World Wide Webbs

Spring 2026 Spain & France

Spanish Civil War : National Parks : Culture

Tuesday 3rd March

The Adventure Begins: Veryan to the Atlantic

Beautiful sunshine as we headed east out of Veryan just after one. It was lovely driving through Dorset and stopping to wander around Bridport,  an old borough town. The traffic increased the further east but we still got to Portsmouth by 7pm. We parked in the Asda car park and crossed the road to an East African Restaurant.

We chose Doro Wat (chicken curry with boiled egg) and Shekila Tibs (beef stir fry), both served together on a large injera or flat bread, with rolls of smaller injeras to eat the food with, like chapati’s

It was a sort of hostel with a restaurant attached and although we were the only non-ethnic Africans there, it felt easy and very comfortable and set us up for tedious process of boarding the ferry.

On the ferry about 10.15 we were delighted with our cabin that had a fake lighted window with a picture of looking out to sea, it really made all the difference. We did a quick orientation of the boat and, failing to see the blood moon, went to bed.

Wednesday 4th March

The Atlantic to Bilbao

Although sunny but chilly we did sit out and read but as we already knew cruising is not for us and even though we tried varying the day it went slowly. In the end we even ate in the restaurant which was expensive but tasty and then watched Master Chef on the TV in the cabin!

Thursday 5th March

Bilbao to Tordesillas

We awoke to a misty sun and high cloud with a few spots of rain.

We were all sitting in our vehicles at 8am ready to go but because of problems with the ramps and then queues through customs we were not on the road until 10am. We had decided on several themes to guide our holiday, the Spanish Civil War, Bird watching sites and culture generally.

Our first Spanish War visit was to Gernika Lumo the scene of an horrendous bombing attack on the civilian population by the German Luftwaffe on behalf of the Franco regime.  The event became the subject of Picasso’s masterpiece ‘Guernica’.

We parked and had coffee in a bar busy with loads of school kids. It was lovely but they only took euros and we had none only cards.  The lady indicated that we could pay on our return once we had got some money. The town was nicely busy with some lively market stalls where we bought some cheese and chorizo, having got some cash from a cash machine.

We found the Gernikako Bakearen Museoa, the Museo de la Paz de Guernica. The first section was generically about peace, the second was a history of Gernika pre-dating the civil war and the events in 1937 with bomb shells,  personal artefacts and photos of the destruction.

The third area had video testimonies of some of the survivors, which were very moving.  There was a replica of part of Picasso painting Guernica the original of which we had seen some years ago in Madrid.   Lastly there was an area explaining how a lot of the orphan children from the attack were sent all over the world.

We then walked up the hill and found the remains of the oak tree that had been the meeting place of the Basque parliament and meant so much to the town. We then returned to the van paying our bill in the café en route.

We then headed south over the hills to Vitoria Gasteiz and south west to Tordesillas and a camp site El Astral, just on the other side of the Doura River from the town. Later we walked around this interesting medieval town originally settled by the Romans as a crossing point over the river.

In 1494 following the return of Columbus from the Americas, the Treaty of Tordesillas was agreed between Spain and Portugal dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal. Spain was to have sovereignty of the land to the west of a line drawn down the centre of the Atlantic, not including east Brazil, and Portugal sovereignty over everything to the East including East Brazil.  The treaty although superseded over four centuries remained invoked up into the 20^th century.

Friday 6th March

Tordesillas to Badajoz

It poured with rain all night and we got up leisurely as the sun shone on a cold, wet campsite. 

We left the site around 11am and headed south on a quiet road towards Avila and as we turned off south, at Medina del Campo, and climbed up through the mountains the temperature steadily decreased to 2^o.  We drove through thick snow as we passed through the mountains and the steep twisty pass down to Tornavacas.  From here we followed the Jerte valley down towards the Tajos river and Carceres.

The area featured in a Guardian Supplement article for its wonderful display of Japanese cherry blossom. Alas the terraces were full of trees but there was only scattered almond and wild cherry blossom. We stopped and ate lunch beside the river at Navaconcejo before crossing the river and stomping for a-bit down the valley to warm up, in a hazy sunshine and bitter wind.

