Day 41 - Thursday 1st June 2023

Today we'll be leaving Leon and travelling to Santillana del Mar.

I was feeling better after my sleep. However Suzy was woken before midnight by a loud conversation in the room next door. The hotel can be noisy with people in the hallway too. At least I've got the advantage that I take off my hearing aids when I go to bed.

It was yet another bright sunny morning with blue skies. The temperature was just 9C.

We met Justin in the hotel foyer at 8:50 and he showed us the way out of the ancient city to where the bus was parked. I was worried whether all our bags had made it to the bus and so I checked the "Find my" app on my iPhone.

Justin was totally blown away. He had never seen this before. I told him about the air tags in each bag (camera bag, laptop bag, luggage). Some people on the bus were using air tags too but most were unaware of it.

The bus was travelling on rural highways and passing through little rural villages. But it was getting scary because Paco was, in my opinion, driving too fast - especially on the many bends in the road which were often close to the edge of a mountain.

He was also going too fast for the speed bumps in each village we passed through. Sometimes he had to brake hard when he came to the speed bump and on at least one occasion, he hit the bump at speed. Which led one wit in the back of the bus to point out that you are supposed to brake before the speed bump not after it.

We were travelling through a mountainous region. Some of the slopes were covered in green grass and green trees like pine trees. Other mountains had no vegetation - they were just steep craggy rock faces. Such a contrast side by side in the same view (or photo).

Then we went past a dam which then gave us a beautiful blue lake with reflections of the mountains. The people on that side of the bus were busy taking photos. Suzy had an arrangement with some of them that they would airdrop the better photos to her.

At about 10:50, we stopped for a coffee break at a tiny village. I approached Justin and asked him if we were on a tight schedule. He said no but he understood what I was getting at. He said that he had asked Paco several times to slow down and he had seen the speedo showing he had been above the speed limit at times. He said that Paco had in effect told him to mind his own business because he was an experienced driver. He was nervous about making Paco aggro if he said anything more.

At the end of our break, I took the opportunity to have a one-on-one quiet word with Paco. I was obviously speaking English and so I tried using hand gestures. I said we'd been going too fast and asked him to slow down. I pointed out that we were travelling on windy roads. I told him we are old people.

He smiled and repeated my curving gestures and so I thought he understood what I meant. Apparently one or two other blokes had also had a quiet word with him. Justin was clearly grateful.

For whatever reason, for the remainder of the day, he drove more slowly and he slowed down for speed bumps. This was now much more responsible driving for which we were all relieved and grateful. The tension in the bus dropped down several notches.

The views in the mountain area were fabulous. It was hard to take photos in the bus and so fortunately we stopped a couple of times about noon for photo opportunities. The second one was the best but at the first one there were dozens of bikies (who had passed us earlier along the way) who'd had the same idea.

After the photo stops, we were heading down the other side of the mountain range on hairpin bends thar seemed to go on forever.

Justin had talked about a cable car to the top of the mountain and at about 1:30, we stopped at a restaurant in the valley for lunch. It was another three-course meal with wine.

At about 3pm, we got back on the bus for a short trip of almost 200m to the base of the cable car ride. On getting out of the bus, there was the hint of a sprinkle of rain.

Justin organised us through the turnstile and up the ramp to the cable car entry. This was a stand-up affair rather than sit down. Apparently each car can take up to 20 people.

In no time at all, we were off heading up the cliff trying to take photos as we went. The climb was steep until it got much steeper and it looked as though we were going to crash into the rocks at the top.

At the top station, the car swayed left and right until it settled enough for them to open the door and let us out.

There were viewing platforms for us to admire the view and take photos. Then we walked up the path to get a better view beyond the buildings. There were some snow patches at the top of some of the mountains.

Just then a herd of goats appeared from nowhere and insisted on posing for photographs. Most of them disappeared (I'm not sure where they went) leaving one behind to pose even more and to beg for food. She was pretty pushy and some of the school kids teasing her came close to going too far.

A few black birds decided to land nearby and pose for photos too.

From every vantage point, this was a fabulous photo opportunity. Everywhere you looked was spectacular and then it changed when the sun came out or the clouds moved across. And this one hopeful goat was still hanging around.

At about 4pm, it was time to line up to catch the cable car back down the mountain again. I'm not sure if they've lost anyone in the process but getting onto the cable car, there was a significant gap you needed to step across - quite wide enough for a small child to slip through and never be seen again.

I was lucky that I managed to board first and place myself at the front of the car as we descended and so I was in a great position to take even more photos.

We were back on the bus at 4:40pm to continue on a windy road down the mountain range. For much of the trip, we followed a small stream at the bottom of a gorge. On several occasions we were halted by roadworks. I wonder how common it is for roadworks in Spain to be continuing until 6pm or later.

Eventually the gorge widened to green rural areas with small villages and a small number of cattle and horses and perhaps even some sheep. Then we got onto a motorway.

As we were approaching Santillana del Mar, Justin explained that this town has been the subject of a preservation order for about 500 years?? and so people cannot make changes to it (except perhaps installing electricity). Therefore it looks much the same as it was back then.

Suzy and I had stayed here for one or two nights in 2017 in a different hotel within the original  old town. So it brought back memories.

We reached the Santillana Hotel at about 6:40pm. Most vehicles are not allowed inside the town but our hotel was located just outside the walls and so the bus could park right outside. Nevertheless it is still constructed with stone like the rest of the town.

One room had a queen size double bed with a single fullwidth pillow (on both sides of the bed). I haven't seen that before. At least it wasn't single beds again. It had carpet. The Wi-Fi speed was about 3 Mb/s down and 5Mb/s up. There was a cupboard with hanging space and shelves.

There was no safe, no fridge, no work desk but it had a round table with two lounge chairs. A window looked out onto a roof space. There was heating but no air conditioning. The shower was in the bath. They only provided us with one room key (physical not electronic).

Although dinner was in the hotel restaurant at 7:30, the staff waited until some of the group returned from exploring the town before serving us.

After dinner, Suzy and I set off to explore the town and to revisit the places we'd seen on the previous time we'd been here. Another photo opportunity in the evening light. Last time, the village had been crowded with people off tourist buses but this time it was quite quiet.

It was a pleasant evening and still about 20C. So we were worried about it being too hot at night. One solution was to leave the window slightly ajar. Fortunately, there was a top sheet as well as a doona and so we removed the doona for most of the night. It seems to be unusual in Europe to provide a top sheet.

Another wonderful day.