Drove across the high meseta yesterday to Zamora, not far from the Portuguese border.  Stayed at a convenient free aire, not far from the town walls

With a population of 70,000, Zamora is known as the European city with the most Romanesque churches, all 24 of them.  Situated on the Douro River.

With a history dating back to Celtic and Roman times, Valladolid is the capital of Castile & León.  Now a major economic centre with two universities, it's the largest city in north-west Spain, and with an altitude of over 700 metres it's hot in summer and cold in winter.  We stayed two days and explored a lot of the main centre on foot;  more than we planned due to getting quite lost walking back to the van after dark.

After disembarking at Bilbao we headed straight out on the excellent Spanish toll road south to Burgos with its conveniently placed aire not far from the city centre.

 Off to Spain & Portugal

We sailed out of Portsmouth on Brittany Ferries' "Baie de Seine" into the choppy English Channel and across the Bay of Biscay to Bilbao in Northern Spain.  Fortunately our motorhome, on the top deck, was not quite as exposed to the liberal spray of salt that these vans experienced.  We spent most of the 28 hour crossing in our cabin, partly because of our heroic decision not to bother with sea sickness tablets, even though a big storm had swept up the Channel only a couple of days earlier.  (Never again!)