Last day of Spanish adventure.

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Having set our alarm for 7am as a bit concerned about possible road closures due to the procession of the battle of Rioja at Haro, we were rudely awakened at 06.45 by fire crackers and groups gathering around the site all in their white with red kerchiefs and clutching containers of red wine!! Locals as well as the organised groups on trips from U.K. we're heading out of the camp, so we were up and leaving ourselves, by 8.45. It appeared that there were coaches ferrying all taking part in the battle to the area where it takes place......there were going to be some very sore heads that evening as after the battle, the fun would continue all day and evening.

We arrived at Bilbao 5 hours before sailing time and I was already nervous as had checked the weather forecast which showed quite strong winds. Eventually boarded and as soon as we were leaving the port it was obvious that it was going to be rough as there were tapes across all the doorways onto the decks as they were unsafe as slippery after the crossing over.

To cut a long story short, we had a very rough crossing, with the ferry pitching and rolling and rising over waves and then crashing down with creaks and groans....Poseidon Adventure came to mind at 2am when I was sitting up in bed, having only managed an hour of sleep, because the movement and noise was so bad. During the afternoon and evening we'd witnessed all the bottles and glasses in the shop smash to the floor on two occasions, bar staff lose trays of glasses and in the restaurant Graham saw a large number of place settings for the evening meal end up on the floor in pieces. I must admit sitting looking out for hours at first the sky and then no sky, just sea, as we rolled along, made it a very long 24 hours. After the last really shuddering crashes down, over the waves, which I heard from 1-2am, we slowed and the crossing gradually appeared calmer. We arrived later than expected, due, as the captain said, to the bad crossing!!

Well, we covered over 3400 miles, visited the most beautiful villages, towns and cities, experienced an amazing thunderstorm and extremely high temperatures.we ate delicious food, met interesting....and comical people, swam in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and a swimming pool!! We've been involved in a few parties/concerts, going on until 5am-even though that wasn't our choice.We recorded all these wonderful adventures in photos and I've also completed my first travel blog, which has been great fun and hope will be the first of many.

It's great to be home again and Graham has been amazing driving us safely through these 44 days and often challenging journeys...now he and the van need a rest and recuperation!....in fact I think he could do with a holiday to recover ?

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