Hotel Nh Express Santader Santander

Twas a rough old night as we free camped (including a wonderful fish barbecue) on Oyambre beach, and it soon became apparent that our surf boards were non too happy perched a-top the van roof; this to the extent that they attempted to become detached at around 5am ...

A very pretty (cobbled alleyways, olde worlde stylee, cows in a field with not only udders, but also tuneful bells which, when youºve got a dozen, made quite a din a la Mike Oldfield) little town, unlike the campsite which was essentially a sodden piece of grass, for which we were charged Euro 22, for the pleasure of a night's shut-eye. <br>

Leaving San Sebastian behind we drove to Santander to spend the night. With nothing more then the car, no place to stay and no plan. As luck turns out we found a cheap Pension to stay at, and ate in their quaint little restaurant, treated to warm hospitality, good food, and free Grappa and Lemonchelo

... perfection! And that definitely would have been a dream come true for me, if it happened to be her sitting there eating toast and olive oil, instead of that little old lady!<br><br>Off to Santillana del Mar - when I was at the Mercado del Este earlier, I stopped at the TI and got some information on various day trips in the area. Their suggestion was Santillana del Mar, because Comillas was famous for its beach, something that wouldn't be ...

... at La Magdalena, which was a nice place for a stroll, and an even nicer place for a picnic. The picnic was cut short, as the winds in La Magdalena were picking up, and it looked like a storm was blowing in.<br><br>Luckily, the storm didn't come, and I finished up my picnic just outside of the park, before going for a walk. It's a little difficult doing aimless wandering in El Sardinero, since it lacks the dimly-lit and narrow streets that ...

... this was definitely NOT a disappointment. One particularly attractive salesgirl made me chuckle inside, because she reminded of a quote I once read on the internet about Spanish women - the quote basically stated that Spanish women were so cute because of what he termed the Iberian overbite. This salesgirl had a bit of that overbite, and I realized that it probably was what made her so darned cute! I don't visit a lot of Sfera stores while ...

... optimistic 2 hours for any National Rail-oh-it's-Sunday-we-really<br>can't be-bothered-related-slippage. We needn't have worried. A mere<br>6 hours, mercifully free of unruly toddlers, tepid coffee or undue<br>delay and with one of those toilets with the electric sliding doors<br>that actually worked, we arrived in Plymouth. A 10 minute<br>walk across the city was slightly more then enough to convince us<br>we'd had a lucky escape, and we were soon taking our place ...

... br> <br><br> Things got better on arrival into Santander as the rain i feared would be waiting for me on arrival had thankfully been replaced by mostly clear and sunny skies. With a Brittney Ferries fry up in my belly and a spring in my step i disembarked and pedeled my way through the maze that is Santander. After about an hour i broke free from the shakles of the city onto the open road ...

... collision (which, 9 times out of 10 that was the case). The mountains were beautiful! But not in the way you usually think of beautiful mountains.They were really cool, but not lush at all. I would call them desert mountains. They were mostly rock, which was amazing to see, and covered in sand and cactii (or whatever the plural form of cactus is...). This was very different from all the mountains in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican mountains are so green, and alive, and exotic. These ...

... group of people where the nearest club was. His reply, "Why dont you try and pick up in a bar first?" This response bemused me a little before Ali explained in Spain a club is a brothel on the outskirts of a town, so in effect i had just walked up to a group a girls and guys and flat out asked where the nearest brothel was! Oop, not so culturally sensitive on that one. So yeah the club was good! Just kidding it was great! (joking mum ...