Across Spain to the Basque Country

 

Tuesday 5th September 2023

We left Ainsa this morning after a peaceful night next to the medieval village and set off for our second day in Spain.

The drive was spectacular through the valleys and gorges towards the rock formations at Mallos de Riglos.

It's hard to see in the pictures but there are Griffon Vultures circuling around the peaks

I drove up to the parking area and realised the best views of them were from much further away !

Nevermind, lesson learned.

So we had some lunch and continued our journey.

The next section was much less appealing, miles of flat non descript countryside with interspersed with occasional industrial sites scattered along the road.

And oh boy, the road. To say it was bumpy would be an understatement, I thought my fillings were we're going to be shaken out.

Other sections were fine and had the same indication colours on the map, so I'm not sure how to avoid the bad roads. Or if indeed I can.

Anyway after what seemed like a long days driving we arrived at tonight's parkup close to the Ria Ebro at Buñuel in the Basque Country.

Ria Ebro

We're on the edge of the Navarra Desert here, it's tempting to explore, but I don't want bumpy roads tomorrow if I can avoid them

To be honest, I'm finding navigating a route across Spain quite difficult.

My head says go north to the coast, my head says go west towards our destination.

So then it's either north of the Picos or south of the Picos ?

Sue's struggling a bit with the heat and wants mains 230 volts electric so we can run the air conditioning, which means a campsite rather than a motorhome aire, or autostop as they seem to call them here.

A lot of the campsites I've looked at on different routes seem to be closed or don't look nice or have bad reviews

But I think I've identified a decent looking as campsite for tomorrow so I think I need a couple of days without driving to let my brain catch up and do some research on the best route.

So that's the plan now.