Sometimes things don’t always go to plan and we have always known that we may have to cut trips short if needed at home.

As my dad was taken poorly and my mum needed our support, we changed our crossing, for the earliest we could, and headed for Bilbao.

It was our first time on a ferry in Bettine, and a 28 hour crossing. We had everything crossed for a quiet, calm trip.

We have had a great five weeks away and look forward to our next adventures.

Adios til next time!

With the weather not being good for a few days we decided to head for Spain. Through our lovely motorhome community we were recommended a site in Isla Christina.

As we are out of season in most of the places we visit, which are in the non touristy areas, our expectations are set accordingly. Pools are not open, bars sporadic, but we are generally greeted by welcoming reception staff and lots of fellow travellers, and Camp Giralda hit the spot!

Day one was rained off, but day two we decided to put the on dreaded raincoats and explore!

The beach (on a sunny day) is beautiful. Lots of (closed) beach bars which we could only imagine being a wonderful place to visit in August 😂.

Glad to report in our usual exploration style we found a little local bar, had a few glasses of lush local wine and a delicious risotto of cheese and prawns, (Ian had equally as good tuna meatballs). It always amazes us how well we can eat and drink in Spain at a relatively low price.

Day three we were lucky to have the sunshine and felt the need for exercise so after a morning of household chores, walked the coastline to the marina.

We ended up in the centre of town and ate some ‘premier Jamon’ with a glass of reserva vino tinto, and ended up at La Sal for ‘una copa de vino o dos’.

We popped back to Bettine for dinner (we had a fridge full of food to be eaten and a chef on board 😉) and headed back for a Friday night out in town.

We frequented lots of local bars and ended up back at La Sal for more vino and croquettes. Made a few new friends including Maria and her dog Coco and the barman ‘el jefe camereo’.

We grew into Isla Christina out of season and felt we experienced a little bit of authentic Huelva.

Cascais had been recommended to us by some friends who had recently been, so we headed there next.

The weather wasn’t great on arrival but we took a walk out to the Guincho beach which is famous for the Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, being filmed there. The ocean was wild with huge waves rolling in!

The next morning we cycled along the beach hugging ‘ocean road’, to the centre of Cascais. An absolutely stunning cycle all the way in.

Cascais is a lovely town, inhabited by some of the rich and famous (Ronaldo has property here), and there are lots of nice bars, restaurants and a marina.

We met a couple from the campsite on our way in who are retiring in Cascais and house hunting. The area is a coveted one so houses are few and far between and expensive by Portuguese standards.

We had a couple of pints of Guinness, (thoroughly enjoyed as our first for 6 weeks) and found out a little about the area before taking a recommendation to head out to the market for lunch.

After a cycle back and a rest, we spent a lovely evening with our new acquaintances, Mike and Jin back at the site.

Sintra is heralded as ‘the most beautiful place in Portugal’, so we took the bus there the next day.

Unfortunately we didn’t pick our day wisely to visit. The town and the majority of its attractions sit on a hilltop. The cloud and mist was so low we really didn’t get to appreciate most of the sights.

We hiked uphill for about 45 mins to Castelo dos Mouros, and as we couldn’t see anything from there we continued to Peña Palace. Below are stock photos of what we should have been able to see!

Our views from the Palace were non existent, but the building and its interior were stunning.

Time for an Uber back to site after not the most successful of days.

Maybe we will do a return visit one day when the sun is shining.

After visiting Lisbon during our first tour felt we had to visit the second largest city in Portugal on this one.

Sites are few and far between in this area, so we only really had a couple of options – both of which didn’t have great reviews, so we picked the one with easiest access to the city and hoped!

On arrival we were shown to our pitch and recommended lunch in the restaurant next door. The site was quite run down so we were very surprised when we walked into Casa Helena. A daily menu of 3 courses, all delicious with a glass of wine for a mere €20. We couldn’t believe the food was that good for that price!

We toured Porto over a couple of days and did a walking tour via Guruwalk. It’s a relatively small city all very easy to do on foot (apart from the hills!).

