Safe Return Doubtful

I took the autoroutes through France until Magescq, an hour south of Bordeaux which came in at just over 50 euros, and then decided to go more slowly through the Basque Pyrenees. Along the coast, Bayonne to San Sebastián, is where they are expensive, with frequent péages. My decision was helped as the weather was unseasonably warm, 18C on gentle hills just off the coast, the Basque Dumplings. 

On Wednesday I only drove for 40 minutes, picked up some Belgian beers to last the next few weeks, and found a place to stay at the Col de Saint Ignace, a ‘pass’ of a sort, though just at 169 metres. There is a small funicular type train here, the Petit Train de la Rhune, which was built in 1908, on a one metre track, to ascend La Rhune mountain, at 905 metres. It’s a big tourist attraction for 8 months a year, along with cafes and restaurants at the pass, but ideal for a campervan stopover in the winter. The area often gets warmer weather than the Pyrenees themselves to the east, warmed by the breezes from the ocean. 

The was one other person there, a woman and her collie dog living in their van while working a software engineering contract nearby. We didn’t talk much, just about or dogs, who got on well. She managed to get electricity from  portable generator, something very much frowned upon by the campervan community as they are so noisy and emit unpleasant fumes, but without a hook-up there isn’t much else one can do at this time of year. Luckily the car park was big enough for me to get far enough away not to hear or smell when it was turned on. 

We had two decent hikes out on the local hills, the late afternoon on arrival, and the following morning in the rain. Though the rain was sporadically heavy, it was still warm, so not unpleasant. 16C feels quite strange leaving Shap just before the snow came. Not surprisingly it was the coldest place in England last night, at 12.6 degrees below zero, and forecast to be colder again tonight. Beautiful on the hills in such conditions, as I am reliably told by friends who remind me what I am missing, but the nights would have been cold in the van.. 

I rejoined the autoroute in Spain just north of Pamplona, and stayed on them all the way southwest passing Burgos, Valladolid and Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo; fast and free. 

I had researched to stopover at the Sierra de Atapuerca where there is a UNESCO World Heritage Site just ten kilometres from the motorway. This is an archeological site, still being excavated, the earliest human settlement in Western Europe, nearly one million years old, and due to the particular system of caves, are a rich source of fossilised treasures. It’s at an altitude of 900 metres also, so a bit cooler at night, down to about 7C last night, so excellent conditions for winter. I arrived in time for a ninety minutes out wandering the area last night, and a couple of hours also this morning before getting off. Unfortunately the walking is restricted as there is a military training area adjoining it. The only person I saw was the security guy this morning, who arrived just after 9 to okay his computer games for the usual eight hours. He seemed reluctant to be disturbed, but we chatted briefly, as I expected the military did nothing at all with the land, just occupied it and put up fences and keep-out signs.. 

I had four hours to drive, just over 400 kilometres, and had a few things to do on route, fill up with water, get to a supermarket and refuel. Spain is one of the cheapest places for fuel in Europe at present, I had filled up at €1.39 a litre yesterday, £1.15, so wanted to top up just before getting into Portugal this afternoon, which I did at a slightly more expensive price, but still as cheap as I’ve known it for a few years. Scandinavia (Norway and Denmark) is up there with the UK as the most expensive. 

With getting the hour back (Portugal is on the same time zone as the UK) I arrived at the River Côa, just a kilometre or so south of Quadrazais village. These are the Serra Da Malcata mountains. There’s a river beach here in the summer with barbeque facilities, toilets and a bar, but none of that is open right now, so a perfect place for the weekend, with a decent 4G signal for the European rugby also, a prerequisite of course. It’s 16C and cloudy at the moment, though over the weekend the cloud will clear, and though it will be a bit cooler, it will be ideal conditions for me.