Pride of Bilbao

Booked on P&O ferry with the van for a two night trip across the Bay of Biscay.  It was so much fun.  We took the basic cabin which had it´s own ensuite and very comfortable twin beds.  P&O put on entertainment every night so a group of 4 girls and 4 guys performed an Abba show and a Grease show with many costume changes and a very proffessional routine.  The ship carries it´s own Wildlife Officer and she gave a free one hour talk on all the animals one could sight in the Bay.  There are numerous species of whales that pass through there but sadly there were no sightings on our trip.

As we leave the ferry the weather is not great but I concentrate on driving on the right hand side of the road as Andrew navigates.

  We travel inland a bit to the area called Picos de Europa which is a glorious mountain stop.  There are carpets of cowslips, snow still visible on peaks and a chairlift to take you higher than the end of the road allows.  Our first night's camp is high on the cliffs overlooking the Bay of Biscay.  It drizzles so we set up the tent and put our gear into that, inflate the matress and sleep in the van. 

Next day we again leave the coast and head inland via many great viaducts to Santiago de Compostela.  Found underground parking and wandered around the plaza and townhall area.  Saw many of the pilgrims who have walked all or part of the pilgrim trail and note the symbol of a shell which marks the route.

  Intending to bypass the town of Vigo take a wrong road and find ourselves right in the middle of this modern city with towering blocks of residential districts that seem to close in on you far above.  Frantically searching for a sign to Baiona, suddenly find myself in a traffic lane with busses with all cars formerly with me vanished.  Two lanes of solid traffic in the other direction and nowhere to turn off the lane and now oncoming traffic are trying to point out that I am in a bus lane!  Yes, but how do I get out of it?  Stopping at traffic lights I finally see my way out.  A motorcycle policeman pulls up beside us and asks us "English? No"  Andrew offers him our map and asks the way to Baiona and he indicates we should follw him at green!  We do, he takes us down throgh a tunnel and waves us off in the right direction.  Love that man.

Now I am very stressed and the beautiful scenes around the coast help to reduce the stress, while I still mentally say drive on the right and anti-clockwise around roundabouts..............  Next day we pass through a town called Tui where there seems to be a festival going on and people dressed in national costume and their museos with bagpipes.  Unable to find a parking spot anywhere near and determined to keep the stress levels low, continue on and cross the border into Portugal.