Spain, Concarneau, Scilly Isle

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Trip start
April 20, 2025
Spain, Concarneau, Scilly Isle Powell Ettinger
Exeter airport
April 20 in England ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
Small. Apparently compulsory to smoke next to the no smoking signs rather than walk 10 yards to the designated smoking area. And streams of effing and blinding too.

Another highlight. Chap in security check with 4 tins of corned beef (allowed to keep after extra scan) and a large jar of mayonnaise (confiscated). Don't want any of that foreign muck?

Think it is a symptom of the flight to Alicante rather than the airport.Read more
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Sierra Espuna
April 21 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
First walk. Meant to be 10.5 miles but somehow turned into 13. And we cut out the hard bit. But too long for first time out. Pretty without being spectacular. Lots of flowers, some cultivated fruit trees. And 1 vulture, possibly a lammergeierRead more
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Flowers for Margaret
April 21 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Hello Margaret. Caroline tells me you sometimes look at this, so thought you might be interested in some of these. Some of the flowers seen in Spain this week.

Includes what appears to be some purple poppies.

The fruit tree is I think Loquat.Read more
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El Berro
April 21 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Pretty little village. 1 hotel, 2 bars (only open weekends?), and campsite with beer, coke n icecream
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Walk to Gebas and back
April 22 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Walk about 7.5 miles through woods over hill to village of Gebas. Care shut and not much else there. Some tricky sections of path on way back as path was old water channel and 1-2 places had steep drop and tricky footing. C not comfy. Wet rain on way back too.

Bread from bakery, 1 euro for baguette with ham n cheese from breakfast for lunch again.

Going to try eating at campsite cafe tonight. Hotel food v good but set menu and smallish portions. Ok for me as I get C rations she doesn't want!Read more
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Campsite cuisine
April 22 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Food at hotel very good. But set menu and only available at 20.30. so wandered round to campsite for meal of chicken wings, pizza n beer with ice cream pudding. All perfectly acceptable and with friendly service.

Unidentified fruit bush growing on site turned out to be LoquatsRead more
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Albacate, Fiat.
April 23 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Car warning light and loud pinging noise telling us we had a brake issue. Useless car hire co (Centauro) suggesting getting new brake pads (car only done 4000 KMS), the to drive to Madrid for new car.
We went to Fiat garage in Albacete who diagnosed software issue meaning that when a bag is on back seat and seatbelt not connected the brake warning light flashes!

Garage refused payment - whereas car hire co couldn't care less and told me to read the contract!Read more
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Alarcon
April 23 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Another fantastic fortified clifftop village set on a loop of the river. Local artist painted many murals, including a lot of cats, all over town, a la Banksy (but before Bansky i think).

Parador only has 13 rooms, and was full, but only place for a meal. As often the case with Paradores, the meal was very disappointing and service with grimace seemed to be the order of the day.

Excellent Airbnb. Very varied walk, through woods, across a plateau, around a rocky hill, passed fortifications, and back through riverine forst.Read more
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Segobria choclate success
April 24 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Driving along an unexpected road (due to C inputting the wrong town into Satnav) and spotted signs to Segobria Archaeological site. So stopped in for a quick look - Old Roman capital with some interesting old stones in a good setting. Was very rich due to Gypsum mining in the area.

Highlight was the snack dispenser machine as someone had try to buy a kinder chocolate bar but it had got caught. Despite not wanting one, i paid 1.5 Euros for another kinder bar and as hoped both came out. Result!Read more
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Cuenca
April 24 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
As with many towns in this region, Cuenca is built on a rocky outcrop over the river. Some remarkable overhanging buildings and views. And an interesting bridge with slightly uncomfortably lower balustrade. Interesting old town, but slightly spoiled by the unsolvable issue of a main road passing through the middle of the old main square in front of the cathedral. Dinner hard to find but eventually a restaurant in the basement of a hotel provided some much sought after Chuletas (lamb chops and chips) though it did seem we were a bit of a drag for the staff.
Brief walk (2.5 miles) up to statue of 'Our lady' past some climbers tackling seemingly impossible overhangs, and mountain bikers cycling up a path i could barely walk up.

Stayed in 'Seminary' hotel, excellent hotel converted from an old religious seminary, right near the centre of the old town.

Acquired new piece for the weird religious tourist tat collection, to Caroline chagrin.Read more
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Serrania de Cuenca
April 25 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
One of the best. Superb walk, scenery, route and scores of vultures. Top rated. From the village of Una, only 6.5 miles but an outstanding walk. The route heads up a canyon, around the rim, past vultures roosting, down a slot canyon and a long a ledge. Magnificent.

NB these photos were all taken on my phone. Gives you an idea of how close the vultures came!Read more
TravelerLooks breath taking and the vulture sightings are amazing
4/27/25Reply
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Spain, Concarneau, Scilly Isle Powell Ettinger
Vulture view
April 25 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Vulture point. Part of the serrania de Cuenca walk from Una. Amazing scenery and fantastic viewpoint on rock overlooking vulture roosts.
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Albarracin take 2
April 25 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Passed through 2 years ago but didn't stay, so decided to come back for another go. Best meal of the trip.

