Getting into hot water and other watery tales...

Roman baths at Banos de la Hedionda

It's been a while since I last posted and it seems a bit strange to be writing a travel blog when the only place I can travel to right now is upstairs to the bedroom and the highlight of the week is a visit to the supermarket!
The Coronavirus pandemic has certainly affected all our lives, but the enforced lockdown for many of us is beginning to change the way we think and our attitudes to life, it's time to slow down and take stock of our lives while we remain safe in our homes.
I was thinking about our epic trip across Europe last year, it was a pretty amazing trip and I discovered I have a penchant for hot water springs, we discovered a number of them in our time away and they were all different.
The Roman baths at Banos de la Hedionda in Spain were built in 61BC. Julius Caesar's legions were camped and ready to attack Pompey's troops. Everything was ready for battle, but the scabies reduced the attention of the Roman soldiers. Apparently there was no possible relief. Unrest was mounting, the camp was settled by a river of aquamarine water that gave off an unpleasant odour of rotten eggs but the warriors discovered  how their itching decreased after washing in these waters, this is how the healing properties of the sulfurous waters of these baths were discovered. According to history, the Emperor himself ordered the construction of the thermal baths having cured himself of a herpatic disease after bathing in the waters. Amazingly the Roman construction is still evident despite very little intervention over time. The water remains at a steady 18'c which feels cooler than other natural spas we visited. The site has no entry charge and is reached by a dusty track away from the hustle bustle of the Costa del sol.

The Gorge at Alhama de Granada

 Another Spanish Hot water spring we visited last November was at Alhama de Granada (Alhama is the moorish word for bath). We were able to park overnight in the Aire of the pretty town where we discovered a lovely walk through the gorge then headed up into the interesting town perched on the hillside. The spa was a short walk away from town and was more commercialised as a hotel had been built right by. There was an abundance of people wandering around in white toweling robes and the small baths were fully occupied with people languishing in the healing waters. It was our mistake to arrive at a weekend, obviously a busy time!
The main spa area is located inside the hotel and was constructed by the moors, once again the Romans used the hot springs but the Arabs consolidated the town and built the Thermal baths there in the 15th century. Travelling in southern Spain  we have often seen how evidence of the power struggles between the Spanish and the invading Arabs, so much of their culture and architecture is a conglomeration of the two civilisations.

Back in May when we were touring the Peloponnese in Greece we discovered the hot sulphur springs at Thermopylae. Located nearby is the site of an infamous battle between the Spartans (Greek) forces and invading Persian forces in 480BC. The Spartans were greatly outnumbered, but fought a brave battle over three days, they were eventually defeated when one of their own men betrayed them and told the Persians of a secret goat path allowing the enemy to sneak around and attack them from behind. The jubilant Persian warriors no doubt celebrated by indulging in the healing hot water (40'c). When we visited we were able to park the Moho nearby and next to the entrance a local guy had set up a stall selling produce. He also acted as an unofficial guide informing us how to proceed when entering the hot water - that is SLOWLY!
You need time to allow your body to adjust to the heat and the maximum time you can tolerate it was about twenty minutes. The smell of the sulphur is very strong and some people arriving were clearly put off by the stench of bad eggs! After showering in clean water your skin feels incredibly soft and smooth, the healing waters leaving you feeling laid-back and relaxed.

The last natural Spa I will tell you about was in Rupite Bulgaria located at the foot of the Belasica mountains close to the Greek border. Apart from the amazing hot water springs (complete with green mud to slather youself with!) close by was a fascinating park. Within the park was a little house and a Church which was built by a phenomenal prophetress, Baba Vanga, who became known worldwide for her ability to predict the future and to help people in difficult times. By 1997 millions of people believed that this blind mystic possessed paranormal abilities being hailed as the Balkan Nostradamus.
A short walk away from the spa is the remains of the ancient town of Heraclea Sintica, built in the fourth century BC by the Ancient Greek Philip II who was the father of Alexander the Great.
We were able to stay a couple of days right next to the spa and were able to explore the surrounding area as well as indulging in the relaxing waters.
Maybe sitting in a pond of hot, green muddy water is not for everyone, but it certainly was an experience not to be forgotten.