We continued south and joined the main road to Cáceres and then south west to Badajoz to find a place to spend the night.  We parked in a Lidl car park and walked down to the river passing through an impressive gateway the Puerto de Palmas and over the Puente de Palmas.

Walking back along the other side of the River Guardina, we had an excellent view of the Alcazaba de Badajoz standing on a hill above the town. We made our way back through the city stopping at a Pasteleria for cake and coffee.

As it grew dark, we drove two miles outside of Badajoz to a petrol station car park beside the main road.  The car park could be used for camping by motorhomes so we found a corner to tuck ourselves into and settled down for the night.

Saturday 7th March

Badajoz to Donana National Park

It was cold but sunny and we were up smartly heading south on the N435 towards Huelva.  We breakfasted at a view point at Valle de Matamoros just off the main road.  Later we stopped at Cafe el Patrás and had coffee sitting outside the cafe in the sun.

We then drove on a rough road winding up and over ridges with beautiful wooded hills covered in what we discovered were Stone Pines, the characteristic tree of the upland pastures in Western Spain.  Soon we were crossing over wooded hills with at times spectacular views towards the sea.

We reached the town El Rocio and looked at the quite crowded campsite and decided to explore further.  The town looked crowded and quite unappealing as a restful location.

Our next stop was Camping Donana, a huge site which went down to the beach. At first, we were dismissive thinking we would go on and find a pleasanter site.  We eventually decided to stay, as the options for cycling in different directions were good and there were plenty of plots to choose from!

We settled in and went for a walk along the long sandy beach with old forts such as Torre del Loro on the shore in an advanced state of decay. There were men fishing and small groups enjoying the sunshine.

We ate as the sun set through the pine trees. It was very peaceful.

Sunday 8th March

Donana National Park

A cold night but we kept warm with a hot water bottle and 2 blankets. We breakfasted outside in the sunshine watching the azure winged magpies flying through the trees.  Although not shorts weather, it was warmer and we looked forward to cycling through the national park.

We cycled out of the camp site and followed another cyclist through a large gate, with a small wicket gate for pedestrians, into the largely fenced off Donana National Park. Using Google maps we followed a route along sandy tracks through pine woods with some interesting flowers but no visible wild life. 

We met nobody but sometimes the tracks became too sandy to cycle on!! We had to make long detours until we eventually came to a large fence and locked gate, close to the Park Centre at Palacios el Asebuche. It took some effort to crawl through with the bikes but as we had come so far it was too late to turn back.

We continued cautiously on until we came to a bird hide in the enclosed park area, furthest from the park centre. We then cycled and walked the wooden raised paths back towards the main park building. We saw a stork and some small birds but little else probably because it was the middle of the day and the lagoons had dried up.

Nearer the park centre there were more people who stared curiously at two cyclists going through an area laid out for pedestrians!! We cycled out of the Reserve south to the seaside resort of Matalascañas.

Here people were enjoying the sunny Sunday afternoon walking along the busy crowded promenade. We shared a plate of frito variada (fried fish) and at the Cerveceria la Carmela restaurant before walking east along the coast through the town.

We returned home along a partially surfaced cycle track that ran parallel to the main coast road.  It was good to get back and arrange for connection to electricity so we could recharge the bikes.

Monday 9th March

Donana National Park

A cool cloudy day with the threat of rain posed a challenge for us. We decided to cycle along a tarmacked cycle path that followed the coast westwards in the direction of Huelva.

We cycled as far as Mazagon, a deserted seaside resort with a large marina and industrial area. To give an aim to the cycle ride we went and had a coffee and found on the map that there was an hundred year old pine tree amongst the inland urban forest. 

With this as our target we left Mazagon and cycled through some scrubby pine woodland until we came to a strawberry farm on the other side.  It was near here with the help of google maps that we located the Hundred Year Old Pine. We think we did anyway but one old pine tree is much like another and there was no sign declaring it to be so.  Satisfied by our successful excursion we returned to the town and had a very pleasant lunch in a small restaurant.

After lunch we cycled directly home to the camp site just in time to escape the rain which continued for the rest of the evening

Tuesday10th March

Donana National Park to Seville

It was a cold but sunny day as we got up leisurely to pack up and make our way.  We had left the site by ten and drove to El Rocio where we walked through the town. With its wide sandy main streets, horses and wagons and wooden fronted buildings, we followed the waterside around the lagoon to the Centro Francisco Bernis Ornithology Centre.

