Mon/Thurs.9th/19th July.
We dropped down to Bilbao on Sunday afternoon ,which is a long and fast Autovia
through the pine forest and into Bilbao then following the signs to the ferry port 10kms to the south where we parked overnight on the quay to wait for the boat on
Monday morning".The Pride of Bibao"is the P/ O ferry that was built in Bilbao to
go back and forth to Portsmouth.We had a super cabin on the 8th deck with free
soft drinks.fresh fruit and a glass of champagne on arrival!The crossing takes 30/36
hours depending on the wind,so we had a snack lunch and booked a table in Langans Brassiere for dinner.The ship has live entertainment and a casino as well as the shopping mall,so we stocked up the wine and champagne as well as some
essentials,Dinner was very good,Brenda had Calves Liver and I had the Rib-Eye steak with Bearnaise Sauce.The trip was not rough and we arrived in Portsmouth
at 6-30pm on Tuesday evening.We then shot up the A34 to Oxford and parked in
a layby overnight.On Wednesday morning we checked into Dudleys of Witney to
leave the Winnebago for its service,MOT and repairs.As we arrived another couple
who were upgrading their Winnebago,Barrie and Sandra from Lincoln had their Smart car and trailer unhooked,and after a short chat we made them an offer and are now the proud owners of a Top of the range,left hand drive,silver Smart car and
trailer. Brenda's first comment was that it would not even be able to fit in her hairdryer! so we have named it "The Hairdryer"!! We also met another couple,
Stuart and Christine Reed from Coventry who were picking up their new 3-slide out
top of the range Winnebago Itasca so we had a couple of bottles of champagne to
christen the Smart car and the Winnebago! On Thursday we booked into the local
hotel and sorted our selves out and went for a swim on Friday morning ,then the full
English breakfast before we set off to North Wales in The "Hairdryer" which was fully
loaded but still made over 70mph on the motorways! Over the weekend we settled
into our best friends house,Tim and Thea are going on holiday to Greece on Friday
so we are here for over two weeks.On Sunday we went out to a country pub for a traditional roast lunch .and have caught up with all our friends Brenda has also been
shopping at the summer sales in between the showers.!Watch out for the pictures of
the "Hairdryer" and North Wales.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
MADRID / BURGOS
Sat/Sun 30th June/8th July.
Over our last weekend in Estepona which was very hot we packed away the non-
essentials then on Sunday we went on the bus to the marina for a tapas lunch ,the
beach was very busy but in the afternoon it went quiet as it was too hot.On Monday
evening we went to Music bar on the beach as Vidals and Gissy's guests and had
our last night out with them at one of his gigs-one problem! I had 300 euro's stolen
out of my wallet which was in my back pocket -but they put the wallet back! Tuesday
was the hottest day yet as we went out for lunch with Vidal and Gisela to Caseras on the 10 euro del dia, then called into the hypermarket to stock up with goods for the trip to Bilbao.Videl also helped us prepare the Winnebago for our departure next
morning.We will miss our very good and dear friends who over the last six months
we have become very close with and look forward to meeting up with them later in
the year.Wednesday morning we set off on the Autovia towards Malaga and then up
into the mountains past Granada and Jaen towards Madrid.As I was not showing any ill effects we carried on- with only one stop to find out what the scraping was
under the Winnebago! It was a support bar for a waste tank but after a quick repair
and a call to Oxford we carried on and 8hours later and 335miles we stopped over
night at a lorry stop near Toledo and contacted our friend Rafael in Madrid to ask
him if he could meet us and take us to the LPG gas station and put us on the road
to Burgos.Thusday morning we set off to Madrid which was 90 miles away and
met Rafael about 16 kms before at the town of Gatafe.He insisted we go home
with him to see Gill and the family again,so we left the Winnebago at a large car
park on a petrol station and set off across Madrid.He then took us for a late lunch
in Las Rosas,then back to the Winnebago.We then followed him into the centre
off Madrid at 6-00pm to the gas station and then onto the Autovia to Burgos! We
will look forward to seeing Rafael and Gill again in the future.All the time we have
been using the sat-nav and it has performed very well along with the co-driver and
navigator,Brenda!.As we left Madrid the Autovia climbs up to the high-sierra over
a pass and through a tunnel which is in total over 17kms long,the Winnebago was
in the low gear and pulled us over the top! We then stopped at Boceguillas which
is a small village with a lot of lorry stops and restaurants for the night,then down to Burgos on Friday morning to a site that we had been recommended to by some
people on the site in Estepona-we then got lost in the city of Burgos and with the help of a friendly taxi driver who took us to the site on the river 3kms outside Burgos we arranged to stay till Sunday.As we hooked up to only 6amps! we went to the
generator which is LPG only to find that the gas adaptor had broken again on the road from Madrid,the same as last time on our way to Cordoba befor xmas! The
handyman on the site was very helpfull and called in a gas plumber who over night
fixed the broken adaptor and checked out the LPG gas tank in the morning of Saturday and gave us the OK! We went into Burgos in the early evening and found
out that Burgos is a beautiful city with lots of history and a "Helluva" cathedral as well
as a very busy Tapas bar area and we had supper in a restaurant in the old part of the city and then had coffee and brandy in the oldest Tapas bar which has a tree growing in the centre of it! On our back we also had a dance in a bar with a wedding
party we had seen earlier! Watch out for the pictures which we will blog later of the cityof Burgos which is going to be the European City of Culture in 2012.
