Saturday 19 March

Rain most of the night and still showery when we surfaced at our now regular 8.30. Breakfast then serviced the van – cheapskate aire owners, €2 extra to fill with water – then off to find some fuel. We couldn't remember if Portugal or Spain was the cheaper but as it was getting very low we just went into the first (Portuguese) fuel station we found. Then across the border through the old control point and past a few filling stations – all 10c cheaper of course! It makes a difference when you load 75 litres you know!

There's snow on them there mountains!

Our route today was autovia all the way, so setting the cruise control for a reasonable pace without being too heavy on fuel consumption, we joined quite light traffic for a steady run, destination Burgos. Obviously the motorway skirts towns and cities but nevertheless was not as boring as some UK roads and all we had to contend with was intermittent rain showers. Lunch was taken in a lay-by just after Salamanca, then we continued past Valadolid (try saying that quickly a few times, pausing then trying again...) and into the modern city of Burgos.

Where the circus was in town. Their trucks having taken up a large part of the adjacent car-park, the cars moved into the motorhome spaces on the aire so that there was no room for us. Grrrrrrr! However we had considered that a city aire on a Saturday, especially late afternoon, was a bit of a risk so we'd planned a couple more places a little further along the way. Selecting the largest of them, which happened to be the next anyway, TomTom again took us without fuss to Briviesca and round the back of the bull ring to a very nice aire with views over the city and the countryside beyond. Well they would have been nice if it hadn't been raining.

A couple of other Brits arrived more or less at the same time and we had a short chat with them before once again the weather took charge. We later learned that our friends Tim & Ali are at Twin Lakes, just north of Bordeaux, so we'll see if we can get that far tomorrow – should be okay on a Sunday providing we get a reasonable start.