Summer in Spain (again)

Well, it wasn't sooo bad, it rained heavily during the "performance" so I think rain stopped play. It definitely didn't go on until the early hours, when I woke sometime during the early morning, all was quiet.

We're riding on the via verde today, everywhere will be wet after the rain but the via verde is surfaced.

Tigertom said:
Sounds as thought the supermarkets dia and lupa should be headlining at Glastonbury………..anagram of Dua Lipa !
Click to expand...

Oh, clever 😂
 
Martin planned, via Komoot, and then transferred to Wikiloc, a very nice ride. He kept us on small roads and the via verde, because the tracks would have been rather wet and challenging. We visited some lovely villages, and in between, some of the houses were rather grand. The village of Puente Viesgo was especially pretty, with its splendid Town Hall, but it was especially busy with tourists, with a Sunday rastro Market as well.

A forest of Eucalyptus trees.
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Viaduct
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The crooked house
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In Puente Viesgo
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Somewhere on the route
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And the Romanesque Chapel
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We had another Komoot planned ride today. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite as well. A bit through a beech forest on a Roman route, turned out to be rather wet, stony and muddy.

We rode, and pushed, until it suddenly turned into tarmac!

The bikes have been washed and put away clean.

Apart from that section, the rest was pleasant. Green fields with barns, and a few very small villages.

We finished through the park. A lorry, there to take away the dismantled fiesta marquee, was stuck in mud. We didn't feel soooo bad after all.

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Tomorrow, we're heading to Torrelevega. We need fuel (😨), some food and drink shopping and a laundry.

We may then head to the private motorhome parking area at Cóbreces. Another place we visited last year when I was struggling with my cracked ribs. I have some exploring to do.

Last year we fell for the folk festival. It appears it's not until the 12-14th July this year, so we should have a quieter time.
 
We've had a day of domestic duties (well a morning). We "did" a laundry, a farmacia and a Lupa (especially visited to see if they did wine in boxes. Failed)

We then continued to get fuel at 1.31.9€ (the cheapest around) and a shop in Aldi. Martin then walked to a Carrefour and got us a box of red and one of pink.

We like the boxes for weight reasons, mainly 🤣
 
We continued onto our present spot. We were here last year. A lovely privately owned parking. The lady owner will try to dredge up any language needed! In the best possible way. We speak to her in Spanish. I think she understands us 🤭.

It's gravel parking at the village of Cóbreces. €12 a night without leccy. A further €4 for leccy. And a few bits more for showers and washing machine.

We've just had a (not) UK stealth van park next to us 🤣🤣🤣.

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The village has some lovely churches, and the nearby coast is stunning. I've not been out with my camera, yet.

I've got a lot to see that I missed last year 👍
 
I've got a tick on my right, inner achilles. The tick remover isn't in its normal place. Martin is taking a siesta, so I'm leaving it until he wakes.

I'm convinced it's growing whilst I'm watching it (now I know it's there).
 
rb62 said:
You can pack more in as well 👍

View attachment 918059
Click to expand...

Maybe you can. We can't. And still be responsible to our weight limits 🤭🤣
jumartoo said:
I've got a tick on my right, inner achilles. The tick remover isn't in its normal place. Martin is taking a siesta, so I'm leaving it until he wakes.

I'm convinced it's growing whilst I'm watching it (now I know it's there).
Click to expand...


Tick now removed. No obvious mark from where it was.
 
jumartoo said:
We continued onto our present spot. We were here last year. A lovely privately owned parking. The lady owner will try to dredge up any language needed! In the best possible way. We speak to her in Spanish. I think she understands us 🤭.

It's gravel parking at the village of Cóbreces. €12 a night without leccy. A further €4 for leccy. And a few bits more for showers and washing machine.

We've just had a (not) UK stealth van park next to us 🤣🤣🤣.

View attachment 918045

The village has some lovely churches, and the nearby coast is stunning. I've not been out with my camera, yet.

I've got a lot to see that I missed last year 👍
Click to expand...
With that colour, it doesn't look very 'stealth'
 
So today, we set off on a 40km bike ride, planned by jumar .

We met lots of people walking one of the Caminos. The Camino Cantabria, we think?

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Or a version of the Camino del Norte?

Anyway, we wished them "buen camino"

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We rode through more tiny villages and hamlets. I don't think a Brit has set foot in some of these places, ever ... and they got two for one, today 🤣

We arrived at a place with more civilisation, and then immediately headed off back up to the unknown.

We passed one of the (obligatory) quirky places. This was better than some we've seen.

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And then, in the highest, middle of nowhere, point, we found this.

