Tordesillas, Spain

Setting off from Nazaré we realised that by the time we reached the nice restaurant Faye had found for lunch in Spain, it would actually be an hour later than our already tight timings, as we'd forgotten about the change of time zone. So we went on the old 'Morse family lookout' for somewhere suitable to eat, involving leaving the motorway at towns that time and beauty had forgotten, and calling into motorway service stations where 'restaurants' were literally closed/boarded up. We eventually ended up at the Burger King in Salamanca at 4.20pm. Poor.

Soon we were there, though. Tordesillas. A small, isolated market/farming town on the Douro river, a few miles downstream from Valladolid, with an impressive bridge and tiny mediaeval town centre. We've been here before, to the same campsite - El Astral - which although it appears unpromising on the approach, is one of our favourites: Big, grassy pitches under deciduous trees, lots of birds (the little insect-pecking hoopoes being my favourites), and a peaceful, laidback, happy vibe, with a good restaurant. Road noise and mosquitoes/flies only spoil it a little.

I cooked my crowd-pleasing chilli for our arrival meal, and the kids suddenly decided to get back into Pokémon, heading off on their bikes with their phones to rendezvous with digital characters all around the area. Skye was much more chilled from the off, enjoying the open space, grass and fewer dogs, which was good because she really didn't like the last place. So apart from a nice meal on our final night, meat heavy (the restaurant is an 'asador', ie barbecue joint), we 'did' very little here except chill and, in the case of Maya and me, reacquaint ourselves with the town one afternoon in order to snag some essential supplies.

One thing though: Mornings were cold! With the temperatures pushing 30 in the day, they dropped to below 10 overnight, and it was PJs in bed, and running-wise, it was gloves and jacket for Faye, and numb hands for me, at least at the start of our runs. My first session was 'broken miles' interval repeats, run up and down the perfectly flat, straight road outside the site - hard! I followed it up with an easy 14km trail run, skirting a forest plantation on gravelly and sandy tracks as the sun rose. After a bunny-laden easy run, Faye's main effort of the stay was a 38km long run, and despite re-routing due to unexpectedly gated/locked trails, she was amazed at how easy it felt - her training is really working, she decided. She finished off on the morning of our departure with an easy 12km run.

In other news, Faye and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary, and I passed my first 'year' (actually two, as it's a part-time degree) at Uni. And so, in good spirits and on a sunny and still morning, off we went - via a kindly vet who gave Skye here compulsory UK worming treatment - to the Cantabrian coast and soon, the ferry to England...