Maria - my airbnb host in Santander
Undistinguished exit from Santander: got lost several times, in the sense of knowing where I was but not how to get to where I wanted to go! Took most of the morning to circumnavigate the estuary, ie move about a mile to the east from where I stayed! I persevered, got some essential glucose into the blood and finally found a route out, round the coast towards the north and Bilbao. This was the cautious/sensible option, ie still within range of civilisation but moving in the right direction: east.
Santona is a busy little market town on the coast and I have just seen that it'sdirectly north of Ramales de Victoria, so have decided that I'll head south after all. Amazingly, when I stopped, my satnav showed 49.9km, so the old stomach clock never lies!
The road out of Santona led across a series of lakes with a backdrop of dramatic hills, up which I then had to climb. Surprise, surprise the navigation didn't go brilliantly in that I saw a sign to Villa Vente (?), my next billet, just before Ramales - adding another 20k to my total. That place disappeared but a tourist office directed me to an alternative - yet another few k's up the road. Went up the hill and was feeling very tired indeed, especially when I found it was the wrong road. Back down and on to the right place, only to find that the hostel was another killing 3k up a very steep hill, up which I crawled with the very last of my energy and a rather commendable courage. Thankfully www.agroturismo-gurenaia.com turned out to be real and I fell into a shower/bed vowing..what? It's not as though I go astray on purpose. Too tired for supper (and there's no cafes up here anyway) but hot sweet tea and salted peanuts are going down rather well.
Tomorrow really should be a shorter leg (to Amurrio) and hopefully I won't get another puncture!
The Spanish people are all terribly helpful and speak more english than I do spanish. I ask the way about five times a day.
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