So we just got back from our 5th annual road trip - this year to Santiago De Compostela and northern Spain taking in the Picos de Europa.
We set off from Lancashire early morning last Sunday (9th) heading for the Pont Avon Brittany ferry to Santander from Plymouth. We were booked on the 3.45 ferry so we just took the motorway route to be on the safe side and, in fact, arrived a couple of hours early.
Rather than hang around the port car park we made our way to the Hoe promenade.....
.........which I thought was really picturesque.....
.............and was made even better by the fact that there was a large gathering of about thirty or so Ferraris - everything from classic Dinos and Testarossas to brand new 488's. Not a bad way to kill a couple of hours - slurping one of those oyster ice creams (haven't had one of those since I was a kid !) whilst checking out the cars.
There were a lot of bikes on the ferry, including a group of Hells Angels but loading on was relatively stress free. I had taken padding for the seat strap but, unlike the Hull to Rotterdam P&O ferry, they provided the padding and the crew strapped down the bike....
The crossing was calm and with the help of a few beers it passed quickly but we ate in the main restaurant and I'll swear the steak I had, had run in the 3.30 at Kempton in a former life..... and I thought the French were supposed to be good at the culinary art !....
We had booked our first hotel in Santillana del Mar only a few miles from Santander and we arrived mid afternoon. It was the Hotel Spa San Marcos and we had two nights there.
This was a gem of a hotel with classic bikes dotted around the place as ornaments......
......and a small collection of classic cars in the garage where we were allowed to park the bikes for security........
It was also only a short 5 minute stroll into the ancient and historic town which had lots of restaurants, tapas bars etc.....
It also had a Museo de Tortura (torture museum) but be warned, it's not for the faint hearted.
Homo Sapiens must surely be the most evil animal that ever existed !!