Spain is a wonderful country to explore, full of surprises. It truly is epic.

You may know from our 'Return to the land of Paella & Flamenco' post, the inspiration behind this road trip, and that had given us a plan.

As always on these trips I have my own guidelines

The journey from home to Portsmouth has to be the least favourite part of the whole trip - no wait, it's the journey from the ferry back home after the trip - This is the second worst part of the journey. (Actually to be fair, it wasn't a bad journey after all)

Our ship is Brittany Ferries - Cap Finistère.

Progress through the port is slow, and boarding seems to take an age (but I suppose there are potentially 500 cars boarding). This is the chance to view your shipmates for the next day.

A mix of those on a similar touring schedule - be it by motorbike or by car, those returning to their Spanish bolthole for winter and the truck drivers.

So a mixed bunch.

The ferry crossing times vary, some with one night on board, others with two. We've selected ours with just the one night - more time on the road.

The crossing forces you to slow down a bit - that's not a bad thing. Time to settle into this trip, pick up a good book. I have opted for 'Don Quixote', or to give it it's full title 'The history of the valorous and wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha', it'll be a while before we're heading across the plains of La Mancha though.

My attempts at slipping into a Spanish frame of mind are hampered, because, rather obviously, this Brittany Ferries ship has very French feel to it. So I get to practice my very poor, broken, French, before assaulting the Spanish with my equally bad attempt at their language. I stick to my basics though; "please", "thank you" ,"beer" & "wine", oh and smiles & thumbs.

If you're travelling to Santander your ship will dock right next to the town. In Bilbao you have a relatively short drive of around 6miles/10kms to the centre of town.

In planning your adventure don't overlook Bilbao or Santander.

Both port towns are firm favourites of mine, Bilbao has a great mix from the old of Casco Viejo to the shiny Guggenheim, despite being nearly 20 years old it still looks stunning.

Santander - I'll get to that later.

However, the thing about both places was the people. We came across a lot of smiles, and a lot of warmth. We also came back with the Calimocho in Spanish or Kalimotxo in Basque - basically red wine and cola - don't knock it until you've tried it.

For more of our adventures in Bilbao, check out Janis's post 'Bilbao, A rough diamond in Spain’s Basque country?'

Heading onto our next destination, we opt for a quick motorway sprint past Santander, but decide to visit the historical Santillana del Mar.

We then take to the backroads onto our destination for the next couple of nights of Oviedo. Make sure you check out their statues & sculptures and it won't be hard to remember you're in cider country.

The sight that sticks in my mind is of those hiking the Camino de Santiago.

This taster of the Northern Spanish coast has confirmed a belief that this deserves a tour of its own at a more leisurely pace. Noted for a later escapade.

Before heading south we opt to seek out Mount Naranco, with its imposing statue of Christ overlooking Oviedo.

On the road again, where possible avoiding the 'A' roads & motorways and sticking to the 'N' roads. As you leave the Asturias region and head into Castile y León you'll notice the lush green landscape gives way to a dry vista. The apple orchards that provided the Asturias with their cider, is now replaced by vineyards.

Segovia made the itinerary because of a BBC documentary on the Romans

However, nothing prepares you for the first sight of the aqueduct. To see this nearly 2,000 year old structure is truly impressive.

My GPS's desire for me to nearly drive into it, is less impressive.

This is the first time that Audi's inbuilt Sat-Nav has let me down on this trip - but we all know that the GPS is there as guidance. So time to try to resolve the issue.

The three nights in Segovia are just enough for us enjoy all it has to offer.

We dined on suckling pig, a local speciality, next to the aqueduct, but we actually preferred hanging around Plaza Mayor, admiring the beautifully lit Cathedral at night.

We now move from one Unesco town to another, Cáceres via another, Ávila.

To be honest we only had a couple of hours to appreciate Ávila.

One of the ways we enjoy a place is to feel its atmosphere, to pull up a chair at a bar in a square and watch the world go by. All the better whilst enjoying something local - normally alcoholic - but this being a road trip that thought is banished and we stroll around admiring this city.

It was a surprise that so much within the city is new, and it doesn't always blend seamlessly with its historic neighbours.

The majestic walls of this city contain all number of treasures - sadly we don't have the time to enjoy them.

The welcome of a Parador awaits.

When planning these trips we check out the locations with Google's Streetview where we can.

We're travelling in our own car, and we've got ourselves into a tight spot on one or two occasions.

Cáceres turned out to be another occasion where it got a little tight.

As I said we checked Streetview before booking the Parador. The roads around the historical centre of the town are tight, and fortunately a number only flow one way.

However outside the hotel in Streetview is a minibus and a decent size Mercedes, hence the assumption that my Audi should be able to manage the roads.

The problem was all the available spaces at this particular Parador were taken, and some of the parking was, shall we say, interesting.

So we decided to use the available off-site parking, and the minibus transfer.

Once parked up, keys safely stashed we headed into Plaza Mayor, selected our bar of choice and enjoyed as dusk enveloped us.

