After changing the ferry times yesterday we cannot spend the day watching the elephants. Anyway, when we wake it's blowing a hoolie as the storm that disrupted the ferries has come ashore. On the way out we stop and watch the elephants for ten minutes, having come to see them we can't just leave straight away. We refuel just outside Caberceno and join the A8 dual carriageway which will take us to France. Although it's bright and sunny, driving conditions are ...

Even colder this morning, the temperature was below zero when we went to bed with double blankets, but when we get up it's another clear, sunny day. We leave Palencia, a gem of a stopover, and join the A62 north towards Santander and the elephant park we saw last year. The temperature varies between 2 and 7 for the first hour and white tyre marks indicate that the road has recently been salted. We pass high sandstone rock formations and a patchwork of colours ...

3.5 Degrees this morning, heating on for an hour before we get up, but it's a clear, sunny day. We head into town alongside the river and find our way to the cathedral., referred to in tourist information as La Bella Desconocida or The Unknown Beauty. It is indeed a beautiful structure and in contrast with the bling and glitz in sisters at Burgos and Salamanca this one is more humble, more restrained. The columns and masonary are well crafted and decorated with ...

No fog today! That means we can see all the scenery we missed in the mist yesterday. This area back to Salamanca and beyond is almost flat and very green with young crops. Some fields are being readied for planting with newly turned, rich, red soil. Nearer to Validollid there are some hills and a few gorges away from the road, but the journey is an easy 160 mile cruise on smooth motorways, the only busy traffic being near big towns and intersections. We reac...

For the second day we wake up surrounded by fog, although as we drive out of Salamanca and join the motorway visibility is much better than yesterday around 180m. Halfway to Ciudad Rodrigo the fog goes although it is still grey and cold when we arrive just before midday. We check into the small campsite in sight of the city walls and find we are the only ones here. It's a short, uphill walk to one of the ancient gates, which has the portcullis slots clearly vi...