Into Spain - San Sebastian

Tuesday 2^nd September

We were moving on today, down into Spain, heading for an aire at San Sebastian, via a small town named Hondarribia, which K had read was very nice. We were up fairly early, but we knew that we weren’t going too far, so there wasn’t any rush. I had packed most things away the night before, and taken in the awning. The only thing left outside were my ‘crocs’, and the heavy dew made them look like they had been hosed down when I went for my shower.

We set off and filled up with diesel at a Carrefour. The traffic was bad, so we decided to take the toll motorway into Spain. As it was, we kind on snunk into Spain because we had to turn off to go to Hondarribia – so one minute everything was in French – next it was all Spanish. The sat nav took us to Hondarribia – but then tried to get us up a tiny street in the centre, so I turn it off and headed for the river – we parked, and K got rid of the recycling at a handy set of bins. We walked around for a bit, decided that it was probably a nice place, and headed for San Sebastian.

We found the aire, chose a space, paid the fee 6.55 Euros with a card at the second attempt, and got the bikes down. It was very warm – the fridge had to be put on gas, and the auto fan kept kicking in to cool it. We cycled into town, heading for the sea front. Excellent cycle lanes all the way, clearly marked and separated from the traffic. Well used and busy. This is a cycling town.

Beautiful sea front. Long promenade which could be cycled all the way – there was even a cycle lift at one point. Sweeping bay, lovely beaches, lots and lots of people. Interesting turn of the 19^th century buildings, an old town with narrow streets and lots of shops and bars. We cycled all the way around the bay, had an ice cream, then cycled back and sat on the beach for an hour, eating cake and having a drink and also having a paddle into the bargain. The tide was a way out, and quite a few stones were exposed – but the sea wasn’t bad, and quite a few people were swimming. There must have been thousands of people on the beaches – mind you, they are very big beaches!

I resisted the urge to have a beer from the beach café, and we got back to the van at about six. Time we put the bikes away etc. it was closer to 6.30. I did some drinks and set about cooking bacon, eggs, mushrooms and beans – just fancied it.

We are heading west tomorrow – a long drive of about four and a half hours.