BillytheBus

30th April Travel to Santander day. A lazy start as there was no rush plus the wind was picking up...a lot. Then the rain came, horizontally. But, hahaha, the big Merc was copping most of it & they were packing up & it had a sliding door on the windward side. Karma. We left near midday & set the Dyson for Carrefour in Santander where after a wet & very windy drive, we bought some wine & had lunch. We got to the port in plenty of time where we wondered what the crossing would be like ...We left on time & after 5 minutes the ship was already rocking & rolling. Then we left the harbour... Well, what a hoot! After another 2 minutes a tannoy announcement came on to say that the doors to ... read more

28th April Not a bad start to the day. We decided to leave the bikes & walk around the beach to Isla, the next village along the coast. We had to get our sandals off & wade across the river that emptied across the sands. Nothing there apart from a couple of big hotels, holiday apartment blocks, cafes & restaurants most of which were closed; 10 minutes & we walked back & had a late lunch & read again. Early afternoon a Spanish couple turned up & parked next to us on the shade side, no problem. Later in the afternoon another couple were wandering about & noted the pitch number on the other side of us. This site is huge but first class & must have 200 motorhome pitches available to choose from; you guessed ... read more

26th April What a night! Not what I would have meant 40 years ago but the weather...it rained solidly all night & so loud it kept waking us up constantly. An awful nights sleep, but we woke at 7.30am, I made tea & we commented how early people were leaving..until Cathy realised that my fitbit watch was on UK time & we were an hour behind...it was now gone 9am. Ha! No worries, away in between the rain & off east to Noja about 3 hours away along the coastal motorway. The rain hammered down most of the journey, no wonder it’s called the green coast, Costa Verde. The peaks of the Picos de Europa were still covered in snow. Into Noja, the site we used to use when the children were young, obviously, us reliving ... read more

24th April Spoke to the lady from the mountains last night; they apparently had sold their house last year, bought a big van & toured Europe for a year & were about to go home. They wanted 3 weeks at home, go off again, go home, sell the van, go to Oz next year then come home & then they’d ‘probably’ have to go back to work again. I asked where they would live. The reply was we have 2 grown children... quote, pay back time! Looked at the forecast last night & it seems that today was going to be the last hot day before some mixed weather for a while so we decided to do some washing in the morning to ensure getting it dry. Once we had hung it out we jumped on ... read more

22nd April Yes, confirmation email back from the police lady this morning, Chilly night last night with Cathy hogging the quilt for a change. No idea what temperature but it was only 9* when we left. Packed up for a reasonable time & away via the little shop for bread & away east to the motorway through the National Park which was very pretty. The motorway north took us onto the plains which were very plain... & flat, just mostly rough scrubland & not much else except for lots of birds of prey. Then we crossed a small viaduct over a small river & every thing just changed – green, verdant agriculture, the change was just so clear. Must be different soil & not just irrigation. The mountains north came into view which looked impressive with ... read more