Sleepless in S..anxenxo

Ok, ok it’s been a few days, I know – but I did say we were having a few chill-out days without much happening. Where were we? Oh yeah – we left Vila Praia de Âncora on Thursday to head up the coast for some more beach action!

We remain on Portugal’s most-wanted list as we still hadn’t found a way to pay the motorway tolls. Fortunately we were only a few miles from the border so we skipped another few tolls and made rude gestures out of the windows as the cops screeched to a tyre-smoking halt when we escaped into Spanish territory.

We’d found a seafront site in our guidebook in the town of Sanxenxo. It was perched on a rocky outcrop between two sandy beaches and sounded ideal. When we got there unfortunately it turned out to be one of those sites with dozens of all-year-round caravans in all the good slots. I can understand the owners taking advantage of the rental income, but for the touring travellers it’s a pain to arrive to find only a few slots available, without decent views or being close to the facilities. The caravans were squeezed in so tightly along the ‘sea-view’ fence that the only way you knew you were by the sea was by the sound of the waves and the seagull poo on the windscreen!

Having said that, the facilities were fine and it was only a short walk to the beautiful beaches. As we went for a wander we met some new chums, Nick and Karel who had a shiny new Bürstner Motorhome and were struggling as much as we had to find a level pitch. They eventually got themselves sorted and we arranged to meet for dinner. I’m ashamed to say we picked their brains all evening as they have been motorhoming for years and as the beer (and wine, and brandy) flowed we were able to ask all the stupid newbie questions we wanted. Thanks guys!

Nick & Karel had gone to the trouble of taking some Spanish lessons before they came out on this trip – I’m not sure how well they worked though, as poor Karel had a calamari starter and er… a calamari main course! Some random croquettes appeared at some point too but as you know, I’m not fussy and just ate and drank everything the waiter put in front of me; clams, croquettes, squid, chicken, bread – you name it! Our new best friends swung by the next morning to lend me the DVD box set of series 7 of Sons of Anarchy. It had come up in conversation that I’d binge watched up to series 6 on Netflix before we came away and series 7 is the final one so no spoilers please…

The Spanish keep late hours generally, but after our evening out it felt like we were kept awake for the whole night by shouty teenagers, little kids running about, fireworks, cheering and singing. So much so that I warned a few Brits who turned up the next day, to move on to a different campsite as this one was so noisy. All was made clear later the next day by an email from N & K who’d left that morning. Apparently Thursday was the feast of John the Baptist which somehow involves immersion in water, lots of wine and staying awake all night on the beach. The following evening silence reigned much to my embarrassment as the group of Brits had decided to stay there anyway. Sorry folks!

Having had a lazy beach day in Sanxenxo we elected to head for some culture yesterday (Saturday) in Santiago de Compostela at the end of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. To our surprise we quickly found a motorhome car park and jumped on a bus which took us straight to the old walled town. We were in such a rush to get the bus that I’m afraid I left not only the camera, but my phone in Vince as well. It felt like my right arm had been cut off. So we have zero, zilch, & nada when it comes to pics. I shall pinch some from Mr Google and dot them around this post.

Santiago was heaving with tourists, so we only had a quick wander round the cathedral, passing up on the opportunity to queue for ages to er..embrace the apostle. We had a bite to eat outdoors, explored the market in the intense heat and admired the ancient ornate facades, but we ultimately regretted our decision to come on a Saturday when it was so busy. Our plan had been to stay overnight in the car park where we left Vince as it’s an official aire. It was in a bit of a concrete jungle however, and although there were a few other motorhomes there we felt the €12 cost would be better spent on a decent campsite instead. We made a sharp exit and cranked Vince’s cruise control all the way to 100kph for the long run to the coast, arriving at this campsite around six-thirty last night.

Today we decided we need to get a bit of exercise so we walked four miles along the coastal path to the Playa de Las Catedrales. This is a beach where low tide reveals many weird & wonderful rock formations – caves and arches which earned it the name of the ‘Beach of Cathedrals’. I remembered the camera this time fortunately so there are zillions of pics below. We underestimated how eight hilly miles would feel in the heat so we are absolutely shattered this evening – and goodness knows how we’ll feel in the morning. Tomorrow is a big shop day, and we may stay here another night depending on whether they’ll be showing the footie on the big TV or not…