There’s the trip you plan and then there’s the trip you get!

Getting sick was not in our plans and it required some course correction. Instead of heading next to bustling Bilbao, we rerouted to the tranquil but little known seaside town of Santander for a night.

But first …we drove from Oviedo to the gorgeous Picos de Europa National Park for a little lakeside hike. We planned this trip around hiking and we’d be damned if we didn’t get a little jaunt in.

On arrival, it turned out our planned short walk around the lake required us to ditch our car and take a bus up a hair-raising, narrow and twisting , 20 minute ascent. Gorgeous views though.

At the top, we wandered around by the water a bit, ate our mini picnic, and enjoyed crystalline vistas of free range cows ringing their bells as they munched their way up the mountainsides. Then back on the bus for an even hairier descent as the video below shows. We came, we saw but we didn’t really hike.

After that, one restful night in Santander where we had one of the best fish dinners of our trip in a charming, hip bistro. The town was a welcome and restful surprise

Onward to France for 5 days in the Pyrenees region. First, two nights in Bayonne including a visit to nearby Biarritz beach town. Kinda like La Jolla but with a palace. Then two nights in Pau, a charming and historic city at the base of the Pyrenees. In both towns, we had great meals, met interesting people plus old friends, and enjoyed charming accommodations and rested every afternoon, still in the grip of our grippe.

As for hiking the Pyrenees, we had to punt to driving up a gorgeous, mountain route with spectacular views at every curve. The weather was unstable offering sudden sprinkles and beautiful clouds. Yet again no hike between the weather conditions and our own!

Our last stop in France was one night in Narbonne. We chose it mostly for breaking up the drive back to Barcelona. Ok, enough foreshadowing…

Narbonne is a DUMP!! Our 3- star hotel was a fully automated, non- human experience. Our room looked like a converted garage with weird decor to boot. It was bare minimum lodgings. We then explored the town. The riverside cafe area wasn’t charming, just kinda gritty. The restaurant recommended by the hotel was closed for a private party after we walked 15 minutes to get there. The other restaurants nearby were more like bars. Everything else was closed or closing. The fanciest place in town was booked solid and the tattooed hostess told us they were fully booked.

We begged! We are not above pleading in fractured French. She finally let us in. It was a limited menu of very French food meaning lots of cream and butter. I chose the least offensive item. It was expensive and not my kinda meal but we were grateful to get food that night.

We had to leave by 9 in the morning to make it to Barcelona for our car return — no problema! We were outta Narbonne before then. We couldn’t leave fast enough.

By noon we were in Barcelona. At 5 pm, we visited Gaudi’s amazing light-filled Architectural masterpiece—the Sagrada Familia. Our day ended with a delicious seafood dinner in a hopping joint, then dessert and tea in our hotel room in the quiet, leafy Sarrià neighborhood high above the feverish downtown scene.

Today, Saturday, we are taking it slow in Sarrià. Resting up for our 3:30 am ride tomorrow morning to the airport for our flight to London and then the long journey home.

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This has not been exactly the trip we planned but still we had an amazing road trip through countryside and mountains and along seas and rivers. We met lovely, friendly people—even the French— and experienced life outside the major tourist hubs. We’ve blown through boxes of tissues, liters of petrol and megabytes of photos along the way. And except for 18 hours in Narbonne, it’s been all that we hoped for!!