Castro Urdiales church 7.9.25
Our outward journey commenced yesterday in reality as we decided (in the light of an incredibly early flight) to dine at Sorrel in Dorking and then stay in a hotel adjacent to the airport overnight. We still manage to reach check in very early. Once again Vueling want the passenger to label their own bags – a practice I hate as if it goes wrong who is responsible.
Go wrong it does. I am summoned at the gate to the desk and asked to confirm that the bag is Jackie’s as they cannot scan the barcode. Why is it all so difficult plus hours of waiting around doing nothing useful.
It is a relatively short flight down to Bilbao and we are on time throughout. It does not take long to emerge with cases (it has arrived despite the unreadable bar code). We appear to lose one traveller but depart – the tour guide will be with us later as there is a later flight coming in from Manchester.
Castro Urdiales 7.9.25
With such an early flight we know the rooms will not be ready and so the tour operator has arranged for our coach to take us to Castro Urdiales. We are dropped and wander down to the sea front. It is a smart town and there are a large number of cafés along the front – but given the time it is too early for lunch. Eating times in Spain always provide a slight problem which our body clocks find more difficult than the one hour time difference. Lunch type food tends not to be available before about 13:30 and in the evenings dinner before 20:00 is just not possible and usually later.
I walk up the hill to get a closer look at the church and castle, plus some photos from a different angle.
Apparently Castro Urdiales is a favoured destination generated by the power of AI – at least according to the BBC.
We return to the coach and are taken to the Parador de Limpias which has a modern block for the rooms attached to the older building. However the rooms are comfortable and better sized than in Iceland! We have a group meeting before dinner which tells us a little about the week ahead. The slight surprise is that the tour will be unguided in the individual towns and cities – which is a contrast to most of the tours we book.