I didn’t sleep well last night, I kept having dreams about being simultaneously fined by the police and flooded out by the river. Neither of those things happened though and we were undisturbed yet again, Hurrah!

It was cold when we got up; there was frost on the ground except for a 2 m radius around our tent, obviously we are very warm people! We had tasty chocolate porridge with dried fruit and coconut flakes for breakfast, highly recommended! We were packed away and ready to go in 1.5 hours which is our best so far; we plan to get down to 1 hour once we become a well oiled camp breaking machine.

We set off towards Riano as the sun broke over the mountain top by our campsite, and as we headed down the road we were treated to multiple sunrises as the sun dipped in and out of view behind ridges. We were still following the river as it rushed along past farms and through lovely red-roofed villages. We saw (maybe) a crane in a field to the right, he stayed still while we stopped and watched him, but made his escape as soon as he saw the camera!

Crane?

We came to a picnic area that was full of blossoming cherry trees. The trees in turn were full of bumbebees; their low drone filled our ears as we stripped off some layers and chilled out taking photos and enjoying the sunshine.

Me and trees

Bee and tree

Just before Riano the river met a huge lake, and our pace slowed considerably as we stopped every 50 m to get that perfect view of the mountains reflected in the lake. Here is our best effort, of course it doesn’t do the real view justice!

Getting distracted

We got to town and saw the sign for the campsite which was 500 m up a steep side road above the town. We decided to check it out and toiled up to the top. The owner said that the site was shut due to snow damage so he couldn’t let us stay because he had no insurance. He was very apologetic and phoned the youth hostel in town to see if they were open. They weren’t, and at this he changed his mind and said he would leave the gate open for us and if we didn’t find anywhere in town we could pitch our tent for free. What a hero!

He also gave us a recommendation for a good breakfast venue, so we headed down into town and took full advantage with a massive burger each. I also had my first coffee since getting to Spain and it was glorious!

View from the square at Riano

We were looking for somewhere to shower and do laundry, but the tourist office was shut and the hotel we enquired at didn’t know of anywhere. So we found a quiet spot by the lake and have set up here for the afternoon. We had a refreshing wash in the freezing water and did our laundry by hand.

Launderette with a view

Anna went into town to get food, but everywhere is shut except the bakery so we are chilling out here in the sunshine until the shops OPEN at 5 pm! After that we will head to a bar to get wifi, then sneak back into the campsite. So all in all a very relaxing day at the beach!

Anna at the beach

– Dave