Day 555 – Friday 20th September 2019
Had a bit of lie-in then we hit the road for Salamanca about 180 miles further south.
The Spanish interior, it’s big and it’s pretty empty
We arrived at the campsite just after lunch and guess what, it’s another typically scruffy little unloved Spanish site.
Of course Cfor loves the site…
He went completely loopy rubbing his head on the base of this tree, some dog must have pissed on it.
After a Pot Noodle apiece we hopped on a bus into town… for a Spanish town Salamanca is alright. It’s clean enough and lively. It also has two cathedrals…
The old cathedral viewed from the bell tower of the new cathedral
… it has a very big square
Plazza Mayor, I’m guessing they sell a lot of ham here
and a Roman bridge but I couldn’t be bothered seeking that out; after nearly 3 weeks on the road I’m all touristed out and just want to put my feet up in the sun.
Spain – any sandwich you want as long as it is ham!
Day 556 – Saturday 21st September 2019
On to Cáceres , (pronounced Cath-er-rus with a Spanish lisp on the Cath) a town I’d never heard of before and about 125 miles further south.
The campsite is great; it’s terraced so the pitches are level,
each pitch has it’s own toilet block with a nice shower, toilet & hand basin; luxury!
and there is a near Olympic size swimming pool all for €18 a night.
It rained pretty much none stop all afternoon so we were stuck in the van, I may run out of crisps & Madeleines!
In a break from the rain I went for a wander and discovered why the campsite is so good for a Spanish site…
half of it is paid for by Brussels, they’ve had over €150k in EU grants to promote tourism!
Day 557 – Sunday 22nd September 2019
Worst night’s sleep ever. Someone’s alarm malfunctioned at 4am and they couldn’t get it stopped for yonks. Then Cfor decided he really needed to go out!
In the morning we visited the town of Cáceres.
very considerate of them to make this match Julie’s coat
It has a large medieval quarter
it’s a UNESCO world heritage site which probably qualifies them for a grant or two
we were early so there were no tourists to ruin Julie’s photos
I think the town had about 4 cathedrals
Cáceres along with Salamanca is on the via de la Plata which is a camino to Santiago de Compostela. Plata means silver in Spanish, this was the silver route from northern Spain to the Med in Roman times.
being on a camino there are plenty of scallop shells in town
Day 558 – Monday 23rd September 2019
Up early and off to El Rocio about 200 miles further south. The journey was uneventful and the campsite is okay but it’s absolutely baking.
Cfor loves the site but I don’t think he’s met the camp dog yet.
In rural Spain and Portugal they routinely kick their dogs out in the morning, hence all the dog shit
The streets of El Rocio are made out of sand so Zippy was a no no and I had to walk to the local supermarket.
with the sandy streets and blazing sun it was all a bit For a Few Dollars More
Thank god the site has a lovely cold pool 😀
Day 559 – Tuesday 24th September 2019
A baking hot day so a very lazy day.
The only place to be
Day 560 – Wednesday 25th September 2019
Up early and packed up ready to go but we had to wait a few hours for Cfor to return from his morning inspections!
The little swine is pretty fearless now and it’s becoming a bit of a problem on sites with permanent caravans, there is just too much interesting feral stuff going on under them.
Portugal 😀
On the journey Doris seemed a little confused at times and it took 4 hours; the normal roads in Portugal are okay for cars but going through towns is not easy in an 8m motorhome.
It was fabulous to arrive at Touriscampo
Our pitch is a little small but we managed to fit on it. The Chateau took a while to put up because I’ve never put it up in anger before.
The chateau
Day 561 – Thursday 26th September 2019
Another fabulous cloudless day. It doesn’t really get baking until mid-day so we spent the morning getting all the stuff in the Chateau just right then after lunch had a relax by the pool.
it’s great to have fuck all to do 😀