Monday, May 12, 2014

The Day Of The Viaduct

Before we left Comillas this morning we took a walk to the old part of the village.  A lot of these little coastal spots have a relatively new area on the beachfront whilst the old part is set back inland.
It was a fascinating yet deserted little village …
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A couple of places were open for business, including this lovely little boutique …
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We had breakfast at a nice little cafe, we were the only ones in it and we came to realise that the guide books were correct, in that the Spaniards don’t really ‘do’ breakfast!  All that seems to be on offer is coffee, juice and toast …
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We had moved the van up to the old part of town as we heard there was a cycle race coming through the beach part and we didn't want to get trapped again today!
We had to drive and manoeuvre around some very tight and hilly streets to get out of town.  The van grounded a couple of times, it made a god almighty noise and woke up a few of the locals.  No damage done as there are skid plates at the rear … the van has rather a large rear hangover! (I suspect he wanted to say like Elaine there but he wouldn’t dare ! … El)
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Off we went heading further westwards, these were the first roadworks we came across since leaving the UK!  The were filling in the gap on one of the motorways.
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Hello Mr Bull …
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The roads we have been driving on have been superb and virtually deserted.  It’s not a toll road either.
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I really can’t understand why they have built such super highways for so little traffic.
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As per the title, we crossed heaps of viaducts …
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The views once again have been mind blowing …
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As we passed over one of the viaducts we spotted a lovely looking beach below, so we took the next off ramp and tried to find it….
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The tom tom doesn't work on the minor roads so Elaine cranked up the laptop with auto route on it which shows all the  little road and lanes.
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We ended up at a light house on the end of a peninsula!
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Magic views either side of the lighthouse though …
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We eventually found the beach under the viaduct but it wasn't as good close up so we carried on heading west.
Here we are leaving the beach with the viaduct up above …
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Over yet another impressive viaduct …
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We pulled up for the night at Mondonedo …
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There was a free Aire (camper stop) here and here are the regulations!  We didn’t want to risk punishment so we didn’t get the chairs out !
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We pulled into the service bay, emptied the nasties and filled the water tank …
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We are the only camper here!
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Above the village is yet another bloody viaduct!
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We went for a walk down to the local town square where a few of the locals were sat outside the bars and cafes …
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In my best Spanish I asked the barman can we bring the dogs in (Perros OK?) … no probs, we were having our first drink in a dog friendly Spanish bar …
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This little tart shop is very famous in Spain, Carlos Rei apparently! He seems to have passed on now but still has a little tarte shop here along with another ‘museum’ type place with all his accolades displayed!
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Here is our location for tonight … the furry pen marks the spot …
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One of the reasons we are doing this trip, apart from chasing the sun, is to check out places to potentially live at a future date.  We have already ruled out this part of Spain.  Although the scenery is world class it isn’t what we are looking for.  A few reasons….we quite fancy the villa-with-a-pool lifestyle and that doesn’t exist in these parts as it’s mostly apartment living, and expensive at that!  The free standing houses are very expensive, it seems to be a rather exclusive part of Spain with most of the locals being very well heeled.  We have had a good go at having a chat with the locals  but possibly because we still look like a couple of grubby boaties it isn't going too well!  Elaine reckons they stare at her like she is an alien!!  I would like to think that we would fit in with the Spanish lifestyle but realistically it will probably be a lot easier to fit into an expat community.
Tomorrow we we turn hard to port and head south into Portugal.    

Tonight’s statistics, metric style:
Total distance travelled since leaving Stone … 2464.9 km
Fuel consumption 12.6L/100km
Average speed 52 km/hour
Driving time 58 hours

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