Leaving Mérida, Heading South
The road out of Mérida pulls you into nothing. Fields. Stunted olive trees. A ridge
Kevin
August 13, 2025
We are Kevin and Mary, two retired post office owners from Hull who traded the hustle and bustle of parcels and postage for a rolling home on four wheels.
Camp España is the story of our first mobile journey through Spain.
The road out of Mérida pulls you into nothing. Fields. Stunted olive trees. A ridge
We were nearly gone. Bags packed, fridge humming again in the van, Mary wearing her
We slept like we’d been tranquilised. Shutters half shut, fan ticking, no clinking from the
We got to Mérida just after 8pm, which for Spain is still the middle of
We pulled off near Trujillo because the toilet was full, the fridge was making a
We didn’t exactly rush out of Porto. The van stayed put until the sun had
We stayed in Porto after the sun went down. No rush to get back to
We’d left Viana do Castelo late, hugging the coast where we could. Porto didn’t welcome
We slid into Portugal like we were sneaking out of a party we never got
We didn’t walk the Camino. Let’s get that out of the way upfront, before the
We were warned. Back in Viveiro, a man selling sardines out of a cooler box
We should have known the Costa da Morte would push us around a little. The
We didn’t mean to end up in wine country. Not in the way people plan
We weren’t even sure we wanted to go. Finisterre, the so-called “end of the world,”
I don’t know why we nearly skipped Carnota. It was just a name on the
The drive to Ortigueira started off well enough. The road hugged the coastline, offering up
No lorries on the road this morning. A couple of farm vans, one guy on
Madrid was loud, fast, and exhausting. We’d spent weeks in the quiet of northern Spain,
Swapping the salty sea air for dry, rolling plains, we turned our backs on the
Leaving Cudillero behind, we set off towards Foz, a small coastal town that looked like