It is late, the boys are more or less asleep in our miniature house on wheel. Around me is an intense world of sounds and smells, meats roasting on the barbie, children playing hide and seek, family chatting (at past midnight, don't these people ever sleep?). We are at the edge of the basque country, of proud folks and strange sounding names. On the map it sit uncomfortably between Spain and France, but for the basques, they are neither. They continue to speak a language of no known origin and hold on tight to their specific traditions, forever dreaming of independence.
It is a beautiful way to finish our trip along the northern coast of Spain.
In Luarca, we sat on top of a cliff overlooking a cute harbour and photogenic sunsets. We inhaled cool sea air as we went up and down an endless amount of steps to get to long and crowded golden beaches. As we chilled out and chatted with our german neighbours, Maxim and Callum played with spanish children until it was time for diner and sleep.
The next day, we drove inland to the medieval town of Potes to escape the summer crowd on the coast. What looked like a quick drive through the Picos de Europa turned out as a narrow, twisty road between a rock cliff and a river 100 meter down. Keep your eyes on the road Paul, as I dry my wet palms on a beach towel, while trying not to scream. Maxim and Callum were delighted...If a frustrated giant had grabbed a valley of white stone, crumpled it like a piece of paper and thrown it back down, it would have looked like the landscape we drove through, all the way up and on the next day, all the way back. Scary but really worth it. We managed to squeeze into a lovely camping site with a pool and a view and walked to Potes, of the quaint bridges and cute alleys, sitting still under waves of tourists.
Next stop, following the coast under tunnels and over tall bridges was Zarautz and yet another camping high over a cliff. Once again we squeezed in for two nights and walked up and down the hill to golden beaches below. The happy mix of steps and salads is starting to make us fitter.

The reason why I am up so late is that I will quickly make use of the internet here, as we have absolutly no idea where we will end up tomorrow, a public holiday when everybody will head for the beaches, including us...Ah well, that is part of the adventure. Time for bed.
To be followed....