We've had a bit of time away with friends. Mind you it wasn't all play as we were doing a recce for the car club to visit Northern Spain next year. We had some fabulous weather and there's nothing quite like being on the beach for pre dinner drinks and a bit of sun set watching.
I even spotted this little machine in one of the hotels.
But, being drivers, there has to be roads and the more exciting ones are in the mountains like the Picos de Europa.
We were smelling smoke for one of the trips and then this flew towards us. There wasn't much water in the river though.
Or this one at Cangas de Onis.
And further south on the other side there was none at all in this reservoir.
And the bottom of the chain was rather low too. The communities that had been built around them to take advantage of all the water were very much suffering from the economy and the lack of water. Beautiful roads down to them, plenty of bikes loving the ride too, but nothing to see but partially deserted villages and inaccessible marinas.
We moved on down to the Rioja region with vast views and endless bodegas. All those grape vines must look pretty spectacular when they change colour in the Autumn.
The odd quirky piece of architecture like the City of Wine hotel by Frank Gehry (Guggenheim architect) on the Marques de Riscal winery.
And the more traditional in the beautiful, car-less, walled town of Laguardia.
And to finish a rather strange cloud formation that sat heavily on the mountains.
I'm looking forward to going back and not have to figure out roads, directions, distances and places to visit, and I certainly don't envy our friends who now have to make sense of it all so others can know where they are going!!
