On the Road Again!

Today the trip is from Canfranc Estanción to Castejón de Sos. It's only around 90 miles. We backtracked to Jaca and took the opportunity to top up the diesel and for Claire to go into Carrefour.  Around this area they are still working on the autovias. At Sabiñánigo we switched onto the N260.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-260_road_(Spain) The road is superb, mostly, with one section that's very narrow. On top of that we encountered the grass cutting team.  A van each end of a column with two tractors doing the work. By Ainsa we could see a parking area right by the river. We pulled in. With the dash showing 41°C it was worth €2 for an hours parking for Reggie to have a paddle in river. Next stop Castejón. A missed turn off the roundabout led to a trip around the block before getting it right. Firstly we stopped in the shade of trees after the football gro...

Another day of extreme heat despite us being 1135m above sea level at Canfranc Estancion.  The weather was around 35°C most of the day. There's very little shade for us or for Reggie. So we have done nothing. Save sitting about. To keep Reggie cool we have wrapped him in a wet towel. When we were at the vet's on Friday they said that their part of Spain was supposed to be the coolest, weather wise! As I write it's: Earlier today I booked us in for another night here. As we have 24 hours from around 8pm Saturday I expected simply to book again from 8pm again. It wouldn't accept that, so I booked again, but from 7pm! Tonight we'll start to tidy away a lot of the gear to save rushing tomorrow. There will be a bit of grey waste to dump as we have used it quite a bit, showers etc. Tomorrow? We head south to Jaca, then  east again along the N260 all the way to France near Puigcerda an...

Saturday Morning broke a little too early for us. After the thud-thud of the music until 5am we hadn't slept well. Still, our next stop was planned to be along the N240 towards Jaca. With the heat already touching 25°C by 10.30am, we decided to get on the road. Frias can wait for another day.  First stop was at Tobera. We had oast it on the way in and now we were retracing our steps to the south along the BU-504. https://www.wikiburgos.es/wiki/Tobera A quick stop. The route us east and north east to Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pamplona. Bypassing both. As we had plenty of autovias to use we stopped near Gasteiz for a coffee. Claire then bought a couple of rolls for lunch. Then decided to carry on.  The TomTom seemed reluctant to amend the route. It's a failure of Plan dot tomtom dot com that deleting waypoints seems impossible.  Eventually the aire at Jaca was set a...

Well, what can I say about Day 7? Not a lot.  With Potes and the Picos de Europa being scorched under 36°C temperatures and then rinsed every evening in thunderstorms, we were pretty much doing nothing other than sit and read.  Day 8. Where to go? My original plan was to take a turn around the Picos and then eastwards calling into a few "sights" and "beau villages" that had aires. But with an ageing dog we were looking for somewhere cooler.   It looks as though El Niño from the Pacific is causing the weather we are getting. So we decided to cut a few places out and today head for Frias.   The village is called the smallest city in Spain.  There's a Camping-Car Park aire there and for €6 a night there's plenty of spaces and services but no EHU. Loos and showers as well.  On the way from Potes we found ourselves taking in a few passes and lots of winding ...

The appointment with the vet in San Vicente was at 1100. We were up in good time and on the road around 1015. As it happens we made the appointment dead on 1100. Why? The trip down the road and across the bridge into the town was easy enough. The vet's surgery is a street back from the main road not far from the bus station. There's parking all along the sea/river front. Not a single space to be found. In the end we followed signs, over another bridge on the N634 to the parking. It was an underground car park. Further on was a small surface level free car park. Some spaces free. The walk back wasn't too far but enough for and old dog. The rabies vax cost €40 and his Belgian Pet Passport updated. Three more years. Rather than walk all the way back we decided to have a coffee and then I would get the van and pick them up. The walk back was okay. It didn't seem as far... ...

With the BBC weather forecasting drizzle, we rolled the awning in and put awayvthe chairs. The new ones are much easier to deploy and take down. The seat cover simply slides off the frame.  The morning arrived when Reggie wanted his morning pee and poo trip out. Today it was just after 7am. The day looked to be warmer than forecast and so we rolled out the awning and pegged it out, deploying the storm straps as well.  Jobs today included doing some washing. The machines here cost €6 per wash and take card or coins. No tokens or jetons needed. I put the new whirlygig up and pegged that down. It looks as though that was a successful purchase. It's quite light and packs down relatively small. Apart from checking in and a visit to the shop we've done very little. Tonight's dinner will be the tortilla and salad we bought at the supermarket yesterday. We ...