Gradignan, France

Drinks with the Woods' next to Gypsy Girl. 

Carmac, France

I've had plenty of foot rest over the last week or so which explains the lack of updates & photos. We are now in France, covering Bordeaux and the west coast, arriving in Brittany today. We have had the pleasure of lovely company from the Woodsies (Jamie's inlaws) for a couple of days as their paths crossed with ours.  We were travelling north and they were heading south.

A great foot rest stop at Gastes, parked in front
of Gastes Lac.

Gastes Lac, a room with a wonderful sunset view,
all for the total cost of $4.50 per night

Bordeaux, Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas bridge -
crosses the La Garonne river. The centre
section raises up on 4 massive columns to let
 the ships through.

An antique exhibition we found at the
Esplande des Quinconces

JR in his Italian jersey in
Bordeaux, France

The streets of Bordeaux, they call it a "little Paris"

Dune de Pilat, the largest
sand dune in Europe

At the top of the Dune de Pilat (or Dune de Pyla)
with magnificent views of the Atlantic, coastal
 beaches, hang gliders and the river Delta
with Lynelle & Denis Woods

Hang gliders at the Dune de Pilat

A stroll along Arcachon beach

La Rochelle, a beautiful and relaxed medieval
 town with 3 defensive towers

La Rochelle, has 3 ports and an enormous
 Marina.  We parked up for the night at
 Les Minimes port.

Monument aux Girondes at
 Esplande des Quinconces, Bordeaux

Broken Bone!

Only my lovely wife could travel all the way to Spain to carry out a public health system survey!! Just a broken bone in her foot. I am sure she is trying to ensure she is on"Light duties". Too much speed on the bike, checking out a handsome Spanish guy, I'm not sure!

Donostia-San Sebastián

Enjoying our last day in Spain in the beautiful beachside city of Donostia-San Sebastián. Enjoying the warmer weather, bike riding, beaches, Pintxos (tapas) cider and wine.

La Concha beach, in the middle of the city -
in fact there are 3 beaches in the city

The tulips are out

Bilbao Sightseeing

A great day in Bilboa today, soaking up the sunshine, architecture, tapas, River and mountain top sites of yet another beautiful city in Spain.

Summer is definitely on its way

Tapas (called Pintxos in
the Basque Country)
  a beer, a white wine & 7 tapas
 = $10 = why are we leaving?

Bilbao railway station, love the architecture

Guggenheim museum

This sculpture of a dog is
in all flowers

Bilbao River, runs right through the
Centre of the city

Bilbao, Spain

We have come to our last few days in Spain before we head to France. 

30000kms for Gypsygirl

Clocked 30,000 km while we're in the far north of Portugal yesterday. This has been covered visiting around 21 countries. It has been and continues to be an amazing and unforgettable journey of Europe. 

Not a bad throne to clock a few k's up! One amazing journey and keep watching this space. Gypsygirl will  be nicely run in when we get home! 

Do We Have To Leave....?

Views from our home over the last couple of days, we are really struggling to leave this lovely relaxed town ..... Maybe tomorrow?

Porto

We are making our way north of Portugal with visiting some beautiful old towns, cities and old historic sites along the way. Our favourite would have to be Porto (and not only for the wine).

The Convento de Cristo in Tomar, a monastery
that was the headquarters the Knights of Templar.

Coimbra, an old university city with lots of hills
 and narrow streets. We stayed at an aire on
the river front.

Sao Bento railway station in Porto, there
are around 20,000 beautiful tiles portraying
transport and scenes of the history of Portugal.

More of the beautiful tikes in the Sao Bento
railway station, Porto

Houses on the Douro river front of Porto

Porto

Porto

Kopke port wine house

Tasting at the Kopke Port Wine House,
our favourite!

Douro river, Porto at night

Port and Faro in the Calem Caves

Porto Tram

View of the bridge and Douro river
from the funicular

Livraria Lello bookshop, claimed
 to be the most beautiful book
 shop in the world. I would have
 to agree. Apparently JK Rowling
was inspired by Livraria Lello
while writing Harry Potter - there
did appear to be some
similarities.

The Duoro River and Porto