{"id":303,"date":"2018-10-02T18:08:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T18:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=303"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:31:40","slug":"euro-travellers-2018-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=303","title":{"rendered":"EURO-TRAVELLERS 2018. 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

2.\u00a0 SANTANDER<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 This year Brittany Ferries wanted silly money for our usual route – Plymouth to Roscoff return.\u00a0 For just \u00a3150 extra we could go to Santander (in northern Spain) and return from Roscoff.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And then there’s the campsite costs…<\/p>\n

So, no-brainer.\u00a0 Glenda stocked up on Quells, dramamine, stugeron, ibuprofen, cannabis, aspirin and paracetamol.\u00a0 She psyched herself up for a 21 hour ferry trip through turbulent waters.\u00a0 We booked a large outside cabin midships and headed off for Plymouth.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

We sailed on to the ferry and were directed to poll position for getting off at the other end.\u00a0 (Strictly speaking, we were second in line after a lorry – but they don’t count.)\u00a0 We found that our outside cabin had transmogrified into an inner one.\u00a0 Again, strictly speaking, that change had happened ages before as a close inspection of our ticket revealed.\u00a0 “John you should check the small print!”\u00a0 Anyway, while we were queuing, Glenda had tried to sweet-talk chief of staff Denise into finding us an outside cabin.\u00a0 No chance.\u00a0 All fully booked.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Result!<\/p>\n

Previous experience of BF beds has taught us that they aren’t the softest things on which to sleep.\u00a0 And the pillows tend to be filled with rocks.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So we asked for some soft pillows and a spare duvet to increase the luxuriousness of one of the beds.\u00a0 Pillows, no problem.\u00a0 Duvet, no chance!\u00a0 However, we discovered that our two-bed cabin was actually four-bedded accommodation.\u00a0 There were two extra beds cunningly concealed in the roof.\u00a0 Two beds with a duvet each!\u00a0 So, soft beds for us!<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Arriving in Santander<\/span><\/p>\n

The whole trip was fantastic.\u00a0 The restaurant buffet meal was great and the sea super-calm.\u00a0 It was probably our smoothest ever crossing to the continent.\u00a0 Apparently some people saw several pods of dolphins but we were concentrating on making the most of our soft beds!<\/span><\/p>\n

We zoomed off the boat and through customs\/immigration which was manned by a very happy official and we were loose in Spain.\u00a0 Glenda managed to keep John on the right road (with a little difficulty!).\u00a0 The roads were excellent.\u00a0 None of the pot-holes we are becoming accustomed to in the UK.\u00a0 And once off the motorway (which was free – so no hold-ups as we try to get tickets), the country roads were smooth and nearly deserted.\u00a0 Just like Devon – NOT!<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Caravaning Oyambre is where we ended up.\u00a0 After a grand total of 72 miles motoring from home we were sitting looking at the snow covered peaks of the Picos mountains:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The village of Comillas is only 5 kms away and is\u00a0<\/span>weirdly over-endowed with grandiose buildings (courtesy of the Marquis of Comillas who wanted to impress, having invited the king to stay).\u00a0 We visited one of only three buildings outside of Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudi. El Capricho de Gaudi – Gaudi’s caprice.\u00a0 Built for Maximo Diaz de Quijano, a young lawyer and friend of the Marquis of Comillas.\u00a0 Sadly, he died six days after it was finished.\u00a0 To be honest, it is a bit … well er … gaudy for my taste – especially externally.\u00a0 But it was a very interesting visit and very well narrated by our English-speaking guide.\u00a0 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!)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My\u00a0 \u00a0El Caprico – tower<\/span><\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

El Capricho – South side<\/span><\/p>\n

We wandered through town past the cemetery and found ourselves on a fantastic beach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Comillas cemetery and port<\/span><\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Good riverside walk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Followed by a visit to a little bar\/restaurant – La Vetusta.\u00a0 Sadly, there was no English menu – nor even a Spanish one – on display.\u00a0 While humming and harring in an embarrassed sort of tourist way, we were approached by a young man with a note pad.\u00a0 Fortunately he spoke enough English to convince us the place was worth a punt.\u00a0 Well, for \u20ac13.50 he was offering us a three course meal with a bottle of wine and a bottle of water.\u00a0 Plus he gave us an extra starter because he couldn’t tell us what it was in English.\u00a0 It was absolutely brilliant.\u00a0 Our fish pie has to wait till tomorrow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While we were in the Cabuerniga Valley we had a sticky beak at a lovely little site.\u00a0 Superb “facilities” with flowers and pot plants in the “facilities” – really well looked after but sadly almost empty.\u00a0 However, allegedly, they had choughs on site and nightingales in the adjacent hedgerows. These remained unseen and unheard.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Posh entrance to campsite facilities.<\/p>\n

More to follow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This year Brittany Ferries wanted silly money for… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-portugal-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8102,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/8102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}