Haro and Rioja time..........first up R. Lopez de Heredia

First stop R. Lopez de Heredia the oldest winery in the area. Now having spent some time in South Africa we have been on several wine tours in the past but this one was completely different. Our knowledge of wine making was shown to be focused on the modern techniques, stainless steel and cold filtering etc where R. Lopez de Heredia utilise no modern techniques. All the wine is stored in wooden vats and this is where the fermentation takes place from the inherent yeast in the wood. Our tour consisted of 6 people and a tour guide and lasted 4 hrs and 6 bottles of wine, plus a gift of one red wine bottle each to take away. This tour changed our view of white wine as it was so fine in taste and appearance we actually preferred the whites to the red......gulp

 If you look closely there's a bottle of wine here from 1900

 Fermentation in wooden vats

 Stored in the barrel for 6 to 8 years......

 and then stored in the bottle for a further 4 to 6 years, hence the mould on the outside

 Behind the mould there are hundreds of bottles of Rioja

 The modern tasting room

 Our tasting room

Mr R. Lopez de Heredia

13 & 14 Ciudad Rodrigo and Burgos Spain

So our journey north continued through Portugal and Spain. We had calculated that we could stop off at Ciudad Rodrigo and Burgos before hitting the Rioja region and the town of Haro.

Ciudad Rodrigo is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population of about 14,000.

The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right bank of the River Águeda, has been occupied since the Neolithic Age and is a pretty walled town.

 A bullet scarred church within the walled town

It's all about the pig in Spain

The verracos (Spanish: verraco; Portuguese: berrão) are granite megalithic monuments, sculptures of animals that are to be found in the west of the Iberian meseta - the high central plain of the Iberian peninsula.

Next stop was Burgos:

Burgos is a city in northern Spain and the historic capital of Castile. It is situated on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries, at the edge of the Iberian central plateau. The Burgos Laws or Leyes de Burgos which first governed the behaviour of Spaniards towards the natives of the Americas were promulgated here in 1512.
It has many historic landmarks, of particular importance; the Cathedral of Burgos (declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984). A large number of churches, palaces and other buildings from the medieval age remain. 

The lanes are home to many bars serving pinchos

12.Nazare...Death on a Stick....

For those not in the know Nazare reached the ultimate status in surfing a few weeks ago, no not because we visited it but that the largest wave ever surfed happen here. Take a look at the link to see how large the waves get.
http://magicseaweed.com/news/nazare-blows-up/5733/

The weather was very windy when we were there so the waves were a bit blown out but still immense.

This photo was taken a few days after we visited and you can see the waves are incredible.

Huge shore break..the town's beaches have a 'danger of death' warning as the waves are so big

Just a small wave on the southern side of the head land

Now that's how to handle a SUP

We sat on the beach in the sun for hours watching the surf.

Camera crews were filming the surfing too and then we were joined by Garrett ‘GMAC’ McNamara and Andrew 'Cotty' Cotton two of the big wave surfers that surfed the largest wave ever. These guys had serious big wave boards, Rhino chasers. They headed out into the surf and just kept paddling and paddling until my camera could no longer pick them out, they were heading for the large off shore waves. 

The photos below show them choosing their route out to the big waves.

 'Average Al' the Badger.

 Big Wave advert

Fish drying in the sun

11. Portugal Luz and beyond......

Rules are made for breaking.......so we headed to Luz where we have holidayed in the past, but for a good reason. Last time in Luz some two years ago we stumbled upon a South African restaurant so we thought we would travel the 300 odd miles to treat ourselves to some great food and we weren't disappointed! This time our stay in Luz was different as we walked the coastal cliff path to Burgau a small fishing village towards Sagres. Oh yes and we managed to watch the England rugby game in the Irish bar with Bobby Davro....well it looked like him and sounded like him so in my mind it was him.

 The After Eight Cocktail

 Luz beach and cliffs

Cliff top walk to Burgau

Cowboy Town Spain......El Rocio

En route to Portugal we encountered El Rocio a real cowboy town, every house, bar and church has a hitching post and the bars have high level tables so you can sit on your horse and have a drink (get on your horse and drink your milk), a really unique place. A ghost town when we visited in the week but at the weekend it explodes with cowboys and cowgirls on horseback and wagons. In July they hold a festival that over 1 million people attend. It's not a gimmick town for people to dress up and play cowboys they actually are cowboys.

