Cogs life

There were a few reasons to cut our planned 5 week European tour early, I think the primary one was the weather we never expected it being so cold. There were other reasons of course we didn’t really try out our newly converted van before embarking on the tour. Our van behaved perfectly and covered about 4000 miles in just under two weeks it would cruise happily at 70/80 mph on the amazing French motorways and at the same time returning over 50 mpg ! Ultimately the van was too small for 2 people and a dog for such a long tour. We still have our old Renault Master van which we will use in the future.

I’ll keep this short but after a whirlwind drive back from Penela we are now back in our home in Wales phewww. More details to follow.

Well we’re here at a brilliant campsite in I’ll de Re. The morning was spent looking for a vet so that Darcey could have her tapeworm tablets to qualify to go back to the UK. No success there due to a combination of vets closing down and it being Friday…. however we have a cunning plan the results of which we’ll divulge tomorrow (Saturday). In looking for vets, on foot, we not only found a Lidl, Leclerc plus loads of other shops we found our second biggest fit bit count of 20075 ! Now Carol is a picture of health but I’ve recently had two new knees and an operation on my spinal cord so I consider that a major breakthrough.

.

OK well on leaving Lidl we discovered the storm had caught up with us. The drive was a nightmare our little NV200 bravely fought the huge winds and was thrown all over the motorways for hour after hour. We did give her some rest stops also for Carol Darcey and me. After what seemed an eternity we arrived at our campsite on an island just off La Rochelle connected by a long bridge. We found ourselves a pitch and Carol sorted the van out whilst I brushed Darcey. Then disaster huge bug flew in the van and scared the sh*t out of Carol all ended well though and the bug was firmly evicted from little van.

After we left Panela we drove towards Spain it was a long journey we had started. After about 6 / 7 hours of driving we checked Park4night and found a stop with good reviews, it was in a Lidl car park. The benefits were many it was free and closed at 21.30 BUT most important was the Lidl bakery !! Which fed us that night and for breakfast the next morning and for the long drive back to France. Also I got diesel for €1.30 a litre !

Well the plan was to go to Nazare to try and catch some surfers. We’ll plans changed quickly due to a storm brewing in the south of Portugal. The weather was so bad there were warnings against driving unless it was essential. So we decided to leave Portugal and cut our holiday short. We said our goodbyes to our dear friends Ross and Eveline who had been the perfect hosts. We started our long journey away from Portugal.

R&E wanted to show us Coimbra the nearest large town to Panela. Unfortunately we had to go in separate cars which made following Ross through the city centre and finding a parking spot was challenging. Coimbra is an ancient time steeped in history and was lovely. But the streets were extremely steep to walk up /down. On the day we were there the university students were about to have a celebration, I’m not too sure what for but they asked used to contribute to it which we did.

View over Coimbra

University Square Coimbra

Another view over Coimbra

Today was a long 6 hour drive from Santander to our friends, Ross and Evelines house in Panela. Once we got the Ross and Eveline welcomed us in sat us down and plyed us with cups of tea and coffee. Afterwards we had a guided tour of Penela (photos to follow) . After taking a shower we R&E treated us to a lovely meal in a local restaurant. Afterwards we went back to their home and quickly went to bed exhausted. Thanks R&E for being perfect friends and looking after two very tired travellers.

All good things come to an end. We loved our stay there but our travels are further south. After a long drive we ended up in a small site by a Marina in Santander. For the very reasonable sum of €10 we had a place for the night it’s got a lot of facilities like water, toilet disposal, grey water disposal ehu and bins. Just use PARK4NIGHT to find it. Sorry no photos it was a quick visit.