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Way home…
1. Last boondocking with view on the ocean, not far from Bilbao, while it is raining…
2. Starter with local products!
3. Emile’s happy!
4. Quietness…
5. The rain stops, giving way to a few colors at sunset.
6. …
7. …
8. …
9. … The Basque coast falls asleep..
10. I wanted to discover Canfrang train station for a long time, this curiosity nestled on a pass of the Pyrenees, at an altitude of 3,900 feet elevation. I had seen images when it was disused and I’m surprised to discover that it had been completely renovated and rehabilitated into a luxury hotel!
11. Surprising to find such a building in the middle of the mountains, isn’t it?
12. We reach Pont d’Espagne where we cannot sleep, the bottom of the valley having been closed to traffic after a huge paid car park in which it’s forbidden to sleep. Here the Cerisey waterfall going down towards Cauterets where we spend the night in a campingpark.
132. We head back towards Switzerland along the northern foot of the Pyrenees and discover a beautiful cave on our route: the Mas d’Azil cave. The cavity was dug by the river which runs through it and it’s so large that the road also crosses it.
14. We sleep north of Carcassone to discover the ruins of the Four Castles of Lastours.
15. It is the small roads of the Cevennes that bring us back home…
16. Crossing the village of Mourèze…
And that’s it for these too short summer vacations where VivaLaVida has covered 2,600 miles.
The next articles will tell you about some fall outings…
Thank you for your loyalty to this little blog! 🙂
Cantabria and Basque Country (continued)
The next morning, we continue to discover this rocky coast.
1. The ocean passes through the limestone crevices to create this small lake about three hundred feet from the coast. The swell makes the water move, a rather unusual effect!
2. Another arch.
3. The coast towards West from a small peninsula.
4. And one more arch.
5. There are only a few days left before the end of the vacation, we are heading back east. Abandoned farm along the road…
6. Church near the village of Niembru.
7. We sleep on a surf spot near San Vincente de la Barquera, with beautiful colors at sunset.
8. …
9. …
10. VivaLaVida among surfer campers.
11. First light at dawn…
12. We continue our route in the Basque Country and make a short stop at the Hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. It’s so crowded that it’s not possible for us to go down because all tickets for the day have been sold.
13. Church with covered passageways…
14. Main door.
15. Another known spot where we find these layered rocks which have tilted to offer their slices to the ocean, in Zumaia. You don’t see it ont the picture but to my left, there is a beach with probably an average of 1 human per square feet! 😀
16. My son in discovery mode.
17. Layered cliff…
I will still have one last update to publish in a few days to close the story of this summer trip… See you soon! 😉
Cantabria…
Here is the continuation of our discovery of northern Spain, now in Cantabria.
1. Here we are on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Golfe de Gascogne where it is blowing strong that day.
2. Walk in the eucalyptus trees.
3. Emile wants to see a lighthouse up close, so we take the coastal path.
4. Ajo lighthouse.
5. We also discover a nearby natural arch.
6. Emile giving the scale.
7. Window on the ocean…
8. After sleeping practically over this arch, we discover a very famous spot the next day: Urros de Liencres.
9. Low tide uncovers rock strata…
10. Little alcove…
11. Another quick hop to discover another natural arch: El Castro de las Gaviotas. We park towards a pretty chapel.
12. Small cove in the cliff…
13. The arch still partially hidden.
14. And here it is complete.
15. After looking for almost two hours for a place to boondock because of the crowds at this time of the year, we finally found a nice place to sleep, at the bottom of the Picos de Europa, near the ocean and accessible only thanks to VivaLaVida’s 4-wheel drive.
16. The ocean is close.
17. The view behind our camp.
18. Pastel twilight…
To be followed soon!
Fjords of North West
1. Great weather in the morning!
2. Icebergs are still there.
3. Stop on our way to observe seals.
4. When some rest, others seem to play in the water.
5. Under the eyes of ubiquitous and placid sheeps.
6. Small lighthouse on the coast.
7. I draw the portrait to one of these famous Icelandic small horses with long manes.
8. Small church along a fjord. There are many, always small and often with only one house around.
9. As VivaLaVida crosses a small pass between two fjords, the horizon deepens.
10. …
11. To reach a large beach far west of the fjords, the road is endless: while in a straight line, the GPS indicates 55 miles, it will take 125 miles of winding road to get there!
