Lordeo
No Traveling
I managed to watch Apollo 13 last night but it was hard going and I had to have my ear phones in to keep out the noise of the rain pounding the top of the caravan. Jeepers it was relentless!!!
I got to bed just after 10pm and Wendy was fast asleep and I nodded off nice and easily. Then at some point in the night the wind picked up and the rain got even heavier. It must have been force 10, the caravan was rocking on its legs, in fact at one point I think two of the legs were off the ground. I bet that Bay of Biscay was tossing and turning what with all that wind.
I could tell Wendy was scared as she was snuggling me out of bed.
I asked her when she woke up this morning if she was scared and she said, “Caravans blow over you know”, “Yes”, I said, “But only in Hurricanes Wend!”
I didn’t actually get up until 08:30 as we had such a noisy night and guess what, Wendy never got out of her scratcher again to go running.
Me, I wrapped up good and proper with an extra waterproof jacket, a scarf and I even Vaseline’d my legs good and proper as I was expecting a drenching but thankfully apart from a five minute hail storm I got off scot free.
When I got back Wendy was huffing and puffing again as the internet was out. I guess the storm has had an effect on it.
For breakfast I toasted a pitta bread and then put on it a good dollop of Vegemite topped with Creamy Camembert cheese topped with emmental cheese, popped it back under the grill and then ate it with lashings of soya sauce. Jeepers it was a triple delight!
We set off just after midday for our first port of call, Lidl, where we stocked up on Cava for Wendy who for some reason wants to start a fizz hoard.
12 bottles later we were on our way, with one extra bottle for sample purposes.
Next we headed to the city of Santander as we have heard very good things about it, and it didn’t disappoint.
It was cold but the wind had calmed down a bit and we were wrapped up. We parked near the docks and walked into the city as it wasn’t very far.
What an interesting place it was, it wasn’t great from an architectural point of view. There weren’t many old buildings or monuments. But there were heaps of good shops, cloths shops, bric a brac shops, electrical shops, the lot really but mainly cloths and wedding dress shops. I must have seen a half dozen wedding shops, it must be the bridal capital of Spain!!!
We walked and walked and even with the odd rain shower chucked in we had a very good time.
We stopped for a cup of coffee and a bit of cake in a café on the ground floor of a metal building which was on the sea wall. The coffee was the best I have had this trip, it was so good I had two cups.
After coffee we continued to stroll and did a bit of shopping.
I bought: A jumper, a pair of gloves, a woolly hat and an umbrella.
Wendy bought some minor Christmas pressies.
We completed proceedings just after 5pm and headed back to the car and off home we went but not before filling the car with fuel at 98 pence a litre!
When we were about 2 miles from camp I went down to a small harbour because I wanted to check something out. The bay of Santander is quite large and it’s a 16 mile trip around it for us to get into the city but I have seen a ferry running from our side over to town. Sure enough the ferry operates from this harbour and apparently it’s an interesting trip. Therefore we are going to spend another night here and catch the ferry tomorrow and explore the area to the west of where we have been today, well that’s the intention, but we will have to see what the weather is like.
I have to admit to a driving mistake whilst trying to find the ferry kiosk. Robyn was phoning my phone, then it stopped and Wendy is then scrambling in her bag as her phone was going. I saw a gap in the fence, (and I was somewhat distracted), and it looked like a car park so I drove through it and over a pavement, and scrapped the bottom of the car, a bit. Well the way Wendy reacted you would think we were under attack from an artillery bombardment. I had driven into a nice paved seated area and it was nothing like a car park. I had to scrape the bottom away again as I made my escape with Wend tut, tutting as I did so.
We got back to the van just in time as the heavens opened with a massive hail storm, it was like we were under attack from a stone throwing mob, the noise was that loud. I have some video of it but I don’t think the iPhone video does the noise justice.
Supper was down to me, chicken thighs, mushrooms, sweetcorn, onion, peppers and garlic in a sweet and sour sauce that I got from a shop in town. There was that much sauce we had it in bowls with some lovely fresh bread and it was a cracking winter warmer, stonking in fact. Maybe a little too much garlic, I only put two cloves in but they seem to be so strong on the Continent don’t you know, it might be a thirsty night as well as noisy!
We cracked open the bottle of sample Cava and it was very nice indeed.
We settled down to watch Strictly it Takes Two and after that we will soon be off to bed, I’d like to be an early bird tonight so I can get some good exploring in tomorrow!