On the water and along the shore we saw several wild birds.  Glossy Ibis; Greylag Geese; Egyptian Geese; Grey Heron and Flamingo amongst others. At the Ornithology Centre we enjoyed views across the lake and into trees growing by the centre where Night Heron roosted out of site from the land.

We walked back through the town, window shopping the outlets selling flamenco dresses and leather horse riding suits and boots.

We then returned to the van and drove to the Centro de Visitantes la Rocina one of the National Park Centres.  We walked out through the park and visited the five hides overlooking the marshes.  On the marshes we saw; Little Grebe; Little Egret; Reed Warbler; Marsh Harrier;

Grey Heron; Purple Heron; Spoonbill; Cormorant; Glossy Ibis and Red Crested Pochard

We were very pleased with our full morning and celebrated by having lunch in a restaurant overlooking the lake.

We then drove for a hour to Seville and found Camping Villsom south of the city in the Dos Hermanas area. In the grounds of a former hotel the setting is restful and it is possible to forget you are in a busy urban area.

We parked the van on a plot and went off to the nearby supermarket to get some food for the evening.  We had tea in the van and spent a quiet evening thinking about what we could do in Seville in the morning.

Wednesday 11th March

Seville

The day started sunny and became progressively hotter.  We had a free tour booked for midday.  It took an hour to cycle into the centre of Seville partly with and partly without dedicated cycle routes.

The city was busy with tourists enjoying the sunshine and we had forgotten how the buildings are so different and spectacular. We met our tour guide along with around ten others. He was passionate about the city and its history especially the Moorish influence and its architecture.

The chronology of the buildings, and the fact that the city had never been seriously damaged by war or conflict, meant that there was a clear timeline and the development of a particular Mudejar architectural design.

We went to various buildings in the centre, the tower, various bell towers and churches, cathedral, University, hospital and former tobacco factory before ending up in the Parque Maria Luisa in Plaza de Espana.

As always, the tour gave us a different prospective on the city. We enjoyed some much-needed tapas in the park before walking around the Tirana district and then the Jewish quarter.  We relaxed with some fresh orange juice before the return one-hour cycle back to the camp site.

Thursday 12th March

Seville to Guadix

It was cool and sunny as we left Seville and headed east towards Granada.

Just before we reached Antequera we stopped at the Laguna of Fuente de Piedre and spent two hours looking at the birds on the lakes around the National Park centre.  It was even more spectacular than in Donana

With help from an English-speaking ornithologist who lived locally we saw Black Winged Stints; Flamingos; Spotted Red Shank; Avocet; Black-tailed Godwit; Coot; Moorhen; Black-headed Gulls; Large Egrets; Marbled Ducks (teal); Gadwall; Wigeon; Willow warblers; Blackbirds; Shoveler and even some European Turtles.  We had some lunch and then made our way towards Guadix.

Guadix is an ancient city famous as a European “capital of caves”, where thousands of residents still live in modern underground dwellings cut out of the red clay.

In Guadix we shopped and visited the tourist office and the cathedral, an enormous building dominating the centre of the town. We had to pay to go in and were given audio guides which were occasionally quite interesting.  One of the points made was that a lot of the stone statues on the two pulpits had their heads removed in the civil war,

We had parked in the car park where motorhomes are able to park for the night but felt it a bit urban for our liking, so we drove up a rough road to Mirador del Fin del Mondo.

It was like driving on roads in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, rough and sandy tracks climbing steadily until we reach the Mirador on a high plateau at 1040m with amazing views, a brilliant sunset and only two other vans!

At the information board at the Mirador, we learnt that this unique landscape was formed when a high lake its water retained by mountain walls broke through those walls flowing out east and west.

It drained the lake, whose shore was then eroded by rainfall over millennia, which eroded the elevated lake shore into gullies, ravines and steep sandy cliffs.  Because of the dry arid nature of the area with heavily eroded, steep and barren terrain it was given the status of Badlands.

Friday 13th March

Guadix

A cold night but the day started sunny with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada stunningly sunlit across the Badlands.  It was lovely to watch the sun rise over the plain and start to light up the villages far below us.

