. The islet was a filming location for Game of Thrones it featured as the island fortress of ‘Dragonstone’ in Season 7 for any fans! We were able to do a coastal walk from our stopping place to the island. 

Continuing east we wanted to visit San Sebastián but didn’t want to get into problems parking the van and trailer, so based ourselves for a couple of nights at the nearby town of Orio, another former fishing port, and took the train to San Sebastián. We were lucky again with the weather and had a relaxing and enjoyable day mooching around this elegant ‘resort’. The narrow streets of the old town are full of small, dark bars serving the local tapas speciality of pinxtos. In the more touristy bars the pinxtos are displayed like colourful jewels in the display cases.

We tried some of the pinxtos in the nearby Plaza de la Constitucion, the main square of the city that has hosted many different events over the years. The painted numbers above the windows of the apartments that overlook the square allude to the period when the square was used for bull-fighting and the numbers indicated the number of the box from where you could watch the spectacle. 

The end of our trip also marked a change in the weather and we headed home in pouring rain. It’s an area of Spain I can see us visiting again at some stage to explore further west. 

I read recently that France is reintroducing border controls in November for 6 months with 6 neighbouring Schengen countries including Spain. It will be interesting to see how that will work and be enforced given that there is currently free flow of traffic on the roads that cross from France to Spain. We’re hoping to head to Southern Spain in the winter months, assuming it will be possible after the recent devastating floods.