Near Santa Cruz de la Seras, Aragon - SPAIN
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After a well deserved rest we awoke to the sound of rain and looked out of the window to find a dull day. It was already 12pm by the time I'd got up, showered, had breakfast and reorganised the van. Hopefully this will change when daylight savings come otherwise it will be dark before we even get to see anything! Unfortunately the laptop had run the car battery down again last night and I found myself trying to push it out of our parking spot (which was luckily on flat ground). We eventually started it with the help of "Senor" and were tottling on our way towards Pamplona with the car alarm ringing. Again we found an offbeat straight road for Dave to plummet down and do his trick of turning the engine off and reseting the alarm at 40 miles and hour. The scenery between our overnight stop and Pamplona on the D230 was reminiscent of desert-scapes in Arizona, USA. It's so hard to believe that just on the other side of the mountains the valleys are so fertile. Beside the road are dunes of dirt, weathered throughout the years to form an almost lunar landscape. The sun had even surfaced and began to heat the earth. I can't tell you how good it feels to be in the warm sunlight again. After 100 km's of driving we reached Pamplona, the capital of Navarra and most famously known for its "running of the bulls" held in July. All the streets were empty of people, but filled with parked cars - it took us a while to find a deserted space. We walked through the empty streets passing plazas, Spanish architecture and open boulevards before we came to the great bullfighting arena. Although nothing was happening as it was Sunday and out of season. I'm not to sure that I'd want to watch a bullfight as I hear they keep the bull fighting until it is finally dead and I've never been keen on bloodsports! The towns architecture isn't all that inspiring as it's full of high rise buildings in a decrepid state and kind of has the feel of an outpost town in the middle of nowhere. We did find the walk along the old town, following the route of the "running of the bulls" to be quite interesting. Its amazing to think that hundreds of brave souls run through the cobbled stone streets trying to outrun the bulls. Some even lose their cool and clamber up window frames to get out of the bulls way. Whilst other young bravados can be found hitting the nearest bull behind them with newspapers, in order to get their attention. During these 7 days in July the streets must be a very different atmosphere to the slow and sleepy one we encountered. We took a detour past the old city's walls and ramparts before heading back to the van. Thankfully nothing was stolen! and we drove off into the afternoon to head north again into the French Basque country to to Biarritz - the "California of Europe". The scenic route through the mountains was lovely, entering into the lush and fertile valleys and leaving the near desert behind. We even stopped for a very late lunch in a lay-by - just bread and sausage. Again there was no sign of border control on either sides and we made it into Biarritz as the afternoon began to fade. We parked the van by Anglet Beach and walked along the promenade looking at some of the biggest waves we've seen in Europe. They were just like the ones back in Australia and the surf was packed with boarders. There were heaps of young people in their surf gear along the promenade and the only difference between here and our hometown was that they all spoke French. It felt good to smell the sea air again and watch the waves crash along the beach. The area was so nice that we decided to stay and it wasn't long before we found an isolated car park along a north beach to free camp in. Here I am typing this whilst listening to the calming sounds of the waves and soon will end the day reading a bit of Bill Bryson ("Neither Here Nor There"). Bonne nuit yet again!! |