The last 2 days of our trip were spent at Beauval Zoo, we came here approx 12yrs. ago so it was trip down memory lane. Beauval zoo is rated amongst the top zoos in the world and now have 2 giant Panda’s one of only 10 zoos in the world.
Oradour Sur Glane
We spent the morning here, in this village. On the 10th June 1944, 642 men, women and children were massacred by a Nazi Wafen SS Unit and the village was then burnt to the ground, for retaliation of the abduction of an SS officer.
The village has been left as was it found for a memorial to these people, I have posted some of the photos I took but please visit the web site for greater insight to this historical monument. WWW.oradour.org
in this church 195 children and 200 women were herded in and were smoked to deaf and gunned down the youngest being 8 days old, the men got split up in 6 groups and taken to different barns and shot in their arms and legs and then the barns were set fire to burn them alive.
all the clocks stopped between 4 and 5o’clock
Look closely and you will see the age of the baby
for the afternoon we went to Limoges and saw these really haunting sculptures
23rd June, Ile de Re, the naughty beach.
20th June, this is our last day in the mountains and we spent the morning at Fuente De, which is basically a dead end road and cable car going straight up to the peaks, with stunning views
getting ready to sh.. bricks
Sam had to take the next ones whilst I looked straight ahead, balls in my mouth time.
19th June, a brill bike ride up in the Picos mountains
We followed their pooh trail for miles before we came across these cows being led up to the upper pastures
2 donkeys on a cliff edge upon seeing Sam the white one started to get frisky
Sam was taking all these photo’s on the back of the bike whilst we were descending many hairpins to navigate but really got the adrenalin flowing, loads of british bikers going up and down
This monastery is just above our campsite and in the chapel they have a piece of the original cross which Christ was nailed to. follow this link for more info http://santotoribiodeliebana.org/
the village of Potes just below the campsite
18th June, we move up to the Mountains of Picos de Europe here are some of the 1st shots of our campsite.
There was a big Dutch rally of 20 vans and the person opposite of us owns a 690 Duke so an hr later him and me have finally finished our conversation
A novel idea a milk vending machine in the middle of the village….. bring your own bottle
10th to 17th June, 7 days spent at San Vicente de la Braquera ( an hrs drive from Santander) this town is on the famous pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and all you see all day long is hikers following the route.
Love the car
How much is that doggy in the window
My next purchase
A few days spent at the beach near a town called Foz (a very busy beach as you can see)
I thought this fire engine was quite funky
06/06/16 just arrived at our latest campsite and what a pitch it is.
looking from the van
01/0/16 t0 04/06/16 Salamanca and Ávila (please excuse the sideway pic’s as it takes forever to upload and rotate them)
Salamanca by day just an ordinary historical city,note how many people there are
more churros
some of these hams are €69 per kilo on the bone compare this with our ave sliced ham of €25 per kilo
now at night these pic were taken at 9.30 in the evening the city was heaving
Ávila
more tapas
30/05/16 to 31/05/16 The extremadura region and Monfrague Park, a great 2 days exploring the vastness and emptiness of the region.
the storks have made this crane their homes
you don’t often see this a baby mule
A very rare site, Griffon vulture chicks, these vultures are quite rare and today we must have seen at least 100 of them all around a rock escarpment, must be one of the highlights of the trip. Sam was in 7th heaven.
this is where we were walking up to. 1hr later the summit
try translating this it tells you all about them
28/05/16 Evlas, Portugal. on the way through to our next site
28/05/16 Monsaraz, Portugal
19/05 to 22/05 El Rocio,
http://www.andalucia.org/en/el-rocio/ look this place up it has an annual pilgrimage 2wk in May where between .5 to 1 million people converge on the town on their horses and carriage’s the roads are all sand and every house has a stable for their horse, it’s like out of a cowboy scene, that particular week the campsite charges €80 per night.
This was unbelievable a separate building for the candle lighting and the heat generated was immense
Stork nests everywhere
18/05/16 Cadiz
Fish Market
17/05/16 After a day of walking through a ‘natural parque’ for 4 odd hrs in the blazing heat of 30 degrees we decided to go for a nice stroll along the local beach of Puerto St Maria
16/05/16 A day spent in Jerez Sherry tasting at the world famous González Byass bodega, this place produces Tio Pepe and Croft sherries.
It has lots of famous signatures on their barrels I picked out some of my favorites.
Churros…… yet again
Sam’s swordfish lunch.
A great 2 days spent at the Cape of Trafalgar ( trying to forget the previous 2 days of rain)
fresh anchovies for the 1st time after a 3hr hike and only another 3hrs back to the campsite
A really nice beach and so busy!!!!
Monday 09/05/16 Gibraltar
Saturday 07/05/16
A day out in Seville, Sam and Jade flew in with their boy/girlfriends
Breakfast
the Alcázar in Seville
The gardens where game of thrones was filmed
Christopher Columbus tomb
Views of Seville from the Giralda tower
Lunch
All food was good except the stodge of Mushrooms and ham
the day was rounded off with a pre birthday meal for Sam
Thursday 05/05/16 the town of Ronda an ancient city with a deep gorge running through it.
and the world famous bull ring
Wednesday. A little cliff side town called Olvera between Granada and Seville.
Tuesday 3/05/16 Sierra Nevada Mountains
02/05/16
Went out for a lovely 6hr walk today in the valley near our campsite Guejar Sierra
Granada, Sam enjoying yet more churros and chocolate
30/04/16 Las lomas campsite in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
today we ventured up the Sierra Nevada mountains to a ski centre which was still open at 2300mtrs that is over twice the height of Snowden and is the highest road I have ever driven on riding the bike, scary was not the word I would use
they have up here ‘looki looki’ men
A day out in a Spainish hilltop village called Vilches in the northern most tip of Andalusia
27/04/16 Lake Daimiel
Tuesday evening at lake Daimiel
8.30 in the evening, brilliant sunshine, on an aire all alone and only the noise of the birds singing
Before during and after the wine
An afternoon in the Royal Park at Aranjeuz opposite our campsite
looking over at our van
Found a Peacock sitting in a tree
Still smiling
Beautiful Gardens with lots of statues etc.
oh dear a stone in my shoes
23/04/16 Madrid
there is a real security presence around the old city with lots and lots of armed police around
I thought this banner on the Prado Museum funny when there were an awful lot of homeless people on the streets
We had some famous Churros in the best churros shop in Madrid (open 24hrs)
There were some really great street entertainers
21/04/16
A few photo’s from the Muga Bodegas, in Haro, this is the only Bodegas in spain that still makes own its barrels and vats
17/04/16
These Pic’s are from our Aire at Sanguinet, South West France, beautiful sunshine, we could have stayed there longer but Spain was a calling.
