Category: Uncategorized
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Gorgeous Gavín in the Aragonese Pyrenees
974 metres up in Aragón’s Tena Valley, Camping Gavínis terraced, surrounded by holm oaks and pines, the russet, jagged mountain teeth sticking up through the tree canopy. It takes us back to when our children were small and we came upon a gem of a terraced campsite, scented with hot pine, behind the busy Côte…
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Luminous Lumbier – A Beautiful Basque Town
My well-battered book map of Spain is a go-to when we need a campsite with a view. I just look for the tent symbol and a green edged road. That’s how I find Camping Iturbero, in Lumbier. By the River Salazar and surrounded by the foothills of the Pyrenees, the town clings to the cliff…
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Arbitzu – Basque Country on the Spanish Side of the Border
It’s as if there’s a festival in the carpark of the EkoCanpina at Arbitzu, in the Pyrenean foot hills. Large groups are partying while they wait. But far from being turned away as I suspect we will be, they find us a place in the field, right on top of the outdoor gym equipment. We’ve…
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Wexford’s Kilmore Quay to Basque Arbitzu
Kilmore Quay’s campsite gifts us a view of blue sea and an everchanging sky. The granite walled harbour is busy with tractors delivering crates of crabs to the warehouses, cranes lifting catches of fish from the small trawlers. We pass the rib bone of a whale beached on the strand here, and the memorial garden…
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Waterford’s Ardmore to Wexford’s New Ross
Ardmore on the Waterford coast proves to be a treat. Ardmore Campsite sits beside the sea. Grey wagtails dip and dive for insects around the van and goldcrests feast on the hedgerow. We walk along the beach for the 5 minutes to the village. We start the evening in Keevers Pub, a quintessential Irish pub,…
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Bounteous Bantry
As usual Bantry has so many gifts to offer, not least the wonderful parking spot in the hotel grounds, which were once part of the grand estate of Bantry House, which lies beside it. This means that there’s sub-tropical planting, along with woods of hazel, oak, wych-elm and willow. The sea-fed lagoon hosts the resident…
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From Wicklow Town to Bantry Bay Via The Rock of Cashel
Wicklow Town sits on the sea, with an island in between the Leitrim River, named after the Leitrim Regiment who were stationed here in 19th Century, and the seafront, which explains the rather gracious houses lining the river. Today the seafront is full of children getting ready for sailing lessons, the quays themselves bustling with…
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Wherein we Embark on What is Meant to be a 3 hour Walk through the Glacial Valleys of Winsome Wicklow and End up Walking for 7 Hours
The first view of the morning is the stone arched bridge at Glenmalure and the house martins swooping through the air; the first sound the rushing Avonbeg river. The plan today is to walk 7 miles from Glenmalure to Glendalough, along the Wicklow Way and Miners’ Way. Soon, we gaze down at the ruins of…
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Rambling up Torroella de Montgrì, Cycling in L’Estartit’s Nature Reserve and Taking to the Sea
I’ve written so much about Torroella de Montgrì that I think there’s nothing else to say, but I’m proved wrong. Local families trek to the castle which squats at the top of Montgrì, the mountain in Torroella. Being Easter, everyone and their granny has taken to the rocky track. One elderly woman, complete with walking…
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Begur – Where Catalan History, the Modern Tourist Industry and Wandering Walking Trails Meet
Begur is a typical Medieval Catalan Village, with castle ruins topping the mountain, a lookout tower just below. Alleyways of stone houses radiate down from it. A sign on a street stepping up to the castle tells of the past inhabitants being required to offer the feudal lords a cup of water on their upward…
Campervan Therapy 