Spain and Portugal – Valenca to Sanxenxo
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Valenca to Sanxenxo
We are camped under the plane trees here at Valenca in Portugal, a quiet night. Another hot day is forecast in the low thirties, so we decide to head north to Sanxenxo on the coast in Galicia, the place we should have reached yesterday.
Because our water pump fails we stay here 5 days, this is a long page.
We breakfast and leave around 10.30 (Spanish time) over the Minho River and five minutes later we are back in Spain. Taking the A-55 from Valença we head for Vigo then the AP-9 over Ponte de Rande north of Vigo, the bridge I thought we had crossed yesterday! Following the river which, at Santadrán is bordered by pampas grass, is very picturesque and full of fishing platforms with a busy marina and harbour.
The N-554/N-550 takes us back to Pontevedra where we cross the river Lérez via Ponte das Correntes. At an interchange we take the AP-9 north out of Pontevedra to San Amaro and onto the AG-41. This road takes us west through Galicia which we note, while being part of Spain is quite different to Spain. Rather like Cornwall and England, has its own way of doing things. For example, the church towers do not have a typical steeple, instead a flat stone platform sits directly on the church roof and from this a stone structure of pillars support the bells hung in an ornate stone housing, rather like the top of the steeple but without the steeple itself in the middle!
The vines are not planted in long rows across a ‘field’ but grow in smaller areas over pergolas supported on heavy wooden posts about seven foot high. The landscape is flatter with many more trees including coastal pines.
We arrive at the campsite along another narrow road, we find later that we missed the main entrance further back. It is tiered with four wide tiers all overlooking a private beach. We drive onto a space on the lowest tier directly overlooking the beach and under the coastal pines for shade, there are seven motorhomes in a row facing the sea. There are all the facilities here that we need, toilet and shower block, washing machines and dryers, also washing lines outside and a washing up area. Each pitch has fresh water taps and electricity and there is a toilet cassette emptying drain on each terrace.
We have lunch listening to the sushing of the waves on the sand and enjoy the view. Whilst doing a bit of servicing on the camper, the (new) water pump fails and Mr C spends an hour and a half trying to find the problem, he does, but cannot fix it. The pump was only replaced in August and has done barely three weeks of service, very annoying.
While he is fiddling with the pump I watch somewhat amused as the camper owners on each side seem to have a fetish of cleaning the front of the campers. I feel very inadequate as I rarely clean ours unless the windscreen is very dirty (usually with bug-splats). Later, we walk along the long beach of golden sand with just a few local people and tourists, otherwise it is mostly deserted. The sea is cool but OK to swim in and plenty of people are swimming. It is a relaxing way to spend the afternoon, especially when the temperatures have been in the low 30s. We return to the camper, open a bottle of Cava and eat corn snacks with olives and cheese. Later, after a magnificent sunset at 8.35pm I cook paella and we eat late, Spanish style.
Day 2 at Sanxenxo: We awake to the crashing of the sea on the beach, the tide is out and the cormorants are drying their wings on the rocks. We shower in the campsite shower, €1 for 5 minutes and plenty big enough for two of us. After breakfast I clean the bird poop off the windscreen, the birds clearly roosting in the trees above overnight (!!). Now I understand the cleaning fetish of my neighbours and, I have joined them!! I wash up in the washing up area and sweep out and clean the camper.
Meanwhile Mr C. has another go at repairing the pump, making an adjustable device from a small screw eye and parts of a ball point pen, it fails. He looks on the internet of places to buy a replacement… to my horror it is Pontevedra, the place we have passed through twice in the last two days. It is about an hour’s drive from here so doubly annoying!
Mr C. walks over to talk to Gustavo, the site manager and asks (in Spanish of course) where he can buy a new water pump locally or failing that if he could get one delivered by Amazon. They decide to use Amazon Prime as Gustavo has an account. A pump is duly ordered and paid for and delivery will be Saturday, within 48 hours.
We decide to stay on here for a few days as there are all the facilities that make life easier: toilets, showers, washing up areas for dishes, laundry and a good pitch overlooking the sea. We have sufficient food to last four or five days which would take us to Monday. We spend the afternoon relaxing, writing, reading and enjoying the ambiance of the place. Later we walk down to the beach and Mr C. spends time painting watercolours of the beach, photographing waders who are scuttling in and out of the waves: sanderling, ring plover and dunlin. Later we open red Rioja with chorizo, olives and feta snacks and eat jamon salad at sunset, another excellent view of the sun dropping below the horizon.
Day 3 at Sanxenxo: In the morning I set to and clean the horrid thick bird poop off the windscreen (I can’t reach above this with the short ladder we have with us) while Mr C. tries to book a return crossing from Santander back to England. He reports that everything is booked up for the next 7 to 10 days, which is about a week later than we were expecting. We book a return on 3rd October from Santander arriving at Plymouth late afternoon of 4th October, arriving home on 5th October. This means we will miss two dancing events over the extra weekend that we will be away.
Meanwhile a massive Dutch motorhome, squeezes into the space between us and the end camper (there are about six or seven free spaces on the other side). They proceed to unload a motor scooter from the large ‘garage’ at the back of their camper and two bicycles from the bike rack on the back of the vehicle. Surely two of them can’t ride three devices all at once. They get their table and chairs out sitting at the back of their vehicle so that they can watch what everyone is doing, making sure we can all see them and looking very smug.
We decide to move pitches, not least to avoid the bird poop as well as the neighbours! We move to the far end pitch on the third tier, a large pitch, our own sitting area, washing lines at the side of our pitch, no neighbours and still a view of the sea and fabulous sunset. We enjoy a third quiet night.
Day 4 at Sanxenxo is another warm and full sunny day. We spend the morning cleaning out the Hymer, sweeping the inside and washing bedding at laundry, hanging it out on lines next to our pitch. In the afternoon it is 22°C and blue sky, we walk to beach, Mr C paints another watercolour of beach, I walk back and sit outside reading in sunshine. Gustavo calls with the new water pump which was delivered by Amazon Prime earlier today and Mr C. fits it, that takes about 8 minutes. We have WATER again. We celebrate with red Portuguese wine and snacks followed by chicken stir-fry for tea.
Day 5 at Sanxenxo is cold when we awake at 13°C, it takes most of the morning to warm up to about 18°C and then quickly to 22°C as soon as the sun is above the trees. Another batch of washing: towels and clothes on the line in the sunshine dry quickly. When I walk to the laundry with the washing, I note our Dutch neighbours next to our ‘old’ space vigorously cleaning copious quantities of thick bird poop off their windscreen and above. I smile to myself and note too they are still sitting and watching everyone!
We agree that the antics and behaviours of our neighbours can be highly irritating but also very amusing! Another very relaxing day, walking along the beach as the tide comes in to full tide at about 16.15. It is an absolutely clear cloudless sky, turquoise blue sea with white sand beach, I take my sandals off and walk along the sea edge in the crashing foam of the waves. It is deliciously cold and very sensual on my feet. We drink locally-made Albariño white wine that we purchased from Gustavo with snacks of chorizo, olives and hummus, it is very good. Jammon salad for tea. There is a spectacular sunset, what a day!
Tomorrow we will be moving on, this has been a very relaxing stay. Gustavo tells me that we can stay here during the winter for €200 a month, including electricity. I contemplate that, with the price of electricity rocketing in the UK spending a month here is a tempting proposition.
Gallery Valenca to Sanxenxo
Click at image to enlarge
