Province of Asturias

Chapter I : Sliding to certain death!
We pack up and head off for the next stopover, Darren has found on Park4night what looks like a very interesting place to visit and stay tonight. It’s a huge gorge with a lovely little river that flows along through the bottom of it. Apparently you can drive down a steep stony gravel road to get to the bottom and park there for the night.
Well...we arrived at the top of the gorge and thought we better just check the road down to the river just to make sure we would be able to turn Ivy around to get back up. All seemed ok, plenty of space at the bottom to park up and turn around to get back up. The road was a bit sketchy as it was loose stones and gravel but it seemed doable. Darren waited with Bliss half way down the road and I went up to get Ivy. I must admit I was feeling a bit of trepidation as I started down the road but didn’t expect that when I put my brakes on to go down slowly that Ivy would continue to slide down the hill on the loose gravel 😬🫨🥺 to say I sh** myself would be quite a major understatement!! Then when she did stop sliding after about 4ft I put her into reverse and she just dug herself a hole in the loose gravel! Oh dear! We’re going to get stuck! Now Darren signals I have to go forward again (against all my instincts as just 20ft in front of me is the edge of the gorge with a drop of something like 50ft) so that I can reposition the tyres onto fresh ground that hopefully we won’t slide on when I make another attempt to reverse her back up the hill to safety. Shi**ing my pants I manage to move her forward and then whilst kicking up stones and gravel gradually she starts to pull herself back up the hill. Slipping, sliding horizontally as she goes.
We get to safe level ground and just sit and breathe for a while. Thanking God (and Ivy) for not making today my last!

With shaky legs we went for a walk down to the lovely little river at the bottom of the gorge. Wild flowers growing all around us and lots of birds, swifts darting around the cliff edges catching bugs and flies. The spot we’d hoped to take a cold water dip really did look inviting with its shingle beach and tropical coloured water, but somehow we'd lost the motivation for that now.

After all the excitement we thought we would find somewhere close by that would be nice and safe to park for tonight.

Chapter II : Lambs to the slaughter
There was a nice little hermitage nearby with plenty of space to park on flat ground so we headed for that. We arrived and on first sight thought this is okay, lovely tended gardens full of roses all around the chapel. We got out to stretch our legs and let Bliss see where we were and started exploring around the immediate area. The chapel was very old, it had bars on the windows and was all locked up. We walked around the perimeter of it and came across a water fountain and around that some stone seats. On first glance you’d think that’s nice but when you have watched as many horror films as we have you can see the slightly darker side of this place. It looked like somewhere seances and sacrifices might happen. 😂 Continuing on around the corner we come across a big wooden door with sheet metal across the bottom, a large metal chain with padlock and at the top of the door we are horrified to discover what looks like a fresh deers foot NAILED to the door!! 😳. A cloven hoof is the sign of Satan right?

We swiftly get back in the van and discuss the findings. Darren is completely freaked out by the creepy stuff we’ve seen whilst I think it’s just funny to be honest. 😂 Darren was allowed to watch Hammer House of Horrors as a small child and to be fair all the ingredients are here.

It starts raining and thundering so we decide we’d better stay put now as it’s getting a bit late to be moving again. Then out of the rain a bunch of people suddenly turn up (we’re in the middle of nowhere remember and the nearest habitation is a few miles away!) what the hell are they even doing here in the rain? No car, they’ve walked here! Why would they do that?

Now Darren is even more freaked out so I try to logically explain why they might be here. They have been caught out on a walk in the rain and are seeking shelter until the rain stops. Obvs 🙄
Then more random people walk past in the rain and then walk past again going back the other way. Darren’s now convinced we’re going to be human sacrifices tonight 😂 especially when we finally settle down for the night and just before midnight a car drives past us on the dead end road and then drives back past again. It’s dark, it’s raining, there’s flashes of lightning and roaring thunder. Darren is totally convinced we’re on the vampire’s menu tonight. 😳☠️👻👺👹😬Læs mere