Where's Bertie? He's in the municipal Aire at San Sebastián, where (at this time of year) it costs €3.30 per night. (Exact location: 43.30805, -2.01453)
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine. Hot.
An early trip to a big Carrefour hypermarche started our day (early because it was only open from 8.30 till 12.30), to pick up a few things that we couldn't get in our usual little supermarkets. The main item needed was a new duvet, having erroneously brough a big winter one with us (suitable for 5 degrees and below), which is unusable in this weather (20+ degrees).
Finding our way into the shopping centre car park, just off the motorway by Bayonne, was a trial, as the only obvious entrance involved a height limit too low for Bertie. After driving around the area and finding no other entrance, we eventually found the 'oversized vehicles' access. Finding our way back out, after a semi-successful shopping trip*, was even more of a trial, culminating in having to jump out and move cones from Ikea's car park exit (it was the official 'big vehicle' route, but as Ikea was closed they'd coned off their car park).
Spain was the next objective and we spent the next hour sitting in traffic and encountering roundabouts or traffic lights every few hundred yards, as the non-toll road in this area goes through a series of towns. It was only when the distinctive shape of the mountain of La Rhune came into view that I remembered having taken a photo of it last January when we passed by, and further remembered that we had been on the motorway at the time. I quickly looked up how much it had cost us in tolls and it made perfect sense to splash out £5 to cut at least half an hour and a lot of aggravation from our journey. Alas, it was slow progress to the next junction where we could join the motorway, but once on it, it was a joy.
Navigating from the motorway to the Aire at San Seb was less of a joy and I was very grateful for SatNav, even if I did have to overrule some dodgy directions at the end (I've no idea where it was trying to take us, but it wouldn't have worked). A significant number of motorhomes parked alongside the road about 100m away from the Aire had us fear we would find it full, but no, they were just avoiding the €3.30 fee, as the road is free on the weekend. Or maybe they just all knew how difficult it is to operate the payment machine here?
When we were in San Seb last January we had hoped to see El Peine de los Viento (an art installation, dating from 1977), but the access was closed for maitenance. It's now all open again, so that was our first port of call after lunch, getting waylaid on the way to watch some surfers and body-boarders. It's incredible how long we can find ourselves entertained by these activities.
The beach was a bit busier than it was in mid-January 2016, but then it was very cold and wet that day!
We picked not only a good day, but a good time of day for the art installation, which involves some sculpture in the form of curved iron attached to various bits of rock in the sea, and also a series of blow-holes in the promenade, through which the sea pushes the air - and today, quantities of sea spray too. Unfortunately, you can't get the real feel for the blow holes just from still photos, but this one works quite well to show people's reactions:
And here are a couple more to show the dramatic nature of the sea when we were there:
It's a decent walk from El Peine around to the town, and the thermometers along the promenade were showing 32 degrees, so it was a sweaty affair too. We reacquainted ourselves with the town, shunned any thought of walking up the town hill this time around, and settled down at a bar in the square for refreshment.
Then it was just the long walk back to Bertie, finding his interior (even with all the blinds shut to keep the sun out) a balmy 38 degrees. Windows were flung wide and after tea (a stew; not really appropriate to the weather!) I indulged in a cold shower.
^^(* Semi-successful shopping trip: we got a duvet, although in the absence of tog ratings we have no idea whether it is suitable for our needs, but didn't manage to get a few other items on the 'big store' shopping list. As an aside, if I'd thought about it more at the time, we would have stayed tonight in Bayonne, which looks an interesting town, and gone to Ikea for the duvet tomorrow, where we would have had a far better choice.)
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine. Hot.
An early trip to a big Carrefour hypermarche started our day (early because it was only open from 8.30 till 12.30), to pick up a few things that we couldn't get in our usual little supermarkets. The main item needed was a new duvet, having erroneously brough a big winter one with us (suitable for 5 degrees and below), which is unusable in this weather (20+ degrees).
Finding our way into the shopping centre car park, just off the motorway by Bayonne, was a trial, as the only obvious entrance involved a height limit too low for Bertie. After driving around the area and finding no other entrance, we eventually found the 'oversized vehicles' access. Finding our way back out, after a semi-successful shopping trip*, was even more of a trial, culminating in having to jump out and move cones from Ikea's car park exit (it was the official 'big vehicle' route, but as Ikea was closed they'd coned off their car park).
Spain was the next objective and we spent the next hour sitting in traffic and encountering roundabouts or traffic lights every few hundred yards, as the non-toll road in this area goes through a series of towns. It was only when the distinctive shape of the mountain of La Rhune came into view that I remembered having taken a photo of it last January when we passed by, and further remembered that we had been on the motorway at the time. I quickly looked up how much it had cost us in tolls and it made perfect sense to splash out £5 to cut at least half an hour and a lot of aggravation from our journey. Alas, it was slow progress to the next junction where we could join the motorway, but once on it, it was a joy.
Navigating from the motorway to the Aire at San Seb was less of a joy and I was very grateful for SatNav, even if I did have to overrule some dodgy directions at the end (I've no idea where it was trying to take us, but it wouldn't have worked). A significant number of motorhomes parked alongside the road about 100m away from the Aire had us fear we would find it full, but no, they were just avoiding the €3.30 fee, as the road is free on the weekend. Or maybe they just all knew how difficult it is to operate the payment machine here?
When we were in San Seb last January we had hoped to see El Peine de los Viento (an art installation, dating from 1977), but the access was closed for maitenance. It's now all open again, so that was our first port of call after lunch, getting waylaid on the way to watch some surfers and body-boarders. It's incredible how long we can find ourselves entertained by these activities.
The beach was a bit busier than it was in mid-January 2016, but then it was very cold and wet that day!
We picked not only a good day, but a good time of day for the art installation, which involves some sculpture in the form of curved iron attached to various bits of rock in the sea, and also a series of blow-holes in the promenade, through which the sea pushes the air - and today, quantities of sea spray too. Unfortunately, you can't get the real feel for the blow holes just from still photos, but this one works quite well to show people's reactions:
And here are a couple more to show the dramatic nature of the sea when we were there:
It's a decent walk from El Peine around to the town, and the thermometers along the promenade were showing 32 degrees, so it was a sweaty affair too. We reacquainted ourselves with the town, shunned any thought of walking up the town hill this time around, and settled down at a bar in the square for refreshment.
Then it was just the long walk back to Bertie, finding his interior (even with all the blinds shut to keep the sun out) a balmy 38 degrees. Windows were flung wide and after tea (a stew; not really appropriate to the weather!) I indulged in a cold shower.
^^(* Semi-successful shopping trip: we got a duvet, although in the absence of tog ratings we have no idea whether it is suitable for our needs, but didn't manage to get a few other items on the 'big store' shopping list. As an aside, if I'd thought about it more at the time, we would have stayed tonight in Bayonne, which looks an interesting town, and gone to Ikea for the duvet tomorrow, where we would have had a far better choice.)
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