27 FEB – This morning I reluctantly packed all my kit, loaded the bike and headed north, leaving Portugal and riding back into Spain. When I left the weather was glorious, warm and sunny, and it’s been like that for the whole day – but I know that tomorrow the rain is due to arrive, with another storm due.
A few days I was thinking about heading north and then east along the northern coast of Spain, and then at the Pyrenees, ride north along the west coast of France, all the way to Calais – but – it seems for the next week or two the weather is going to be grim, so its time to go home. I left it to the last possible minute so after making the final decision at breakfast I booked a ferry ticket from Santander to Rosslare for three days time and booked two nights in a guest-house in Santander.
I would have like to hug the coast heading north but it’s a bit of a jump today so I decided to go A to B – and took the fastest and straightest route possible, which was A-roads for the first half of the ride and then motorway.
I got to Santander this evening, arriving at the guest house about 6pm. Tomorrow I want to see more of the city, and then on Thursday I’ll be catching the Ferry. Yes, the trip has more or less finished now and I’m feeling pretty sad about it. I would like to stay out longer but I have to be practical about this and accept that its just too cold and wet to be staying out longer, so I have to go home.
Today was a pretty boring ride – but it was a hard ride of over 400 miles due to the cold weather. When I left Porto the temperature was 12 degrees and sunny, but as I rode up into the Portuguese mountains the temperature dropped to 6 degrees, which was a bit of a shock. Fortunately, once I passed out of Portugal into Spain the elevation reduced and the temperature went back to 12 degrees, which was a relief. But only temporary, as when I started climbing into the Spanish mountains again, between Leon and Burgos, the temperature dropped to 4 degrees and there was lots of snow on the mountains and alongside the motorway. Man, it was sooooo cold. Brrrrrrr…
Going over the mountains I started to question my own existence and then wonder about the meaning of life – but thankfully the road started dropping towards Santander and the temperature started to rise. I even had my heated handlebar grips on full and my hands were still cold. At one point when I stopped for fuel, I opened my bag and put on every piece of warm clothing I had. It was cold..!
So, tomorrow I’ll be doing some sightseeing and then the following day – it’s the ferry and my passage home. All good things must sadly come to an end.
28 FEB – I spent the day walking around Santander. I caught the bus into town late morning, as there is a bus-stop just a few minutes’ walk from the Auberge. Santander is a very modern city. I was really curious and happy to spend a day walking around the city as sometimes, especially with a ferry-port, all we ever see is the port, and never the city that sits behind those entry or exit gates.
There has always been a port here since the 11th century, and over the hundreds of years the city has burnt down twice. The first time was around 1893 when a ship in the harbour carrying 40 tons of dynamite blew up, wrecking many of the buildings near the port. In 1941 there was a fire, and fanned by a strong southerly wind, it burnt for two days and destroyed most of the town – including the ‘old-town’ which was made of wooden buildings.
After that a period of reconstruction began. It took around 25 years to rebuild the city in its entirety, and since then the two has grown into a big modern city. Unfortunately, it was raining all day so this morning I had to buy an umbrella. Even though it was wet, I still found it interesting to walk around the city, visiting their museum, the main art gallery and several coffee shops.
Unfortunately for me, the art gallery was all modern art, and I’m not very good with that but it was nice just to be in the dry for while. I also enjoyed a really good evening meal at one of the many eateries in the centre before catching a bus back to the Auberge, and getting an early night before tomorrow’s ferry.
