Day 10 - Burgos to Picos de Europa National Park

Sunday 03/05/2015

Slept well until I woke to the sound of rain at 05:00. We've been really lucky with the weather on this trip at this time of year, so I guess it had to rain a bit more. Luckily the wind and rain stopped by the time we got half way through the Picos.

Lovely mountain range - shame that so much of the initial views were spoiled by rain and fog. Once we crossed over one of the 1400m passes, the weather immediately changed for the better and the roads became amazing. In all my excitement I shot off ahead like Valentino Rossi and left Dino behind. I stopped and waited for him but he didn't show so I figured that he'd crashed so I turned back. Luckily all was well - his rear brake fluid had boiled and he had lost his rear brake!

Great time to stop for lunch in the lovely mountains whilst Dino's brakes cooled down! Had a nice salad starter followed by steak and washed down with coffee and coke. Not bad for €10 each. 

Anyway after a quick lesson in how not to boil your brake fluid we continued taking in stunning scene after scene - green hills, forrests, lakes, rocky mountains, sheer cliff faces, snowy peaks, an amazing gorge, etc. There is a lot of stunning and variable scenery here within a relatively small space. Pound for pound better value than the Pyrenees and very close to Santander so easily do-able as a long weekend escape.

Anyway we slowly (lots of stops) made our way to our current campsite which is situated just under a mountain - lovely. On the back-roads it's about 3 hours from Santander so we have plenty of time to make the ship tomorrow afternoon.

Great day - what a magical way to conclude our Spanish adventure. Also nice to be in a little village that has the choice of two bars and to have a top Chilli-con-Smash meal with mushroom soup and coffee - all in the correct order for a change!

Mileage: 1444
Beers: 46 + 2 cartons of Don Simon (red) + 5 bottles of local cider + 1 carton of Don Simon (sangria) + 1 Rioja (red)
Ass pain: 0/10
Mechanical issues: 1 (minor self inflicted)
Accidents: 1 (minor Dino bike drop)
Coldness: 2/10