A winter rout to Spain & Portugal

[Don Madge]

Anybody planning a trip to Spain/Portugal for the winter might find this info useful. We hope to leave home by mid January at the latest and travel down the West coast of France and then, San Sebastian, Irurtzun, Vitoria, Burgos, Madrid, Granada & Malaga. There are numerous places to stay en-route (wild) here are a couple:- Ste.-Maure-de-Touraine (south of Tours) Aire de Repos in village well signed from N10 and on the A63 Bayonne Service Area Labenne East & West. Good night stop marked area for Motorhomes/Caravans which trucks are unable to get into. In the winter in Spain on this route most restaurants and garages will allow you to park overnight if you use their services. I would suggest you use the Peage (A63) from Bayonne to San Sebastian as the coast road (N10) gets very busy and goes through all the towns. By taking the A15 from San Sebastian you can avoid the Col. de Etxegarate. The motorway AP8 from San Sebastian to Bilbao gets very busy at times. We've done this trip about six times in the winter. The weather ranged from very cold to relatively pleasant. We've never been snowbound (yet). The Spanish are on the ball with their snow clearing. The ploughs are out along the Autovia long before the snow starts to fall. Two places where you could have problems. The first at the Puerto de Somosierre (Alt.1440metres) between Burgos and Madrid. One winter we went over the Pass behind a snow plough. Snow chains are compulsory over the pass after a snow fall. The other place you could get delayed is through the Gorges south of Valdepenas. This is a spectacular road, good scenery. Some truck drivers treat it like a grand Prix circuit. It's a dual carriageway but the road twists and bends. (The first time we went that way we thought it was dangerous. Now we find it exciting). It can get a bit hairy around Granada when there's snow about. There are plenty of night stops as far as Valdepenas after that they are few and far between. If you want a camp site in the area I can recommend Camping Despenaperros at Santa Elena. Leave A4/N1V E5 at KM 257 enter the village and follow the camping signs. If you arrive in the dark be careful as you enter the site as the entrance is offset to the road. The gate is wide enough but you will need to take care. This info was put together about five years ago. I've amended where I can, the road numbers can't be relied on as the Spanish are changing the road numbering system. It might be safer using the E road numbers at http://tinyurl.com/ydph6z Safe travelling Don

[RonB]

Don I had to smile when reading your remark about the Spanish being on the ball with their snow clearing. We were approaching Madrid, and our overnight stop, one year and we couldn't help noticing the number of snowploughs about. My wife remarked "thats five so far - they must have had a fair bit of snow recently". In the morning we realised that we had it the wrong way round, they were in fact getting ready for it, as proved by the white stuff that now had us snowed-in on the campsite. You live and learn.

[Vixter]

Thanks Don, Lots of very useful information there, it has all been safely filed away. Vixter

[Mel E]

This is exactly the route we have always used, taking the A15 south from SanSebastian onto the N1 via Tolosa and on past Vitoria. We usually take a break either at the good campsite of Camping Picon del Conde at Monasteria de Rodillas east of Burgos (where there is also a hotel on site so you can get meals quite late) or at Aranada de Duero (Camping Costajan). Both are open all year and speak good English. If the weather is good, do take a sightseeing trip south of Burgos, to the monastery at Santo Domingo de Silos and the nearby Garganta de la Yecla. The Michelin map book of Spain shows all the road around there as green edged for picturesque. Branch off the E5 south of Burgos, left onto the N234, going past the C110 to Covarrubias on the right and turn right onto the BU9030/BU9000 thru Santo Domingo. You drive along a super gorge, into the small town of Sto Domingo, take the branch to Yecla and then go back to Covarrubias, then take the C110 west to get back onto the E5 Burgos/Madrid. A couple of other minor diversions from the route that are superbly worthwhile include a day in Segovia and/or one in Toledo, the latter famous not just in ancient times but also during the civil war of the 30s. And of course, you have to pause to visit the world's most beautiful building - the mojacar palace in the Alhambra at Granada. Camping Suspiro del Moro about 11Km south of Granada is an excellent all-year stop as it has a regular bus service into town from just outside the camp site - but be careful, now they've built the autovia, you can easily miss the turn to the entrance. And then come back in March via Trujillo - the most beautiful, neglected town in Spain and home to most of the returning conquistadors who built palaces here, (good campsite by the football stadium in Merida where the Roman ruins are among the best in Spain). Take the EX208 north from Trujillo to the the gorge at Monfrague where you may be lucky to see black storks soaring the cliffs, and on to Plasencia, a market town of nogreat import. But take the road to Avila (N110), climb the pass and keep looking back for the view and sideways for the hillsides covered in blossom. Get to the old town of Avila and its perfect walls (where they shot CSForester's novel 'The Gun' as 'The Pride and the Passion' with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren). Then you either go north to Salamanca (all year campsite), THE university town of Spain, Leon (Gaudi's first big commission and a superb cathedral) or northeast to Segovia (not forgetting El Escorial and Franco's mausoleum on the way, of course.

[enodreven]

Thanks Don & Mel E Great info, if you have any more like that I am sure people would love to read them, Thanks again Briian