We have breakfast in the warm before driving down to Guadix to explore the cave houses of the Barrio Las Cuevas, an area where people have built their houses into the red clay, back into the hills.     We walked up through the town, its main square, alive with school children on trips, and made our way past the castle to the Barrio Las Cuevas.

The underground houses were intriguing, as was the view from the top of the town looking down on the cave houses.  We were encouraged to visit one of these houses but felt we could see enough of them from the outside.

These cave dwellings were interesting and we wondered when house builders wishing to extend knew when they were tunnelling into another person’s back room. The red clay that as the rock of the area found its way into numerous potteries and gift shops that lined the streets of the Barrio.  We had coffee back in the square, quiet now after all the children on school trips had moved on.

We made our way back up the hill to our parking spot and spent three delightful hours wandering on the tracks on the plateau through olive, almond and cherry groves. We lunched high on the plateau.  The cultivated land was set amongst deep valleys and ravines that made navigating our way around the area quite challenging.

Everywhere there were flowers and several types of butterflies including various whites, clouded yellows, small coppers, swallowtail and a Spanish festoon. The walk back towards the van with the sun shining into the deep valley was a great end to the day.

It was getting cold when we got back to the van and we ate inside by the light of another spectacular sunset.

Saturday 14th March

Guadix to Cartagena

After a brilliant sunrise we regrettably left Mirador del Fin Mundo taking the very steep way down to the valley below and on to A19 west.  We crossed over the mountain range of Sierra Espuna to the town of Lorca.   Lorca was one of the many towns around this area that are part of a huge conglomeration of towns linked by industrial complexes and retail areas on either side of the main road from Lorca to Murcia

It was a typically busy Saturday morning and we were lucky to find somewhere to park.  Here we replenished our stores and had a coffee before continuing to Espacio Finca Algeria a campsite ten kilometres from Cartagena.

The camp site was in two parts. One an open gravel car park marked out into various size stony plots and the other enclosed within a walled area adjacent to the shop/restaurant/swimming pool area.  This is where we camped sheltering as best we could from a strong westerly wind.

We did a big wash and spin dry in the nearby facilities block before walking around the surrounding area for a couple of hours. We were low on gas and spent some time looking for possible retail outlets we could visit in Cartagena

The landscape was very different from where we had walked yesterday with small olive farms and scattered settlements but the weather was bright and dry and the views towards Cartagena and the coast to the south were fantastic.

Sunday 15th March

Cartagena

Sun with a bitter north wind

We enjoyed the unique hot shower and cycled an hour in to Cartagena. Cartagena was busy and many of the streets closed as there was a city run taking place.

We found our way to the waterside and Plaza Heroes de Cavite where we found the tourist office and nearby the entrance to the Roman Forum Museum. The Roman Forum Museum stands as the entrance to one of the largest urban archaeological parks in Spain.  Throughout its various halls we were able to learn about the long history the area from today back to the old Carthago Nova

The museum explained the discovery by chance of the Roman Forum in 1988 and then its reconstruction from 1996 to 2003. The museum was interactive and informative and clever how it led you around eventually bringing you out into the sunshine and the restored Roman Forum. We were definitely wowed by it!

We then walked to the Spanish Civil War Museum which was laid out in tunnels which were used as air raid shelters.  There was a lot of information on the construction of the trenches and tunnels and personal video accounts of some survivors.  They recalled the actual bombings as well as being sent away from the city to relatives in the countryside, queuing for food and feeling hungry.  It concluded with present day groups of children recording what they thought had occurred.  

We walked on looking for somewhere to have lunch and was surprised to be met by a full brass band leading a procession of people up the street with many local dignitaries in full regalia.  We had some lunch in the shopping area at a restaurant with tables in the street. 

Making our way back to the former docks and waterfront area we found the ’Arsenal’ entrance and walked along the wide water front looking out through the harbour to the sea.  It reminded us of Plymouth at a smaller scale.

We cycle back into the hills looking for retail areas that might have gas supplies but to no avail.

Back at the camp site we had a meal in the camp site cafe which was nice and relaxed.

Monday 16th March

Cartagena to Valencia

We awoke to a bright and sunny morning and decided to spend the morning in the area before moving on.

