Sunday 25th February - From Country to Coast with no turbo

Sunday 25th February - From Country to Coast with no turbo

When I was paying my bill I asked what the owner of the farm what the Boxes were for. 

Corn was the answer, apparently in Galicia that part of Spain that is what people used to stop rats and mice getting at the corn harvest. Apparently they are called Horreo's and they come in several sizes.

The view from the window of the Rural Hotel Casa Pousadoria a really great place to stay at.

Before I started off did a last oil check before England as I was doing some Motorway driving to kill some miles today. 

A great back garden, I bet it is really pretty in the summer, some old stones in the garden

This corn store had been gotten into by some animals there was a hole chewed thru the wooden boards enough for me to see inside.

See the corn cobs, some of them half eaten by whatever animals had made the hole in the side.

As I reverse from the driveway, I see the old barn.

Love the insides and the rafters of the barn

This area is still untouched very ancient forests and there is a walk along the river.

The roads out from the Hotel reminded me of parts of the Pyrenees in France, which is what these hills are a continuation of I suppose.

Over the other side of the mountains it was very cold 1 deg C and misty.

As I got on the motorway along the top of Spain I got into the sunshine again. Loads of Viaducts very high up crossing the Valleys 

Luckily there was hardly any wind and the windmills were all silent. I can imagine that this drive on a blustery day would be horrible. I was eating the miles at 120 Kmh and downhill I had to keep checking my speed. 

I turned off the motorway for a bit to have a look at a town, half looking for a Hotel for the night but nothing looked good.

There I was humming along the motorway,and as the engine dropped down a gear to get up a steep hill, suddenly the car just lost power, luckily it was right next to a turn off, to I pulled off the motorway. The engine sounded ok, I checked underneath no oil or water loss, the engine smelt a bit hot, but then it had been running for hours at 120m kmh.

So I pulled off the motorway and found a place in a town on the coast to park and turned the car off and had a walk to see if the engine management would clear itself. Also I did have a trust plug, which when plugged into the service port took all ABS and traction control off . I would try that. It was Sunday so no chance of a garage being open. If the car stopped altogether I would ring my insurance and just get a truck to come and pick me up and deliver me at the port it was only about 300 miles away.

Well after about 20 minutes , I tried the car again, it started ok sounded ok, no oil or water lost, so it must be the engine management putting the car into "get you home mode" to stop and damage to the car. That is max 3000 rpm in every gear , manual gear change thru 6 gears means a slow start and max 60 mph. So got off motorway and started looking for Hotels and I still did not have Phone data no 3 or 4g so I could only look for Hotels if I found a cafe with Wifi.

I did try my trust plug, which worked for a while full power, but then engine management kicked back in and it all goes slow again. So basically some sensor or valve had stopped working and the engine management system says NO. 

But which meant I could get home, or at least too the port unaided if it keeps going.

So I take to the B roads, keep off the motorways and carry on. It will mean a longer drive, but it is still sunny, so sit back relax and look at the scenery. 

And the roads the Sat Nav took me were amazing.

I saw larger corn stores or horreo  in this area

This northern part of Spain has some beautiful rolling green countryside

One of the many Viaducts built for the motorway I will not be going on.

My sat nav after several bad attempts, leading me to closed hotels or Motels where you can rent the room by the hour! leads me to this hotel at the end of a road on the top of a cliff with and amazing view.

The view from my room. 

Hotel la Colina, Gijon, the most expensive Hotel on my whole trip , but a nice view. 

There was a path down to the beach! but luckily it was getting dark and it was cold and windy so went back to the tea room and had some coffee and cake before retiring to my room It had been a long and worrying day.

The final view as the sun was setting. 

What would tomorrow bring, I worked it out that on the B roads it would take me about 7 hours to get to Bilbao, which was doable. 

I searched for a Hotel while on the Hotel Wifi and even booked it up, it was a 20 minute drive from the Hotel to the Port , so if Smarty keeps going I will make it home to England.