Day Five

Asturias / Rain and Sunshine

We headed westwards towards Santander, the famous bank! The most prominent feature was the P&O cruise liner Ventura. Berthed in the dock in the heart of the town it seemed to tower over the neighbouring buildings. And this is only a small ship with 3000 passengers and 1200 crew.

Travelling further west we left the main road (no motorways here) and meandered along the lovely coastline passing some very pretty isolated coves, much loved by campers and surfers.

We arrived early afternoon and after a little bit of hassle we boarded our boat. We booked a boat for two days: it is a 7m boat designed to sleep four and at €50 a night was a bit of a bargain. When we got on board we saw why it was so cheap - but more later!

After chilling out for an hour or two and admiring the view of the small marina we walked the 400 meters to the old town. Gijon (or Xixon as the locals spell it - try saying ch as in the Scottish word Loch for x and it nearly works!) is like a small peninsula where the "neck" is only 200 metres wide. Lovely clean sandy beaches on both sides, and our pretty harbour on the west side. The town is a little bit strange: the sides facing the water are not particularly attractive, but they don´t have any obvious 1960s/1970s eyesores. The side streets are narrow and inviting but not that touristy although there are many restaurants. Unfortunately for Karin and me, this is rather late. We prefer to eat earlier: but a picnic on a boat by sundown is a great experience - except it started to drizzle, fine rain occasionally falling.

The boat was an out of service motor boat. Large enough to sleep four comfortably and with tables and chairs for 4 on deck. HOWEVER! If you desperately needed a shower - or to use the toilet - you had a 800 meter walk ahead of you. Although the boat had a simple "fluids only" toilet on board, the proper toilet facilities and shower were at the port harbour offices, and these were at the other end of the harbour! Nevertheless, it was fun to have our own boat for two nights (and only 2 nights!).

Go To Day 6 Asturia