Coastal or inland, the rain in Spain falls mainly on the Strattons and not on the plain!!! I know as a Brit we should not complain about the weather, but it truly has been terrible so I feel I have cause to complain! We came to Spain expecting better weather but for three months between January to April we had heavy rain in the Cadiz area. In April it sparked up and the sun came back, but May and June???? More rain. I have been considering renting a sun lamp to stop me losing my colour and purchasing some wellies!!!
Days out have been limited, but we have still got around. After we headed to the very north coast to see an area called Valdovino (and A Coruna), then moved back inland to an area recommended to us called Ponferrada, then back up the the coast but further east.
Ponferrada campsite turned out to be about 10kms away; a lovely level field that looks great on the website – running stream with a small “beach”, restaurant, bar, pool, kids play area, bungalows etc. In reality the field was a boggy (not their fault I know) open area with little character. The bar and restaurant had been closed for months, the pool had been sectioned off after being shut down by the local council, the edges of the site were cordoned off so the river was out of bounds, no washing machine (eekkkk!)…..so let me summarise: a field, with power nearby……..oh yes and hot water in the showers 🙂 So we thought, no facilities (even the local bar and hotel/restaurant had closed down) means cheap rates. No such luck. This turned out to be the most expensive site ever!!! 3 nights for the price of 5 or 7 at other sites. Still, a lesson learned – check prices first!!
Enjoying some peace one hour or so when it was not raining!
One particularly rainy Friday afternoon, in between the downpours, we decided to take a drive out for (a) some fresh air and (b) if possible to find some some fresh bread. We found the local village, which had a pharmacy, a school, two bars and council offices but no supermarket or open bakery. We took a left turn and just drove, and came to a vineyard with a pear orchard attached and a shed, a large shed. There was a board outside, telling you the history of the Fernandez family and their vineyards, some of them are over 100 years old but the family only purchased them from local farmers in the 1980s. As we were reading that opening times were seasonal and visits had to be pre-booked, the owner came out and started talking to us, eventually asking if we wanted to take a look around. Did we??? Silly question:)
So we had a private guided tour of the distillery, tasted a few whites and reds direct from the barrels and ended up buying half a dozen bottles from his very fine cellar. He explained that the geography of the basin his 120 vineyards were in were producing fruits that in the past 30 years have overtaken French wines in awards and purchasing quantities and he has received a lot of attention from international purchasers!! His secret? The grapes from different mountainside levels are kept together and not mixed or blended. BUT most importantly, he removes the stems from the grapes and adds the WHOLE grapes to a steel vat for 7 days before crushing them with a giant potato masher type device, allowing fermentation to take place. No foot crushing in these giant vats, the men would drown! He claims that by leaving them to ferment for 7 days before breaking the skins creates another layer to the taste, and we had to agree!
Turns out this is a great wine and Sidre (cider) making area, the local wine is called Bierzo and his particular vineyard is called Bodega Casar de Burbia. Isidro Fernández Bello is the owner, his website shows a great picture of him, just as we saw him!!! Picture below shows Isidro on the left, Nemesio (father, in the middle) and his wife who does the artwork on his labels.
Oak barrels storing the new wine.
These are the steel vats used before the wine is crushed and placed in oak barrels.
Isidro sharing some new white wine with us.
Would you like to try some new red wine?
This batch will be ready in 2 or 3 years time.
The smallest bottling factory we have ever seen!
Ponferrada has a fantastic fort/castle/museum which we dashed out to on Saturday morning before the rain returned. We met several “pilgrims” heading to Santiago de Compostelo, one particular Frenchman engaged in a conversation about “you English love your history and do it well”. Thanks! There is also a Museum of Radio and a Steam Railway museum, which we didn’t get to due to the arrival of torrential rain. We were surprised to see a fairly modern neat town from the castle but had not worked out when it was built. Some properties around the castle were traditionally tall with slate roof tiles and balconies. So below are some great pictures of the castle.
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