On Sunday afternoon we are planning to drop down to Bilbao to catch the ferry on
Monday lunchtime to Portsmouth !!
Over our last weekend in Estepona which was very hot we packed away the non-
essentials then on Sunday we went on the bus to the marina for a tapas lunch ,the
beach was very busy but in the afternoon it went quiet as it was too hot.On Monday
evening we went to Music bar on the beach as Vidals and Gissy's guests and had
our last night out with them at one of his gigs-one problem! I had 300 euro's stolen
out of my wallet which was in my back pocket -but they put the wallet back! Tuesday
was the hottest day yet as we went out for lunch with Vidal and Gisela to Caseras on the 10 euro del dia, then called into the hypermarket to stock up with goods for the trip to Bilbao.Videl also helped us prepare the Winnebago for our departure next
morning.We will miss our very good and dear friends who over the last six months
we have become very close with and look forward to meeting up with them later in
the year.Wednesday morning we set off on the Autovia towards Malaga and then up
into the mountains past Granada and Jaen towards Madrid.As I was not showing any ill effects we carried on- with only one stop to find out what the scraping was
under the Winnebago! It was a support bar for a waste tank but after a quick repair
and a call to Oxford we carried on and 8hours later and 335miles we stopped over
night at a lorry stop near Toledo and contacted our friend Rafael in Madrid to ask
him if he could meet us and take us to the LPG gas station and put us on the road
to Burgos.Thusday morning we set off to Madrid which was 90 miles away and
met Rafael about 16 kms before at the town of Gatafe.He insisted we go home
with him to see Gill and the family again,so we left the Winnebago at a large car
park on a petrol station and set off across Madrid.He then took us for a late lunch
in Las Rosas,then back to the Winnebago.We then followed him into the centre
off Madrid at 6-00pm to the gas station and then onto the Autovia to Burgos! We
will look forward to seeing Rafael and Gill again in the future.All the time we have
been using the sat-nav and it has performed very well along with the co-driver and
navigator,Brenda!.As we left Madrid the Autovia climbs up to the high-sierra over
a pass and through a tunnel which is in total over 17kms long,the Winnebago was
in the low gear and pulled us over the top! We then stopped at Boceguillas which
is a small village with a lot of lorry stops and restaurants for the night,then down to Burgos on Friday morning to a site that we had been recommended to by some
people on the site in Estepona-we then got lost in the city of Burgos and with the help of a friendly taxi driver who took us to the site on the river 3kms outside Burgos we arranged to stay till Sunday.As we hooked up to only 6amps! we went to the
generator which is LPG only to find that the gas adaptor had broken again on the road from Madrid,the same as last time on our way to Cordoba befor xmas! The
handyman on the site was very helpfull and called in a gas plumber who over night
fixed the broken adaptor and checked out the LPG gas tank in the morning of Saturday and gave us the OK! We went into Burgos in the early evening and found
out that Burgos is a beautiful city with lots of history and a "Helluva" cathedral as well
as a very busy Tapas bar area and we had supper in a restaurant in the old part of the city and then had coffee and brandy in the oldest Tapas bar which has a tree growing in the centre of it! On our back we also had a dance in a bar with a wedding
party we had seen earlier! Watch out for the pictures which we will blog later of the cityof Burgos which is going to be the European City of Culture in 2012.
On Sunday afternoon we are planning to drop down to Bilbao to catch the ferry on
Monday lunchtime to Portsmouth !!
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