The rain was torrential last night and it drummed atop the shipping container like a snare drum. The interior was sweltering and worst of all, absolute swarms of mosquitoes were chomping us all night. We tried to hid in our sleeping bags but they found their way in. At about 5 a.m. I couldn't take it any longer and went to sit on the steps of the admin building to try to get internet. Commentary: the campground is the biggest DUMP that we've every had the bad misfortune to stay at. I went back to the shipping box and Lorie had the light on. She'd been squishing the mosquitoes that, fat with their dinner from last night, had alit on the walls. It was classic: about 50 blood splat each a bit smaller than a dime. And Lorie was pissed. Best get ready to go.
We made a hasty retreat and were on the road by 7:15. It was dark, but with the bad rain the forecast included thunder storms all day and a "strong" west wind (i.e., on our nose). So we hatched a plan to get on a train. We rode like crazy to get to the Feve station in Santander (Feve is the local train, Renfe is the major train line in Spain). The trip to the station added about 25 km as a diversion from our normal route. But if we could get the train...
We got seriously lost in Santander, a huge industrial city. The train left at 9:10 and we were running late. Finally we found the station, but were confused as to where was Feve, where was Renfe. At one point on an overpass we had no less than 4 locals debating how we get to where we needed to be. But alas, we were at the wrong station and missed the train. Back to plan A.
So we decided to tough it out and ride to Panes despite the bad weather. But we had to find our route west. That was a problem. Finally, after trying to convince our GPSs that we really wanted to find that route, we were riding through a roundabout when a guy jumped out in front of us and yelled "Salida, Salida" (which means something like "don't do it, you'll die!!). We stopped and talked to him. He said that the road we'd gone on was the A-8 super highway. OK, it was a bad idea. We finally explained to him where we wanted to go and he understood, and said "Oh, take this road." We did and in about 5 km our GPSs proudly said "route found." We were on our way thanks to road angel number 1.
We needed coffee and Lorie needed a blood transfusion, so we found a cafe and had great coffee. And the road angel no. 2 who made the coffee offered to charge Lorie's GPS, which had been working overtime already.
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| It was rain capes all day today; trying to figure out where to go |
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| Great coffee from road angel no. 2 |
Recharged from warm coffee we headed off into the rain and black all around us, and a wind that was getting stronger by the minute. We are feeling pretty accomplished from our ride today. It was just crap weather -- we could have jumped in the Atlantic and not been any wetter. The wind was soul-sucking. But we did it. The saving grace is that it isn't too cold (about 18 degrees). Cold would have done us in.
Our total ride covered 130 km today (about 80 miles) and 1800 m of climbing (about 5000 feet). But the rain and the wind on our nose just made it tough. But we did it and the forecast for tomorrow is improving.
We did stop in Comillas, where there is a Gaudi designed house called Capricho de Gaudi. This is one of his first three houses he designed and is a work of beauty. It was done for a wealthy local guy and it shows predecessors of the stylistic elements that we all associate with Gaudi's more famous later works.
Here are a few photos:
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| The beach at Comillas -- it is probably pretty on a nice day |
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| Gaudi's Capricho de Gaudi |
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| Fireplace in the smoking room. The woodwork is phenomenal |
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| The celiing |
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| Floor |
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| It has to be Gaudi |
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| The tile throughout the building echoes natural themes, here, sunflowers |
Cheers.
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