Ola Cantabria - Loredo - October 31st

We hit the road again and continue our journey. After a relaxed breakfast and packing up, we saddle up around noon. We continue along the coastal road for a while, up and down, as it's quite hilly here. In order to reach our destination today, we switch to the highway near Bilbao and are amazed by this huge city, but quickly leave it behind. We leave the Basque Country and reach the Cantabria region. Near Santander, we discover the Ribamontan al Mar region and settle down on a spot right by the beach in Loredo. The sky is bright blue and we sit in shorts in the sun, wonderful! In the early evening, we take a stroll through the village, do some shopping at the local store, and then enjoy a delicious dinner. Across from us, young Spaniards are setting up their camp and I wonder why they don't turn off their car...then we realize, they're setting up small video cameras, everyone goes back into the car, and now they're replaying their arrival...that's how a real travel report is made...not like this semi-professional writing here...! I think we'll film our next arrival too...! The guys are nice though, they start grilling right after filming and give us some finest bones for our dog...he's happy...!

The night is warm and the next morning is not sunny but dry. We found good information material at the reception and choose a beautiful route along the coast. The cliffs look impressive, even though everything appears foggy in this light. After about half an hour, it starts raining and there's no bush or tree in sight...doesn't matter...at least it's warm and feels like a mild summer rain. We continue walking along the coastal path, leading us to beautiful beach coves. We climb down to the water, watch the surfers, and enjoy having the cove almost to ourselves. The weather remains unsettled and it drizzles again...and it gets heavier...we stand under cover for a short time, waiting for drier weather, but somehow that doesn't work out and we simply continue walking in the rain. We pass through the small village of Langre and suddenly it's dry...yippee! We reach Loredo again in the afternoon and make a stop at a super nice little bar. The floor is designed like the ocean with epoxy resin, the tables are surfboards, and the chairs are small Hollywood swings, really nicely done. We have two coffees, eat homemade tortilla and homemade cheesecake...mmmhhhh...a feast! Stuffed, we walk back to the beach to the campsite. We can't believe it, but the sky clears up again and shows itself in its finest blue, who would have thought! Back at the campsite, we realize that it has become "fuller". Mainly, there are permanent campers and bungalows here, and it's All Saints' Day, also a holiday here...so, a long weekend! The permanent campers across from us, from young to old, all family members are there, scrubbing their already sparkling caravans, and it's a lively scene to watch. The old boss, about 1.40m tall, wears a pink housecoat, just like Aunt Ichen used to wear in Gelsenkirchen, and has a cigarette in her mouth...and after she made the first announcement, we now know who the voice actor of E.T. is...hahahaha...we almost wet ourselves with laughter, wonderful! Speaking of getting wet...if we don't have rain, we just flood our pitch ourselves...! When we arrived, we already saw a water pipe with a shut-off valve lying horizontally on the ground...mmhhh...we immediately said, we have to be careful here, because if someone trips over the shut-off valve, it won't be shut off anymore and then...trouble. Being careful took about two hours...I'm half in the bus and draw Jörni's attention to a hornet in the bus...he comes to look, trips over the valve with the dog, the thing opens, and I feel like the fire brigade detonated a C-hose projectile that almost catapulted me into the bus...it takes a moment to check the situation, Jörni manages to shut it off again, and then...yeah, then you're just WET...! It's dripping in the bus, it has reached up to the steering wheel, my pants are soaked. Great...well done! We can hardly believe that nobody really noticed and we're more than happy that nobody is standing right across from us...if the Spanish guys had parked their orange metallic-colored sport seat there, maybe with the door open...then...yes, then...we would have been blow-drying for a long time...!

But now we know and we'll be even more careful. Jörni succeeds in being careful for another three hours...and then he walks into this damn lever again...this time I'm sitting right across from it...the jet unexpectedly hits my feet with full force! Every single pore in the cork sole is soaked to the max...it takes another fraction of a second for the valve to be closed again, Jörni laughs...I don't anymore...! The pitch is also muddy and wet...it's not raining for once and then this...!

Then Volker approaches us, a cyclist from Taunus who started four weeks ago and still wants to go all the way to Marrakesh...respect! That's a total of about 3500 km...! By bike...crazy! It just shows again how much space we have had for months on less than 5 sqm...! He tells us about great encounters and we spend the evening together in front of our bus. Later, it starts raining again and we go to sleep.

Volker left early this morning and we haven't seen him since, he left us greetings and his phone number on a note on the bus. Maybe we'll meet him again, our routes are similar!

The weather remains unsettled in the morning, the whole next week is supposed to be bad along the coast, rainy...of course, the rainmakers are coming...Portugal urgently needs water...no problem, we'll bring it along...! Let's wait and see...it's just weather! I use the time to write. We're going to take a walk to Somo soon, another village. We hope it stays dry!

The caravan next door is currently being offered for sale...that's why they were scrubbing it...! So, anyone in Spain who wants to buy a tip-top caravan, freshly cleaned, from the voice actor of E.T., let us know quickly, otherwise it'll be gone...!

...doesn't look good, it seems to be sold...!

We went to Somo, had some more tortilla and peeled some crabs (which didn't go so well with our sausage fingers...!). After that, we did some shopping and went back to the base. There doesn't seem to be any program here today! The Spanish guys moved due to the wind, the gay couple hitched their Eriba to their Fiat 500 and took off, and there's nothing much happening with the new caravan owners either! Time for bed and a new destination!

Goodbye...