Week 9: Slowing down a little

October 18, 2026

Week 9: Slowing down a little

Sunday 11th October- Saturday 17th October

Where we have stayed:

Sunday 11th October-Foz Camp, Foz

Monday 12th October-Parking Caravanas Marina Coruna

Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th October-Camping As Cancelas, Santiago de Compostela

Thursday 15th, Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October-Portosin Camper Park, Porto do Son

This week:

We have wanted to slow down a little for a few weeks, but have been waiting to find locations we particularly like. Apart from during Week 3, when we stayed in Trouville for 5 nights, we have moved every 1 or 2 nights. Last week we really liked Camp Foz so stayed 3 nights to include the Sunday night. This week we found Porto do Son!

From Foz campsite we set off on the Monday to A Coruna. We knew it was Spain's national day-Fiesta Nacional de Espana-so had stocked up with food, as we were not sure what would be open. Some information said roads and shops are closed and there are festivals in the street, but it depends on the location. As we started to approach A Coruna it was not festivals that alarmed us but the size of the place. We knew it was a city...but it seemed to be a big city! Big buildings, massive adverts on the sides of the road, a 4 lane road into the city, a Coca Cola factory and loads of brands being advertised: McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, KFC...especially with the van and because we like them, we tend to be in quieter places. Also lots of places in Spain don't have all the advertising or brands that the UK has everywhere in every town. However, we successfully navigated our way to the aire, via more traffic than we have seen in weeks, a broken down car, tram lines and a random tunnel. Everyone goes in the tunnel together but then like a game of jeopardy, the tunnel suddenly splits (with little warning) into two lanes, which take completely different routes, but one is for vehicles under 3 meters tall (we are 3.1meters tall) and one is for vehicles over 3 meters tall. We got the correct lane and made it out of the tunnel. The aire was very central and on the marina. We parked up and headed into the city to have a look around, and influenced by the advertising (and because they do veggie food) had a Burger King for lunch. There was a huge cruise ship in the port, which seemed to engulf this whole part of the city. It was a P & O liner and we also heard more British voices than we have for the whole trip. We met two different couples who mainly wanted to stop and talk to the dogs, as they were on the cruise and missing their own dogs!

Steve went in a shop to buy empanada…the boys desperate to go in!

Pictures from the marina.

We are both glad we saw the city as it had some older architecture and history, whilst also being quite relaxed and with lots of variety. We went in twice that day, as we went back out in the evening for a drink. The dogs were shattered. They find busier places harder work, as it is over stimulating for them and they are naturally quite bouncy, so have to work hard to keep calm...and there were so many people to 'meet and great'. Cockapoos are far less popular in Europe and people do seem quite fascinated by them. We were sat down in one of the squares, just on some steps by a statue and two older Spanish women came rushing over. They spoke a lot to the dogs: waggled their ears and rubbed their noses on the dog's noses, rubbed the dogs' bellies, made lots of noises, thought it was hilarious that Bear was looking in a handbag, chuckled and then left. Steve and I had absolutely no idea what they said, or quite what happened but both them and the dogs loved it!

That evening having been into the city twice and feeling we had seen a lot, we decided to stay just one night but to get up promptly on the Tuesday morning and cycle out to the lighthouse-Tower of Hercules, which dates back to the late 1st Century. We were really pleased we did this. We got to see a quieter part of the city and they had brilliant cycle paths.

Tower of Hercules

View from around the tower.

But just also to mention the cruise ship. Steve and I have both toyed with going on a cruise previously...but not sure if we would like them, so never have. As it left the port at 5pm, it honked a very deep horn many times and as we were on the marina it felt like it rumbled through the van. We went outside to see it head off and noticed music. As it sailed off with many people standing at the back waving, whilst playing Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer very loudly, we looked at each other and commented 'maybe not' on whether a cruise was for us.

We then headed to Santiago de Compostela and stayed on the Cancelas campsite, with the steepest entrance so far. Sully did very good getting up the hill. It was a nice and quiet campsite. Santiago de Compostela, is the end point for Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrim routes across Europe. As we've travelled around in this part of Spain, we have stayed in a number of places which form part of a route and we have seen lots of walkers. The most famous route in Camino Frances which covers 780 km.

View from just outside campsite

On the Wednesday we headed into the city. It really was a lovely and interesting city with mediaeval streets, Santiago Cathedral and the old town which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The cathedral

The town

People camping in the square

Bear interested in learning about the cathedral

Yogi less so!

Ohh and really importantly, the campsite had the best showers and bathrooms we have experienced so far. Why were they the best: very clean, everything matching/colour/decoration-not essential and rare but nice, showers with taps rather than push buttons, large shower area, area within each individual cubicle but away from the shower with plenty of hooks and a bench.

We then headed to Porto do Son and straight away felt relaxed and settled. The campsite was not full, so it was great to have no one near us. It had great views from our pitch. It had a brilliant beach about a 5 minute walk a way and a little town about a 10 minute walk away. The air was crisp and fresh with little humidity. It was sunny but not too hot, about 24 degrees. We decided to stay 3 nights.

Our pitch on the site

View from inside the van

The little beach a 5 minute walk from the campsite

The Bears had sole use!

Some local cats

Evening view from our campsite

Yogi loving the beach

Evening view from inside the van…the windows need cleaning!

The random bits:

The benefit of staying a little longer in some places, is that it has been easier to fit some runs in. Especially where we have found a path which has been less hilly and it has been dry. I'm now up to week 8 of Couch to 5 km. I have completed it all in sequence, but some weeks have taken longer to complete due to weather and location...and my knee is doing really well and I have had no pain from running. This is really amazing. From looking at having to have a second surgery to not having it and running (I call it donkey-ing, I feel the term running is a little ambitious) is beyond anything I thought would be possible.

We had another Bear incident this week! At 6am Steve was woken up by a wet nose. Expecting it to be the usual suspect...Yogi, (Bear is not tall enough!) he grumbled and said 'too early' preparing to usher him back into the living room and to close the door. But as he opened his eyes he said 'something is up-Bear is there'. Yogi was just doing the alert. We both got up, as last time this happened-the giant beetle was in the living room area. The boys and I bravely sat together on the seat in the living room, whilst Steve surveyed the area! He could see nothing but there was a splattering of water on the floor. It was quite cool and damp over night and we think dew had just collected on the open top vent and fallen down onto the floor. Maybe Bear had been a sleep under this when it fell down. Anyway, Steve took them out for a wee and we wiped the floor and then headed back to bed. Unfortunately, Bear was too distressed and refused to move from the shower floor, staring at us. After the beetle Steve had got up with them, so it was only fair that I went this time. I took a pillow and throw and laid down on my side, just fitting in on the longest sofa seat. Bear laid down and hid behind my knees. Yogi had his head on the pillow and took the only gap left on the sofa in from of my stomach. It was quite chilly, so I threw the throw over all of us. We stayed like this until about 9am and I absolutely had less sleep than anyone else in the van.

Still watching Traitors and Mobland. Have a month free for Apple TV so also watching Slow Horses.

Yogi's fur seems to be growing very quickly-so he has had another DIY haircut.

Supermarkets in the UK have a far greater breadth of ingredients in every shop. Here, I know for example I can only get pitta in one supermarket, halloumi in another etc. so sometimes there can be missing ingredients from a meal. This is salsa to go with Mexican…but missing the coriander, onion and pineapple. Steve thought about it and then said…it’s just tomato. Yep, but we are imagining it is salsa.