With the help of family, a friend and a campervan called Lily, Isabelle Tabb set out to discover the food, scenery and highlights of Cantabria and beyond. The following are extracts from her diary.
4 April
Getting out of Santander is a driver’s nightmare, especially in a campervan.
We travelled towards Reinosa in the Cantabrians and then found ourselves on the N623 alongside the Embalse Del Ebro, (an embalse is a reservoir), the Ebro the mighty river which, hundreds of kilometers further east, tips into the Mediterranean at Barcelona.
The countryside is empty with no farms, no domestic animals just strange granite and sandstone columns in a rugged landscape. We stopped at La Costana for a drink in a bar peopled by talkative old men in slippers. We examined the medieval washhouse and moved on through Bicia, Gallejones, Escalada, San Felices and Quintanilla.
Lizzie started her long dialogue with the Sat-Nav, at this point they weren’t getting on very well, but well enough to get us into Burgos, a tidy town graced with pollarded, flakey-barked Plane trees.
5 April
After getting the receptionist to help us find our next campsite we resumed our journey along the N234 through empty Spain.
Stopped at El Pedroso Restaurante in Hacinas where we had tapas of omelette and lumps of fatty bacon. Outside on the chimneys and church tower storks clattered at each other in greeting. Much later we reached Urbion campsite at the embalse Cuerda Del Pozo the start of another great river, the Duero.
We took a short cycle ride along the muddy path, there has been so much rain that some trees and notices were actually in the lake. I was the first to hear the cuckoo. We also saw Azure Winged Magpies and some beautiful sulphur winged butterflies. We watched lizards, ate ham, beans and chips cooked in butter; then the frogs started to sing, quietly at first rising to a full orchestral crescendo.
6 April
Set out for Canon Del Rio Lobos, Liz has been researching this place for weeks. The canyon is 27 kms long but we only managed to bike seven because we were sidetracked by how beautiful it was and how hungry we were.
On the way to the Romanesque church of San Bartolome used by the Knights Templar we saw the biggest caves I have ever seen. They dripped determinedly on me. We had hoped to see eagle, but didn’t expect to see six flying overhead along with the choughs and crag martins.
8 April
The country roads to Molina de Argon became steeper. We had coffee in the town in sight of the castle before picking up the Ruta Alto Tajo which took us out of town. After an hour of narrow twisting lanes Grandad had had enough of precipices, ravines, gullies, cliffs, hairpin bends, sudden drops, inclines in second gear.
Liz is being converted to Sat-Nav – it takes us through deserted villages and up and down improbable little lanes.
9 April
This is the day Liz cemented her relationship with the Sat-Nav, now, worryingly, referred to as ‘she’ and not ‘it’. It was a long, hard and boring drive on the A40 to Tarancon, avoiding Madrid, to a campsite just outside of El Escorial – a total of 225kms.
Looking up from my book for a second I saw a huge cross set against the hillside, I later learned it was 150meters high and cast in cement to the ‘glory of Generalissimo Franco.’
11 April
We passed the monastery at El Escorial, entered Castille y Leon on the CL505, a scenic route over a mountain range that was enough to frighten us in spite of the pine forests and beautiful scenery. We arrived at Avila a walled city of 43 towers, its walls intact and beautifully preserved.
Lunch in the back of a café: egg, ham and bread soup for Liz and Grandad, spicy sweet potato mash for me, for mains we had trout, and meatballs in tomato sauce.
12 April
It was a 7km cycle ride to the River Tormes and then into Salamanca. Our mission was Plaza Mayor, a huge colonnaded square, an ornate masterpiece the size of two football pitches. The sound of traffic was totally absent. We spent three or four hours people watching over lunch of paella, pasta and chorizo, chicken, lomo (crushed pork) and pimento: we finished with a monster ice-cream. After an easy bike ride back to the campsite it was pastries for supper.