The best view of the city is from the monument on the hill before you cross the Luís I Bridge.

We had drinks in the Riberia area on the river, walked up a hill to a bar, Aduela, for a snack and to enjoy a glass with the locals.

Our tour took us to the main scenic parts. A couple we didn’t know anything about were the ‘most ornate McDonalds’ in the world (complete with chandeliers and Art Deco), and the ‘most beautiful bookshop in the world’ – Livraria Lello.

The bookshops claim to fame is JK Rowling, who lived in Porto for a couple of years, penned the first of her Harry Potter books here! All speculation and has been denied but the bookshop is a beautiful work of art with an amazing staircase and stained glass windows.

As Porto isn’t that big the sites were easily doable in a day or so.

We spent our last afternoon on the Gaia side, sampling port and watching the world go by. We preferred this side of the river, especially the port tasting – 5 for €5!

We took the cable car back to get final views before heading back to Bettine.

We both agreed, Porto is a city worthy of a visit!

Lamego ‘is a delightful town set amidst the vineyard-covered hills of the Alto Douro region’, and from Pinhao the route was along part of the N222 which has been voted one of the best drives in the world.

During our short time along it, it definitely lived up to its reputation.

The campsite at Lamego was high on a hilltop with views over the city and we were given an amazing pitch with its own patio!

Lamego has origins back to Roman times and the first king of Portugal was said to have been crowned there in 1139.

Lamego enjoyed a period of great prosperity in the eighteenth century when the city produced the so-called “fine wine” that later gave rise to the world famous Port wine.

It’s biggest tourist attraction is the church of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios.

A stairway leads up to the church, with 686 steps, nine terraces, all elaborately decorated with tile panels, fountains, chapels and statues. It is said pilgrims have been braving the climb since at least the 1300s.

We were very pleased with ourselves making the climb up on the way home!

The castle dates back to the battles between the Moors and the Christians.

The cathedral is a mix of architectures across the eras with its roots starting in 1159. Still very much a place of worship rather than a tourist attraction as no photos inside were allowed.

A pretty town steeped in history and one of the oldest in the region.

We said goodbye to Anna the next morning and headed to our next stop, Pinhao.

It was only a 20 minute drive away but as it was to a coveted spot on the river, we had to get there early, and again the scenery on route was stunning.

‘Pinhão is one of the most well-known places to visit in the Douro region. The wine town of Pinhão is surrounded by vineyards that produce the world’s best Port wine’

We managed to secure a space right on the river with again, fabulous views!

There are a few ways to see the best of the region, by road along the N222, by train from Porto all the way to Spain and by river.

The sun was shining so we took a boat trip on a Rabelo and spent a serene two hours admiring the beauty of the area.

The valley is lined with vineyard after vineyard of some of the most iconic port producers, and we sampled a glass during our trip.

We visited the famous train station, decorated with beautiful tiles and found a little restaurant for lunch where we dined on fresh fish and wine.

Had coffee and cake for desert in a Padaria followed by a Portonic in a river cafe, watching the world go by for the rest of the afternoon!

A beautiful place to spend a day.

We had heard so much about the beauty of this area, we felt we had to visit, so headed for our first stop in the valley at Sabrosa.

The route was interesting at times, through dense fog and across very high viaducts! Not a favourite with Ian.

The drive into the valley was steep and narrow – a challenge but worth it for the amazing views!

We were greeted by Anna at Quinta dos Espinheiros and parked up with a million dollar view out of our bedroom window!

The vineyard supplies grapes to the region and has a small production of wine and olive oil. We had a tasting evening and were introduced to a selection of all their products.

Our favourite was the family white port – not for commercial purchase, bottled with a handwritten label!

One of the amazing things about travelling in Bettine is we get to visit rural places that have years of history and all very authentic. Anna’s family had owned this vineyard for generations!

Day one in the Douro was pretty special 👌.

We had met a few people on our last Spanish tour who were on the Camino de Santiago, and were intrigued by it, so decided we had to visit on this trip.