We cycled to the nearest beach at Playa de Portus and Graham paddled in the clear blue water.  It was nice to be in the warm sunshine by the sea.   We were not impressed with the campsite there and glad that we were at Finca Algeria.

Back at the camp site we packed up and drove on very busy roads to Valencia, stopping to try and get some camping gas around Murcia. It was an interesting journey taking us through high plains surrounded by hills.

We found the new campsite La Fallera in the suburbs of Valencia and parked up in a plot next to the park at the back of the site.

We then cycled through some very busy junctions towards the coast across a flat drained area of farmland.  We had been to this area back in 2020 and found our way to the nature reserve at the large popular lagoon of L’Albufera where lots of people had gathered to watch the sunset and take boats out onto the lagoon.

We enjoyed the atmosphere before going back along the coast to Restaurante Ca Pepe, a typical basic Spanish restaurant where we had a lovely meal in this busy local restaurant. We then cycled back in the dark with fireworks lighting up the sky over the city where the Fallas Festival was being celebrated.

Tuesday 27th March

Valencia to Belchite

The city noise was not too bad when the fireworks had calmed down.  The low level of traffic noise allowed fitful sleep. We showered early and cycled into Valencia.  We found somewhere halfway into the city where we breakfasted on tortilla and croissant.

The city was very busy with groups of people from 385 different local regions plus a few from other cities wearing traditional costumes. Their band’s congregating and marching on certain routes everywhere around the city! It’s a celebration of Fallas the dawning of Spring and of Joseph the carpenter.  That is why so many giant wooden puppets are built only to be burnt on the last night of the festival.

It was difficult to cycle through the packed streets but we made it to the Sorolla exhibition on the eastern side of the city.  It was good to see a lot of his work some of which we hadn’t seen before but disappointing not to see many of his ‘women in white’ scenes.  We also saw some of Antoni Tapis painter and sculptor’s later works.

It was nice to be back in the city and to recognise some of the places we visited in 2020. We made our way back through the busy streets to the camp site. 

We left at around 12.30 shopped and drove north west towards Teruel. We left the main road and discovered a little village called Benefer which had a wash house fed by a water course which flowed around the village. We walked up to the Emilia de San Roque set high on a hill above the village before wandering through the village. From here we travelled on to Teruel and then north to Belchite.

The landscape to Utrilas was a high sandy plateau with sandy cliffs/ hills and nothing else except disused railway buildings. At Utrilas we passed through a gorge and the landscape became slightly more fertile with isolated farms. These increased as we neared the town of Belchite.

We found the Camping Car Aire in the town and were relieved to find no other vans. We had a wander and drink in the town before settling own for a quiet night.

Wednesday 18th March

Belchite to Alquezar

A quiet night, and it was sunny and warm as we had a wander around town before breakfasting at a bakery in the town. We had booked a midday tour of the original town of Belchite that was destroyed by bombing in the Spanish Civil War.

There were around 20 people on the tour and being English we were given audio guides. which helped guide us around.  Each section was quite short compared to the guide’s description but we got the sense of his talk.

The remains consisted of the main houses, streets, churches and squares. What was so stark was that the town was fought over in the summer of 1936 and when things had returned to ordinary it was destroyed again in the following Spring.

We then drove to a site signed as Trencheras de Orwell at Monte Iranzo near Lecinena north of Zaragoza. This was the place where George Orwell had spent months at the beginning of the Spanish Civil war fighting for the nationalists which he recounted in his book Homage to Catalonia.

Here we found reconstructed trenches, bunkers, communication and firing trenches and sandbag barricades. More than anything else it put into context the arid, stony, hilly terrain they were fighting in and how difficult it must have been to spot your enemy and remain safe yourself.

After a late quiet lunch in the sunshine, we travelled north east to a very pleasant campsite at Alquezar in the foothills of the snow-covered Pyrenees.

Thursday 18th March

Alquezar

It was cloudy and chilly when we awoke so we arose slowly and had breakfast before cycling into Alquezar.  We found gaz bottles at the campsite shop but we could not swap them for our empty camping gaz bottle, as they were a different make.

When we arrived in Alquezar we were surprised to find a very attractive conserved touristy hilltop town overlooking a gorge. We made our way to the tourist information centre and discovered that the large birds flying around were mostly Griffon Vultures.  We also found out that there were several hill walks in the area including a gorge walk, the Pasarelas de Alquezar.