14 April
Set out for Zamorra. Liz is now talking back to the Sat-Nav. She doesn’t want to go along the A66 but gave in and let the machine take us to a very boring campsite, fortunately it was shut. Bought a small sack of oranges for a Euro also ate a very good lunch in a rough café on the side of the road at Montomata, and continued on looking for a campsite.
Later, at Carion de Los Condes, a town of massive religious architecture, full of walkers and cyclists with their staves, funny hats, really bad trousers and scallop shells hanging off their rucksacks. We have pilgrims.
More campos, and into the empty town of Fromista full of churches with special significance for the pilgrims. It’s certainly not the lunch they come here for, it was terrible.
More Information
Brittany Ferries sails 5 times a week from Portsmouth and Plymouth to northern Spain.
Portsmouth – Santander
Sailings depart from Portsmouth on Tuesdays at 17.00 and Wednesdays at 11.00. Return sailings from Santander depart on Mondays at 15.15 and on Thursdays at 15.00. Sailing time is 24 hours.
Plymouth – Santander
Sailings depart from Plymouth on Sundays at 15.45, and from Santander on Wednesdays at 21.30. Sailing time is 20 hours.
Portsmouth – Bilbao
Sailings depart from Portsmouth on Fridays at 16.30 and Sundays at 22.00. Return sailings from Bilbao depart on Tuesdays at 10.30 and Saturdays at 20.30. Sailing time is 24-32 hours
Return fares with motorhome start from £294pp based on two people sharing an en suite 2-berth cabin.
For more information or to book, please visit www.brittanyferries.com or call 0871 244 1400
Spain – www.spain.info
16 April
Castrojeriz turned into a more fascinating place than it first seemed. The town was filling up with pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostella 475kms away. We ate lunch in a busy meson, a kind of posh café. For starter we had three-bean soup, for main I had chicken fried with love and Grandad and Liz had stewed meat.
17 April
Up here in the mountains it’s early spring. There is snow on the massive cliffs and small daffodils in the meadows. Lower down the fields filled with dandelions, irises and cowslips, finally into lovely old Potes. Had a fine lunch overlooking the Rio Deva – squid, beans, chorizo, pasta and lomo.
18 April
Cycled to Potes, downhill most of the way and found that it was market day, very busy too. Grandad looked after the bikes whilst Liz and I went shopping, I bought: a leather belt for my brother and a liqueur for my Dad – Aquadente; they wouldn’t budge on the prices…
19 April
I’m under instructions not to read but to observe the scenery as we plunge down the Hermida gorge crossing and re-crossing the furious River Deva. The mountains are capped with snow and the sheer cliffs from the road are draped in nets to catch falling boulders. Then into pretty little Panes – drinks, tapas and watching the world go by.
As the road reached the sea at San Vicente de la Barquera we turned east towards Santillana del Mar a village restored to medieval perfection. We camped close by and walked into the square. We dressed up in our best, and for a special treat had a four-course meal at the Gil Blas, one of the most famous Paradors in Spain: raspberry juice with Bolognese on toast, tuna chunks, tuna meatballs, anchovy on white fish paste, squid with onions and salad, alubias (beans), puff pastry in cinnamon custard. Suitably full but unsuitably dressed we climbed back over a wire fence into our camp site.
20 April
By 9:30 we were on the top of a mini mountain at the little town of Puente Viesjo. It is the site of Palaeolithic cave paintings. There are two areas to the cave – the living quarters which are 150,000 years old, and the area containing the paintings. Only two colours, red and black, were used. The oldest drawings are 30,000 years old, the newest only 5000.The shape of the rock itself was used to depict aspects of certain animals mostly oxen, horses and deer. There were 96 hand prints on the wall, only nine of which were of the right hand, indicating that most of the population was right handed. The printing was achieved by blowing red ochre through a hollow bone.
To Santander, where I bought two bags; had a lovely lunch in an upstairs comidas near the market; wasted the afternoon shopping and watching the Semana Santa preparations. Caught the ferry home at 9pm.