North Spain

Hello

I've been driving through France and across the North of Spain for 45 years and seen a lot of changes most of all it has become much easier for the non-Spanish speaker and in experienced right hand side driver.

My first suggestion is get a ferry to Bilbao or Santander and drive the A8 (Autovia) to Galicia (top left corner Spain). The A8 is a magnificent road sweeping over mountains and valleys, UK has nothing like it.

Along the way there are beaches on the North and mountains and routes to central Spain to the South.

If you don't want to do motorway all the way there is the old road and the old old road still in existence, usually to its North.

There is a lot of Spanish tourism in the area and it has now for the past 10yrs been discovered by North Europeans so English is spoken in most places.

If you want to head south, I recommend looking for the road (N640*) south west out of Barres to Lugo, on to Ourense and then on to north Portugal.  That will be a 3 day drive if you are not trying to break records.

That journey will take you through green sweeps of land, across lakes and rias.  I recommend doing it in late spring when the heat isnt too bad, the roads are quiet and you will not have half of Madrid competing with you for camping space or hotel rooms.

* - road numbers in Spain. They change without warning. You can be driving along a national road such as the N640 which might change to the LL-200 and back to N640. It takes too long to explain why.