12. The end of day light is spectacular.
13. Rauðarsandur beach is behind this point…
14. VivaLaVida will finally reach it at sunset, enjoying last sun rays on its pretty black church.
15. Calm morning on the inlet.
16. Rauðarsandur beach is Iceland’s largest and its color denotes with omnipresent black elsewhere. Wonder where does this colorful sand come from.
17. Refelction behind the beach.
18. Patchwork at rising tide.
19. Marine atmosphere…
20. In a nearby bay, stop near a ship wreck.
21. These fjords are beautiful and constitute the least visited part of Iceland and let us enjoy more solitude.
22. We camp on the bank of a fjord sheltering hundreds of swans.
Discovery of Snæfellsness Peninsula coming soon. 😉
North Coast and traditional habitat
1. The Ásbyrgi Canyon is amazing with its high basalt cliffs.
2. Beautiful bay on Arctic Ocean North of Husavik.
3. We stop there for the lunch…
4. … the opportunity for Emile to play on the beach.
5. The small harbor town of Husavik still has some old houses.
6. Its small harbor is famous for whale watching.
7. Old houses on the harbor.
8. We return to the bay to spend the night.
9. Sunset is gorgeous!
10. Deformed sun on the horizon. We even had two sunsets, the first on the cliff then, the race of the sun being almost tangent to the horizon, the second on the ocean.
11. Iceland is not that famous for offering colorful sunsets but this one was an exception.
12. On the road to Akureyi, the big city of the North.
13. Interesting feature: in Akureyri, to support the morale of the population during the last financial crash, the red lights are heart shaped… 😉
14. At the end of the day, we go to visit the historic Glaumbær farm, one of the few unspoiled which is now a museum.
15. House from the beginning of the last century.
16. The windows often had candles, supposed to limit the heat loss of the little insulated glass…
17. The farm, older, is partially buried for better insulation. Buildings are contiguous to limit areas exposed to cold.
18. Built in peat and covered with peat and moss, it was the best way to protect oneself from the cold for poor people.
19. Not far away, the beautiful old church of Vidimyrarkirkia.
20. Continuing our journey on the north coast, we come across this curious road going directly into the ocean!
21. Arrival at the end of the day on the site of Hvítserkur Rock.
22. A spectacular lava block that rises on the ocean and evokes a troll or some extinct dinosaur grazing algae…
23. Húnafjordur Bay.
24. We camp near this little house…
25. … and discover large icebergs far on the horizon.
Next coming soon in the Northwest fjords.
Texan coast and some urban…
I’m back after ten days of no man’s land in the extreme southwestern Texas and I find a Wifi to write this small update (I have a little delay, sorry… 🙂
After the episode of mosquitoes, I continued my journey on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston Island. Galveston is a known beach resort, southeast of Houston, but almost deserted at that time of the year.
1. Lighthouse next to my road…
2. VivaLaVida on the ferry to Galveston.
3. Jetty in Galverston
The west side of the island is remained wild, protected by a State Park. The island forming an inland sea isolated from the ocean, it’s a haven for thousands of migratory birds, including some rare. I stayed two days to observe them and I will present here some.
4. Early arrival of thousand of Red Heads.
5. Group breakfast…
6. Elegant duck.
7. A rose spoonbil…
8. A march oak.
9. Stern hunting…
10. White pelican.
11. Full moon in early morning…
I then headed to Austin, a nice city a little different from other Texas cities. Cosmopolitan and a little European style, I spent a day and a half. There is Live Music everywhere, whole streets where there are bar after bar on both sides, in each Live Music from 2 to late in the night … It was sunny and quite warm, in the seventies…
12. Camping before Austin…
13. Downtown Austin
14. Boot shop…
15. … and texan hats!
16. Some urban…
17. A big foot.
18. The State Capitol.
19. Commerce Street…
20. Reflection…
21. Back street…
That’s it for these images of this beautiful city where I felt that life seems good. The next update will take you to west Texas, discovering some wild places along VivaLaVida’s road…
Atlantic Ocean (3)
I announced an urban and animal update… Urban because I spent a few hours in the beautiful city of Savannah. This city had its heyday from the time when the cultivation of cotton, still present today, was the number one economy throughout Georgia.
It’s a two stages city. Downstairs is an arm of the sea and the commercial harbour. The canal is bordered by houses of rich traders from 19th century.
