Sunday we sadly moved on from lovely Orio, driving over to Bilbao to do the van/car swap over. The Red Terror is a manual left hand drive MG and startling in its difference to the van…. Poor Lesley was not coping with all the mod cons for some time!
We have found another striking place to stop and day tour from, a small seaside village called Playa de la Arnia. With the tent up again and food on our mind we found a local seafront restaurant and chillaxed into the new location.
Yesterday some rain set in (apparently guaranteed on the much greener northern coast of Spain), so we headed inland towards the majestic Picos de Europa National Park and the medieval town of Potes.
It does feel like we are holidaying where the Spanish holiday, as we are seeing very few Americans, brits or others, it’s kind of nice. It does also mean you meet the locals in unexpected ways!
We stopped in Potes for brunch and a walk and this sweet little town did not disappoint. Back in the 1800’s many villagers in the area left to go to the USA, but sent their money home to Potes. It meant that those who remained built magnificent houses and upgraded locally (doesn’t seem so fair on those guys slogging it out in the US…?).
We then continued our way up through the magnificent Picos de Europa, where we came across more locals….
As we wound our way back along the coast to our campsite, we randomly stopped in a village called Llanes, and this stop coincided with a local village festival called the Virgen de la Guía (Feast of the Virgin Of The Guide).
The highlight of this event is the nighttime procession on the 7th, when hundreds of women accompany the image of the patron saint along the route, dressed in the traditional Spanish mantilla. During these religious ceremonies, the youngest women present the Virgin with a floral offering.
It was loud, proud and very locally patriotic. We were lucky to have happened across it. Given the thousands of people in Llanes, we figured that we wouldn’t be able to eat dinner there, iso grabbed some local seafood up the road, closer to the campsite. It was a long day, and bed was very much appreciated by the time we got back to the campsite!
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