then it was time for some caves. The guided tour inside this Unesco site near Santender made Marlies fall asleep but the rest of us enjoyed the 15000 years old paintings.
We continued our tour along the rough nothern coast. Spain's ruggedly beautiful Costa Verde is one of it's least touristy coastal regions, therefore one of the most beautiful with small fishing villages and its often wild coast hide pretty beaches. Inland were rolling green hills dotted with picturesque farmhouses.
During the children's afternoon sleep the next days we had to cover several kilometers in order to drive to the French border and meet my mother and husband. We had spent our last night in Spain in Zarautz which hosts   a World Surfing Championship each year. 
With my mother we spent 4 nice days on a relaxing campsite at the lake Biscarrosse before traversing France in order to get to Switzerland until the end of the month.
It was good to be back in France again. The French little roads, the nice rural campsites, the medieval character of the countryside and of course the delicious bread. We had to cover several kilometers on the highway but as soon as the children woke up, we left the road to find a nice spot for a picknick, sitting on a blanket.

Afternoons we visited some nice French Chateaux in which Sophie started dancing in the large rooms or went searching for her prince in the unnumerable rooms and towers.
Marlies was amazed by the flowers in the beautiful lush gardens. Evenings the children could play in the campsite's playgrounds while we enjoyed the scenery and the warm nights.

Our first destination back in Spain was Santiago de Compostella.  Because we couldn,t find a campsite, we camped near a remote little chappel. It was a quiet night as graveyards tend to be :-)
Nowadays the Jacobstrail to Santiago the Compostella is mainly a find yourself hike than a religiously based pilgrimage. We saw some pilgrims on the way to Santiago.
Arriving there, we visited the cathedral that contained the tomb with the remains of the apostel Jacob. Part of the pilgrimage is the hugging of a 13th century wooden statue of Jacob. Sophie's Maria kept on glowing...
In town hung a very special atmosphere of pilgrims meeting up with each other again in the medieval little streets full of religious elements.

We continued to drive along the Costa de Morte, a rough and rocky coast that is dangerous for ships because of the many underwater rocks. While walking the dogs in the morning I saw a group of about 50 dolfins passing the bay, tumbling through the waves.
We continued with a marvelous tour along the rough and rocky coast with pristine beaches every few kilometer.  This area is known for its rough weather as well so that must be the reason why it is pretty unspoilt here. We are lucky having a good portion of sunshine, little wind and nice temperatures.
The little harbour villages with the wooden houses painted red an blue, give the area a scandinavian characture. 
Evenings we arrived at Capo de Fisterra, a surreal landend surrounded by sea. This place is the end of the pilgrimage to Santiago. People are said to burn their socks and shirts here. Along the way we saw a pair of abandoned shoes. We spent the night at a beautiful camping spot on the ridge of the landend.
The next morning we woke up in the middle of a cloud that blew over the cliff. After looking at the map we realized we had several kilometers to drive... Sophie's wish was a picknick on the beach so we searched for the best beach and found a 7 km! snow white sand beach with a caribbian tuquise shore and deep blue sea.
During the girls' afternoon sleep we drove to Frouxeira where we again found a wonderful place to spent the night; at a little private beach in the middle of the dunes. The kids could play at the beach, the dogs had space and later in the evening only a fisherman passed by. The north of Spain sometimes reminded us of Chile in South America.

On our way to Cudillero we stopped to visit the Praia as Catedrais. This spectular sandy stretch is home to awesome Gothic-looking rock arches we could walk around, underneath and through because of the low tide.