La Playa Ribadesella

... grotto. Nothing like a statute of the BVM with water coming out of the mountain to draw us Catholics out from every nook and cranny. The herd of goats that usually blocks Paul's entry into churches was nowhere to be found here.....so maybe it's a good sign. Don't send a Catholic jihad after me, now, just making light of a fun time!

About "the Christians getting nasty" part. This is apparently ...

Left Hector's at 10 am. I was very tired. We hit the road right after getting bread and fruit for breakfast. We ate breakfast and I decided to get some shut-eye after downloading all of the pictures from the day before. Conrad said he would wake me if he saw anything cool. I thought I was just about falling asleep when he woke me up for a "scenic detour". Wow, was all I could ...

... the mountains following the river Cares. Although it is only possible to see the river occasional due to it being too far below the path it is possible to hear it. The walk is about 24 kilometers there and back. Approx 16 miles. We have never been on such a spectacular walk. The path clings to the cliff face hundreds of meters above the gorge and burrows through solid rock. It is very difficult to describe adequately.

Tomorrow 2 10 09 we move on.

We awoke to the sounds the ocean across the street. A stroll revealled the Picos de Europe directly behind us. We toured the lovely old city, took some naps, played in another discovered playground, and set off again around ...

... facts I must hear, I forget the name, form, and function of the church. Jon tells me it had small windows and acted like a fortress during earlier centuries. No big deal if I let 1 church out the 349292 churches I have seen in Spain out of my grasp....in my opinion. After viewing this church, a couple of us went to a "Sidrería", which is a place where they sell cider...a famous product of the Asturias region. Fortunately, it only cost 2.40 euros a bottle so we got a few of them ...

... the sun has broken through and we can see the mountains. Today it is a struggle to see the other end of the campsite. It has not been all rain, of course, it just seems that way! In fact on one day we decided we should go out anyway and drove up the Sella valley. As soon as we had passed the first range of foothills the sun appeared and the day was glorious. The Sella is not a long river, but it is spectacular ...

We spent the day cleaning the house, doing laundry, finding out what the Spanish siesta is really all about and packing our bags for the bike trip. I finally had something other than bread, cheese and salami for lunch. Leo's parents went off to do their own thing so we went ...

Today, my sister and I decided to spend a day at the beach. What an incredible coastline here. There are tons of beaches peppering the coast. Most of them appear to be about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long with big rock abutments separating them. There was no wind ...

... poking its roof up through the thick carpet of trees and all the tiny cars screaming along at 120 to 160 kph, kareening around and between lorries bareing licence plates from all over the EU. We spent the night in the outskirts of Bordeaux, France, at the Formula 1 hotel. The hotel was an interesting concept we don't have in the US. Each wing has about ten rooms on it. These rooms are about the size of a tiny bedroom. There is a ...

... in the Basque countries. It is said once you seen the bullring you see Pamplona. Well, once you see the ocean you see San Sebastián. It is a city molded around the crescent bay of La Concha. From the air it looks like a horseshoe. Part Basque, part French and part Spanish, though posters remind you where you are: "Tourist remember. You are not in Spain, you are in the Basque Countries". The city's flats and houses are elegant ...