The steaming waters of the Spa waters at Rupite Bulgaria

Whilst we are all in the Coronavirus lockdown
none of us can tell when we will be able to travel to distant shores again. Everything that's happening feels like a bad dream as we teeter on the edge of reality, but we all need to find ways to tame our worrying minds in these difficult times.
Just remember happier times and look forward to a time when all this has passed, we can resume our lives and our travels.
Until then its a hot bath with a bath bomb for me, if I shut my eyes tight I might just imagine myself back there!!

Pottering around Portugal

Staying on the West coast of Portugal we head to a Camperstop set in a secluded bay south of Nazaire where we stayed a couple of days, wandering around the nearby village or heading out on our bikes to explore. Having spent quite a lot of time in Spain we find Portugal very different even though they are such close neighbours. The Portuguese people are very much quieter (although still plenty of barking dogs!) they are also warmer and kinder, although its a rather rundown country there are plenty of historic monuments and places to visit. Our next city being a fine example - Evora, an inland city enroute back towards Spain had some really interesting monuments,

The Roman temple not far from the cathedral Evora

the most striking being the remains of a Roman temple of Diana right in the middle of the historic centre. The nearby Gothic cathedral rises majestically from the highest point in the city its fairytale windows giving a rather surreal feeling to the facade. The town's main square was filled with cafes and bars and a great place to people watch. Wandering around the narrow cobbled streets we came across the chapel of bones - decorated from floor to ceiling with skulls and over 5000 bones, the inscription on entering reads "We, the bones that are here await yours"
Hopefully not yet.....
With a free Aire quite close to the city centre Evora was wel worth a visit.

Our next stop was a medieval hilltop town of Monsaraz , dominated by its crumbling castle, time has stood still for this fortified town rich in history since prehistoric times, its strategic position making it much fought for over the centuries.


Our final destination in Portugal before crossing back into Spain was the village of Luz (translation:light) a village that was rebuilt when the area was flooded to create a reservoir. We visited the rather quant little museum of the village which gave an insight into what it was like to have to leave your home to make way for progress. The whole village was relocated and every resident was given a new house in the newly built replica settlement, even the cemetery was relocated!
Leaving Luz we headed back to Spain towards Seville and another Via Verde or 2

Evora cathedral

Bad hair day at Monsaraz

Our journey into Portugal

Ecopista do Tamega (Green cycle route)

If any of you have driven around Portugal you will know that the motorway toll system is somewhat complicated for the foreign tourist so after much deliberation we decided to keep with our tradition of touring toll-free enjoying the slower and quieter roads, it may take longer to get from A to B but it's always more interesting.

The Aire from Bragança castle

From Zamora in Spain we headed west into northern Portugal and the city of Bragança, a historic town with its old, walled citadel perched on top of the hill.

The municipality provided a great terraced Aire right below the castle making it easy to walk up the hill to the castle and then through the narrow cobbled streets into the town. We stayed long enough to explore the city before heading further south and inland to an area we visited five years ago, a town called Arco de Bauthe, we parked by the old station museum of a disused railway which is now a 25mile long tarmac cycle route through amazing countryside. We had a wonderful couple of days cycling along the route. We had the cheapest cup of coffee in a small town next to the track, it was only 65 cents (about 50p) and equally as good as Costa!
Our journey continued slowly west following the Duoro valley, along our route we found another great free Aire at Sauselo with water, electric, toilets and hot showers (first time ever for free hot showers!) but annoyingly it was quite noisy there and there was nothing to do in the vicinity, no walking or cycling trails and the walk into the local town was along the edge of a main road with no pavement. Such a shame, also the Aire was poorly designed for the larger Motorhomes with really awkward access especially to the service area.

On a more positive note I met an amazing lady who invited me to join her doing Pilates, she was an instructor and she gave me a lesson in which I learnt more than I have done in years! I also  got to star in her Pilates video on Instagram!
It really inspired me to get over my self consciousness, to get my mat out and do Pilates more often whilst we are away.
The Duoro valley route is one of the best and most scenic in Europe, the road (the N222) follows the gentle curves of the river as it winds its way through the hills covered in vineyards, if you're interested then just search for N222 on YouTube and you can see wonderful videos of other travellers journey along the valley, sadly none of my photos do it adequate justice.
So where to next? We decided to head to the West coast of Portugal, not sure what sort of weather we would encounter at this time of year (October), but we were not to be disappointed as we enjoyed a few days at Figuiera da Foz parked up right by the beach and seafront cycle path.

Beautiful sunshine reflected on the sea at Figuiera da Foz

Our journey through Spain to Portugal

The rugged coastline of Northern Spain 

Leaving France we headed into Spain following the winding up and down northern coast road heading west. This coastline is very hilly and very rugged so progress is slow, but at least it gives you time to admire the view - as a passenger that is, Keith is busy keeping an eye on the road!
Our first stop was in the car park of a Bird sanctuary with free water and waste facilities. Parked next to us was a lovely lady we got chatting to, she was travelling with her two young daughters who she was home schooling whilst they roamed all across Europe - what an experience for them!
We then headed along more narrow and winding roads into the Picos mountains where we stayed on a campsite for a change. The site was on the outskirts of the lovely traditional town of Potes which we explored on foot having decided to leave the bikes back at the campsite.

Medieval bridge in central Potes

We found a great place for a coffee overlooking the medieval bridge in the centre of town.
The scenery of the Picos mountains is spectacular, but my hiking in the hills days are over due to my dodgy knees, so we didn't stay in the area for long, after a couple of days we headed back out of the region on the narrow winding roads further south to a very Spanish town for another overnight stop - an Aire right on a Via Verde cycle trail! Sadly we discovered it was only 11 km long so it really wasn't worth taking the bikes off the back of the van. We did enjoy a walk around town and a cortardo coffee sitting in a cafe watching the world go by.

Zamora 

We had one more night in Spain in the large central Spanish town of Zamora where there is a large Aire for Motorhomes next to a park. In the evening all the families came down to the park with their children to let them play while they chatted, one of the pleasures of living in a warmer climate. We  discovered we were located right on the major EV1 cycle route from the north to southern Spain we pedalled out for a ride into the flat plains surrounding the city. On our ride we met a Belgian lady who was cycling solo from Biarritz all the way to South Africa, what a brave adventure for a single woman to undertake!

Zamora

Meandering down through France

Some years ago in the days when were both working and taking two week holidays in our VW campervan we had a favourite destination in Central France - St. Gaultier. We used to stay on the Municipal campsite, a pretty small site with basic amenities (but cheap!) a gorgeous little town in the Indre region with a disused railway cycle track running right through it. So this trip we thought it would be good to go back to revisit the area and cycle the trail. This time though we stayed on the free Aire in the outskirts of town right by the cemetery (the neighbours are quiet at night!). Nothing much had changed in the town since we were here last unlike the village in the U.K. where we live where we are being hemmed in by all the hundreds of houses being built all around us.
With lovely warm sunny weather we set out along the track doing what we love the best! The track took us through countryside and sleepy villages       (where does everyone disappear to in the afternoon?) it's always such a delight cycling on the traffic free paths in France.

Leaving St Gaultier we headed further south to the Dordogne to visit some motorhomer friends we met in February in Mojacar Spain who live at La Coquille. Barry and Jean moved to the Dordogne a year ago and have a fabulous house and new life in France, we were fortunate enough to be invited to their friends BBQ which was a wonderful afternoon spent meeting lots of people who have either moved to France or have holiday homes there. And it set us to think that maybe it could be something we would like to  do - sell up our house in the U.K. buy a smaller property in Sussex nearer to our daughter and the grandchildren and a house in France. With property prices so low in France we could buy a really nice property in which to enjoy the tranquil country life - it all seems very appealing and gave us a lot to talk about!

After a lovely couple of days socialising we went deeper into the Dordogne to a pretty village near the epicentre of the region - Sarlat (easily accessible on the cycle track we were parked next to!!)
It's an interesting area to visit maybe a bit touristy but the ancient buildings in the town are amazing. If we do buy a house in the Dordogne we would prefer to keep to the edge of the province rather than in the thick of the main attractions.
Leaving the Dordogne we headed to the Lot valley to stay with our friends Rik and Marie. We were able to park in their garden where we had a couple of really peaceful nights - late one night I was looking up at the night sky filled with thousands of stars, the Milky Way stretched  across directly above, a sight never seen above our home in the UK with all the light pollution there is there. We had a great couple of days catching up with our friends and enjoying Marie's cooking before moving on to one last stopover in France before heading on into Spain.