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Nothing, anywhere around!!! So strange.

We eventually dropped down to the coast, and the busy roads, and people ...

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And the beach.

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Noooo, not for us!

It's a good job we're not all the same 😊

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We decided, yesterday evening, to spend another day and night here.

This morning I noticed that our fridge, that defrosted yesterday, wasn't working quite as well as it should, and has been for some weeks.

Martin has had the grill off, and he's cleaned the jet. The fridge was firing up before with no problem, but not getting cold. We're hoping it's now sorted. We're going to need it over the coming months.
 
We rode another jumarroute and again, it was very nice, except when we arrived into the "very nice, tourist village of Santillana del Mar". Very nice to some. There are some lovely old buildings, but it also contains, for me, the very worst of tourist tat! (Peavy tat = rubbish/cheap stuff). Lots of tee-shirt, tea towel shops, and lots of people wandering oblivious 😂😂😂. I heard more English spoken riding through the main square than I've heard for over a month (apart from in our own motorhome, that is).

Some photos. Early on ...

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And then this .... we struggled to get ebikes up some of the track, a 4 x 4 would really be necessary. The sign allows motorhomes during the day 😨. A nice place if you do make it!
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We then arrived in Santillana del Mar 😨😨

Lovely, for some, especially if you're on foot.



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We then rode back out into quietness.
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Before returning back to the motorhome.

Martin to sort the bikes, and then the fridge, and me to prepare lunch.

We will, probably, move on tomorrow 🤔🤔🤔
 
Did Martin clean the flue and baffle, that’ll help too..

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Just smiffy said:
Did Martin clean the flue and baffle, that’ll help too..
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I will be doing, but just now I've only got a toothbrush, shoebrush.sweeping brush, Basil brush, scrubbing brush, nail brush, hair brush (not really) bike brush, car brush But not got a Flue and Baffle brush....although my Spanish is reasonable...I might struggle at the hardware shop tomorrow asking for one....
"cepillo para botellas".. or a bottle brush might be what I need....🥳🇪🇦👍
 
Have you ever visited the prehistoric cave art collection just outside Santillaner, over visiting means you can’t go into the actual caves now but they have replicated them perfectly to view. Very interesting. The town is one of Spain’s top places to visit I believe, once when we were in Galicia a young Spanish couple left us a note when they left saying we should visit there and Comillas. I asked my Spanish friend from Los Alcazares & he said they were both well known to visit, hence all the tourists, so we did 😊
 
royandsharont said:
Have you ever visited the prehistoric cave art collection just outside Santillaner, over visiting means you can’t go into the actual caves now but they have replicated them perfectly to view. Very interesting. The town is one of Spain’s top places to visit I believe, once when we were in Galicia a young Spanish couple left us a note when they left saying we should visit there and Comillas. I asked my Spanish friend from Los Alcazares & he said they were both well known to visit, hence all the tourists, so we did 😊
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You are talking about Altamira!
Amazing paintings. As you said, there's a replica because of degradation of the paintings in the original cave.
When I was a kid, I did a school trip (the replica didn't exist then) but the visits was restricted to a few people per day.
A raffle took place because only a teacher and 2 or 3 kids per class were allowed. I was lucky enough to be one of them. I remember how well the shape of the celling was used to draw the different animals there.
What an experience it was.

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Fridge cold, beer cold...Happy jumar 🤭

Just got to pick up some new brake pads for my bike tomorrow.... I've clocked up 4000km on the current set....which is good going..
Special pads for my Magura brakes...not been able to buy locally before we left home or in local outlets...would you believe my bike has ABS braking and 4 pistons, which means 4 pads per caliper....whatever next...
Got some being dropped off by our good friend Mr Amazon in Gijon....😀😀
 
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Peavy said:
You are talking about Altamira!
Amazing paintings. As you said, there's a replica because of degradation of the paintings in the original cave.
When I was a kid, I did a school trip (the replica didn't exist then) but the visits was restricted to a few people per day.
A raffle took place because only a teacher and 2 or 3 kids per class were allowed. I was lucky enough to be one of them. I remember how well the shape of the celling was used to draw the different animals there.
What an experience it was.
Click to expand...


I'd like to see the original cave, I wouldn't be too bothered about a replica.

Even so, its all too touristy for us.

We much prefer the natural scenes.
 
We're leaving here today. We have to be in Gijon tomorrow, to pick up some brake pads for Martin's bike (they're very rare, apparently), so we're hoping to get a spot on a new motorhome area at Villaviciosa for tonight.

Unfortunately we'll be missing a part of the coast, but we can come back another year.
 

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