It continued to be a pleasant drive after Baiona, that is until we hit the vast ugly urban sprawl of Vigo. I try to be diplomatic on these blogs, and I expect the seemingly never-ending high-rise accommodation and industrial buildings are hiding a beautiful heart, but it wasn’t tempting us to stay, in fact quite the opposite. 

Once we’d escaped the town that wouldn’t end we crossed a rather large bridge in a major state of renovation, after which we saw the words that will always unnerve us, ie “peage”. We’re not keen to part with our pennies/cents unless absolutely necessary and there’s always another route. It’ll be slower, but generally, and genuinely, more interesting. The Satnav is well trained to spot peages and we breathed a collective sigh of relief as we were directed strangely twice beneath the aforementioned bridge and then onto a respectable road. Admittedly there was an endless flow of roundabouts, which ultimately teased out all those items you thought were safely stowed away. 

Ultimately though we arrived at the large town of Pontevedra, to begin our Dorling Kindersley’s Backroads of Spain’s drive number 1, “Medieval Treasures and Golden Bays”. I’d only just found out earlier today that Pontevedra had a shiny new motorhome aire and so thought this would be a lovely end to the drive. We found it but the entrance was a challenge. After two circumnavigations to check out every possible way in, we decided against it anyway because it was packed and we’ve never been keen on playing sardines.

Fortunately, and this is a worthwhile tip I always strongly recommend, although too often forget, I’d banked a backup plan. In our experience, there is probably a 50:50 chance that despite all the good reviews and attractive photos the aire will disappoint due to an unattractive aspect hidden by the photos, a loud road not mentioned, no room, likelihood of late partying, taken over for a village fair, playground/nursery/school far too close etc etc. 

Ten minutes away was a likely decent Park4night on the coast. It actually took me twice that time to get there as I took a wrong turning at a tricky junction, but this did give Sophie the opportunity to take more photos of the town. When we reached the Park4night, the good news was that motorhome parking was officially signposted from the main road. The backroads this route took us down didn’t seem that promising, but then it opened up into a decent sized carpark overlooking the sea and the Spanish mainland beyond. There were several motorhomes already here, but plenty of room for us all. As I write this there’s only one left. 

We were half-planning to revisit Pontevedra tomorrow morning but the good news is that Sophie’s Googled it and reckons we can give it a miss. Result. 

Progress so far, heading North up the West Coast: