Bikepacking - Rest day in León

Day #

53

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	0 miles	km	0 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	2388 miles	km	102186 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

No cycling today

Route So Far

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Travelogue

Today's a rest day. The Mule has just had their recently cleaned chain lubricated, my front light has been charged and the rear light is charging. I have a few more clothes in the wash. The delights of the rest day are without bound.

My main job for today is to really nail the plan for the remainder of this trip. My ferry to Plymouth sails on the 8th September so I really don't have a huge amount of time left and I absolutely must be in Santander for the 8th. So, enough of the loosey goosey go where I like mindset (which to be fair I haven't particularly exhibited! I've pretty much cycled the route I planned). It's time to create a more definite plan with destinations for each of the remaining days identified as far as possible. 

Things can change of course, so I'm not kidding myself on that point. And I intend to get close to Santander somewhat before the 8th September to reduce risk.

The broad plan is to head north from here in León and visit the Picos de Europa mountain range and national park. I've shortlisted a few places in the park I'd like to visit or just see and I believe I'll stay there for more than one night. After that, I'll continue north until I reach the coast and then turn east, working my way towards Santander and enjoying the coastline. On the assumption that I will be in the vicinity of Santander with time to spare, I'd like to see some of the coastline east of Santander towards and perhaps a little beyond Bilbao. So it may be that I can identify a place to stay which is roughly equidistant between Santander and Bilbao to use as a base before cycling to Santander itself in time for my ferry.

That's my current thinking. The detailed planning I intend to do today may flush out some issues that force a change but with a bit of luck I'll end up doing something like this with my remaining time in Spain.

The New Plan

I spent hours today looking at ways to spend the remaining two weeks in Spain. In fact, I even considered leaving Spain and heading for Portugal! But I decided against such a radical idea, preferring to not get too far from Santander now that I'm on the metaphorical home straight.

And I also decided against going significantly further east than Santander. Bilbao gets in the way! You either have to cycle through it or around it. It's a busy city so cycling through it is unappealing. And you seem to have to take a long way around if you want to avoid it and it's pretty much surrounded by mountains. And most importantly, the more I looked at this option, the more I realised it didn't really interest me. So, why do it?

Instead, I'm taking a completely different approach to the rest of the trip. Rather than cycling most days, I intend to camp in two locations in the Picos de Europa national park for a total of 11 nights. During that time, I'll do some cycling locally, possibly do some hiking and on the whole just enjoy the mountain environment.  This is the kind of place I like, so spending an extended period there thanks to the fact that I've got here so much faster than I originally anticipated is a good use of my time.

After spending time in Picos de Europa, I'll cycle to the coast and head to the coastal town of Comillas. I'll then cycle to Somo which is a little beyond Santander and I'll hang out there for a couple of days before cycling the 15 miles to Santander and the ferry port.

That's how things now look. I'm awaiting confirmation from one of the Picos de Europa campsites so this could change!