We stood on the doggy deck with some friends who are making their way over to Spain with their caravan to travel round looking for an area they would like to live in and then buy property. They too have made the 'big decision' but it really was sheer coincidence that they were on the same ferry, a fact which we discovered only about 3 months ago. Their son had travelled from Littlehampton, where they are from, to Portsmouth and was on the Round Tower to see them off. They had a flag to make it easier for him to spot them and FaceTimed as we went past. It was very weird to see us going past on Pat's phone as we stood on deck, via her son's phone over on land! Obviously it was quite emotional for her and that set me off too. In any event, I shared his Facebook post of this on my Facebook, so if you are a friend on FB take a look!
We struggled through the next hour or two in the wind on the dog deck and eventually decided we had to trial leaving our two fur babies for a bit, but the small dog kennels really are very long and narrow and we wanted them to be together during the day time which was pretty difficult. Added to which some of the dogs were barking and howling and it was a bit smelly (not dirty, just dog wee smelly) and we weren't too happy at all about leaving members of our family there. And then just as we were panicking over leaving them we were paged and by some miracle a dog friendly cabin was available. We literally ran to get our little dogs and carried them as fast as we could to a wonderful cabin which was also an outside one which meant that Tally could do her favourite thing in the whole world - sitting on the window ledge and watching the world (or sea!) go by. This made us a lot more relaxed about the whole trip. The boat was well appointed with entertainments, cinema, various bars and places to eat, swimming pool and so on.
The first part of the journey was idyllic in lovely sunshine with a wonderful sunset which I captured
but in the evening the boat started to pitch and roll. By 8.30pm Ian declared he didn't feel too great and fled the scene (he left nearly an entire pint so I knew he meant it!). The night was a very long one and the Bay or Biscay lived up to it's reputation. The boat was all over the place and whilst this didn't affect me or the dogs, Ian has a TOP TIP: bring travel sickness pills/bands etc!! I showered in the morning wedged against the wall or ran the risk of falling. Needless to say Ian passed on the planned breakfast. Feeling slightly guilty I thoroughly enjoyed mine but made the most of it by taking some rolls and pastries for Ian to eat later once on terra firma.
We arrived in Bilbao under very grey skies and some rain with grey, foamy seas which rather contradicted our expectations of arriving to some Spanish sunshine! If travelling with dogs you have to take them back to the car when called (abut 50 minutes before disembarkation) and then return to the passenger area. Fortunately Tally and Alfie were fine to be left and we were soon reunited. Whilst our passports were checked, with regard to the dogs we could have arrived with a Rottweiler and a German Shepherd for all that the dog passports were checked but at least it meant we got away quickly. The satnav was a godsend and we found our way out of Bilbao very well and used the wonderful toll motorways to Zaragoza (costs about 35 euros) where we had booked at the Ibis Budget which is dog-friendly.
If you make a similar journey we can recommend stopping off somewhere like Zaragoza to break things up, and the Ibis Budget is on the outskirts of the city with secure underground parking and basic but clean and modern rooms. There's also a square behind the hotel with some grass to walk/toilet the dogs and parks nearby. We took them for a walk to a cafe for beer and coffee and then left them in our room to find a great local bar that did wonderful cheap food. As we were the only non-locals in there we took it as a good sign. As this isn't a tourist area, locals are far less likely to speak English so it might be worth bearing this in mind if considering a similar trip (my Spanish is reasonable so we had no problems) so TOP TIP: if you don't speak basic Spanish, use a translation app on your phone or bring a phrase book!
We were so exhausted that we slept well apart from Tally and Alfie deciding to bring us some of their biscuits in the night in case we got hungry - bless! Other than that they were angels and slept well in their beds. Breakfast is extra but we can recommend it - lots of tea/coffee/juice + pastries, bread, cereal, yoghurts and fruit. We paid 25 euros for breakfast, dogs and parking. The room was 24 euros so we thought this was pretty good value :-) I'm typing this using the hotel's free WiFi before we pack up and head off for Barcelona and the ferry across to Mallorca :-D Hasta luego!
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