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Wednesday dawned dry but damp. The rain had stopped! Everywhere was very water-logged due to heavy persistent rain overnight but for today it had stopped! Many campers have packed up and started to head home. The Northern Europeans bracing themselves for the long drive home through France (or to head to the Med further south), the Brits to head for the Santander ferry to get an early crossing and the Spanish are nowhere to be seen. The Spanish don´t do camping in the rain! There are still a few brave French souls about but not many. We thought (on Wednesday) that maybe we should think about heading for the Med as well i.e. heading home. The forecast does not look at all good and nobody is going to the Picos, they are shrouded in mist and heavy rain.
Wednesday, however, was dry for our walk so we walked the 9 km coastal pathway, above Biscay´s beautiful bays of sand and grey granite rock. We had a peaceful picnic on a damp grassy plot above the sea. All in all, it was a pleasant day of panoramic views, taking many more last photos of this wild and rugged coastline and this
wild sea, so benign and blue just a few days ago and now, although not as fierce as yesterday, most daunting and uninviting. In the evening it started to rain again and continued all night.
This morning, Thursday, we decamped in heavy rain and packed everything wet, wet awning, wet groundsheet, wet dogs (God, dogs really do stink when they are wet). Our pitch was getting decidedly water-logged so we felt that it was time to move on! We headed east, towards Santander and the campsite at Colombres at the foot of the Picos de Europa. The journey was just 153 kilometres but it took over three grey and dismal hours on the motorway. We got an occasional glimpse of the scenery but mostly we couldn´t see anything much at all. We could have just kept driving east and then south, but ever optimistic, we thought we still might get to see the Picos as planned and stay here a few days. And so we stopped at Camping Colombres.
We arrived here to find that there were no other campers at all, they had all left over the last few days. The pitches were so water-logged that we
have had to park our caravan on one of the campsite roads (at least here we can plug in to the electric supply). We cannot put the awning up, so the wet dogs are sleeping with us tonight! Not much fun really, especially since Mutley loves to fill confined spaces with foul smells when he relaxes for sleep! Not looking forward to tonight much! Apart from taking the dogs for a few short walks in the rain we are here in the caravan whilst the rain beats down all around us. The campsite boasts panoramic views of the Picos de Europa, but all we can see is grey mist. We have been advised not to bother driving up in to the mountains so sadly, this part of our trip is to be postponed until later in the year.There is no point in staying longer so tomorrow we are heading south. We shall try to reach Segovia and then after a few days there head on home.
The Picos de Europa: ancient mariners, when returning to northern Spain from the Americas, saw these peaks as their first European land-sightings and so named them the "Peaks of Europe". Less well-known than
the Alps or the Pyrenees (both of which we have visited many times), the Picos are rugged and mysterious. There are no ski resorts here, but there are dwindling populations of wolf and bear. The Picos form one of Spain´s many diverse national parks (Spain has the most diverse terrain in Europe e.g. deserts, mountains, mild temperate zones, sub-tropical, Mediterranean, salt flats and wetlands).The Picos are one of the few remaining truly wild landscapes of Western Europe. There are some small mountain towns and villages, hostels, campsites and little else here apart from km after km of awesome scenery. The ancient mariners saw the Picos from way out at sea. We are camped at the foot of these mountains and cannot see them at all! We are not giving up on the Picos. We shall come back, probably in September to complete this tour.
So tomorrow morning we are also going to head for the Med, like many others have done this week. It is "Goodbye" to the green green beautiful Costa Verde and south to the sun.
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Pat
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Rivers Streams and Lakes
Sounds like you are having a great time. Which made me think .... you need a task. If you see any small water plants in a river, could you get me a cutting for my little pond? Evidently, they don't sell them in Spain!! Thanks and have a good time during the rest of your journey Pat