Bay of Biscay

One of my (Sofia's) goals for this trip is to visit the ocean/sea/bay/whatever saltwater body of water is closest to where we're staying in each place we stay at least once, with Pippin.

Today was that day for our Bilbao stay!

30 minutes of train ride and 20 minutes of walking got us to Arrigunaga Beach, on the Bay of Biscay (the bay bounded by France & Spain on the UK side).

(Before I tell you more about beach time, I want to tell you about Pippin's project these days. In their words, they are "training" their food chopping skills/knife skills. They've watched a knife skills video at least 40 times, which has meant that they've been able to work on their knife skills without incident for the last few days.)

Pippin finds waves at the beach (or at a wave pool) very compelling. That, plus my own sense of feeling nourished by being near the ocean, both drive my need to get us out to the beach.

This time was no different.

This time was no different. Their gleeful expressions engaging with the waves (only up to their ankles in the water, it was too cold for any more than that!), our building of "dams" to try to stop the waves, building a structure with sticks that had been washed up to shore, combined with the feeling in my body watching and hearing the waves being waves was, in fact, nourishment to my soul.

The view from the beach included industrial area across the river, and it smelled industrial. I didn't really notice a saltwater smell, actually. The smell of the air was more like petroleum of some kind, which definitely detracted from the experience.

I don't know how much access to an ocean/bay beach will be able to factor into our final decision of where we live. There are so many factors to balance and consider. But, there is a place in me that really cries out to live somewhere where I can hop on a train to go to a lovely, saltwater smelling beach with waves for the afternoon on a regular basis, any time of the year.