Woken at 5.45am ships and British time and saw the sunrise over the Pais Vasco/Euskadi coast with a smoke on deck.
The bike was all in 1 piece when I got down to the car deck and started 1st time meaning the alarm hadn’t been going off for the last 34hrs onboard. Straight thorough Spanish customs with a cursory look at my passport although how the compared this to a bloke in a motorcycle helmet with tinted visor and foggy mask obscuring everything below my nose means they must be better at their job than the impression
they gave off casual lounging about in their shades smoking Ducados. Good thing I’m not an international terrorist or drug smuggler but they didn’t offer those course at my Uni.As I’d forgotten about the early start and the resultant mild sleep deprived vino tinto fuzziness that ensued I was soon out of Pais Vasco/Euskadi and around the Cantabrian coast and in Santilliana del Mar by 12.30. The place was heaving with a large wedding going on but had the nice scenery of all the lovely senora’s in their best wedding outfits all the better for their skimpyness given the nice day.
As I was already at my first planned
stop by lunchtime I decided to press onto Potes and save myself a day for later in the trip.Swapping the coastal scenery for the hills things really picked up scenery wise passed Panes and saw plenty of bikes on the road between Panes and Potes and onward to Fuente De. Usual mix of Power Rangers on sports bikes and Ewan McGregor wannabes on big GS’s, still a friendlier lot than british bikes with nearly everyone acknowledging me and I soon picked up the 2 fingered peace type clutch hand acknowlgement geasture. Also a few quads in attendance but these are all restricted so passed them easily.
A 30 miles round trip detour to Fuente De from Potes taking advantage of the fast sweeping road and scenery. Fuente De was fairly busy with punters taking the cable car up the mountain but I had a campsite to find at LA Vega so pressed on.
On the road back through the touristy town of Potes saw a stunning girl the picture of Penelope Cruz and nearly went into the back of the car in front, good thing me were only crawling along.
The campsite at La Vega was quite quiet with only
me camping, a French couple in a motor home and some Spaniards in a couple of the bungalows. At check in there was it was obvious that the campsite owner was trying to tell me something but as in common with most Spaniards over 25 he didn’t speak a word of English and my linguistic skills are hardly shit hot but sign language prevailed and it turned out there was no hot water. So after my first of may cold showers of the trip, actually quite welcome given the 25degree heat today, I made a trip to the bar for a couple of San Miguels before dinner, unfortunately they weren’t doing food at the campsite and it was a 20min trip back up the road to Potes so Ainsley Harriott to the rescue with some spice sensation couscous and a Scottish style Chicken and Leek soup for a taste of home from the emergency stash cooked up o
n the old camp stove.
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