Peelies travels

It’s never been warmer than minus 5 and when it was, that morning felt warm. There were no cold cheeks, toes or fingers. The rest of the time you need to be conscious that there’s a chill, especially when you getup some speed. Mostly it’s been cloudy and sometimes this has been down to ground level and it seems to snow most of the time. When it snows it has been light but amazingly, every flake counts and just sticks. Consequently a period of light snow gives a new cover and the previously beige coloured power and ice  on the main road is again transformed to white. The hired bus has winter tyres with studs.  They don’t stick out like a small nail, just protrude almost like a low profile rivet head. However it works, there’s no problem with this sort of snow. It’s presumably the school holidays in DK land as there are many cars with Danish plates. The boys are in morning ski school which is delivered easily in English, which helps the Danes too. Everyone’s skiing has improved ...

We have finally decided to go skiing again, this time with some of the family. Destination is Salen in Sweden and we have selected a family friendly area, hoping for quiet slopes and plenty of opportunity to learn or re-learn the technique. This is our base for week, a lovely AirBnB cabin, with enough room for six. We have hired a VW Caravelle at the airport (SCR) in which to get around. Nowhere is more than a few km away but we feel that easy transport of us and the ski equipment will be nice. The region is having a very cold 2026 so far and we are ready for maximum temperatures of roughly minus 13-15. Fortunately little or no wind is forecast. Relaxing, almost asleep, in the early evening of the first day. Initial skiing is always a bit tricky but it took just a few minutes to find balance and get going.

At Caravanning Oyambre, near Comillas (where the Gaudi house is), we wandered down to the local beach during the evening. Here there are many camper-vans and a surf scene. The site behind the beach isn't very highly recommended and we were happy in ours, a 15 minute walk away. It was the night of the full moon and we made the most of it whilst down there. Then, with the weather holding for a fine evening, we cooked outside for what will be the last time for a few months. We chatted to Brits coming into Spain and staying here for their first night or two. It's surprising how many are coming, even late in the season. Those campsites still open, are closing this weekend or next. Then it will be aires all the way for these travellers until they get to the coast in either Portugal or the south of Spain. It's been a great trip for us. We've only driven a few hundred miles here but seen some great countryside. We've spent the time in Castilla Leon and Austurias, with en...

We camped for two nights at a very nice site ( Camping Colombres , at Llavandes). West of the town of  Colombres is another stretch of rugged coastline, again all limestone. We had to  walk uphill again because we walked all the way down to the sea, from a farmer’s track parking space, high above the shoreline. The legs now though feel strong after the alpine walking. 😀 The tide was in and we watched the waves and threw driftwood back as entertainment. Later we went to find the inland beach near Bluena . There’s a cave just behind this beach that could almost be a formal attraction, so good are the stalactites. You just walk in! Fortunately I had a very bright torch and we could appreciate it. Then, just a few metres on, there’s a breach in the limestone and the sea gets through.  In fact there are several holes through the cliff and the waters from the high tide push their way through the rock and onto an inland beach. It’s a spectacular scene, as the waters appear lit...

At Colombres there are some very nice houses. These were built by returning emigrants who had made their money in South America. When they returned they really did splash their cash. One of these houses is open to walk around, with the ground floor used as a library. We had a quick walk up the galleried stairs to the top floor and admired the stone work and original features. Several other houses appear to be in private hands. The town seems to make a lot of this emigration and there are even memorials to those who left, with a particular sad painting depicting a sad departure. We had the last menu del dia of the trip here. It was rather good value and we mingled with ‘the locals’. Then it was back to the coast, a little nearer Santander, where we stayed at Caravaning Oyambre in order to visit Comillas. The town is a fair walk from the site and by the time we had walked there, around and back, it was about 16kms. H ere there are even more nice buildings, including a famous Gaudi desi...