Friday 26th September 2008

Back home again; we spent two days travelling back through France and caught a ferry back from Caen (see photo-leaving the harbour). We have had a terrific 10 weeks, seen and done everything we wanted to in Spain. We have discovered new mountain areas, which have loads more potential to explore (Pyrenees, Sierra Nevada, the Gredos), been inspired by some stunning classical cities, eaten and drunk well and, even so, lost weight. Highlights were:

1. Mountain 'highs' - the Sierra Nevada Trek, the ridge scramble to the summit of Pic De L'estanyo in Andorra, the ascent of Castillo D'Acher from the Echo Valley, the Ibex in the Gredos.

2. Best cities - Seville (wow!), Toledo, Cordoba (the Mesquita and old town and the best tapas we had), A Coruna (for the harbour and beach area) and Santiago de Compostela.

3. The visit to the Bodega at Logrono, Pauls birthday meal in the French Pyrenees, the light 'at the end of the world' in Finisterra and the stay in Lanjaron.

Our original plans were cut short by the delays over the house sale and we sadly decided to junk the low countries and Denmark part way through our trip when we realised that a trip in the time available would be more of a driving endurance feat than a leisurely exploration. Now to plan for our next trip. We will be off to sunnier climes - SE Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and Mongolia - some time in November and will be away for about 6 months. Look at the blog for our exciting further adventures!! We wouldn't be accountants without some numbers and analysis (well it gave us something to do in the evenings!!), so here goes:

We drove 6102 miles averaging 39 mpg.

We were away 67 nights, of which 15 were in hotels/apartments and 52 under canvas.

We stayed in 19 campsites (including the 2 wild camps). Excluding those 2 (which were heaven!), the best, by far, were Camping Vorapark (in Espot, STAN), Camping El Greco in Toledo and Borda Bisaltico in the Echo valley. We also liked our last campsite in the French Pyrenees, the campsite at Finisterra and the one in the Someido Natural Park. Interestingly, no dust bowls in the South featured and the best were by no means the most expensive....

Average daily spend was 63 EURO, including ferries, petrol, all accommodation, tolls, public transport, incidentals and food and alcohol.

Litres of wine drunk - oh come on, there are SOME things you just don't count!