Saturday 9th July León to Itero de la Vega via Carrión de los Condes and Terradillos de los Templarios, Bercianos, Mansilla de las Mulas and Frómista. (Days 20,19,18,17, 16 and 15) Distance 138.59 km Max Speed 55.6 kmph Average Speed 19.4 kmph Total Distance 5142.23 km After 3 nights in the Parador it’s time to move on. “I will miss you Parador and the pampering that came too!” Wild camping is going to be even tougher now! We have…
Saturday 2nd July Santiago to Río Pambre via Pedrouzo and Ribadiso. (Days 33, 32 and 31) Distance 69.5 km Max Speed 66.5 kmph Average Speed 13.2 kmph Total Distance 4731.34 km Today we start the Camino Francés but going in reverse. Once again we have John Brierley’s guidebook, Camino de Santiago, The Way of St James. We’re still enjoying the luxury of our expensive hotel with its beautifully manicured lawns and aviary located right in the…
Thursday 19th May A quiet day today. We’re just waiting for Des and Chris to return. They return around 7 pm and it’s hectic whilst we catch up on our news. Then they discover the blackbird that’s nested in their hot water heater flue. We’d heard the ruckus from the chicks but left the nest undisturbed but of course Chris and Des will want hot water so a nest in the flue is going to prove problematic. They are…
Tuesday 3rd May We’re up early because we need to take the dogs out for a decent walk but still be in Alcalá for our 10am appointment with the estate agent. Our agent, Alejandro, is from Inland Andalucia and he has 6 properties lined up. It’s an unusual visit in that on some occasions he has no idea where the property is and has to ask the locals and after a couple of visits he’s using Daz and MapsMe…
Sunday 17th April After our late night and long drive from Olhão we’re pretty tired so we have a lovely lie in and finally manage to drag ourselves out of bed. This is only our second housesitting job since we started our ‘biking phase’. And actually I think it’ll be a nice, restful phase. We don’t need to cycle each day, nor do 5 hours labour, nor sightsee. In fact our responsibilities are fairly straightforward, we have Vinny and…
Thursday 24th March Last night we cycled into the nearest village Bollulos de la Mitacion. It’s not far, only 7km, but most of that is rutted dirt track. In the village we did some shopping and had dinner. Cycling back in the dark along the dirt track was challenging. We don’t cycle much in the dark, let alone on rutted dirt tracks. But we got back safely to our campsite – no one else around for miles. This morning…
Monday 21st March During the night there was some thunder and lightning and a short rain storm. Daz is just getting up and the rain starts again. It looks as if the water is seeping through to the sleeping compartment. I need to get up and pack away our sleeping bags and sort our other kit so it doesn’t get wet. I hide in the cafe; the rain continues. I see Daz during the morning. He’s doing his ground…
Saturday 19th March Daz posted a question about condensation in tents, apparently a common and well known problem. Some travellers pack up first thing and then get everything out at lunchtime to dry – what a pain that is. ‘Chavs r us’ – we’ve got our tent hanging out of our Hostel window. We know how to lower the tone in a good area. Today our last workaway hosts, Chris and Des, are visiting us in Seville. We’re expecting…
Wednesday 9th March Ronda to Fuengirola (via train to Malaga) Distance 45 km Max speed NA kmph (battery failure) Average speed NA kmph Total 2852.73 km This morning we are up for 7am, pack and head for the train station. We’re getting the train to Malaga. First leg is on the Granada train changing at Bobadillo and we’ve managed to board, only the change to worry about now. We’re always worried about train journeys but so…
Sunday 6th March Happy Birthday Darren! And today we’re off canyoning to celebrate – my kind of hell – I hate heights so general feelings of trepidation tinged with fear! We have a quick breakfast then we are picked up by Jose and Victor from Sport mountain in their Vw van. They are both Spanish but have good English. We are off to Zahara de la Sierra to the Green Throat Canyon – La Garganta Verde. We see Griffin…