From plains to mountains

Day 4 Thursday 19th May

A late arrival by way of a German motorhome meant that we had company for the night although Astorga seemed perfectly tranquil at night and a secure feeling nightstop.

Next morning we slotted in to the queue for the services (lots of motorhomes arrived just to use the services) and once sorted we were on our way. A couple of hundred kilometres to Chantada, our destination Aire. We got TomTom to route via another Aire en-route so that we could research it for Club Motorhome.

As soon as we entered Galicia it was clear that we had swapped gently undulating plains for mountains with much use of the gearbox needed to make good progress uphill and down. We pulled in at our research stop and found it excellent! Right on the side of a lake with plenty of open spaces, picnic areas, a bar and brand new services. We used the bar of course, just to see if it was OK, then pressed on to our destination for the day.

Photo New Aire lake

The town of Chantada is large and by just driving through, pretty uninspiring but the Aire on the edge of town is a different matter. Recently constructed it is beside the new football stadium and is on landscaped parking which leads down to a river walk.

Photos Aire and river walk

We walked along the river in both directions and were quite impressed with how clean and well kept it all was, and a popular walking area for the locals too, we struck up conversations with a few along the way which gave us a chance to practice our Spanish - we leaned that the English like to buy old houses and do them up, there are a mixture of French and Italians in these parts but the politics are not good so they don't mix well, an old lady was picking a certain type of flower to be made into arrangements for the San Juan festival on the 24th etc etc. Sometimes we cope well with the language and other times we are complete rubbish, today was a good day.

We have paella on the menu tonight and the temperatures are high at 25 degrees. Hopefully the football stadium won't create too much noise and we'll get another peaceful night......

Digger the brave?

Day 3 Wednesday 18th May

When we woke and looked outside we found that we were mostly surrounded by parked cars. So as to not get hemmed in we moved over to the service point to finish our normal morning routines.

A little later one of these horrible little Aixam cars put-putted up and stopped right in front of us, out got two burly and fairly unsavoury looking hillbilly types who then physically pushed the car backwards a little (I don't think they have a reverse gear). One of them then knocked on our van and gesticulated that we were in his way to use the water tap, I gesticulated back that he was in my way to move but there was little understanding....

I got out and spoke as abruptly as they did to try and explain that there was nowhere else for us to park as they had just blocked us in, there were so many cars parked now and this was a MOTORHOME service point. With much grumbling on their part I got Digger out and took him with me to the rubbish bins to dump a bag. On our return the hillbillies were filling their water containers and moaning that they had to carry them a few metres to their little car, one of them made some comment about Digger being big, at which point I thought Digger would stand proud (some Spanish don't like big dogs) but instaed he suddenly cowered and grovelled on his belly to squeeze under the van. I can only guess that these two characters had stirred some distant memories and the poor dog turned to jelly. I managed to encourage him back into the van and 'safety' but felt that we had put on a less than macho display - oh well!

That episode out of the way I used the service point myself to empty the wastes and we set off for our next destination of Astorga. We had researched the Aire there in advance and were looking forward to seeing it next to a bullring and publicised as being a bit special.

Again, excellent Autovias made the 200+ km journey quite pleasant and by 2pm we arrived and parked next to the bullring and also the Highways Dept storage yard incorporating an active helipad! Amazing how different peoples perceptions can be..... Still, it looked an OK place to stop but we certainly wouldn't bill it as anything special.

Photo bullring

During the afternoon we wandered into the town thinking we might find something to make this a 'special' stopover. Impressive cathedral and surrounding buildings but very ordinary otherwise. Anyway, back at the van - photos taken, blog updated (but not uploaded), cool beer in hand and we're ready for the rest of last night's delicious chilli.

Photo incoming helicopter

From castle to castle

Day 2 Tuesday 17th May

Photo Turegano castle

After cleaning all the squished flies from the windscreen before exploring the town and lovely castle we set off with a shorter journey in mind to our next night stopover at Cuellar which was only about 45kms away,  although we detoured to take in Segovia en-route. Segovia has some amazing ancient architecture and although we only drove in and out again this time we 'bookmarked' it for a future detailed visit.

At our destination we found a Mercadona supermarket as we entered town and then found the Aire immediately outside some heavily restored city walls and castle. No other motorhomes in residence and the services seem to be overflowing as well - oh dear!

Photo Cuellar castle

Situated right on the edge of town we were able to give Digger a run off his lead in the adjoining fields and tracks although he seemed quite happy to wander along with us at our pace. We then explored the inner city through and impressive, but brand new, archway into the fortress, building and restoration is going on at a fair old rate and I imagine that this will become very touristy in time.

With the odd very light shower of rain the temperature has been in the mid twenties although more so in the van so a chilled beer was very welcoming while Caro cooked us a chilli and I have the chance to write up our blog, although I can't post it yet as we haven't found any wifi - maybe tomorrow.

Photo Cuellar castle at night

South of Valencia to North of Madrid

Day 1 Monday 16th May

As usual when moving from house to motorhome our packing always takes a bit longer than we estimate and we got under way, with a fill up of diesel and a new Cepsa gas cylinder, at about 1pm. With beautiful weather we were straight onto main roads and settled into the journey. Digger took a little while to feel comfortable but eventually found a spot between our seats to snuggle in, its by far the longest journey he has undertaken with us.