‘The Camino de Santiago or, The way of St James, is a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, a city in Galicia. It is believed that the body of the apostle Saint James was buried in the cathedral there’

The walk is typically 744km from France across Spain, via Pamplona, Burgos and Leon. This route takes 30 days, and at an average of 24km per day, its not for the faint hearted. There are many other routes that are part of the network too.

We wanted to join the end of the Camino and found a fabulous little site, a convenient 7km away in Lavacolla.

We walked in along the last stage of the route with a mix of groups and solo travellers and found a vibrant city, full of happy pilgrims of all ages and abilities, who had completed the course.

One of the most amazing people we met was 82 year old Shusuke, from Japan. He had walked 260km from Porto to Santiago de Compestela in eight days! His motivation was ‘it’s probably my last trip of this sort’.

We joined him for a beer and shared a plate of clams with him. A truly inspirational guy.

The cathedral itself is beautiful. A daily pilgrims mass is held at midday, where ‘The Botafumeiro (Galician for ‘smoke expeller’) is swung.’

With street after street of tapas bars and restaurants we found a foodie heaven.

Over our two days, we sampled some delicious almejas, calamares a la plancha, padron peppers, pulpo and langostinos. All washed down with local red and white wine.

We loved our time here and both agreed Santiago de Compestela should be on everyone’s list of Spanish gems to visit!

We moved further along the northern coast to Ribadeo which borders Asturias and Galicia.

There are a lack of campsites in this part of Spain with full facilities, lots of place to park but not many with electricity which is what we needed after a few days ‘off grid’ in Bettine.

Our campsite was in a beautiful location with sea views, however we had rain and mist most of our visit so didn’t get to see it at its best.

We did venture into Ribadeo, a 6km walk, across the Puente de los Santos bridge which spans 612 metres over Ribadeo estuary. It was built in 1987 as a road connecting the two regions. High above the river it wasn’t a pleasurable experience for Ian who hates heights!

Along the way we met a couple of tired Australians who had been walking the Camino de Santiago for the last 30 days!

Ribedao was a fascinating little town.

We walked the Indiano route to view the Cuban style houses that were brought to the region by wealthy returning emigrants from America, the Indianos. They stand out from the typical Galician buildings, and this area has over 50.

We, of course, stopped for a drink and found a little South American wine bar, where Vera, from Brazil, who had lived in the town for 19 years, looked after us. It gave Ian an opportunity to practise his Spanish which apparently ‘is good’ 😉.

We agreed, the 14km round trip was worth it despite the weather!

Northern Spain, past Bilbao, was an area we hadn’t visited in Bettine, so we were looking forward to heading to Asturias to meet up with Ian’s parents for a couple of days.

We stayed in a municipal site in Nava and our first excursion was to Tazones, a beautiful little fishing village on the coast.

We drove to Gijon the next day and hiked up Santa Catalina hill, to the sculpture, Elogio del horizonte, which had great panoramic views of the city.

Just off the Plaza Mayor, we stopped for lunch and a glass of wine.

Gijon sits on the Bay of Biscay and is famous for its beautiful beaches, cider bars and Roman baths. Guide books describe it as ‘a ridiculously handsome oceanfront city’,

The sun was shining so we walked along the promenade of San Lorenzo beach to check out its claims.

There were a few, what looked like regulars, swimming and sunbathing on a fairy empty beach. Unlike the height of summer here when 60,000 people descend!

Back to Nava for the night and making the most of the local knowledge we had with us, ate out at La Roca in Sevares. The fish stew was amazing!

Nava itself is a small Asturias town, home to a cider museum. Cider is a trade mark of Asturias.

‘Asturias produces more than 55 million litres of cider every year, which equates to 80% of all the cider produced in Spain. But not much makes it out of Asturias! Around 90% of the drink made in Asturias is consumed there.’

We had a fun few days in this beautiful area. It’s authentic, unspoilt and has amazing mountainous, lush green scenery. Definitely worth a visit!