1. Forehead of the old harbour
2. Rich buildings built in the 19th century
3. They now house shops, hotels and restaurants.
4. Small stairs alleys provide access to the rear of these buildings…
5. … where we discover the second floor of the city and first a kind of semi-underground street.
6. It is in the upper town that are the shops today…
7. …but it retains nice neighborhoods…
8. … and old buildings.
I spent almost the whole day of 31 and had a small Eve lunch: fried shrimp as starter – this is the local specialty – and a wonderful bass, a treat! 😀
9. Meanwhile, WivaLaVida waited for me wisely…
10. Continuing south, I made a brief stop to visit Fort Pulaski
11. Built in the early 19th century, it was the scene of a battle that allowed the English to push back the French.
12. Canon batteries are impressive!
I took the road south again and spent Christmas Eve on the pretty Jekyll Island where I have not seen Mr Hide..!
13. Bridge that provides access to Jekyll Island.
I had a nice New Year Eve at my campfire with two girls whose pick-up stoped not far away from VLV. Before that, I had the chance to observe quite a bit of birds, including a beautiful red-breasted woodpeker.
14. What is that thing which looks at me?!
15. I watch it from the corner of the eye…
16. But I continue to flush out my meal!
17. there were also cardinals. here the male with bright colors!
18. And the female…
19. And a wild dove…
20. Not to mention that watching me constantly!
21. A little further, I saw coming a white ibis…
22. … then two.
23. A heavy rain ended my observation…
I then took the road to Florida to visit a friend, poking me in the land and the bad weather. To discover in the next update… 😉
Atlantic Ocean!
I had announced it in my last update, Vivalavida discovered the ocean on Christmas Day. The desire to see something a little different after more than three months of Appalachian, so I took the road to South Carolina after a detour through Atlanta to discover a great World Market (in which he was unfortunately forbidden to photograph…) where I bought my Christmas dinner…
I left Atlanta late and since this huge city is perpetually congested with dozens of miles of trafic jams, I stopped in a National Forest about 70 miles away to spend the night near an old fire watchtower.
1. Boondocking…
Having decided to take the back roads to better discover the landscapes of eastern Georgia, I crossed areas where walnuts are grown. Some “walnut fields” stretched out of sight, like the one I squatted to lunch.
2. Walnuts…
Taking my time, I discovered the ocean only at dusk. Time to find a place to spend the night on Hunting Island, I had a good Christmas diner: Scottish smoked salmon with dill and Moscato d’Asti Nivole..!
3. Christmas diner
I still made a small walk on the beach and enjoyed photographing the sky. The brightness was curious, with the moon just before moonrise, below the horizon…
4. Christmas sky…
5. Waked up early to go seeing the ocean before sunrise, I enjoyed right again splendid colors…
6. Almost slack…
The recent hurricanes have claimed more than 100 yards from shore, gnawing the beach and sometimes leaving a standing tree which now seems to have grown in the sea .. Superb for images!
7. Survivor, well almost…
It is hard to see on the pictures but there was a strong wind and it was 34°F. I had really cold fingers coming back to VLV after 2:30 walk on the beach!
Having spotted a pond behind the dunes, I left again a little later to go birdwatching.
8, 9 et 10 : Willet
11 et 12 : Sanderlings
13. Great egret
14. Heron
15. Another survivor…
I then moved to the salt marshes behind the island that sheltered me for the night.
16. Sweetness of this flat wet land…
Having spotted an osprey with binoculars on the bridge deck that allows access to the island, I used Vivalavida as approach him when my silhouette would have made him to scamper at 150 yards…
17. Watchful hunter…
18. Just beforedoing what we do in the bathroom… 😉
19. A last one..! It’s not everyday that I can get so close of such a lord… 😀
I then returned buck to the wet land and I had the chance to see some other species…
20. Eastern bluebird
21. Great-tailedgrackle. It’s a verry common bird here, not apprehensive. Here is the male
22. … and his female…
23. I end this update with a picture taken from the long bridge that provides access to the island. It allows you to discover the wet land covered with rushes and flooded at each tide…
To be continued…
And as the days go by and I’m never sure when I can connect properly, I already send you my best wishes for the new year approaching. Can he invite you to fully experience your desires and dreams as I have the chance to do it with Vivalavida..!
A big thank you for your faithfulness to follow this blog… 😀
D5 Creation