Devall Travels

Saturday Morning broke a little too early for us. After  the thud-thud of the music until 5am we hadn't slept well. Still, our next stop was planned to be along the N240 towards Jaca. With the heat already touching 25°C by 10.30am, we decided to get on the road. Frias can wait for another day.  First stop was at Tobera. We had oast it on the way in and now we were retracing our steps to the south along the BU-504. https://www.wikiburgos.es/wiki/Tobera A quick stop. The route us east and north east to Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pamplona. Bypassing both. As we had plenty of autovias to use we stopped near Gasteiz for a coffee. Claire then bought a couple of rolls for lunch. Then decided to carry on.  The TomTom seemed reluctant to amend the route. It's a failure of Plan dot tomtom dot com that deleting waypoints seems impossible.  Eventually the air...

The first stop after Oyambre has always been Potes in the Picos de Europa on the plan. Now that we are on Plan G it's still there. We have been before, twice in fact,  but not for very long each time. The first time was way back in August 2014 when we were heading back from a long week trip to Spain. Our destination was Santander. The night before we had stayed in the Parador at Cervera la Pisuerga.  We stopped again in May 2024. A quick stop on the sloping dirt car park behind the supermarket, and then further up the road at the bus station.  Again we had a short walk into the town. This time I planned to overnight two nights at the Vanventure Campervan Park. Checking on the aire's website shows that out of 19 bookable pitches there were none last night and again tonight. It also looks like people are pre-booking ahead of time. So I have. It's €15 a ...

I had an email from Sandaya to remind me that I had some loyalty points to use when making a next booking. I was thinking more about the midpoint of the trip when we started to move north or at least east to get away from Spain and into France.  I looked on the site and some of them allowed the use of the points and others didn't. In the end I wanted a good few days where after travelling we could have a longer stay to sit and do nothing.  I found a site near the Mediterranean that allowed me four free nights using my loyalty points. It's called Blue Bayou . I decided on five nights. We can't get in until 3pm on the first day and so it gives us time to come up from Spain and across the border. We have a week to come across from Oyambre and we can take in a few historical sites as well as a run through the Picos.... ...

Monday We had to be off site no later than midday and so we had started packing away the night before.  Reggie was up and out several times from before 7am and I was feeling tired by the time I got up and joined Claire for breakfast.   I took him out as she was washing and getting ready. As we were in a large field with fences all round, I let him wander off lead.  The van next to us had a young small cockapoo that was a little timid. Behind them was a nice couple with a very friendly, and again young, poodle.  Reggie and it got on, sniffing etc.  As we were talking one of the marshals came over to say there was an accident on the M4 and no one could get off the site.  In the end that was later amended to a person jumping from a bridge onto the road. Under cover of all this Reggie went and ate the poodles breakfast out of its bowl! Whilst I was apologising he went next doo...

Saturday evening we had another walk over to the marquee.  Tonight's entertainment in the main venue, the Barn, was Union Gap and The Foundations. The theme all weekend was 60's ... In the marquee there was a duo to do sixties songs.  We bought a couple of samosas and some churros. Very international. 🙂 Whilst we were there the duo were setting up. We didn't stay though. Reggie was wanting to go. So we set off back.  An evening of YouTube despite the poor signal. We have to put the phone in the roof light to get some signal, or enough to watch the TV. Sunday  Up a little late. It's Sunday. Claire wanted to see the Vanlife Eats guy demonstrating making a breakfast pie in the Ridge Monkey at 11am. Reggie and I weren't really that interested and so we had a walk around the show and stopped for coffee and a chat at the Motor Caravanners' Club stand. The chat wasn't a...

This would be first test of the new Victron and lithium battery setup. Four nights off grid at the Newbury Showground. The plan was to set off at around 1030am on Thursday and drive across to the South of London and then west to Newbury. In the end we left at nearer 1050am. Not too bad.  The first stop at the garage on the way at West Malling.  It was a bit of a faff finding the LPG pump. There is only one and it's access was a bit difficult. Involving a bit of reversing out of the wrong place and queueing.  Despite the gauge on the top of the bottle being close to empty we could only get £2.93 (at .99 a litre) in before the pump.m stopped and displayed "stop". Very odd. A quick check of the gauge showed it was full!!! Anyway, we set off again. The M26 and M25 were very civilised and moving. We stopped at Cobham Services for Reggie's breather and got a coffee from Starbucks at the McDonald's ordering machine...

It certainly looks that way. Fuel prices have started to come down a little. Locally diesel has dropped around 6p a litre but is still ridiculously high. In Europe, from the apps I have on my phone, prices are higher than here except in Spain. As long as the government are still keeping the tax cut, then it's way cheaper.  Currently the fuel price apps are showing €1.66 a litre near where we are spending our first few nights.... That's currently £1.44. I have had a look at the maps and am still thinking about where to go after San Vicente . This time I am thinking of spending more time in each place we go to. Instead of one night, depending on where we end up, two or longer.  I am looking at some familiar places on the Mediterranean coast for longer stops, whether aires or campsites. I have booked an appointment for Reggie's rabies jab at a vet in San Vicente and apart from the opening few days campsite, nothing i...