Day 171
Gracias España
And so it was finally here. Our last ride in Spain. We were heading to Santander and our ferry home, an easy 19 miles, some steep hills and a mix of quiet roads through villages and the old highway, all too quick we were there. We even had great weather, the first time in shorts since we rode to Elx! When we arrived in Santander our grand tour of Spain was complete. We felt very sad to be leaving but also very proud of what we had achieved. One thing for sure was that we had been changed for the better by our experiences in this wonderful country. Some stunning places and many awesome people. A tear or two was shed when we got to the seashore knowing this bit of our world tour was over.
For our journey to the UK I had (miraculously – see Day 74) managed to get us onto a crossing with Brittany Ferries even though they are not taking bookings from cyclists for this service. A fair amount of pleading, mentions of COP26, global warming etc. hadn’t seemed to get me anywhere, however money talks. Once they realised I was happy to pay for motorbikes we were on. Except we weren’t.
First of all life started to get a little complicated due to the Omicron strain of Covid. We needed to book a PCR for when we arrived home, and sort somewhere to isolate until we got the results. A wonderful Warmshowers host in Portsmouth, Bev, offered to help us out and my sister, Liz, offered her house for us to isolate in. She would move in with our sister Carly. Thanks girls! PCR test booked and we were sorted. Except we weren’t.
Then the UK Labour party got in on the act, and pressurised the government to insist we take a lateral flow test before leaving Spain. Not a problem, I have been carrying some since Lincoln! Jane, our Warmshowers host there had given me a few. We were sorted. Except we weren’t.
Despite the weather improving in Spain, in the Atlantic things were going to get bad, very bad. A simple text from Brittany Ferries said ‘sorry your ferry is cancelled, email for a refund or ring us.’! I rang. After a fair bit of a wait we were offered a sailing on Saturday, meaning an extra three nights in Santander. We were also going to have to rough it on the ferry as there are no cabins, but at least we would get back to the UK. Several hours on hold and I managed to rearrange our PCR tests. An apartment booked in Santander and a few hours of sun enabled us to wander around before the storm hit! We have bought supplies, tomorrow is a Spanish holiday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we are bunkering down in style!
We are sorted.... hopefully!
Gracias España, siempre estarás en nuestros corazones.
Couple of images courtesy of Google Maps and windy.com - both awesome too.
