August Newsletter

Bob and Wendy
Aug 2
8 min read

Welcome to the August edition. This month we have a full tour report on the inaugral Northern Spain & Portugal Tour that came back last month. Our picture shows the dramatic limestone cliffs close to San Sebastian/Donostia.

We have now done our charity abseil and have the rope burns to prove it. A brief report to follow.

As usual we have another “cut out and keep” recipe (with a summer theme) and this month’s motorhome tips are an update on the EES and ETIAS requirements for travel to Europe.

2027 Tour Bookings

As always we start with a reminder that 2027 bookings are now in full swing.

Full details of the 2027 Tour Schedule are on the website here: https://www.crossingsmotorhometours.com/tours

If you would like to book for 2027, please do so via our website here: https://www.crossingsmotorhometours.com/book-now

If you want a chat about any of the tours, or need a bit more information before you decide, then please contact us and we will be very happy to talk you through it.

Northern Spain & Portugal Tour Report

Andy and Rebecca have recently returned with their group from a very successful first outing for our Northern Spain & Portugal Tour.

The tour focuses on the stretch between San Sebastian and Santiago de Compostela, knwon as the Green Coast. From there it is just a short-hop into northern Portugal and its second city, Porto.

As with all of our tours, we start in sunny Dover. We then pick an interesting path down the west coast of France before we get to Spain. On this occasion we decided to stop in the beautiful Loire and also in the heart of the vineyards of Bordeaux. Both stops proved particular popular with many guests highlighting Amboise on the Loire River (pictured) as one of their favourite ever stop-overs.

That aside, the main business of this tour is Northern Spain and our first main stop was the historic city of Pamplona. Its claim to fame is a strange event called the "running of the bulls" where they set six fighting bulls free in the streets with around 3,000 Spanish people. People often get gored and even die. Thankfully, the event was not on during our visit allowing guests to enjoy the more sedate charms of its historical centre and green spaces.

Next stop was Burgos. This is a stunning walled town with some very distinctive stone entrance archways and a centre that is dominated by the massive Medieval Cathedral. A particular highlight is the tree-lined boulevard called the Paseo del Espolol, that runs along the Arlanzon River (pictured).

The group now moved on to the furthest southern point of the tour, which is the majestic city of Salamanca. Known as the golden city of a thousand legends, this proved to be a guest favourite. The old centre is classed as a UNESCO world heritage site and is rammed with historic buildings including another stand-out cathedral, town square (pictured), university buildings with history dating back to the 13th century and a 15th century building covered with over 300 stones shells!

Salamanca is a laid back place, nestled on the Tormes River. It is a really easy place to wander around on foot and is packed with food and drink options, not least the tapas (more on this later).

It was now time for the group foray into Portugal. It is notable how the scenery changes instantly when you drive across the border, characterised by rolling hills, dry stone walls and the remnants of ancient settlements.

Our main stop here was in a small fishing village north of Porto. From here guests were able to take the coastal bus into the city and/or enjoy a peaceful day or two on the coast.

Porto itself is dominated by the mighty Douro River. A focal point of the city is the Dom Luis I bridge (pictured), which is an amazing two-tier arched bridge that spans the two side of the city. You can walk across the bridge, or view it from the cable car as you head down into the famous Ribeira district. Here you will see the distinctive coloured houses, rows of restaurants and old boats.

Guests also took a trip to the Sao Bento train station (pictured), which in itself does not sound that interesting until you see the decoration in the main hall made up of 20,000 blue and white tiles depicting Portugal's history and country life.

Our circular route now headed back into Spain and onto the world-famous city of Santiago de Compostela. The city is the capital of the Galicia region and is best known as the end-point of Camino de Santiago (St James) pilgrimage trail. Walkers and pilgrims travel from all of the world to walk part or all of the trial. There are in fact several trails with the most popular one starting some 500 miles away in France.

Walkers head for the main square in front of the stunning cathedral (pictured) where you will find happy and weary groups revelling in the achievement of finally reaching the end. The net result is a small city that has a feel quite like any other.

From Santiago the tour continues picking a path along the whole of the northern coast of Spain. Here you can really see why it is called the Green Coast. The shoreline here is characterised by steep cliffs, craggy inlets, granite rocks and un-spoilt little bays and fishing villages (pictured).

This area was another of the highlights of the tour for many as you can enjoy good weather and wonderful scenery without the crowds of tourists that you might come across on the other side of Spain. One stand-out sight on this stretch is the Bay of Cathedrals where the sea has carved out some almost unbelievable rock formations that look like massive churches.

