Tapp's Travels

EURO-TRAVELLERS 2018. 02

2. SANTANDER

The Bay of Biscay – and specifically the stories of rough waters in that part of the Atlantic Ocean – have put us off using the Santander crossing for ever. This year Brittany Ferries wanted silly money for our usual route – Plymouth to Roscoff return. For just £150 extra we could go to Santander (in northern Spain) and return from Roscoff. This means we can avoid three days driving with associated fuel and autoroute tolls – not to mention the difficulties of getting the toll tickets out of and back into the machines. And then there’s the campsite costs…

So, no-brainer.  Glenda stocked up on Quells, dramamine, stugeron, ibuprofen, cannabis, aspirin and paracetamol. She psyched herself up for a 21 hour ferry trip through turbulent waters. We booked a large outside cabin midships and headed off for Plymouth. A super-easy trip got us there in plenty of time – although, it’s true to say that most of the other passengers had beaten us into the queue. We sailed through the security checks avoiding the need to open the caravan and have all our possessions rifled by the security team who, as we passed, were openly discussing how many more searches they had to do before they could knock off.

We sailed on to the ferry and were directed to poll position for getting off at the other end. (Strictly speaking, we were second in line after a lorry – but they don’t count.) We found that our outside cabin had transmogrified into an inner one. Again, strictly speaking, that change had happened ages before as a close inspection of our ticket revealed. “John you should check the small print!” Anyway, while we were queuing, Glenda had tried to sweet-talk chief of staff Denise into finding us an outside cabin. No chance. All fully booked. But as we were driving down the ramp we were stopped by an orange-clad crew member while Denise ran along side us and thrust tickets for an outside cabin into Glenda’s hands. Result!

Previous experience of BF beds has taught us that they aren’t the softest things on which to sleep. And the pillows tend to be filled with rocks. I’d hate to give the impression that we are hard to please – but, with the forthcoming mission across one of the world’s roughest patches of water, sleeping was high on the agenda. So we asked for some soft pillows and a spare duvet to increase the luxuriousness of one of the beds. Pillows, no problem. Duvet, no chance!  However, we discovered that our two-bed cabin was actually four-bedded accommodation. There were two extra beds cunningly concealed in the roof. Two beds with a duvet each! So, soft beds for us!

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Arriving in Santander

The whole trip was fantastic. The restaurant buffet meal was great and the sea super-calm. It was probably our smoothest ever crossing to the continent. Apparently some people saw several pods of dolphins but we were concentrating on making the most of our soft beds!

We zoomed off the boat and through customs/immigration which was manned by a very happy official and we were loose in Spain. Glenda managed to keep John on the right road (with a little difficulty!). The roads were excellent. None of the pot-holes we are becoming accustomed to in the UK. And once off the motorway (which are free – so no hold-ups as we try to get tickets), the country roads were smooth and nearly deserted. Just like Devon – NOT!

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Caravaning Oyambre is where we ended up. After a grand total of 72 miles motoring from home we were sitting looking at the snow covered peaks of the Picos mountains:

The village of Comillas is only 5 kms away and is weirdly over-endowed with grandiose buildings (courtesy of the Marquis of Comillas who wanted to impress having invited the king to stay). We visited one of only three buildings outside of Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudi. El Capricho de Gaudi – Gaudi’s caprice. Built for Maximo Diaz de Quijano, a young lawyer and friend of the Marquis of Comillas. Sadly, he died six days after it was finished. To be honest, it is a bit; …well er … gaudy for my taste – especially externally. But it was a very interesting visit and very well narrated by our English-speaking guide. There were lots of cleverly designed features throughout the house – like the counter-balanced roller blinds which were hard to open (by me) and easy to close (by a Dutch lady of my choosing) (Best not to ask!)

D:\JTUserData\Documents\PICTURES\My new phone 2\2018\Spain + resized\20180522_124045-734x1305.jpg   El Caprico – tower

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El Capricho – South side

We wandered through town past the cemetery and found ourselves on a fantastic beach.

D:\JTUserData\Documents\PICTURES\My new phone 2\2018\Spain + resized\20180522_153630-734x1305.jpg    Comillas cemetery and port

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Afterwards we headed inland towards the mountains but got distracted at a place called Ruente by an attractive-looking gravel road alongside the River Saja. Good riverside walk.

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Followed by a visit to a little bar/restaurant – La Vetusta. Sadly, there was no English menu – nor even a Spanish one – on display. While humming and harring in an embarrassed sort of tourist way, we were approached by a young man with a note pad. Fortunately he spoke enough English to convince us the place was worth a punt. Well, for 13.50€ he was offering us a three course meal with a bottle of wine and a bottle of water. Plus he gave us an extra starter because he couldn’t tell us what it was in English. It was absolutely brilliant. Our fish pie has to wait till tomorrow. 

While we were in the Cabuerniga Valley we had a sticky beak at a lovely little site. Superb “facilities” with flowers and pot plants in the “facilities” – really well looked after but sadly almost empty. However, allegedly, they had choughs on site and nightingales in the adjacent hedgerows. These remained unseen and unheard.

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Posh entrance to campsite facilities.

More to follow…

 

 

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