Day 5 San Sebastian to Blaye

It must have rained for 3 hours solid this morning from 7am! Now we know why there are big gratings at the side of some of the roads and most pavements have gullies running down the middle of them.

Sadly, as even in the rain San Sebastian is beautiful, we had to leave today. I would recommend this site to anybody, €3.30 per night including all services apart from electric hook-up is absolutely brilliant.

Driving away towards the French border we were amazed once again how most of the buildings look like ski chalets. You could be forgiven for thinking that you were in a mountain resort, which I suppose you are really as it is still the Pyrenees but you forget that because you're so close to the sea.

About an hour's drive and just inside the French border we arrived at St Jean De Luz. We weren't going to stop but as we drove past a fab little fishing port on our left, we noticed an Aire (campervan parking area) on our right, so we went round the roundabout and back into the Aire.

It's a little more expensive to stop there for 24hrs but still only €6 incl waste and water. The SNCF runs behind it so was another treat to see the smart trains coming in to stop at the station next door.

Conveniently there's a little underpass right next to the Aire to take you to the port, which as you may have guessed led to the old part of the town. Very quaint and chic, lots of original buildings and little boutique shops leading to the beach front.

The beach is similar to San Sebastian, not as big but shaped like La Concha. There are some pretty houses and hotels on the front as well as bars, cafes and restaurants to please visitors especially in the summer.

On our back to the van we spotted a house apparently one of many summer houses belong King Louis XlV. Sorry, didn't get a picture🤔.

Passing a patisserie, I remembered my cousin Donna recommending the baked cheesecake in San Sebastian. Regrettably, we didn't get to try any and thinking that as we were still in Basque territory this shop might do them, I popped in and asked in my best french if they spoke English😁.

A very nice young lady did and explained that they didn't do baked cheesecake 😔. I pointed to a lovely tart that looked very similar and the way she described it reminded me of a

Bakewell tart so I said yes please 😁😋😋

At €13 I hope it tastes as good as a Bakewell at least 🤣.

We are now heading towards Blaye, there's a lovely Citadel there we hope to get to see.

Well, we are in heaven, wine heaven. We have now arrived in Blaye, a little town with a fab Citadel and lots of history via vineyard after vineyard after vineyard 😁😋😋.

We could have stopped at almost all of them to buy wine and also to stay the night as lots of them are listed on France Passion. We just didn't know where to start. Definitely a must stop for the next trip!

It was so beautiful driving through vineyards with multicoloured leaves, some already pruned for the winter and wonderful shabby old French buildings called Chateaus.

The Chateaus here are nothing like Dick and Angel's, more like run down barns with terracotta roofs and sandy coloured walls, broken down (I assume) farm machinery dotted around the place and the obligatory area cleared for parking 😁👍.

The port of Blaye (where we are parked for tonight) is just a ferry port with one ferry that takes vehicles and foot passengers across the Gironde river to Medoc, haha more wine 😋.

There is a lovely city behind it and of course the Citadel that we hope to discover tomorrow. It has just started to rain so we have put our walk around the city on hold. Will let you know if we manage to get out tomorrow.