Completely unintelligible hotel matey provided some entertainment. What is the equivalent of Glaswegian in SPanish?Read more
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Red Canyon - mind the explosives
April 26 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
We tried to find this 2 years ago, but failed. Found it this time. Decent walk but not top draw. 1 section punctuated by several signs warning of explosive ordinance left over from Battle of Teruel in Spanish Civil War, which i am just reading about as Laurie Lee took part in the battle.

Very red clay/earth hills and some spectacular formations.Read more
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Morella or less
April 26 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 16 °C
Yet another spectacular Spanish fortified hill town. Didn't quite get the vibe of some other places but may merit a return. Quite touristy, but well preserved with a hill top castle (closed), great views and 1 beautiful main street. Didn't quite hit the vibe for me but wasn't given a fair chance. Average meal, castle not open (when we visited), surprisingly cold, and a parking ticket.

Parking ticket for parking somewhere with space and no lines. But, apparently, only residents allowed to park in town. How is anyone meant to know?

Some giant figures on show that are paraded around town once per year

Every six years the citizens celebrate the Sexenni, a commemoration of the town's recovery from the plague in the seventeenth century. The Corpus Christi celebrations include the parade of the four giants of Morella,Read more
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Tarragona, not Siberia
April 27 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
C decided Tarragona was a place to stop en route to BCN. One , thought, Tarragona, deemed as an acceptable herb, comes from here so food might be ok. Turns out Tarragon is from Siberia.

Romans were here and left an amphitheatre. Decent beach, a poor man's Las Ramblas, and a pretty promenade.

Two of the biggest super yachts afloat. 1 impounded Russian billionaire.. Cresent. 1 Saudi billionaire. H3Read more
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It's all gone Brest up
April 28 in France ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Our flight from BCN was 2 hours late, but that is a major improvement on the rest of the group who had their flight cancelled. They will fly tomorrow from LGW to Nantes. We had private transfer on 65 seater luxury Van Hool coach from airport to Concarneau.Read more
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Concarneau
April 29 in France ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
An unexpected benefit. Hadn't heard of Concarneau before this cruise. The old town is a well preserved walled town that includes the fishing museum (loved it) and plenty of restaurants, creperies and craft shops, but noticeably no Tat.

Only accessible through a fortified gateway over a narrow bridge at one and, and now a ferry at the other end.

5 ticket gave entry to the fishing museum, the Marine Natural History museum and another, as yet unidentified museum.

Rest of the town, that we saw anyway, was very pleasant. Fish restaurants and market squares. Looked like it would be a great spot for a day or two.

Excellent restaurant, L'Ancre, on recommendation of the guy in the hotel.Read more
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Ocean Nova. Doh!
April 30 in England ⋅ 🌬 13 °C
Ocean Nova was anchored near us off Tresco. On return from our Tresco excursion we noticed she appeared to be listing. As tide went out it became apparent that she was aground. Ran her engines and tried a pull from a small vessel but no good. Had to wait a few hours for the tide to come in.Read more
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Scilly
April 30 in England ⋅ 🌬 14 °C
Arrived on Ocean Albatros and moored offshore between Sy Marys and Tresco Islands. A beautiful cloudless day. Took local tender ashore and joined a short walking tour of Hugh Town. A narrow strip of land with the harbour on one side, and a perfect beach the other.

Perfect small island town. A port, a few pubs, shops etc. 1 hospital. The school, where secondary kids come in from the islands and board as they can't get home.

Sports fixtures are played within the school, and with mixed age groups and possibly sexes!

World gig racing championships on this weekend, the busiest week of the year here, so all accommodation, flights, ferries etc jammed packed.

The ageing ferry, The Scillonian, pulled in as we left. Due to be replaced in 2026 she has a love/hate relationship with the islanders. Only running from March to October, and notoriously unstable in weather, she is the main link to the outside world for the Islanders, apart from a few 16 or 8 seater flights that come in from Land's End, Newquay and Extere every day ( a steady stream while we were there) as well as a few few helicopters.Read more
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An upright gentleman
April 30 in England ⋅ 🌬 14 °C
Two in fact. The unusual wide gravestone in St Mary's old church graveyard is because the gentleman in question was buried upright! He wanted to keep an eye on his lady friend across the bay so the story goes.

Also buried here is Harold Wilson, ex PM and devoted resident of the Scilly Isles (his old house was up for sale when we visited.

And in a link to our Monarch's Way walk. Charles II (before he was king) spent some time here in 1648 on the run from Cromwell's forces. Apparently he hated the time he spent on Scilly as the accommodation was so dire, but as a thank you for the people who supported him and looked after him, when he became king he funded the restoration of ST Mary's Church.Read more
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Tresco Gardens
April 30 in England ⋅ 🌬 14 °C
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Fowey
May 1 in England ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Cruised into Fowey. Surprised there was enough room to turn around but apparently they get much larger ships in here!
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azilal
July 7 in England ⋅ 🌬 17 °C
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Trip end
May 1, 2025