Hello I will be travelling from Santander on Monday arriving by ferrry 12.15 and will be driving to Vera Playa - Page 3

would be an advantage along with the obligatory cowboy boots,flared jeans,and a penchant for cheesy music :)

Sounds awesome. Would love to do that in a camper van back to Blighty one day. So much to see and do

To be honest,as lovely as that bridge is....I don't think I would be admiring the view driving that high up. Would scare the bejesus out of me. Man I come over all unnecessary when we come over that gorge bridge just before getting off the Los Gallardos turning on the motorway.As soon as I look away and see the support pillars I am done for :)

We did the Millau viaduct this time. 1000 metres high, 1.5 kilometres across. Spectacular! 

We did the Millau viaduct this time. 1000 metres high, 1.5 kilometres across. Spectacular! 

I've done it several times without overnight stopping.  It's about 9hrs, generally including 3 breaks, in a Renault Trafic van to Velez Rubio.  The ideal boat is the Sunday night sailing that arrives Tuesday morning - then you have the entire day ahead of you for the drive. But you can arrive at different days around 2pm and drive through the afternoon / evening.  I usually make a first stop between Burgos and Aranda - there's a petrol station at KM 189 with good food, toilets etc.

Driving over the Somosierra is fantastic, and then the M50 around Madrid is a breeze.  There is more traffic on the M25 at 2am.

Who's been to Carboneras thru mojacar and once there glanced back at the fete of engineering that takes the road into the rock face again on pillars and stilts ? Very scary lol

Not quite that far but we always stop at El Villa ( not a spelling mistake) at Castejon near Pamplona. It’s one of a local group called Bed4U. The rooms are great but we go for the food. They do an all you can eat buffet of so many different foods. Most are grilled or BBQd in front of you. Look up bed4uhotels.com. 

Hi, Yes we've done it a few times from Bilbao to Mojacar although the last time we did it was nearly 20 years ago. The ferry that we booked was the 2 day crossing that arrived at the port in the early morning and disembarked at around 0800.  It used to take us around 12 hours but at the time we had small kids and made lots of stops.  Also, I think the roads will have improved since then.  

I was in my late thirties then and would probably find the drive tiring now, unless you share the driving.  I'm actually doing the same route on a motorbike this year and will be stopping at the Parador in Cuenca going down and avoiding Madrid!

Good luck.