The gorge walk required a payment to cover the insurance on what was a very exhilarating walk down into the gorge and along a variety of raised walkways.   Very much against our ethos, we decided to pay.  We were not disappointed.  It took us down to the Cueva Picamartillo by an amazingly blue Rio Vero and then on walkways down the river to the Mirador del Vera. The route then took us back up into the town by the Iglesia St Miguel Arcangel.

This had an impressive theatre like chapel and model houses of the town in a style we had seen earlier in the year at Notre Dame.

Revived with a beer in a cafe overlooking the castle, we returned to the campsite for a simple lunch of bread and cheese.

In the afternoon we cycled up on ridges above Alquezar to the chapel of San Pelegrín.  Turning back towards Observatorio de Aves, we circled around an area that smelt like an abattoir, with a strong smell of decaying beasts.  We had the feeling that this was what encouraged the large number of vultures and other birds of prey circling around. We saw nothing from the hide but leaving we could see the raptors circling high in the sky.

We made our way to the Mirador sobre Alquezar where a rough chapel stood by a picnic area with views out across Alquezar to the east.  We then pushed the bikes down a steep stoney track to reach the rough road that led us back to the camp site.

Concerned about the state of our gas supply we cooked a meal of fish and rice in the microwave in the small kitchen area. Not a resounding success but do-able.

Friday 19th March

Alequezar

It felt good to wake to a sunny and warm day.  The information we had received from the tourist office yesterday had shown us that there were some prehistoric rock face drawings accessible from a footpath that went higher up the Rio Vero valley.

We packed ourselves some lunch and cycled into Alquezar, parking in a square in the centre of town. We then walked up the valley to Basacol, an oasis where there were two formal pools with goldfish and several people enjoying the sun and views.

We walked on past the Abrigo de Quizans the site of some of the drawings on up to the pass before going down to the Chimiachas Ravine.  We were unsure of the distance but the way to the Abrigo de Chimiachas kept going down along the narrow up and down brambly path.

We were encouraged by several other people who had reached it but said it was ‘tres difficile’ to access.  Eventually, after using wires attached to the steep rock faces and some steep iron ladders, we reached the shallow cave, more of an overhang, where we saw the lovely red cave painting of a deer.

It felt quite precarious looking at it but was worth the effort. We made our way back up to the pass where we had something to eat before returning to the Abrigo de Quizans.  We were glad we had made the effort to go down the gorge as on our return, when we went to this rock overhang, the pictures were not as good.

By the time we descended back into Alquezar we were feeling the effects from doing a long walk on loose stone paths. What a relief to get on a powered bike to return to the campsite. We showered and had a lovely meal in the restaurant opposite the campsite, a simple set menu with a bottle of wine included.

Saturday 20th March

Alquezar to Banyols

We slept well and woke to a sunny morning.

We left the camp site at about 9.30 and drove to Barbastro where we intended to track down a replacement camping gaz bottle. We decided we did not want to waste time hunting around this large town so we carried on trusting we could manage for the rest of the holiday on what we had. 

It was a good decision, as we found camping gas at a wayside garage shortly after we had stopped for coffee, on a quiet road east of Lleida.   In great spirits we travelled on to Girona where after a little tour of the northern suburbs we parked on the edge of town.

We wandered into the compact mediaeval city marvelling at the buildings, narrow streets and general atmosphere. We tried to find whereover forty years ago we had had a meal when the kids were young and the waiter wrote our order on the tablecloth.  And then recalled how when driving back to the campsite late after a day in Tossa del Mar they wouldn’t let us bring the van in even though the whole place was buzzing with a disco.

We didn’t find the restaurant, but had a pleasant meal at the Restaurante Catalunya on the Ramblas in the shade out of a very hot sun.  We then shopped on the way back to the van before making our way to a camping site at Porqueres near the lake at Banyols that was used for the 1988 Barcelona Olympics Rowing events.

We set up on a large and rather characterless site  before cycling around the lake.

Sunday 21st March

Banyols To Labastide Rouairroux

Definitely on our way home now, we wake to sunny skies and enjoy and anti-clockwise cycle around the lake, branching off on a green route to the north climbing up through woods and fields before returning to the lakeside. The area was buzzing with lots of people rowing, running, cycling and generally strolling around the lake. Back at the van, it was lovely to catch up with Sarah before driving to Figueres.

