Hotel Picos De Valdecoro Potes

Twas a rough old night as we free camped (including a wonderful fish barbecue) on Oyambre beach, and it soon became apparent that our surf boards were non too happy perched a-top the van roof; this to the extent that they attempted to become detached at around 5am ...

A very pretty (cobbled alleyways, olde worlde stylee, cows in a field with not only udders, but also tuneful bells which, when youºve got a dozen, made quite a din a la Mike Oldfield) little town, unlike the campsite which was essentially a sodden piece of grass, for which we were charged Euro 22, for the pleasure of a night's shut-eye.

... 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 ...

... saying. We were at La Playa Franca and it was BEAUTIFUL!! I call it “where the mountains meet the sea”. I have never seen anything like that before, so it was very amazing to me. The mountains were literally going into the sea. We spent an hour taking pictures and exploring and just soaking in all of the beauty.

The rest is just said with pictures.....

We are staying in a little village called Avin. We visited Cangas de Onis which is a pretty little town with an ancient bridge. We went to the seaside at Llanes and went on a cliff top walk.

Next day we went to Desfiladero de Cares. The pathway was made at the beginning of the 20th centuary by the workmen who blasted out a course for a canal to supply water for hydro-electicity for the area. The walk is from Poncedos to Cain and winds it way ...

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 ...

... Graham? Well, there's nothing, actually! Though I suppose Heather Graham herself would be a close second. It was funny, because a few times during the tour as she pointed out various drawings of animals in the cave, she asked everybody if they could see it, but made a specific point of singling me out and asking me if I could see it. I suspect she wasn't sure if I could speak Spanish or not, and was just checking. Or perhaps she was concerned ...

... warm.  But we headed down the street to a pharmacy for Kevin but I stopped off for an extra battery for the camera (probably a good idea, even if I didn't forget the other in the car).  Kevin was able to find benedryl, but nothing non-drowsy.  Hopefully he'll (and therefore I'll) sleep better tonight.  We ended our trip to Bilbao by having lunch in the food court of the mall we parked our car under.  It had four food choices: McDonald's, Burger King, A sandwich place ...

... were not very alcoholic but there is a special way to pour the cider, which after a couple observations of the waitress, I began to master the art of pouring the "Sidra". (Picture to follow). After a bus ride (duration in which I don't know because I was asleep), we arrived at our hotel (named Hotel Villa Rosario in an adorable town called Ribadesella. Our hotel was right on the beach looking out on the Cantabrian Sea. Although the weather was chilly, we did enjoy a nice walk ...

... As we step off the tram, even the kids have started to get scared. Immediately to our left is the cliff. Too scary to look at for now, so we hike up the hill a bit to gather ourselves. We are surprised to find thousands of ladybugs flying around! Everywhere. On the ground, in the air, scurrying around rocks. The kids were delighted and ran around on an endless ladybug hunt (no killing allowed). They both have such a fear of insects that neither let the ladybugs crawl on them, but Samuel ...