Wild Camp 1: Santander, Cabarceno Safari Park
It took us ages to find the right spot as the safari park had numerous entrances and was set over hundreds of acres. Finally we came across a small, quiet car park next to a lake, what seemed to be a disused overflow car park. We parked up and set about exploring our surroundings. The first sight we came across took us both by surprise. Elephants. Then wilderbeast and impalas, all roaming around in one huge enclosure. They had the run of two mountain sides, a vast open grazing area and a large watering hole, just like Madagascar. It was amazing and we got to see it all for free. There were seven other camper vans by the time we got back so we both felt quite safe knowing we weren't the only ones there. We were up early the next morning to take one last look at the animals before heading to the next spot.
Wild Camp 2: Gijon
Essentially a car park, on a cliffs edge, in a town. Fairly busy with other camper vans, maybe ten or eleven and busy with locals. We parked up and went down to the beach to do some rock pooling. Not so successful as Oscar kept sticking his snout into the water and scaring everything away. It rained for most of the day so we spent the afternoon cooped up in the camper playing Yahtzee (loser made dinner). When the rain stopped we took Oscar for a walk along the cliff which was scary as he insisted on walking so close to the edge and peering over to the waves crashing on the rocks below. Our hearts missed a couple of beats and at one point we turned around to see he had disappeared, we both panicked and ran back to find him sniffing around on a ledge he managed to get to via some steps we had missed. We met another beagle named Debon who was ten months old, he and Oscar had a good play and ran around like lunatics for about 20 minutes. Oscar was barely in his bed before he fell fast asleep. The next morning we were having breakfast in the sunshine when we were greeted by an huge Dalmatian named Pongo. He was bounding around, hopping over Oscar and rolling about in the grass with him. We didn't notice anyone else around so decided to walk through the park to see if we could find his owner. Half an hour later and a slightly panicked and confusing telephone conversation in Spanish we hoped someone was coming to collect Pongo. A while later his owner came running around the corner, he barely even noticed her before she grabbed him to put his lead on to take him home. If Oscar and Pongo had their way they would have played all day!! Our good deed done for the day we set off for our next stop.
Wild Camp 3: Burela
A nice town 5 minutes from the motorway although we were a little confused when we reached the coordinate points in Burela. This area consisted of four parking spaces in a line with a tap across the road, it was quite strange and we weren't sure if we were supposed to stay there. We left the van and walked along a busy high street, we weren't able to find the beach so went down to the marina where there were hundreds of little fishing boats all decorated with flags. To the left of the marina there was a fair, workers were buzzing about back and forth to their caravans on the other side of the marina, stalls were setting up and there seemed to be a buzz of excitement in the air. Using Burela only as a wild camp overnight stop we hadn't really done much research so weren't sure what was going on. Keen to make an early start the next day we headed back for dinner. Around 7pm some fireworks went off and Oscar jumped out of his skin, howling back at the loud bangs. There was music echoing through the whole town, we though it must have been a circus and when more fireworks went off at 11 we though it must have finished. Little did we know, this was in fact Itaca Festival, the music was pumping until gone 6am. The walls of our camper van are paper thin so it felt like we had parked on the main stage and were right in amongst everything. We didn't bother sleeping and set off for our next destination.
Wild Camp 4: Cedeira
This was a lovely town with a canal running straight through the middle. Having made a swift exit from Burela we arrived relatively early so were able to make the most of the day. When we arrived there was a street market selling shoes, clothes, bags, jewellery and food. We parked the van and decided to get down to the market for a good old rummage before it closed. It was Saturday so everywhere was busy and the place was overrun with children. We sat outside a bar drinking Estrella for most the afternoon, it was only 1.40€ a glass and we got to sample some more appetisers. Bread and salami with mustard and olive oil, bread and a meatball and more of the coleslaw/potato salad concoction. Unfortunately beer, snacks and sunshine all go rather well together and once again we were back at the camper and asleep by 6. We woke up early to the same devastation as before and tidied the van before setting off for our last wild camping spot.
Wild Camp 5: Bentazos
Similar to a kind of country park in England, there were around 30 spots separated by trees, a large area surrounded by bushes with huge brick BBQ's and a playground on the edge of the beach. This place was busy with locals enjoying the sunshine, some turning up with cars full of food for big family feasts. There was a group of 6 camper vans all parked in a huge circle enjoying lunch together in the middle with a few other camper vans dotted around. We spent all day lazing about in the sun watching people come and go. All of the other campers had left by 10pm so it was just us and one other. Neither of us slept very well as we were parked near an electricity pylon and the sound of electricity crackling through it was slightly annoying.
Unsure if the loud crackling pylon was to blame or if it was the sheer excitement of having a hot shower on a campsite after 5 days of wild camping we were awake and up at 5am en route to our next stop, Louro, Galicia.
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