A feeling in the pit of my stomach hit me when I started the engine this morning: how much was anxiety for the 400 km of unknown ahead of us, with dodgy satnav, and how much excitement? But I needn’t have worried: the magnificent Cantabrian Highway took us most of the way today. An incredible feat of engineering, it runs along the coast from the French border to Galicia, in the north-west of Spain, swooping its way across countless viaducts crossing rivers, gorges and green valleys, and through long tunnels through the rugged mountains of Asturias. A glimpse across a green valley of an enchanting white-sanded cove, lapped by the sparkling blue sea; the other side of the road tree-covered mountains stretched away into the distance; and then back to the sea, the blue Cantabrian sea shining in the sunlight. It was hard to keep my eyes on the road ahead with all this dramatic beauty around me, and it was sad that there was no chance to take any photos. Word pictures will have to suffice.
On into Galicia, where we rose slowly up to a high point, O Fiouco, with warning signs of wind, and dozens of stately wind turbines to bear witness to that fact. There were also many signs warning to drive carefully if foggy, so maybe not such a good road in bad weather; but today was a blue sky day.
Passing Santiago de Compostela off to our right, our 400 kms were nearly at an end as we turned off the highway for the final stretch to our campsite. As we rounded a bend, a glorious ria, one of the inlets or estuaries from the sea that are found along the Galician coast, suddenly appeared. And with no satnav go-slow today, we were at our campsite beside the ria, Punta Batuda.
As I dithered beside the track between the pitches, trying to work out how to reverse into mine without hitting the plethora of tents and tables and vans in front, a Spanish guy chatting to a friend beside the track asked me if I’d like him to park for me. No false sense of pride here, I accepted gratefully – not caring how ashamed of me my recent campervan driving instructor would have been.
As I sat and had a longed-for coffee at the small cafeteria, the view across the ria was breathtaking. And in no time at all, Toby and I were on our way along a path through the woods beside the ria, and down to the beach of a small cove. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!” I thought to myself.
That small first step was paying off.
Wow what a beautiful stage of your journey, I hope the van has behaving itself and I hope Toby is ok, looking forward to reading the next stag of your journey
Safe travels Lewis
So great to read about your adventures - we missed the Shanty Men this year but we got the daughter happily married in a wet and windy Wales in Mid- July - If you remember we were celebrating their engagement the night we met at the White Horse. Seriously impressed with the reach of your camper van - give Toby a pat! Best Penny and Theo xx