6. Homeward bound 🏡

So now to start the long-ish journey home. As usual, we prefer to take our time and potter, rather than tanking it full on over a couple of days. As the weather was looking better on the north / west side, we headed straight up, passing Zaragoza, and spent the night at an interesting olive oil producer , Artajo, in their grounds and free of charge. The landscape was pretty grim on route, Zaragoza itself being an isolated gem within this, and unfortunately arrival at the farm was not met with the promised sunshine, but instead rain, grey skies, and extremely strong winds 😢 

But not feeling disheartened, we quickly organised an olive oil tasting session in the wonderful shop. With the help of Google translate, a very friendly and helpful woman introduced us to all the oils they produced, (all organic), enabled a short film in English on the farm and its processes for us to watch, instructed us on how to actually taste olive oil (we had no idea there was a correct process 🤣), and left us with a range of olive oils and a huge crusty loaf for us to sample. They were very nice 😃 Interestingly, an English woman arrived while we were tasting, also staying overnight in a van, who had been buying their olive oil now for years, in bulk, and swore by it’s deliciousness 😃. Needless to say, we ended up buying a range of products, and a few small gifts for friends at home. 

Swirling the oil before tasting

How to do it properly 😃

Being tutored in the correct process

Leaving the following morning we called at an interesting bird reserve, but then decided to head up to the coast, and spend the night by the beach - sunshine definitely promised, and somewhere that Ruby would love. She’s so good at tolerating all the travelling, so a run on the beach would make her day 🤣 And to be fair, the weather did turn out to be fabulous, in fact really quite hot! The campsite was at Zarautz just to the west of San Sebastián, not really our cup of tea, but the beach access was great, and it definitely served a purpose. 

Are there any birds out there??

Zarautz beach

Ruby’s idea of bliss 🤣

Anyone for a game?

Around Zarautz

Zarautz at night

Leaving the camp on Monday we headed to the vet in Irun, just before crossing the border into France. We’ve definitely learned that it is drastically cheaper to get the tapeworm treatment in Spain rather than France, and yet again the Spanish vet turned up trumps - €15 😃 An added bonus was that, although we were very much in a residential area, there were a number of local cafe restaurants close to the vet, all seemingly frequented by Spaniards, so a great opportunity to stop for lunch! And we weren’t disappointed - 3 courses, bread, and a bottle of wine, all for €14 each - and it was delicious 😍 The beautiful sunshine just added to the lovely experience too ☀️

Delicious lunch - and this was only the first course!

Can’t beat this 😃

Crossing into France the weather unfortunately changed, and we were back to heavy rain, grey skies and strong winds. But spent the night in the grounds of a lovely family wine producer, a wonderful chateau to the east of Bordeaux. Chateau de Payre is an interesting wine producer, passed down over 5 generations along the female line. The owners son spent some time with us in the tasting room, telling us all about their business, and letting us taste some wines. All organic, he had tremendous pride in what they produce, and reflected on that he would probably soon become the 6th generation owner 😃 Of course we wouldn’t leave without buying some, my favourite being the delicious Sauvignon Blanc.

Delicious Sauvignon Blanc

Heading north the weather didn’t improve, and it was getting VERY cold - reminding us of our journey down through France a few weeks earlier. But ended us spending the night at Le Bec-Hellouin, a stunning small village, actually described as one of the most beautiful villages in France. A huge Abbey dominates, surrounded by a maze of brightly painted timber and thatched buildings - very medieval 😃 The village had made a lovely little area for vans to park overnight, so yet again we felt extremely welcomed, and indeed by passing locals 😃

Lovely parking area for vans at Le Bec-Hellouin

Abbey at Le Bec-Hellouin

Le Bec-Hellouin

Feeling cold and despondent with the weather, we decided to treat ourselves to a bit of luxury for our final night, and checked into the lovely Cour de Rémi hotel & restaurant at Bermicourt, just over an hour away from Calais. Having stayed before, we were keen to revisit. Owned and run by Sebastien, the beautiful house and stables are a much loved family home, passed through previous generations, with a real commitment to working and living seasonably from the land. The bedrooms, based in the old stable block, are simple and stylish, and huge! And the restaurant across the courtyard, again simple and stylish, and specialising in serving delicious food in keeping with the seasons. 

Our huge (basic) room, complete with stable feeding trough running along the back wall behind the bed 

Our dinner was delicious, and our breakfast the following morning totally divine 😀 All the food is locally grown and produced, and the morning brioche loaf was probably one of the most delicious things we’ve eaten all trip! Pretty amazing too was the apple juice produced from their garden, and the homemade rhubarb jam 😃 Chatting with the owners, Sebastian and his wife was a lovely experience, covering all topics including politics, travel, good food, running their business, retirement plans, and the challenges of keeping their wonderful place open all year round, particularly as they both comment that it seems to have rained non stop in northern France for the past 18 months 😢 Anyway, we had a lovely time and vowed to try and return again soon 🤞Definitely recommend this place 💯 

Perusing our dinner choices

Dave’s starter - a croustade with black pudding and a tasty remoulade

Delicious chocolate dessert 

Homemade brioche & baguette for breakfast 

An easy drive the following morning to the train, and arriving back in the UK with the sun shining was extremely heart lifting - definitely felt like spring 😃 Before heading home we called to visit our dear friends Sarah and Max in Hemel, hear all about their recent tandem ride across India, and catch up on all of our travel news and experiences. It was lovely to arrive home, and with early signs of spring 🌸 

Another fantastic drive by Dave, having now clocked up @110,000 kms on the van! There are always challenges when travelling, but it did seem like we had a few more than usual on this trip - illnesses, bikes breaking, campsites closing etc, and at times it did challenge our resilience (tensions a little fractious 🤣) Obviously these are not really important in the bigger scale of things, but guess it’s about managing our expectations, and disappointments. Before going away I had said that I was keen to try and mix things up a bit this trip, I guess I wasn’t necessarily thinking in this way! 🤣 But as usual, new opportunities emerge, and we did try to embrace things that came along. 

The weather wasn’t always as good as we’d hoped, and our early illnesses did zap our energy levels considerably - spent the remainder of the trip trying to build back up to where we started from 🤣 Unlike some former trips we’d planned on this occasion to base ourselves in a couple of places that we have visited before, and know that we really like, rather than the focus be more weighted towards exploration and discovery. But it didn’t work out quite that way, and yet again we are mindful that Spain is a very large country, very diverse, and while there are some places that we really like, there are also many places that are definitely not our cup of tea 😃

So a great experience overall, tested our resilience skills a bit, and yet again helps us to reflect on what is important to us, and just how fortunate we are. Nice to be back home in our lovely happy home, with spring emerging, and all the plans we have for the year ahead, bringing a different more purposeful focus back to our lives, compared to our quite hedonistic travelling experience 🤣 The allotment is ready to go, and we need to crack on with our different volunteering activities 😃And of course start to make plans for our next adventure!