Thursday August 30 Cartes

A bit of an impressionistic view of our evening rosè
for my photographer friends..even if Ian wasn't
impressed!

It has been quite a challenging day in Spain in some ways but we survived! Emptied and filled our tanks before we left camp this morning, and once again Jilly got us through the motorways out of Bilbao and heading west. But extremely surprised at how little traffic there was. We did 80kms up the freeway and enjoyed our drive with views of the ocean. There seems to be a lot of forestry and much of it is planted in eucalyptus – Ed we need to know is this native to Spain???
We hadn’t shopped since Saturday and the fridge was looking pretty bare so needed a big supermarket shop. Found a large supermarket just out of Santander and set Jilly for it. Arrived no problems, except the carpark was undercover and Ruakiwi wouldn’t fit. We drove around it but there seemed to be no entrances for 3m high vehicles. Pulled over then spotted a Lidl store not far away. I walked up and there seemed to be plenty of car parks so we drove in, only to find the store was closed. I saw a notice on the door and could see something about August 30 and wondered if there was a public holiday. Checked online about holidays but nothing for today. So, we parked in the huge carpark and had a coffee and re-planned. While we were there a number of cars pulled in expecting to do their shopping but all turned around and departed. Found another supermarket not far away and thankfully inched our way in with Ruakiwi and finally got our groceries.
By this stage it was 1.30, but we had found a spot out by the ocean which was 30 minutes away and thought we would go there and have our lunch. Oh dear, little did we realise how busy seaside towns are in Spain at this time of the year. It was packed with not a carpark in sight, even for a small camper let alone ours. Found a roundabout and headed back the way we had come in, and stopped by an information centre where there was parking and sat and had a very late lunch. Unfortunately the info centre was shut from 2 until 5 so couldn’t find anything out…we are getting used to Spanish times!!!
Had planned to spend the night on the coast but flagged that idea, so reset Jilly for Plan B, Cartes is a small town which is on the bike path I researched last night and on Park4night there was a carpark beside the track.  No other campers here but from what we read it is okay to park day and night. We went for a walk through the old Medieval section of Cartes,  a beautiful old street  lined with plants and flowers. Stopped in a bar on the street and enjoyed people watching over a glass of Spanish rosè.
A good end to a day where Spain has thrown up some challenges. Have learnt to stay away from the beaches at this time of the year, and to perhaps find supermarkets away from big centres! And we also need to sort out about Spanish gas cylinders as we understand our French and German bottles cannot be refilled. But that is for another day. Tomorrow plan to get the bikes out and go for a cycle. 

Quiet roads leaving Bilbao

Coastal views

A rough ending for this truck, lucky it didn't hold our traffic up.

No room for an outdoor clothesline!

Medieval Cortes