Part 3 - Over 3000 miles to find the best site Forums

Moonlight

We where now seriously doubting this coastline and its campsites. So we decided to scrap our plans and head back for France. So it saw us back on the fastest route – the Toll Road.

Mistake!
We were back to being considered Class 2 and at the peage paid a whopping €36.90.

Guarda, is the highest city in Portugal. So it’s fair to say that the road to Viseu is downhill. 1 in 5 downhill to be precise, with escape roads off all the way down. With the temperature reaching 36º whilst driving and no aircon we decided to get the ACSI book out again. 30 mins down the road a campsite. Brilliant. Two and a half hours later we still hadn’t found it.

ACSI said Camp site well signposted in Sátão with red white and blue signs. Not a sign in site. In fact the campsite is no where near Sátão.

In the end we telephoned the site and thankfully they gave us GPS coordinates.
This Portuguese campsite called “Quinta Chave Grande” is in a beautiful green valley and we highly recommended this site.
As much space as you want. The road down into the valley is narrow in places but our van is 7.5 m long and we were OK. Follow the road all the way to the bottom though ignoring the SatNav’s instructions to turn right onto the cobbled road and make sure you comeback out the same way you went in otherwise you’ll end up like we did in the middle of a tiny Portuguese village.

We’d have taken a photo to show how tight it was, but there wasn’t enough room to open the doors to get out. Opps.

Next stop, north coast of Spain. After pulling up at Camping Ribadesella and deciding it wasn’t for us we drove down towards Llanes and Camping La Paz. What an amazing campsite!
Unfortunately for us the sheer climb and two hairpin bends on a firm but loose in parts concrete road upto the campsite would have been impossible for our size. This site is defiantly for the smaller unit.

If you do visit, park in the carpark at the bottom and walk to reception. If you have a caravan the owners take it up and down for you with the site Landrovers. The view is to die for. Very disappointed that we had to leave.

But just around the corner was Playa La Franca, which must be one of the most beautiful bays on the Cantabrian coast. Free parking, we spent all day in the bay.
One thing missing – the sun.

We decided to try another Aire and headed for Capbreton, just above Biarritz, France. Just 2 miles from the motorway and very very easy to find.

This Aire is huge and accommodates 110 motorhomes. It’s very similar to Mimizan Plage with the beach just over the sand dune. Costing only €7.50.
But the best is yet to come – 10amp electricity included in the price. The beach and sea is fantastic. Dogs are not allowed on the beach though. Maximum stay is 48hrs and a lady collects your money each evening. It’s a long walk into the town though.

It took over 3000 miles to find the best site.

Then came a phone call from home............

Part 1: http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=31699
Part 2: http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-287246.html#287246
Part 4: http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=31702