End of the Spanish sojourn

This was, without doubt, the wettest trip that we have ever had. Almost every day for the first four weeks in Spain the weather forecast warned of thunderstorms (we had a few!) and it rained nearly every day. Spain had been suffering from a serious drought and they were desperate for rain but they now have enough water in their reservoirs to keep them supplied for three years. The bad weather forced us to give up our idea of a relaxing, extended stay in Orgiva and gave us more time to explore inland Spain. We thoroughly enjoyed the exploring and are keen to do more in the future. Hopefully, next time we will have some better weather and that would allow us to do more walking and cycling.
To be fair, the weather was much better for the last three weeks and we had a few days of really warm weather.
Because of the lack of open, inland campsites, we spent more nights in aires than we have ever spent on a trip. The twin Gaslow LPG cylinders were very handy and, even though we had to use the gas heating for most of the holiday, we only needed to top up the LPG once.
Despite the poor weather, we had a really enjoyable trip. Inland Spain is fascinating with its archaeology, hill towns and castles. The north, with its nature and geology parks and beautiful scenery, is well worth visiting. There is plenty more to see and we will definitely return.

Tuesday 15th April 2025 – Home, Somerset, England

Camping Saint Louis is less than half an hour’s drive from the Channel Tunnel terminal at Coquelles. We arrived at the terminal quite early and were offered a shuttle 30 minutes than we had booked – very handy! We listened to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning and heard the weather forecast. Apparently the good weather that the UK have been experiencing is finishing today with rain and unsettled conditions promised for at least a week. They are obviously expecting us!
Operation Brock had been implemented on the M20. This system is designed to ease pressure on the Calais port at exceptionally busy times such as the Easter holiday period. The result was that the eastbound carriageway was closed completely and the westbound carriageway had contraflow with two lanes in each direction. There was a 50 mph speed limit for many miles and the traffic was dense. When we got to the M25, there was another long stretch of 50 mph speed limit for no apparent reason. All very frustrating and such a contrast to the quiet stretches of good roads in Spain and France.
It rained for some of the journey back but, fortunately, not when we were loading the car at the motorhome storage nor when we were unloading the car at home. It was good to be home after a very enjoyable sojourn.
Photos: None

 

Monday 14th April 2025 – Autingues, France

A short journey today with a stop for some last minute shopping.
We arrived at Camping Saint Louis in the early afternoon and spent some time cleaning and packing in preparation for the journey home tomorrow.
Photos: We had our last French meal in the campsite restaurant, about ten steps from our pitch.

Sunday 13th April 2025 – Forge les Eaux, France

The weather was much better this morning and we decided to walk into the village to buy some bread. Pontlevoy looks really interesting and has ‘Le Musee dans le Rue’, a heritage trail with information boards around the town. We had no time to investigate but I would really like to return and explore further.
This was one of our longer days of driving, over four and a half hours when we normally try to keep to four hours maximum. Not a very interesting drive with largely flat terrain and none of the chateaux that were common in previous days.
The Pontlevoy aire is a chargeable one, outside a campsite. We were able to walk through the campsite and into the town. Being a Sunday, almost everything was closed but it was still interesting to wander around.
Photos: The old Butter Hall in Pontleroy, now a public toilet!; We have seen these before in France – an on-street pizza dispenser that will provide you with a cold pizza or it will cook it for you in 3 minutes.

Saturday 12th April 2025 – Pontlevoy, France

There was rain overnight and even more during the day. Lots of straight roads with no villages, no picnic spots or laybys – we spent nearly an hour trying to find somewhere to stop to make coffee in the van.
We arrived at the aire in Pontlevoy in the middle of the afternoon and intended to walk into the village but the weather was awful and we decided to stay in the van and admire the view of the village and its very large priory.
Photos: The abbey at Pontlevoy.