 All the roads are sand.

 High Street El Rocio

El Rocio Church/Cathedral 

Oops Missed 9.......

Stop off number 9 in Spain was a pure gem and an unplanned destination. We were heading to Conil but were unable to fit on any of the campsites so we back tracked some 8km to a small village called Zahora. The campsite sits just outside the national park and is surrounded by pine trees, a home from home feeling.
The site is one of our top 5 sites and the area has fantastic beaches. The battle of Trafalgar took place off the headland on the 21st October 1805, though there was no obvious celebration on the 21st Oct....not surprising really.
Zahora is very Bohemian and I describe it as Croyde  in the 50s, very chilled with great beaches and unspoiled surf before the tourists found it and turned it into a commercial hot-spot.

 The beach at Cape Trafalgar 

 Cape Trafalgar Lighthouse 

 Blue sky at Cape Trafalgar

 Allen paddling into a wave at Zahora - miles of uncrowded beach breaks

 Mellow wave at Zahora

 The Spanish version of the Thatch pub at Croyde.....

 Stunning beach to El Palmar

 We love the sunshine..bring it on

Oops I forgot to pull the rip cord....

 Spain is just full of Anchors...............

Marine Pines making it feel like a home from home.

We planned on staying one or two nights and we are still here two weeks later. We have met some great people here too, Ray, Martin and Muppet the Westy, Julie and Ian with there 4 Border Terriers (crufts champions) and 1 Westy, Mark and John who owned a campsite in Devon and have planted a seed in our minds. Gary and Barbara from Bishops Waltham and Gill and Ben from Bordeaux, plus many others.

Spain Locations 6,7 8 and 9

Location number 6 was Roquetas De Mar. A very typical Spanish holiday resort for the Spanish. The campsite was located at the back of the beach which gave us two directions to walk in, East or West. Heading West along the beach took us into Roquetas, an area that has had recent development of reasonably high standard, though it was evident that areas that had been planned for development but hit the recession period and now stand empty, half finished or just waste land, a common sight. Roquetas has a small marina and a small fishing port with a scattering of fish restaurants. The Commercial centre is quite new and it also has quite a large bull ring which dominates its surroundings. To the East of the campsite was the very small Spanish resort of Aguadulce, with its plethora of small cabana styled beach bars. We headed East on the Saturday down the beach to stumbled, not literally, into a dead body on the beach covered over with a sheet, attended by a couple of police officers . Strangely no one on the beach seemed to be phased and sunbathing and beach ball games continued around the cadaver.

 Sangria

 Cana at Aguadulce

Van on pitch at Roquetas

Location number 7 was Camping Las Lomas in Guejar Sierra near Granada. This site sat high in the Sierra Nevada at 1200m which gave some nice cool nights, however the days were still very hot. The drive from the coast through to Granada was one of the most scenic drives we have done, the mountainous scenery was breath taking. On the way  we passed 'Mini Hollywood' where Sergio Leone had western film sets built as backdrops to some of his most famous films - surreal!

Mini Hollywood 

 Looking down from the campsite to the reservoir below

 A walk in the Sierra Nevada 

Location number 8 was Camping El Sur in Ronda, again the drive was stunning with fantastic mountainous views. Ronda is the home of modern Bull Fighting and the main sights are the Three bridges, Puente Romano ("Roman Bridge", also known as the Puente San Miguel), Puente Viejo ("Old Bridge", also known as the Puente Árabeor "Arab Bridge") and Puente Nuevo ("New Bridge") which span the canyon. The term "nuevo" is a bit of a misnomer, as the building of this bridge commenced in 1751 and took until 1793 to complete. The Puente Nuevo is the tallest of the bridges, towering 120 metres (390 ft) above the canyon floor, and all three serve as some of the city's most impressive features. Both Heminway and Orson Wells understandably spent time here.

 Scenic views on route to Ronda

 The Ronda Gorge

 One of the three bridges

 Puente Nuevo 

The campsite at Ronda