Heading Home....
Thank you Storm Aline. Or maybe it’s all the fault of Babette? Whichever, it’s not good news for my trip home. The Portuguese government just sent me a text message: “Strong winds and heavy rain, risk of flooding…..:” Thunder, lightning, hail – even the first snowfall of the season in northern Spain. Which is just where I’m heading. Do I want to be in a campsite at 3000-4000 feet, with temperatures around 4 degrees at night, in the mountains north-east of Leon? Do I want to be crossing those viaducts on the Cantabrian Highway that I found so beautiful on the way here, in high winds? Even worse, do I want to be crossing the Bay of Biscay with waves of seven to eight metres?
Hopefully the waves will have subsided a bit by next Thursday, in six days’ time. Except – “Oooh no, “ says my son, looking at the wind-finder map. “Calming down now, it’s turning green by Monday – but look, on Thursday there’s another storm coming in, map turning dark yellow and even red……” I have no idea what will happen. Maybe the ferry won’t leave. And the campsites – I may be looking for pet-friendly hotels! And the viaducts – I’m going to take another look at the route I’ve planned.
Tired but with adrenalin high when I arrived here – I’d made it!!! - in this beautiful part of Portugal, just over a week ago, I immediately got out my lovely, double-sided Michelin map of Spain and Portugal and started plotting my return route. So many choices! I decided to take the border crossing that would bring me to Ciudad Rodrigo, a lovely fortress town on a hillside, with 12th century city walls and an old town that I’d like to explore. And thinking I’d like to have another drive along the north coast of Spain, diving off down some of the small roads to investigate villages like Ribadesella, Llanes, Comillas between Gijon and Santander, maybe even taking that wiggly coast road I mentioned in my first blog of the trip – I’ve planned a route taking me north through the cathedral cities of Salamanca and Leon, which also have stunning old centres to explore.
But in view of the weather forecast – do I still want to do this? I hope I can, because the alternative is pretty boring: direct route along a motorway through Valladolid to Santander, quite a few less kilometres and an easier road - I could do it in eight hours, according to Google Maps. But I’ll miss those beautiful cities, and the coastal road with views of the Picos de Europa as well as the Atlantic……
I guess I’ll have to play it by ear and see what the weather does. Watch this space!
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