Day 11 - Picos de Europa National Park to Santander Port

Monday 04/05/2015

Goodbye Spain - it's been great to see another (better) side of you and to appreciate what you have to offer whilst hopefully helping make a small positive  contribution to your financial defecit by supporting the smaller rural economy.

The night was relatively warm and despite getting off to sleep well I woke-up at 03:00 after a nightmare about getting attacked by a bear. Couldn't get back to sleep after that.... Anyway, left the campsite as planned at 10:00 and slowly zig-zagged our way out of the Picos and back into Santander for an early check-in with Brittany Ferries.

The scenic route was very slow but took in some nice roads and great little sea-side towns. We had a bit of drizzle but the weather was warm, although very windy. Shame to be leaving but I guess you can't take a permanent vacation (can you)?

The loading of the ship was chaos. Why o why do they have to cram all the motorbikes in so tight? My panniers were battered by every bike trying to squeeze into an impossible gap next to my bike and one guy dropped his huge Honda Pan-European and wedged himself against the wall of the ship (I thought he'd broken his neck). It took five of us to pick his bike up and free him! Very annoying and unnecessary especially as it all went very smoothly on the way over......

We grabbed some food on the ship and then went for a walkabout. The sun came out in all it's glory so we monged-out on some benches in the sun where I fell asleep for a bit. The crossing is getting rough - will be interesting overnight.

Dino went dolphin spotting whilst I hit the bar early. Nice to drink a bit of cider in the sun! Dino felt pretty ill because of the waves so called it a night earlier than he might of. I stayed on, helped the old couple next to me win an 80's music quiz and then watched the amazing thunder whilst listening to the band on the ship which were actually OK.

Just think, tomorrow we are back in safe old predictable England!

Mileage: 1510
Beers: 54 + 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: 0/10