travels in a motorhome: Two days of ports and harbours.

Friday 16th October.

We left San Fransisco yesterday morning after a couple of relaxing days in the sun. At least weekly we have to stop for a couple of days in one place to just do nothing and, of course, on this occasion we needed a washing machine so, with a wardrobe full of clean clothes we set off. Pontevedra looked nice and a free parking area, with services for motorhomes. We passed it on the wrong side of a dual carriageway and when we reached the next roundabout I took the wrong exit which involved us going onto the motorway until the next junction before we could turn around and then we had to drive round the outskirts of the town again! Eventually we arrived at our destination which was pretty shabby. A potholed car park with traffic hurtling past on the dual carriageway. A cup of tea and we discussed our options; we agreed when we first started travelling that if one of us wasn't happy with an overnight spot we would move on without argument. Our "Camperstop" book showed a place at Arcade just twenty minutes south where parking was "tolerated" next to the estuary to the Rio Verdugo so off we drove. And what an excellent spot it was, the front of the van five metres from the water with a great view over the estuary 42.33933 -8.61301.

After we left San Fransisco we called first at Combarro, where the guide books said that the old quarter was worth a visit. Sloping up and away from the harbour some of the houses incorporated the natural rock into the construction.Through narrow streets with tiny plazas we spent a pleasant hour wandering about through the old fisherman's cottages and the smallholder's houses which were distinguished by wider doorways to allow access to their animals. All through Galicia we had seen what we would describe as rectangular sheds on stilts, mostly constructed from timber and which we guessed were for storing grain or vegetables, as we drove further south more of these buildings were constructed from stone and had more decoration. We discovered they are called Horreos and in Combarro there was plenty of evidence of them.

This part of Galicia also has a distinctive cross in many of the crossroads and plazas with Christ on one side, facing inland and the Virgin Mary on the other side facing out to sea.

One of the narrow streets:

It's coming up to Halloween and it looks like it's a big thing round these parts. Phil is on the right.

We left Arcade this morning deciding to have one more night in Spain before entered Portugal. The harbour town of A Guarda looked interesting and suggested that, once again, we could park on the harbour 41.89874 -8.87779. We missed the first turning down to the port so followed the Sat Nav directions and took the next turning down a narrow, one-way street. Which became narrower. And narrower. And then too narrow. Reversing was fun back up to the main road. I'd get half way back up before a car would come down behind me so would then drive back down until they could pass. This went on for some time but eventually I got back to the main road and finally onto the harbour. This is a real working port with small and medium sized fishing boats all around and narrow fronted painted houses circling the harbour.