The route home...

The palace gardens at Aranjuez.

We are now back in Dorset after crossing Spain with a cold northerly wind bringing snow and clouds most of the time. There wasn't much snow on the hills over the first main pass of the Guadarrama mountains but we were impressed with the number of snow-ploughs standing by. We stopped at Aranjuez for two nights and the rain cleared on Saturday giving us an opportunity to see the sights again with a clear blue sky and visit the mercadillo, an open air market selling clothes etc. The next day was cold with frequent snow showers as we gained altitude to reach Burgos. We had thought of stopping here for a day but decided on seeing the weather forecast to stay one night and then go on to Santander. In the event it was a good decision as we awoke to a sprinkling of snow and on crossing the Cantabrica mountains, met more storms and many snow ploughs keeping at least one lane open.

Our camping spot at the Burgos campsite......- 4 C at night.

We managed to get on an earlier ferry rather than hang around in Santander in the cold and was home by 4 pm after leaving Burgos at 10 am the previous day. So now in cold England 6 C, warmer than northern Spain, but at least we have a roaring fire to keep us warm ! Untill next time...Adios

Sunny days after the winds....

We are now nearing the end of our stay in Murcia as we’re leaving on Friday to return to Santander, stopping at a few places on route. We’ve had great weather here and have been out each day either by cycle or a car that we hired again for a further week.  Some of the towns and villages to the north are picturesque, such as La Romana and Pinoso both of which had good markets and I now have a new geranium to remember the Spanish spring. We’ve also had a few days at the beach at La Marina just being lazy really and enjoying treats at a local café. We’ve also progressed at Spanish, rolling our r’s! and have made good use of the gym and sauna.  We did discover an interesting site near Novelda (over the mountain pass to the north) called the “Santuario Santa Maria Magdalene” built next to a castle on a hill looking down the Rio Vinalopo valley. I’ve included a photo that doesn’t really do it justice, but  surprise, surprise, it does have a connection with Gaudi and Barcelona. (There is no information in the guide books about this so if you're interested it is located outside the town at N 38 24 18.4, W 0 47 26.4).

The Sanctuary near Novelda with a view towards the Serra de Crevillent. This was taken from the tower of the  Castillo de la Mola. There is also a great view over the valley to the Serra del Cid to the north-east. 

A day at La Marina beach, less crowds than Studland beach but didn't try swimming. The Policia don't allow camper vans down to the coast so it was cycle or car. Here we enjoyed the ride, about 30 miles in total so warming up for France.