Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Santona

Bike Route: Santander to Santona, 22 miles including 2 miles on a ferry, 1200 feet of climb

Less than a mile into our ride today, we hopped on a ferry and crossed the harbor from Santander to Somo, cutting out many miles on a highway. The ride went fast, with gently rolling hills after a steep climb out of Somo, and was mostly on small country roads. It reminded us of Wisconsin but with more and smaller farms. Lots of cattle and corn.

Santona is a small seaside town with lots of restaurants and anchovy processing factories. Our host in Santander had told us to eat anchovies here, so we did. The manager of our hotel recommended a small tavern on a side street. A young man at the tavern said his favorite is the quesa de Cantabria (local mild blue cheese), so we ordered it with local anchovies in oil and a basket of bread. A little way down the street we found cafe con leche and sweet rolls to finish our meal. It's all about the food, you know.

The town sits on a peninsula with a natural park, harbor, promenade, and beach. We found the launch for the ferry we take tomorrow morning, and then came back to the hotel for a little downtime. Ken is working on his Wahoo (bike computer), trying to learn more about how it works and syncs to his phone. The Wahoo is new on this trip, and he hasn't yet got it all figured out.

I put a new battery in my bike computer yesterday but it is still not working, so today I put a new battery in the sender for the computer. I'll test it out tomorrow. It's an old computer and may just have decided to wear out. But the new set screw for my handlebar bag is working, and today for the first time on this trip I had my bag up front and handy. One small success!

Our day started with a short ferry ride from Santander to Somos.

It was cloudy but pleasant, and the harbor was quiet as we left Santander.

Somo is a small, pretty village.

Most of our ride was on quiet country lanes along the Camino de Santiago. We ate a snack at a Camino rest area.

By the time we had arrived in Santona about 11:30 am, the sun was shining and it was just beautiful out. People are on holiday here, surfing, swimming, hiking, biking, and enjoying the company of friends and family.