Bike Ride Day 2 - Castro Urdiales to Santoña

Today was a pretty short ride from one beach town to another (not counting the mountains in between). I now realize that you can only have one road along any given coast, so when people or suppliers or buses go from one coastal town to the next, they have to go on that road. I have learned to share.








It was kind of overcast when I left Castro Murieles, which made me think maybe I wouldn’t spend my time on the bike day drenched in sweat. But the clouds rapidly disappeared and I rapidly got disgusting.










Much of my ride in the last two days has either intersected or shared the Camino de Santiago, which I’m sure you’re familiar with. On one hand, it’s nice to see all the people focused on unplugging from society and spending a couple of weeks in quiet contemplative thought. Unfortunately, when they’re on my road, they’re dodging the same buses and milk trucks that I am.




I am getting to see a lot of very, very small towns (or towns that used to be small and didn’t plan so well for growth). In this one, Laredo, the main road coming in is so narrow that there’s a traffic light at each end to control whose turn it is to go down the old main street. Once you get through, there’s a city.

At one point today, the riding directions told me to go to the beach and catch a ferry across to
Santoña, the town close to where I was staying. I went to the beach and didn’t see anything but beach.









This is why. And after we were a couple of hundred yards out and on the way to the other side, some other people came down to the beach and waved, so the boat turned around and came back to pick them up. Which gave the guy on the boat who collects the fares more time to try to sell us his jars of salted anchovies. Hey, everyone’s got to make a living.








When I eventually got to the Berria beach, where tonight’s four-star hotel is, this is what I got. It’s
very beautiful and swimmable. My room has a private balcony overlooking the ocean. My shower has a window overlooking the ocean.













I also hiked up this thing.
















On a trail that looks like this.

The red circle is my hotel.








I could easily spend a couple of days here, but the busload of British retirees that just pulled up here and lined up in the lobby reminds me that I have more to see.