The Bikepacker: Bikepacking - Llanes to San Vicente de la Barquera

Day #

State of Legs

:-)

	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	23 miles	km	1549 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	2623 miles	km	116045 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

Travelogue

As explained in yesterday's post, I'm ahead of schedule. I need to be in Santander on the 4th September, which I can achieve easily if I walk, never mind cycle. Or hop!

So, I'm working my way very slowly east towards Santander from this point on. Yesterday, I did a respectable 47 miles and nearly 4,000 feet ascent as I crossed a range of hills to get to the coast. Today, I did a mere 23 miles and am getting very close to Santander.

I arrived at the beautifully named San Vicente de la Barquera at mid-day and am camped at a very nice campsite by the beach. San Vicente de la Barquera is another of those recommended places so my guess is the town itself will be heaving with tourists. I've not explored the town yet, which is on the other side of a river estuary to the campsite but I'm staying here for two nights and so will probably cycle across tomorrow. As I said, the campsite is in a great spot though.

When I set off this morning, with a wet tent packed away and a wet towel strapped to the back of The Mule in the hope it would dry, I'd every intention of trying to cycle mostly on the Camino de Santiago northern route. And I did spend some time on it, not that there is an "it". Once again, there seems to be an off-road walking trail and one or more alternatives that take the road. I did some of each. The off-road bits were either comprised of stones and gravel or, given all the rain we had yesterday, mud and puddles! So, that's a new surface type to add to the list for this trip!

I wasn't keen at all on the off-road parts for all the same reasons that I didn't like them when riding the Camino De Santiago francés route south of here. The surface is sometimes an issue for a heavy bike, it can be quite steep at times and.... it's just not worth the effort! I see no advantage. The road variations follow the same natural features of the landscape (e.g. valleys and hills) and the footpath is very often right by a busy road or at least in earshot of one. So, after a while, I gave up trying to follow the path, stuck with roads and found that I was on roads that apparently were part of Camino de Santiago anyway! It's sometimes hard to find a road that isn't!

Overall, today's was a pleasant and easy ride. It's not raining! The sun has returned and is not too hot. The campsite is in a great location. The showers were hot and my clothes have been washed in one of the site's machines. There's even a supermarket a walk of less than five minutes from the entrance to the campsite. All boxes checked!

Rather than pitch the tent right away, I allowed the flysheet, groundsheet and inner part to dry out in the sun first. This was accomplished quite quickly while I hit the showers. Once the tent was up, I started my clothes washing in one of the machines and walked to the supermarket. For lunch I made a nice salad of tomato, cucumber, tuna, avocado and my favourite olives stuffed with anchovy. Tasty.

I'm now blogging. And afterwards I plan to.... explore? Have a siesta? I have no idea. I shall just go with the flow, I think!

Here's today's profile, followed by the usual photographs: