Another week, another Brother, Pintxo's & Beers

Big Bull, Big Bill & Little Allan at San Sebastian (actually this was a cow).

We spent the night near Bordeaux in rampant heat (35 degrees C) in the little historic town of Borgon on the side of the Gironde Inlet. With the tide out, it was a muddy sludge. But it was so pleasantly hot. We got into Bordeaux Airport the next afternoon

Bar lined with Pintxo's (Tapa's)

Enjoying Pintxo's & a beer
(I'm not short, the table is high!)

Enjoying the street culture
of San Sebastian

reasonably trouble free and picked up Allan  & Nicky in 37 Deg heat - a shock for them leaving Dublin in 11 Deg. We had a 40 minute drive to our camp, which we had scouted 2 months earlier on our way back to UK

Nice smoky BBQ & beers at camp

Oyster beds at Cap Ferret Spit
(Huge tides in this area of France)

The UK has voted to leave the EU whilst here which took us by surprise as the BBC which we listened to while back in the UK for the 6 weeks was doing a splendid propaganda exercise to remain in the EU. Seems not every one listens to the BBC these days!!!!!! Don't know how the TV campaign was run!!!! Democracy at its best! Interesting times ahead for the UK.
We had 4 nights in the Arcachon Bassin staying at the Andernos Les Bains Motorcamp, where we did some bike riding on the great local cycleways, checking out some of the other smaller villages looking for a beer & shade, sometimes for a change a lovely Gelato. We drove out to Cap Ferret Spit, to the small fishing village at the end where along this part of the Bassin they produce all of Frances Oysters. If you love raw oysters with a lovely glass of white wine, this is the area to visit. Trying to a find a beer here was rather difficult. And as none of us were into raw oysters, the gastronomical delight was wasted on us. With charcoal bbq's set up all around the camp, Bill & Allan managed to cook up some very tasty meat dishes. Bill enjoyed the results enough that he is now keen to get back to charcoal bbq's once home
France is nice but so is Spain with having the big advantage of being cheaper to live, so we went south across the none existent Border to cheap fuel, food and grog. Bliss :)

We hadn't booked any accommodation as we thought being on the shoulder of peak time we would be fine! But guess what! It was more difficult than we thought. So when we found the lovely camp at Orio, a surf beach resort, we decided to book in for a week.

The waterfront at San Sebastian

Orio was perfectly located for us, in that it had lots of lovely walks in and around it. It is a popular beach with surf club. We noticed all the beaches we visited in this part of Spain all have life guards on them actively patrolling the beach. Allan & Bill decided

Bill & Allan catching the surf at Orio
Bill about to be dumped!

to go out and do some body surfing while Nicky & I watched on. They caught quite a few good waves before Bill had to come in as he was dumped heavily into the sand, jarring his shoulder. It's times like these you realise you are no longer 20! So we headed up to the camps pool where Bill managed some lengths that reassured us his shoulder was going to be ok. The pool was lovely and refreshing in the heat of the day.It was only 40mins by train back into San Sebastian - a destination we had marked on our map to do but the weather wasn't with us last time we came through. On our arrival into the city centre, we caught the Hop on Hop off Tourist Bus that gave an hour's worth of viewing and history of the city. We had a perfect day for walking around the old seaside port and historic town. San Sebastain and this region of the Basque People is famous for it's Pintxo's (Tapa's) - all the Bar's  counters in the Historic Centre (and everywhere else in this region) were lined with a variety of platters of Pintxo's. Our biggest problem was to find ones without an anchovy hiding inside them. They were very cheap and you could make a meal of them, with a beer for a reasonable price

Local cultural celebrations in Orio
The two large figures at the back are the towns Patrons

Enjoying a beer at the end of a big day!

On a day not suited for the beach, we headed back into San Sebastian with the Camper to stock up on supplies in one of Frances huge superstores and introduced A&N to our favourite sports goods store similar to Rebel\Katmandu but on steroids. Nicky managed a few purchases but Allan resisted (he was waiting for the shoe store he found a few days later!).After Orio, we headed further west along the coast to just out of Bilbao, another we had on our list to return to. We planned our trip so we could include a visit to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, a mythical enclave on the Basque Coast with a spectacular sea mouth and amazing views. I was a bit apprehensive of walking out to the church on the point, but the pathway was nice and wide, and the 231 steps up to it gave us a good workout to enjoy our beers later in the day. We ended up staying 4 nights in a camp an hour's bus ride outside of Bilbao (all the other camps closer were booked out) called Castro Urdiale. Unfortunately the standard of accommodation for A&N wasn't that great, we slept in our camper, but the Bar and Manager helped to make the stay enjoyable. This camp was just outside the "Basque Country" so the day we arrived Bilbao & Supermarkets etc were closed for a National Holiday, this little town was open as normal. The camp also had a lovely big pool, again complete with life guard, but the poor guy didn't have any clients until our second to last day, mainly due to the weather. But we did see him playing cards with a couple of young children who obviously found it too cold to swim.

The Guggenheimer Museum Bilbao

We didn't want to take the Camper into Bilbao as it was a large City full of motorways and flyovers, much easier to catch the bus for the 45 minute ride in. Lovely huge modern buses, seat 68 people and once they are full (which ours got by the 4th stop) that is it. They don't allow standing, and everyone is encouraged to put their seatbelts on. Very smooth ride and not expensive.

The Chapel of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
Where we walked the 231 steps to the top

Interesting geology on this coast

While we were with previous brother, Bill had a lengthy discussion with Gman on things that should be on everyones bucket list and against Bill's better judgement, we accepted that the world renowned Guggenheim museum should be on it. So we visited it and Bill simply confirmed his judgement.  "Call me a heathen or plebbite but most contemporary art leaves me wondering !!!!!!!!, and I'm not really interested in the answers as there seems to be so much varying opinion amongst the critics. I did get to see a couple of Piscaso 's which I can comprehend, just, but the rest, Baaa Foohey"
We had a day in Castro Urdiales which is an old fishing village fill of history. It had an amazing Cemetery that the local wealthy people were dying to get into. And although there were some amazing Family Crypts, at the end of our lives, rich or poor, we all end up the same - ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt, the only ones really doing well out of it all being the church and the stone masons.

Could this be the new Family Crypt?

Although no longer in the Basque region, the Bars all had the Pintxo's, which we were able to enjoy for lunch as we strolled around the village.
It was an early start to deliver A&N to Bilbao Airport for their flight back to the UK for a few days before heading back to NZ. We had a nice couple of weeks looking  round San Sebastian & Bilbao areas with them, clocked up many many  steps on Nicky's pedometer app if is to be believed! We certainly felt like it at the end of most of our days. So back on our lonesome, with an enjoyable few weeks shared with Gman & Claire, then Allan & Nicky. Time to head to Italy for a HelpX assignment but not before one final drive, trapped in Bilbao's confusing complex motorway system, obviously designed by a deranged artist and undoubtedly being considered as an exhibit for the Guggenheim.