Saturday, August 14, 2021

Santander, Day 1 of 3

Bike Route: Santillana del Mar to Santander, 28 miles, 1600 feet of climb

We had an easy ride on a variety of small and medium highways plus a couple of short stretches on trails. Ken is figuring out how to reroute us when our RWGPS route gets us into weird (tough) sections. He has outstanding navigational skills. Even when he gets lost or confused, he has a good idea of where he is and which direction he needs to go.

I, on the other hand, have awful to no sense of direction and get easily turned around. I do have okay mapping skills though, and I'm good about following directions. Together we usually do okay, with Ken carrying the heaviest load on that front.

My skills lie more in organizing, planning, finding accommodations, and keeping track of our daily activities. I'm also a little more patient with language--though neither of us is good at that. We try to learn a few words and phrases a day, and rely heavily on Google Translate and pointing.

In short, we find foreign travel by bike challenging, but we enjoy the challenge. Go figure.

So, somehow we have made it through our first seven days of biking and we are now in Santander for three nights of rest and reorganization. Our host, Antonio, is the nicest guy. We have a studio apartment in the center of the old part of the city, and he lives in an apartment across the hall. He gave us a Cantabrian cheesecake; we have been eyeing those in the bakery windows but hadn't yet tried one, and it is delicious! I found a recipe that looks authentic: https://spanishsabores.com/recipe-quesada-pasiega-spanish-cheesecake/.

After dinner we FaceTimed with Joshua, Meghan, Josh, and Konur. They gave us a tour of their new house. It was so fun to see them and share their excitement. This is a selfie Meghan took of them on the lake in back of their house.

What a difference the Internet and iPhones have made. Ken and I clearly remember traveling in Europe 50 years ago, and having to schedule expensive 3-minute phone calls through overseas operators to keep in touch with our families. We love being able to video chat with our kids and grandkids while we are on the road.