Whirlwind Motorhome Tour of Spain – Barcelona to Busot and back May2022

Spain Itinerary

Just ten nights available to us, and relatives to visit in Girona and north of Alicante, we spent ten nights in a motorhome travelling down the coast, then back up and inland to Zaragoza, before heading across country to Girona then a brief circuit into the Pyrenees. Nowhere near long enough, but enough for a taste of Spain….

Day 1   

Flew out from Gatwick to Barcelona, and picked up “Justine”, our home from home for the next ten nights, from Carlos at Autocaravana de Alquiler https://autocaravanadealquiler.com/ Our Motorhome is the ‘Jewel in their Crown’ and comes equipped with everything, including a couple of folding bikes, wifi, bedding, camp chairs and tables and a barbecue – and a flashy coffee maker if we have electrical hookup!

Because our flight is a little delayed, we head to the closest pre-planned spot at La Selva del Camp (115km 1hr 20mins) just north of Taragona.  41.209838, 1.139524 It has a supermarket nearby for us to stock our fridge and shelves, and costs €5 a night which includes electrical hookup.

Day 2

Head south. (222km and 2hrs 40 from Reus) to Coves de Sant Josep.  Underground caves with boat trip.  Open from 10am

Boat trip through underground caves – tours roughly every 20mins, last 45mins €10 pp.  Motorhome parking available in the carpark. The tour is all in Spanish but we get the gist and manage to duck our heads enough to avoid the very low rocks!

Continue on via Valencia  (49km 43 mins).  Park up at sea front marina and explore by bike. Valencia is a flat and bicycle-friendly city with a decent, growing network of cycle paths that connect the central neighborhoods of the city. We somehow don’t find our way to the centre, but do find our way to the Centre for Arts and Sciences.

Return to Justine and head south to Raco de Les Eres.  Paella Restaurant in Discovery Espana guide offering free parking. (20km 25mins).  The town however is completely closed – everything! Every second house seems to be a restaurant, but none of them are open. It’s like a ghost town! We stay overnight in the town carpark anyway.

Day 3

Depart town and drive south to Guadalest, where there is a Historic Vehicle Museum, and nice lunch restaurant. Unfortunately they don’t serve lunch for another hour when we’ve finished in the museum, so we head on to Vilajoyosa and find a beachfront restaurant for mussels and chips.

Continue onto Godmother’s place at Busot (55km 58mins).  Kind neighbours let us park Justine on a patch of hardstanding and we have an enjoyable evening catching up.

Day 4         

Leave Laine’s mid afternoon and head north to RibaRoja de Turia (161km, 1hr 57m). Sat nav leads us astray and we end up having a long reverse down a VERY narrow lane between stone walls and low hanging trees! Then try to navigate ourselves to the parking spot, which takes us through all the (also very narrow) backstreets of the town.

Overnight RibaRoja. 39.550139,-0.561239 at the side of a park alongside a river. Walk to town for some essentials, and back for well deserved evening drinks.

Day 5

Set off in morning and stop at Hot Springs in Montanejos. (90km 1hr 50mins) Montanejos hot springs, in the Region of Valencia, is an epic wild swimming area in a river located in the countryside just outside the lovely village of Montanejos. There are trees with lovers’ carvings on all along the river, some dating back over 25 years. The water is not all that warm, but beautifully clear.

After a swim and picnic lunch set off northwest to Caranena (198km, 2hr 23m)

Overnight in car park of the motel, and walk into town to find a restaurant for a lovely meal. The restaurant is called Asador Bako and all the restaurant dishes are enough for two people to share, so we nearly order enough for an army before the waitress explains this to us!

Day 6

Leave Caranena and drive into Zaragoza.  Park at Parking Macanas, C. Garcia Arista, 50015 Zaragoza, Spain and explore by bike. Good place to park for free, it is a paved esplanade, next to Del Río and cycle paths into the city.

Explore the market, roman wall remains, and an interesting museum. Lunch in Zaragoza, then take fast road east to Vic (320km 3hrs 20)

Overnight at Sant Julia di Vilatorta. 41.921596, 2.321344  We arrive when there is some sort of village event happening, so can’t get into the Aire till later. We park up nearby and wait for the barriers to be removed, then head into the village, where a local bar is showing the Football (Real Madrid and Liverpool), so have a bite to eat and watch that.

Day 7

Visit my aunt and uncle who live near Girona. (75km 56mins). Lovely late lunch at a local restaurant.

Then into Girona (13km 20mins).  Park at Pàrking Vayreda la Devesa, a safe, gated motorhome parking site. We’ve been warned to be careful when parking in towns, so this feels like a safe option. The current price per overnight stay (24 hours of stay) is € 13   

Explore Girona – climb hundreds (so it seems) of stone steps, walk along the walls, and finish with a glass of Vermuth and bowl of olives. Then accidentally order a huge jug of sangria! There’s some sort of street celebration going on, so the place is buzzing.

Day 8

Set off after breakfast for Queralbs in the Pyrenees. We follow sat nav instructions even though they seem crazy, but we do finally make it through the town and up to the parking aire. There is a tiny station here with trains heading up into the hills and a place called Nuria. It’s called a ‘sanctuary’ but looks to us more like an ‘asylum’! The weather has taken a turn for the worst so we order a hot chocolate and watch the rain through the windows.

      

Day 9 

Twisty turny road through the Pyrenees yesterday, with a lunch stop at lovely village called Pobla de Lillet. Beautiful old bridges and a ‘menu del dia’ neither of us (or Google translate) could interpret but tasted great! Spent the night at Gironella where the wall murals are spectacular, the local dog even better (and a handy lift from river level to top of the old town)!

Day 10

Head south to Sant Feliu de Codines for the bird of prey centre at Cim d’Aligues. In an amazing setting on the crest of a mountain overlooking wooded valleys, we join crowds of school kids for the daily raptor show. There are owls and vultures and eagles, and all seem to really enjoy soaring on the thermals.

Camp overnight at Camping El Pasqualet (6km 10mins) Ctra. BV-1243 to Sant Sebastià de Montmajor km 0.3 08140 Caldes de Montbui.  Empty fridge and cupboards, and donate left over vodka, tins of tonic and some unopened olives to a very happy frenchman camped next to us.

Day 11  

Return Mobile Home to Carlos at Sant Cugat des Villes (26.5km 24m).  He kindly drives us to the local station and helps us navigate the ticket machines for travel into Barcelona. 25mins (10 stops) to Pl Catalunya. Book our case into a Left Luggage locker while we explore on foot.

Explore Barcelona market, buy gifts and have a paella lunch at a market-side cafe.

Retrieve our case and catch a bus to the airport for our flight home