Our first day of this trip was a very long stretch at over 600kms but using free 'Autovia' toll free roads the journey was enjoyable with some lovely scenery along the way.

From the Province of Valencia we moved through gently undulating vineyards in Castilla-la-Mancha, huge fields of poppies in full bloom via Cuenca and through the more rugged but lush green (at this time of year) Province of Madrid.

We had a couple of comfort stops and a 15 minute power nap when tiredness set in followed by a stimulating cup of Americano to sharpen me up for the rest of the day.

Photo - Turegano town

TomTom did a great job and we pulled in at our first nightstop at an Aire in Tuegano which is not far from Segovia at around 9pm. We'd seen some pretty grotty photos of this Aire in advance and were pleasantly surprised to see it in the flesh. Its an old cereal mill and a bit run down but the town seems lovely with an enormous and imposing castle and an impressive town square surrounded by ancient houses.

Photo - Mill

As it was so late we just snacked on cheese, pickles and nuts then made the bed (always a chore on the first night) showered and to bed. A good nights sleep for all three of us.

With a great nights sleep we planned our next route and luckily we didn't need to use the services as they were blocked and overflowing! Our Spanish neighbour at the Aire tried to unblock it without success.

Note: All the Aires and stopover locations that we visit will be listed in detail with descriptions and photographs, GPS locations, Google Maps etc. on Club Motorhome as soon as possible.

Packed and ready to go again....

Apart from a week away last month not much has happened with our motorhome travels, until tomorrow!

We're off to Northern (Green) Spain for a few weeks to explore, as its an area that is new to us. As usual we'll be staying on a mixture of Aires, wildcamping spots and the occasional campsite to use their laundry facilities and, subject to wifi, we'll blog as we go along.

The areas we will be exploring

We'd love to hear from anyone who knows the area with any particular recommendations on places and things to see......

And now we are 3!

We just had 3 weeks wild camping by the beach here in Spain, I chose not to blog while we were away as I fancied a proper break from website stuff and having to find wifi to upload updates etc.

Anyway we're back at our home base so how did it go?

We found a great spot along with a lot of other motorhomes from many other places in Europe but the reason for the title of this blog entry we also found ourselves a dog!

He had been living rough around the area for at least the last couple of months and through the kindness of the motorhomers already on site had been fed and watered and loved. He had apparently been a very poor old thing when first seen looking very old and weak.

His playful character had endeared him to the folks from the UK, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Ireland and he made many new doggie friends too. This is when we first saw him.

He was mainly being looked after by Paddy who gave him a little of what he ate at each meal so, he was getting bacon sandwiches for breakfast, pork ribs etc for dinner - bliss he may have thought but he was still sleeping rough and had an uncertain future once the motorhomes had inevitably moved on.

We took the time while Paddy was still there to get to know him and observe his behaviour with people and other dogs. He seemed to sense our interest and often came to us for a fuss. We put water out for him and fed him more tit-bits and by the time Paddy was ready to head off for his home in Ireland we had decided to take him in permanently.

The word soon spread around our neighbours and everyone seemed so relieved that the dog was going to be saved. When Paddy set off it was heartbreaking to see the dog chase off after him obviously believing that he had, once again, been abandoned  :(  I went off up the road to find him but there was no sign so I returned sadly to the site without him, one lady was in tears at the scene.

A few minutes later the 'little sod' came strutting back and seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about!

We parked in Paddy's spot to give the dog (now known as Digger) some continuity and encouraged him into the van. he seemed so comfortable that we made a place for him under the dinette table and he stayed the whole night, albeit I did get up a couple of times to make sure he had a chance to do anything outside   ;) . But he behaved perfectly and continued for the next week or so while we were still there.

He had a trip into town with us to experience the ride, which although a bit fretful to start was no problem at all. We bought him some worming tablets and flea treatment, a lead and a squeaky toy, he already had a collar which was supplied by a couple of Germans to make sure he wasn't impounded by the authorities.

We've brought him home to our Spanish house now and he's getting used to his new surroundings. He's been to the vets with us and had a microchip fitted as well as vaccinations for rabies and distemper etc, and he is now the proud holder of a Pet Passport - he won't be able to travel to the UK for another 7 months though as he'll need a clean blood test result.

So there we have it, our lives have pretty well turned upside down and we absolutely love it and of course we absolutely love Digger. I am sure that we are likely to become complete dog bores!

Digger

Our next planned motorhome trip with him will be to Denia in Spain in April to meet up with a group of UK motorhomers. He'll be making many new friends there!  :D

Just a few of the very kind folks who kept him going


This blog can also be read on the Club Motorhome website

Time to move our blog across to our main website

We have installed some software on Club Motorhome for members to write their own blogs so we thought we'd better be loyal to ourselves (and test the software) and continue 'Motorhoming with NEILMAC' there.

Its just a few days now until we start our new 3 month adventure (always seems like an adventure anyway!). Our approximate route is planned and we're going to be heading up through eastern Spain, into southern France and will be spending time in the Rhone-Alps and Burgundy before northern France and a visit to the UK.

For those who have been following our travels please click this link to take you to our new location.