Villefranche-du-Perigord - Market place

Medieval houses

Back on the road again!!

After spending six months of touring already this year you would have thought that we would want to stay at home, but it's actually quite the opposite - we just love the travelling life! The last couple of months have been wonderful being at home with all its comforts, taking time to catch up with our friends and family especially our beautiful grandchildren who seem to grow and change every time we see them - even if only a few days have past. We always miss them when we are away on our travels.
This time for our Autumn travels we have decided to head slowly down through France, taking time to explore and find some good cycling as well as visiting friends. Then as the temperatures start to dip we will head south to Spain, the plan being to tour the north before heading down the middle eventually ending up in the south and the Costa Del Sol. We might travel west into Portugal at some stage to visit the Douro valley we have heard so much about. Well that's the plan, but who knows where we end up going to as we have no fixed agenda just a few ideas of where we would like to visit.

Our journey began last Wednesday when we took the 11am ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, a four hour crossing and not our usual route, but it all went well, the crossing was smooth and the time seemed to go quickly. Unfortunately after we disembarked as we were sitting in the queue for Passport control the driver of a campervan wasn't paying attention and swiped our driver mirror- the plus side is that we have 'Mirrorguards' on both sides which protected the mirror and all the delicate workings inside so Keith was able to fix the guard back on and no damage was done, but it wasn't the best start to our trip! What we did enjoy though was not having the long drive to Dover to catch the ferry as well as a two hour drive at the other end.
We headed to a free Aire at Mesniere en Bray only 25km from Dieppe for our first night on French soil, after a very peaceful night we then headed south to the Loire region for some cycling adventures. We found a great place to stop at Pontlevoy with free facilities including electricity overlooking a pretty chateau.

With a free cycle route map from the local Tourist Information office we found plenty of  peaceful lanes and

tracks to cycle on in the region and
really enjoyed the peace and quiet as we cycled through the forests. The jewel in the crown of the Loire region has to be the fabulous Château de Chambord built in the 16th century as a hunting lodge for the King, with all its rather whimsical pillars and towers and its central double helix staircase it is a fascinating place and so over the top! Apparently King Francis 1 only ever spent about seven weeks here in total! It's hard to believe that it is in such wonderful condition after hundreds of years including being left abandoned for some of that time.
We are in our element staying in an area with so much cycling to do and ended up staying another three nights based on an Aire in a pretty little village (Tour de Sologne) right on a number of routes for us to chose from. Perfect!

Cycling through the forest with the beginnings of the Autumn colours

The last leg of our epic trip

With heavy hearts we left Austria and headed across Germany towards France, we decided not to spend much time in Germany on this trip as we wanted to make for the Ardennes , an area of natural beauty which we had researched to have some excellent cycling.
The Trans-Ardennes cycle trail seemed to us a perfect ending for the last week of our trip, it also served as a reminder of how wonderful the cycle trails are in France as well as how easy Motorhoming is in this beautiful country, there are facilities everywhere for Motorhomers as almost every village and town has designated free Aires.

We had a wonderful time cycling parts of the 83km trail alongside the spectacular river Meuse, the trail is almost traffic free which makes for a much more relaxed journey especially when we come across a bakery that serves delicious coffee and cakes!
We booked our crossing home from Calais to Dover and were so surprised when sitting in the queue waiting to board the ferry we saw our friends Martin and Isabelle also waiting in their motorhome for the same ferry. We just couldn't believe the co-incidence! Having not seen them since our stay in Mojacar in March we had a lot of catching up to do about where we had all been and the adventures we had over the last few months! They had been mainly in Portugal, Martin had a big birthday whilst they were there and they hired a huge villa for all the family to join him in his celebrations - you can imagine he had a few tales to tell about that!
What a wonderful end to our travels, the crossing went by in a flash whilst we chatted and we didnt even notice the sea was slightly more choppy than usual!

And so our six month trip across Europe is over, we travelled 6500miles in the motorhome, cycled 1500 miles on our bikes, took 2 overnight ferry journies and visited 12 European countries. We have made many new friends and certainly had some really interesting experiences.

I wonder when and where our next experience will be?

Somewhere in Greece 3 thousand miles from home....