At this time of year nobody was using the sports
complex so the night was quiet. As we discovered when we left after breakfast,
the village square was only a couple of minutes’ walk away and had a good range
of shops as well as the ubiquitous bars – typically French – and we could have
easily stopped longer (72 hr. max). But our objective is some sunshine and the
day being dull, cold and grey we were anxious to be on our way.
Returned to the main N10 to Bordeaux and negotiated
our way round the well-signposted Rocade following directions for San
Sebastion. There was a choice of the autoroute or N/D roads, which of course
was for us, but we ended up on the autoroute anyway so decided to bite the
bullet and pay the tolls, which were not cheap. Eventually we came off, looking
for lunch and maybe fuel and gas, our first bottle having given out this
morning (well it has taken a hammering!). A LeClerc car park provided the
former but their GPL pump was closed.
Our route now took us along the coast, past Bayonne,
Biarritz and St Jean de Luz but battling with rain showers and the apparent
inability of French Sunday drivers was so frustrating that we jumped back onto
the autoroute for the short hop to the border.
And the sun came out!
Spanish tolls are so much more reasonable that we
decided that we would make much better progress by staying on the auto-pista. Refuelled
(no gas but we’re OK for the moment) however we somehow managed to head west along
the coast, although the signs showed Burgos – one even read Algeciras! – but
never mind, Bren managed to sort it out. Unfortunately it also soon became
apparent that we would not make Burgos, our intended stop, before dark and the
site reception would be closed.
Always ready with an alternative, we chose
Vitoria-Gasteiz where there is a free aire. Despite it not being on any of our electronic
gizmos, our Aires book led us unerringly to it (so much so I nearly passed it)
where we joined several vans already parked up. There were also a good number
of M/Hs dotted around the adjacent car-park; we later surmised they belonged to
locals, the district being all-residential.
So a welcome cuppa then we went for a walk to
stretch aching muscles as it got dark and cooled off. The Rough Guide tells us
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the Basque capital and although not a touristy city has
enough round the old town to make it worth a visit. The aire is a little way
out however, so not tonight. A hot meal is calling……
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| Art outside the aire at Vitoria-Gasteiz (no, not the bus silly!) |
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