Have had a really enjoyable further two weeks here – more of the same activities: quizzes, boules games, coffee mornings, organised walks and group lunches out.  Still meeting new people as some are leaving and others are arriving nearly every day.

The weather has been a bit mixed – torrential rain overnight a couple of times and generally cloudy days but it stabilised over the last week and we are now back to hot sun. A couple near us have been here regularly at this time of year and said it’s been the worst weather they’ve had in six years – but we think it’s been the same all over Europe. However we’ve still had days on the beach and barbeques in baking sun.

Had a great day out in Bilbao. Headed straight for the Guggenheim Museum. 12.50€ each entry fee which includes a personal audio guide for most of the exhibits. It is worth paying the entrance fee (7.50€ for aged 65+) just to go in the place, in fact we thought the best exhibit was the building itself.  It is generally famous for being a magnificent example of the work of avant-garde architect Frank Gehry. Most of this extraordinary building is covered in titanium and glass – have a look at the photographs and judge for yourself. The various exhibitions were interesting if nothing else, the highlight of which was the Dahli-led Surrealist section - very enjoyable. Our enjoyment of some of the minimalist works was, well, minimal.

We also walked along the Ria de Bilbao to the old town – the usual mixture of  market places, narrow streets, beautiful old buildings and churches. The only downside of the day was having a puncture in a back tyre as we were leaving the car park – sound familiar ?  We are now old hands at changing tyres and had to buy two new ones the next day at a Spanish Kwik Fit. This is the second puncture in two weeks and we feel very unlucky, however we now have four new tyres so should be ok from now on.

Spent a full day visiting the Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabarceno which is about forty minutes away just inland from Santander.  It is an animal/safari park similar to Longleat, but it is vast – the biggest in Europe we believe - covering 750 hectares and containing 112 different species of animals and 10 miles of roadways. The scenic setting was amazing, changing from flat open areas to spectacular craggy hillsides creating a brilliant natural home for the animals.  Definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

Also visited the town of Santona – 15 minutes away – lovely seafront area and fishing harbour. Walked past a shop front thinking it was a bar, went in and found huge stainless steel vats of wine with people coming in and out with their own containers and having them filled for 1.20€ per litre. Four of us came back to the Bodega a few days later armed with empty containers, tasted two reds, one white and a rose and came back loaded up – complete with a free earthenware jug each for decanting.

Boiling hot day today (Saturday 7^th). Had a lunchtime Rally Barbeque with tables joined together all down one of the roadways here. Bid a sad farewell to Hillary and Peter (our Bodega buddies) and their enormous vehicle (more like a coach with two slide-out sections – see photographs) on their way home to Hampshire – our turn tomorrow.

Thankfully the only disaster over the last fortnight (apart from the punctures) was running out of PG Tipps, but some neighbours came to the rescue - they had bought nearly 2,000 over here with them and gave us a big handful - marvellous !

Off in the morning, leaving Spain, destination Biarritz. We’ve had a great time here – thank you Shirley and Tom, our lovely Rally Stewards, for making our first Caravan Rally so memorable and enjoyable. We'll never forget their impersonations - Shirley's Ann Robinson and Tom's Evil Kineval !

We’ll be sorry to leave but are looking forward to our next stop.

The plan is for the caravan to be in Biarritz for about a month. On Tuesday we are flying to Essex and staying with Anne’s Mum for eight days for her 90^th birthday celebrations. Back home to Biarritz on Wednesday 18^th June.

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