Bilbao vs. Santander: Part I

We have had stormy days behind us and that is not metaphorical😉 From our first Spanish parking space, we drove towards 'Bilbao', where we had a parking space with a sensational view from the mountain over Bilbao.

And there we were also hit by the storm. The two nights in Bilbao were catastrophic and we hardly slept 😦 With heavy continuous rain, we had extreme gusts of wind where we had to fear for our motorhome. It really felt like we could tip over, which is of course nonsense, but the gusts blew against the car with such force 🥴 Parts of the motorhome, especially on the roof, could have been damaged and we can't afford that at all. In the meantime, an eerie thunderstorm also occurred. All in all, very restless and sleepless 😳

Before the storm hit, we had the chance to explore Bilbao. Very diverse, or varied, but also bustling with crowds. However, we didn't go to the famous Guggenheim Museum, we just admired it from the outside.

The following (free) day we spent in the motorhome, or rather sat out the continuous rain and storm.

On Saturday, we used a short break in the rain to secure the Smart car and continue driving. Contrary to the weather forecast, the rain mostly cleared up during the morning, only the strong wind remained.

Since then we have been standing at a campsite in "San Vicente de la Barquera" and are allowed to park on the campsite road, as the parking spaces are too soft for our heavy motorhome due to the rain and there is not much going on here, so we are not in anyone's way (end of season). Unfortunately, the strong wind and rain returned in the evening.

Sunday was (again) an uneventful day, characterized solely by the weather, which we have rarely experienced as unstable in our lives. The wind remained constant, from normal to extremely stormy, with constant rain. As quickly as the wind blew the clouds away and we could see blue sky and possibly sun, strong gusts of wind and heavy rain quickly returned. Whenever we thought 'now is the time', extremely strong wind + rain came back, so we gave up.

I guess these will not be the last days with rain and/or wind, after all, it is autumn 🤪

As always, we have put together a selection of photos for you and to keep it from becoming too cluttered, we will continue with Part II...