There is only one motorhome site in Bilbao – set on a hill overlooking the city. Fortunately when we eventually got there (after a supermarket stop) they had space for us. The view from the pitch was very impressive (especially at night) with Bilbao Athletic Club Football Stadium in the foreground.

The city is a fascinating mix of new and old architecture. The old town (Casco Viejo) was full of beautiful narrow streets with ornate or enclosed balconies on many of the buildings. The Cathedral is claimed to be one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture (we also liked the lemon trees in the cloisters). Plaza Nueva was full of bars and restaurants. The impressive neo-Baroque Arriaga Theatre set on the river dates from the 19th century but is still in active use today. The narrow streets, however, seem to require a less automated form of parcel delivery!

For lunch we had to try pintxos (the Northern Spain version of Tapas) at the food court at La Ribera Market – the largest indoor market in Europe (seen below on the left). They tasted delicious but we must point out the pintxos on the plate below are for both of us not just Sue!

Our big motorhome trip this year is to Northern Spain. We are taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao, leaving ay 10pm on 27/5, arriving 8am on 29/5. After an excellent lunch in Gosport with Peter’s sister Lynda and husband David, we drove to the port and boarded the Brittany Ferry Galicia. We sailed on time, passing Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quay and Spinaker Tower.

The crossing was smooth, the cabin basic but comfortable – we even got an invite to tour the bridge.

It was at this point that some very unexpected and worrying news filtered through. All of Spain and Portugal (and parts of southern France) had suffered a massive power outage and chaos was ongoing with transportation grinding to a halt and shops forced to close! No one seemed to know the cause or how long it would take to return everything to normal. As the ship arrived at Bilbao the following day, we were very concerned as to how this would impact the start of the holiday and were devising alternative plans such as turning left out of Bilbao and driving immediately into France. As it turned out things were rapidly returning to normal and as we drove off the ship we decided to stick to ‘Plan A’!