The Last Post & Port

Steaming from Barcelona to Zaragoza to Bilbao – South to North – Literally!!

We spent 5 days chilling at Vilanova Park, a site we have been to before, just outside Barcelona, we caught up on shopping at our favourite supemarkets, Alcampo and Mercadona! Such small pleasures please us!!

We filled up with cheap fuel; bought several bottles of decent Spanish wine to take back to the UK; caught up with our washing and generally spent the morning doing chores then afternoons around the pool.  The temperature was still hot, 35c and our air con in the trailer was playing up, the fan works but was only throwing out warm air so we had to rely on cooling the trailer by closing blinds, cooking outside and a big fan that we have keeping us cool at night.

We have only ever been to Vilanova Park outside holiday season (October and March or April) and we so surprised to see such a difference, thousands of people everywhere, kids in the pool (Irish and French school holidays started mid June), iced cream and take away bars open and daytime and evening activities, through to a kids disco at 7.30pm and adult entertainment until midnight!  Still very few staff, rushed off their feet. It was lovely to be recognised by one or two waiters!

Early Sunday morning we left Vilanova and drove 3 hours up to Zaragoza, a huge city in the middle of a desert like flat pain, often called The Windy City.  On arrival, the temperature had crept up and reached 43c, with a boiling hot wind that made everything hot to touch, our outdoor plastic chairs, the crockery in the cupboards, and even our lounge seats were hot to sit on!  We sat in the pool for a while, dried off quickly in the hot air, then had cold showers.  Luckily the wind disappeared overnight and when we left Zaragoza in the morning the temperature was a cooler 26c! 

Monday we took a slow drive up to Bilbao, stopping a few times for a break.  We went from sea level to Zaragoza at 350m, to Rioja at 600m and back down to sea level at Bilbao! 

The landscape changed from grey flat plains in Aragon (Zaragoza) to hilly wind farms through to lush green valleys in the Rioja area, surrounded by an impressive bank of cloud.  This is why Rioja produces such brilliant wine, a flat plain with surrounding mountains, the warmth of sunshine and just enough moisture to produce grapes. We then went through the rocky mountain range, beautifully craggy and stunning but much cooler than we have been used to. 

We stopped at some services about 40 miles short of Bilbao and decided to try a bit of wild camping for the night, in the car park!  Surrounded by lorries, we woke to 16c and fog!! First time we have ever done that, probably won’t do it again, far too noisy. We soon headed off to Bilbao Port where the temperature crept back up to 24c once we had got over the mountains.

We were one of the last onto the ferry, and spent a lovely calm 24 hours heading back to England and no doubt, much cooler temperatures!

And finally, to cap it off…….

So in the past week we have gone up and up and up to sweltering record temperatures then down to more sensible ones; up and down in altitude as well as fuel and beer prices! We had cabin numbered 8123 from Rome to Barcelona and 8321 from Bilbao to Portsmouth! We have travelled about 2000 kms on three ferries and driven only a third of the journey! We have been stopped by Customs to inspect the interior of the trailer and also waved on without any inspection at other borders. Overall a very interesting journey back to the UK.

This will be our last post until the end of August when we head back to Spain!