Santillana del Mar comes as a surprise to those of us that haven’t done the prep and read about this place. Fancy having planning controls going back to the 16C. when you have such amazing stone buildings.
This town is a tourist town certainly but it’s thoroughly deserved. Beautiful sturdy Cotswold stone coloured buildings are everywhere. The stone quoins, lintols and supports are impressive but there’s plenty of substantial hefty cross sections of wood too.
We wander the streets, looking at the wares aimed at us tourists but encounter cascades of water from the roof tiles. It’s raining and there are no gutters!
The bar is welcoming and we cleverly order dos cañas de cerveza having learnt this glass size from a bartender in Tenerife. We are rewarded with a plate of crisps too and settle on the bar stools, wondering whether to eat here.
Unfortunately we discuss this for too long and the tables fill and we are left on the bar stools until we decide to wander again.
Inside another place, a small restaurant, we hesitate again but this time because we are ‘first in’. It’s only 7:30pm but the waitress is happy to see us and the place reassuringly fills over the next 30mins. The menu needs some of that Google translate with the camera and a bit of a chat with the lady and it all goes well. There’s no tripe in the dishes and anything is better than that,
We wander back the few hundred metres to the convenient aire and settle down for the night, with the quite shrill sound of the bells chiming each hour. As seems to be so common across continental Europe, the chimes at each hour are repeated a minute or so after they are first heard. I find this frustrating at times because it isn’t clear just when it is o’clock and also because the chimes continue through the night. The only person who I think would have enjoyed this would have been my maternal Grandfather. He used to listen to the chimes of every clock and enjoy them day and night.
In the morning we watch the Italians leave in their rented camper and later realise that they have left behind a pair of sandals and trainers. Rule #1 is ‘look behind you as you leave’. That’s why we have a spare brush. We don’t need any footware.
We have another quick look at the town that morning and then leave for the Picos mountains, not too far to our west. The fridge is manually operated on/off for cooling periods and I think of another plan, which I call Plan D. In this plan I will buy a plug-in mains timer and use it to switch the fridge On - Off at multiple times through the 24 hours. This is a nice bit of thinking outside the box, though I say so myself. We have to do a test - cycle the AC and hope that the fridge restarts after power is restored. This exciting activity is reserved for when we are at Potes.
First we have to get there and we discover that this isn’t so straightforward. There’s an amazing knife slash gorge of Rio Deva to drive through to get up to Potes and the road is predictably narrow and twisty. Unfortunately we find ourselves behind a huge tractor and trailer that is full of something harvested. It can’t be going far, can it?
Well it is and furthermore, the driver sees no reason to pull over and let the huge traffic buildup behind get past. In fact we drag on up and up, until we hit THE ROADWORKS. Anyone who has researched the area will have read about these but unavoidable as they are, we are still unprepared for a delay of almost one hour at only two sets of traffic lights. The road is being re manufactured over very long stretches and so the traffic light timers are on maximum. What a slog of a wait it is, even when at wait #2, we are entertained by the man with the GO sign who has a boombox and nods to the music as it blares out.
By the time we get to Potes and through to the chosen campsite, it’s a little later than planned. The very nice lady on reception is somewhat aghast that we don’t have a reservation but thinks we can squeeze in, next to the swimming pool fence.
It transpires that everyone is squeezed in, some more than others and we are all literally on top of each other.
It’s a great site, in spite of the togetherness and a main feature is a stunning swimming pool of about 25 x10m with water that’s cool enough for swimming. I happily pay €1.30 to buy the compulsory swimming cap, in spite of the number 1 that I had only last Friday at Heritage Barbers.
The pool is lovely and refreshing and because the fridge is dodgy, we have little perishable food and opt to try the campsite restaurant that evening. Until then we relax in the sun and then enjoy the cooling evening after the sun goes down and we see a stunning Picos skyline.
Most of Holland is here as usual and we need to wait for second sitting before we can order. The Estrella is a nice accompaniment to the early holiday chat and later we enjoy some great campsite food. After dark the campsite falls very quiet, well before the midnight deadline. In fact everyone has taken note of the notice that says “total quiet from midnight to 8am” and that from 11:30pm we should “prepare for total quiet”.
It’s quite cool and in the morning nothing happens. No one much gets up. I think this is because, although it’s the equinox, we are so far west that with the clocks CET, it’s quite dark till late, even at 8:00 it’s cold and the sun is far from shining.
It’s a pity that most people are asleep because for a few brief minutes the Picos are even more stunning.
So it’s a slow start but today will be hot and so we get going and after breakfast walk to Potes. This is only 20 mins. It’s a bustling place and we do the usual exploring, buy a souvenir cap (unusual) and have coffee sitting on a lovely sun terrace for €3.90 which would be unusual in the UK.
Later we impress ourselves by selecting an out of the way casa and a couple of tapas which are much appreciated.
Finally we put in a few metres at the pool. For one of us it’s effortless. Not quite so effortless for the other but he feels good about it afterwards.
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