We have been out of access to fully update the blog for a while as you may have noticed. When we have had access it has been unreliable and/or we’ve been too tired to write. So here’s an update of where we’ve been and what we’ve done in the last couple of weeks since we last updated. It’s not been all plain sailing … we’ve had ups and downs. Ups include the amazing Picos de Europa mountains, the cities of Leon, Astorga and Santiago de Compostela and lots of fabulous scenery in between. But some parts of northern Spain have been less than thrilling, especially the coastal bits, and this has been a huge disappointment. Off season and less than perfect weather aside, it has been hard to be a tourist in some places. We look to go off the beaten track and the off-season tourist numbers have been pleasing, but when there isn’t even a layby to park in for a quick picnic lunch and tourist information centres are all closed until July for a whole region it becomes tiring and irritating and has meant us missing places that could have been good to see. It seems that if they want to boost local economies in what is a relatively poor region, then they could do so much more for little outlay.

That gripe is as maybe and we want to ensure the blog is truthful and is representative of our own opinions. We have had some amazing times, which we will outline and illustrate more below, but the main ‘event’ that has marred this part of the trip so far is the ‘night of the squillion flying-biting things’ or ‘the ordeal of being eaten alive in hell’… People who know us well, would say that we are prone to exaggeration on occasion, but I can vouch for the fact that Adrian had somewhere approaching 150 bites on his back, arms and face. I have had fewer, but with more than 20 to my face like raised red blotches – and they’ve been phenomenally itchy – you can understand that we’ve both been less than happy. We’re still here though and have not packed our bags – and we are writing this sitting in a campsite on the beach at the edge of Baiona in Galicia with glasses of wine in hand, free WIFI access and the sun has come out after a very wet day. Things are looking up. The bites are even beginning to itch a bit less.