Day Two - to Salamanca

 It was an early start as we left the boat (bear in mind, Spanish time is one hour ahead so a 6.30am getup is early!), but after a breakfast on board, we went down to the car and disembarked after some complex manoeuvres to get around the hold. The road was unfamiliar as we have never landed in Bilbao before so we eventually hit the motorway south and began the drive towards Portugal. However, our first target is Salamanca. The road climbs steeply onto the heights of the Spanish sierra and we were soon well above 800 metres up where the weather is as cold as the UK. The climb up there takes one through some amazing tunnels and over stunning viaducts as the engineers tackled the challenges of the mountainous terrain.

One of our challenges was that we had no Euros. So we decided that we dot in and out of service areas in search of a cash machine … in vain. Services are many and oft along the Spanish roads but they range from fairly poor to downright awful. Few are more than simply a filling station and a poor attempt at a cafe.

Early on, we also needed to buy fuel - thank goodness for credit cards - but our chosen services had no connection between pumps and cash. We had to pay fifty euros up front and then the guy pumped the fuel for us. This was as we were driving through Basque Country - he offered that we should not say “Gracias”, but the Basque equivalent which is “Eskerrik asko”.

As we journeyed, it was sunglasses one moment and fog lights the next. The temperature dropped down to minus 3C. In our hunt for cash, we went crazy, searching for a cash machine around Valladolid for fifty minutes. Not one service area had one in all of Spain as far as we could see. We decided to wait until Salamanca!

Meanwhile, Gabs was learning the Spanish toilet experience where the light goes out if she didn’t move. She hadn’t clocked where the switch is, leading to some hilarity.

We arrived in the beautiful Spanish city of Salamanca - probably one of my all time favourites - and discovered the hotel Eurostars Las Clara's has a car lift! Cue much skilled driving from a certain lady as she negotiated around the narrow entry.

It also had a huge bath. What a lovely hotel - highly recommended, with lovely staff, good sized rooms and a fine breakfast buffet.

In the afternoon and evening we ventured to the Plaza Mayor - stunning area. The afternoon visit to a bar there was generally disappointing. If you visit, avoid the Cafe Novelty. The novelty was if you managed to get served by the very grumpy staff. However, in the centre of the square was a huge bauble that was lit up at night - very dramatic.

In the evening, a meal out with three wines and then herb liqueur - a sure recipe for reflux. However, the food was lovely - Gabrielle had a beetroot and garlic risotto. This was very pink! I had oxtail risotto - that was a new one! Fine meal and then home to bed and asleep by 10:30pm.