Also on this stretch if you look right instead of left you will see the Picos de Europa mountain range (pictued). In the fact, the tour did take a little detour to spend an evening in the mountains. The range extends for around 20 km forming part of the Cantabrian Mountain Range with peaks exceeding 2500 metres.

Our final stop in Spain was what proved to be many guests favourite city - San Sebastian/Donostia. We are in the Basque Region now, which has a proud history of its own. In fact they have their own language and many places have two names - one in Spanish and one Basque. Hence, the two names.

Donostia has everything all packed into around one square mile. It has a beautiful old town made up of a grid of narrow pedestrianised streets. These are packed with artisan shops, bars and restaurants. Here you will find lots and lots of tapas. Locally it is known as pintxos. I've never been a fan of tapas (lots of starters, your main never arrives and you leave still feeling a bit hungry). However, this is the best tapas I have ever had. Not least because every time you buy a drink they bring you a load of random tapas, usually for free!

Donastia also has two main sandy beaches (pictured above) with a couple of "mountains" at each end. These are hills really but do provide great panoramic views of the city, the coast and also the mountains in the distance. It also has a harbour stuffed with a variety of local boats, lots of villas and grand hotels on the beach front (pictured) and even a funicular railway.

It was now time for the group to leave Spain and head back up through France, picking a slightly different route back to keep things interesting.

All in all it was a very successful outing and we will be running it again next year. Sadly, the tour is already full but do let us know if you want to go on the waiting list.

Full details of next year's tour are on the website: https://www.crossingsmotorhometours.com/copy-of-northern-spain-portugal-2027

Charity Abseil

Yesterday, Wendy and I completed our charity abseil off the side of Coventry Cathedral. We do this as we have many connections to the city and it is for a local charity that Colin and Sue work with called the Coventry Mission (https://covcitymission.org.uk/ ).

Their work is more essential than ever at a time where the cost of living is negatively impacting so many vulnerable families. In addition to a food bank, the mission also uses donations to provide Christmas gifts to over 600 families.

It was quite a hot day yesterday, which added a certain dynamic to proceedings. The main issue was that the brand new nylon ropes we were using were blisteringly hot. Combine that with the friction that you build up on your descent and you end up with your skin peeling off by the time you get to the bottom.

That said, it was a real treat for us to walk up the spiral staircase and pop up on the roof of the cathedral with 360 degrees over the city.

It's not too late to donate if you would like to. The Mission's Just Giving Page is here: https://www.justgiving.com/coventrycitymission/donate

Coq au Van (the amusingly titled recipe feature)

Grilled Pork and Rice Noodle Salad

Ingredients

300g pack British pork loin steaks
2 tbsp Hot Honey
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 lime, juice
1 red Thai chilli, thinly sliced
275g pack rice noodles
1 little gem lettuce, thinly shredded
2 baby cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 carrot, shredded or coarsely grated
¼ x 25g pack mint, leaves picked

Method

Heat the grill to medium. Brush the pork steaks with the honey and grill for 5 minutes each side until nicely browned and cooked through, with no pink meat and juices that run clear.
Meanwhile, to make the dressing, mix the sugar with 4 tbsp warm water from the kettle until dissolved. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and chilli.
Heat the noodles according to pack instructions, then divide between 2 bowls. Top with the lettuce, cucumbers, carrot and mint leaves.
Thinly slice the pork and add to the bowls with the juices.

Motorhoming Tips

We have covered this hot topic before, but there has been a lot in the news recently about the new EES and ETIAS systems so I thought it would be worth an update.

The EES or Entry Exit System has been introduced for travel to and from mainland Europe. On arrival in the EU your photo and fingerprints are taken. When you come home, they are taken again. This replaces traditional passport checks as they use the EES to monitor when you arrive and leave. Long story short - it has been a bit of a pain.

When arriving in the EU by plane, the EES is done at the airport on arrival. When arriving via a sea port, it is done on departure. In our case, this means Dover Port. As things stand, they are not routinely doing EES checks at Dover as the French systems are not ready. Therefore, for anyone travelling in the next couple of months, it will be passport checks at usual. This could change at any point and we are keeping our eye on the situation to advise accordingly.

The ETIAS is a lot easier. This is a visa waiver system a bit like when you go further afield e.g. USA or Australia. Despite lots of noise, the system has not yet been introduced and has no firm date set for when it will be. Therefore, we can forget about this one for this year at least. When it is introduced, it will be a simple online procedure.

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Please feel free to contact us at any time. When we are away, calls will bounce to our mobiles at no expense to yourself.

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