Jones

Two big driving days yesterday and today. We’re in Miranda di Ebro tonight and last night we stayed in a camp site just outside Riolobos. That’s about 600 miles just short of 1000km. We’re parked in Miranda di Ebro on a bit of spare land near the football stadium – not our first choice but a funfair is setting up in the main square and this is where the police said we should stay. The car park is more like a patch of brown-field waiting for a developer to turn it into executive flats but we’re very near the river which is a good walk for Flynn – always a bonus when we’re in town. Doubly so on such long driving days.

The weather yesterday was awful and so the driving was slow. We arrived about 5pm despite setting off reasonably early. 

Still, when we arrived there was a little sun and a very bright rainbow as I walked Flynn.

On the way we stopped for supplies at the Hipercor in Seville. Hipercor has replaced Mercadonna as our favourite supermarket in spain (and a close second to Grand Frais for favourite in Europe). The car parks was easy to get into but a very difficult corner to get out of. We tried once and Jones got its third battle scar. I went back into the El Corte Inglés to ask for help getting out. The first person I asked said “I don’t speak English and besides, I’m just the token man on the make up counter” the second said “I don’t speak English either and there are no other exits. Do NOT try and go out through the in door even if Led Zepplin implied it was OK”. No photos but lets just say I’ll be looking for some Truma Awning coloured paint when we get back to blighty.

Today, we have escaped the storms and even seen blue sky. It’s obviously getting colder though. We’ve broken the jumpers out of storage and Jane has had to visit the sock drawer. The good weather meant much faster progress and we arrived in Miranda di Ebro at about 14:00 – in time for an early spanish lunch. Perhaps: our first choice was La Vasca, a Michelin Licky Face in the older part of the new town. When we arrived, the queue outside made it was clear we weren’t going to get in. That was doubly frustrating as they had hare and game birds hanging in the window.

Undeterred but worried we might run out of options we quickly decided to go just up the road to Restaurant Tarara. What looked like a basic set menu was a six course booze included extravaganza for €24.95. We only managed a Cava, a beer and a bottle of red but still amazing value. The menu was pretty good too – three raciones then suckling pig ribs for Jane and stewed tripe for me. 

The restaurant had a strong Art Nouveaux theme which reached its peak (and went slightly off the rails) in the ladies toilets. The gents were no match.

We spent the rest of the afternoon gently digesting a quite large lunch. Flynn got another walk by the river then a quick game of Great Plains (which Flynn won through intimidation) and then bed.

Tomorrow we will probably be back in France. It’s quite frustrating to be back home so quickly but  no matter how much we analyse it, the wrong decision was about two weeks ago before the storms were even a thing.