That crisp cerveza was well earned.

Despite the near scrape, Cáceres is not to be missed. Check out 'The Moors left their mark, Cáceres'

You can see we like our history, no surprise then as we head south towards Andalucía we checkout 'Mérida'. This is another potential for 'Road Trip III - You just can't get enough of Spain'

The next destination was inevitable wasn't it?

So this is our second road trip through Spain, and when we put the pins in the map for this adventure we came across a problem.

That problem was Seville. On our 2014 road trip we discovered Seville, and it was love - for both of us.

So when we happened to have a spare week of annual leave in late 2015 there was only one choice - Seville again.

Then how could we come to Spain again and miss Seville? Well we couldn't. Again Seville did not disappoint.

Our choice of accommodation was 'Sevilla Central Suites Apartamentos Puerta Jerez', somewhere more relaxed, with parking but incredibly central. Also being an apartment suite it allowed us to launder - essential on a three week break.

Based on our experiences we've come up with '16 Ways to Tempt your Senses in Seville'

That people always ask when we said we're planning a road trip through Spain was 'Are you going to Córdoba?' Well this time, the answer was yes.

Seville to Córdoba was a relatively short journey - the problem is that English weather ensued, and yep it rained. Therefore the plan to visit Setenil de las Bodegas was thwarted. There will be another chance.

Córdoba provided one of the highlights of the trip - the stunning 'Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba'

The pictures we had seen had not prepared us for this.

However it was only one of the '12 Good excuses to visit the ancient city of Córdoba'

This question divides people. However, heading between Córdoba to Úbeda I would imagine you will get a resounding yes - you are in olive country after all.

After driving through mile after mile of olive groves I decided it was time to launch the drone.

To be honest I was pleased with the results. It gives an amazing view of this wonderful landscape.

On to Úbeda then, but it would have been remiss not to have visited its UNESCO partner, Baeza too. This is Renaissance Spain at its finest.

Arriving at Palacio de la Rambla, we now had the task of shoe-horning the Audi into what was once meant for carriages. The staff managed to squeeze us in, whilst the audible alarms from the car's parking sensors cried out in defiance.

A couple of nights in this charming town and I've learnt a little more about olives, and discovered Vermouth. It's also confirmed what we already knew - there's so much of Spain to explore, and it's amazing.

And talking of amazing...

The next destination is Cuenca, and its amazing hanging houses. However before that we have another stopover planned.

On out 2014 road trip we took the time out to visit the windmills of Consuegra, this time we head for Campo de Criptana. I now snigger as I think of Don Quixote charging down these giants.

The walk to the town across the Puente de San Pablo is interesting, and to be avoided if you're acrophobic.

The town has some fantastic sights, but appears to go to sleep once the towns tourists depart on their day trip coaches.

It's certainly worth your time, but I'm not sure I could live in the hanging houses.

As the journey north continues, so we hit more of the inevitable - rain. It is mid-October after all and this was to be expected. It's only light drizzle, and it doesn't distract from the stunning environment.

The route is to cut across country to Calatayud, before heading towards Soria and onto Logroño. The dramatic landscape, with rock faces either side, and the colours of autumn provided a road trip to remember. It may not have the full glory of New England in the fall, but it is impressive.

The rain has given way to grey skies, and then the blue skies. The view alternates between twisty roads, and those long open stretches that seem to extend as far as the eye can see.

As we arrive in Logroño a familiar sight greets us - those hiking the Camino de Santiago.

The reason we selected Logroño was for Calle del Laurel - a street lined with Tapas bars, bustling with people late into the evening.

Logroño gave another view into the Spanish soul through Rioja & Street Art.

… It would have been Burgos. So as we head onto our final destination we decide to check out the city. Let's see what we missed. Okay, we're scouting - after nearly 3 weeks on the road we've not had enough. That's testament to this beautiful country and it's wonderful people.

Burgos does not disappoint. We spend a couple of hours soaking up this wonderful city, and you know from experience that it's only going to get better after the sun sets. I think we'll be back.

Those azure blue skies have returned and we head to our final destination.

Don't overlook Bilbao and Santander - we didn't. Bilbao was wonderful, although hard to believe that was just 3 weeks ago, but Santander is also worthy of your time.

Why does it surprise me that this town oozes elegance? Maybe not in that traditional Italian style, this is Spain after all.

To see couples, young & old, promenade along the Paseo de Pereda in the warm Spanish evening air is just a beautiful way to end this adventure.

Santander has been great again, and we're glad we squeezed in an extra day to see more of this town.

Will we be back? You bet.

So that's it ...

We picked 10 stopovers (excluding the ferry), was on the road a total of 26 nights (including the ferry, so road & sea I s'pose), visited 8 regions of Spain. It was an amazing trip and one that left us wanting more.

The disappointments, not many. I wish we could have visited more places but that's an excuse for the next trip.

This is a list of some of the places we couldn't fit in this time around.