France & Spain 4th March 2025:

We’re starting with fine weather, always a bonus at this time of year. Our route is tried and tested, and described in previous years so only a brief summary is justified. We went by tunnel from Folkestone to Calais, then via Abbeville, Rouen, Tours and Bordeaux. That’s three days of travel, and then we took time for a short break, just south of Bordeaux.

 We’ve stayed before at the small site near the village of Salles, in the vast pine forest that stretches the 100 miles to the Spanish border. The temperature reached 23C for the extra day we stayed so we took to the numerous forest trails accessible from the campsite.

There are houses sparsely dotted around in the forest, with generous plots that look very much part of the natural surroundings. Next photo is an example. The down side is the increasing risk of forest fire, which devastated parts last year, but evidently lucky Salles escaped.

Next leg: to Burgos. The weather changed dramatically to cold and rain, so after Burgos we cut short a planned sightseeing diversion and headed for Aranjuez, just south of Madrid, a more direct route to our destination. 

We’ve stayed at Camping International Aranjuez previously. It’s a well-run site next to the river Tagus, but nowhere looks that inviting in the rain.

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The permanent pitches next to our site look even more dismal: the description “refugee camp” comes to mind: every square inch is covered by caravans, sheds or canvas. 

But, hey, here comes the sun- and the site is transformed. We’re first on the left.

We needed a respite from travelling so we decided to stay for 5 days. Still not great weather but we walked from the site, over the river Tagus footbridge into the Royal Park. The Tagus is the longest river in Spain, and enters the sea at Lisbon, Portugal. Here it’s about like the Ouse, our mighty river back home!

In the Royal Park there are numerous fountains and statues. The fountains were all dry perhaps due to frost forecast but they still look impressive. However, the Atlas figures supporting the fountain bowl do look as if they’re seeing how much of their private bits they can see over their beer bellies!

The Royal Barge museum is also in the park and has a selection of barges that the Spanish royals used for river jaunts while staying at the Royal Palace. The earliest one dates form 1666 and was a gift to king Phillip 4^th from the king of Naples, who was a relation. This is the most OTT of all of the barges on display that I’m sure would turn a few heads if spotted cruising on the Ouse.

Talking OTT, our visit to the Royal Palace will need a separate blog entry in a few days: in the meantime we’ll be en route to our destination 300 miles away.