We parked in a side street in Figueres where we had a one o’clock slot to visit the Dali Theatre Museum. We had read up on his life but nothing had prepared us for the labyrinth of art forms that were displayed in different parts of the theatre, the entrance, the courtyard and the stage.

We ate our last Spanish meal in the 50 Voltes restaurant on the Place de les Patates near the museum.  As we left the restaurant the rain started to fall and we headed north over the border into France.

After two hours of twisting and turning through the heathlands and woods of the Haut Languedoc we reached Labastide Rouairroux and found the designated Camping Van area where we spent the night.

Monday 22nd March

Labastide Rouairroux to Ligueill

Sunny

We slept well until around 5am when the bins were emptied!  Luckily we dozed again before getting up and getting croissants from the shop in the village. We were camming alongside a former railway track now a cycle path which had some interesting old structures alongside it.

We went back to the van and had breakfast before making our way northwest past Castres to Villefranche de Rouergue where we stopped and had coffee in the town with narrow streets, arcades and an enormous gothic Cathedral.  On past Figeac to join the free autoroute A20 to Argenton sur Creuse. From here we drove through a very familiar Brenne to a camp site just outside Ligueil.

Camping de la Touché is a camp site in the making run by an English couple. There were only two others camping there which was just as well as there was only one facility a combined toilet and shower room..

It had been a long day and after a short walk and a quick meal we quickly settled down for the night.

Tuesday 24th March

Ligueill

It was very cold when we woke up but sunny.

Cycled into Ligueil which seemed to be buzzing with local activity and sussed out the diesel prices that, due to the war in Iran, were rising on a daily basis. We then cycled north on small roads and tracks past the enormous Chateau de Grillemont to Manthelan where we had thought about using the camping car slots the previous night. They were fine but only five, and  with three in use at eleven o clock in the morning might have run out of spaces.  We cycled from Manthelan to Loches along the cycle path which followed the main road.

Loches was an amazing medieval town its walls still with a lot of their ramparts and above there was a Norman castle keep surrounded by more walls, the collegiate church of Saint Ours which has two unique pyramidal domes, beautiful blue stained glass and the effigy of Agnes Sorel a mistress of King Charles VII.

 In the lower town there is a huge town hall, a tower and significant churches. There was a good atmosphere and lots to wander around and see. So inspired we bought two mugs for the van and yet another mat to replace the one we had left at Tordesillas.

We cycled back on small roads via Mouzay and Ciran. It was an area of lovely undulating countryside and we travelled through woods, enormous fields and pastures with scattered houses. We then actually managed to sit out in the sun before preparing for our final leg to Roscoff.

Wednesday 25th March

Ligueil to Roscoff

We were up and away by 8.15am stopping for diesel at L’il Bouchard which, even though Super U wasn’t cheap for petrol gave us an opportunity to do a final shop. We carried on past Chinon and along a very full River Loire to Angers.

We stopped for lunch at Segre en Anjou Bleu and managed to get rid of the van’s waste water. Although it was almost two the lunch time ambience in the restaurant was good and we had a pleasant lunch.

With better roads and light traffic we made good progress to Rennes. The rest of the journey was busier but we reached St Pol de Leon and parked where Sarah and the boys had overnighted by a beach at Tromeal just outside Roscoff.

 It was bright, cold and very windy as we ventured on to the shore but nice to see it.  We ate in the van and then went and boarded the boat. So good to have a toilet, shower and mirror to ourselves after three weeks of van life.

Thursday 26th March

Roscoff to Veryan

We awoke before the Brittany Ferry summons tune which was disappointing. It was cloudy with sun but it seemed cold.  We bought two pain aux raisins and felt very smug drinking our very nice coffee from our flask rather than the counter coffee.

Quickly off the boat and home by 10am, only to find the village had no electricity, a bit of a blow as heat is what we craved. We unloaded, sorted and for a change made coffee in the van!

To warm up we went to look at the allotment. Power had returned by the time we got back so lots of washing and pottering before a roaring fire in the front room.  Warm at last we could celebrate our return from a chilly but stimulating three weeks of exploring areas of France and Spain that we did not know.