Bikepacking - San Vicente de la Barquera to Suances

Day #

66

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	25 miles	km	2123 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	2648 miles	km	118168 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

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Travelogue

Today I rode a short but hilly 25 miles further east along the coast towards Santander. I'm now in the small coastal town of Suances, which from what I've seen would appear to be quite a popular holiday destination.

The ride was uneventful and after leaving the coast near to San Vicente de la Barquera , which I'd largely previewed yesterday, not especially scenic. The road veered away from the coast itself and whilst I could sometimes just see the sea over on my left, I was never really close enough to it to appreciate the coastline until I was within a few miles of Suances. I'd looked at trying to cycle as close to the coast as I could but it wasn't practical without going out to the coast, then away from it, then back out again in a series of detours. So, I kept it simple.

I can't believe it but this will be my last campsite in Spain. Tomorrow I will go to Santander where I've booked an Airbnb apartment and I'll spend a few days with my wife who is meeting me there, before she flies back to the UK and I take the ferry.

In fact it occurred to me that my perception of trip time is not unlike a phenomena that people that parachute out of aircraft experience! I did a few parachute jumps many years ago, so I have first hand experience of it. It's called ground-rush. You jump from the aircraft, perform various checks (e.g. has my parachute opened?!) and then float quietly and slowly towards the ground. But then all of a sudden, the ground seems to accelerate up towards you at a horrifying speed and you have to quickly get into the right body position and orientation for landing which happens all too soon and at a much greater speed than you'd imagine! 

For any parachutists reading this, I jumped on a static line and used the round parachutes you see in second world war movies, not those rectangular ones with lots of control.

It's a bit like this regarding trip time. I've been blissfully unaware of the imminent end of this trip for weeks and weeks. Cycling most days, loving all of it. Making amazing progress. Watching the route cycled develop until it crossed northern France, Switzerland, northern Italy, southern France and northern Spain, and with apparently all the time in the world ahead of me.

Now, all of a sudden, I have one night left to camp in Spain, in 5 days I'll be on a ferry sailing for England and then only have five more days of cycling and four more nights of camping before I'm home again! Where did all that time go? If only I'd kept some kind of daily record, complete with photographs and videos. Oh, hang on....! :-)

I didn't take a whole lot of photographs today. A lot of the route was on a fairly major road (but a quiet one as usual.... I think cycling in the UK is going to be hard to get used to again!) and it was rarely particularly scenic. But here are the ones I did take.

On the edge of Suances

The campsite is nice enough. I like my pitch which is a terrace high up, with space for me and my tent only. 

After the usual routine, I cycled a few hundred metres into the town to get provisions. 

The popular beach at Suances

I've wiped The Mule clean(er) and given the chain a good scrub,  removing all oil and any crud that's been accumulated. I'll lubricate it tomorrow before I leave. That's probably the last routine maintenance The Mule will receive on this trip. 

And that's it for today.