CANTABRIA- Saturday 18 th/Sunday 19th July. The Drive to Suances & Settling in.

19 Jul

The Galicia docked on time in the port of Bilbao at 07.00 boat time;08.00 Spanish time. The crew call passengers to their vehicles,deck by deck,to avoid crowding the staircases. So we had time for a cup of tea before making our way to Deck 6 and a fifteen minute wait in the car.

https://youtu.be/u96SurBlgbM?is=AWjmQ0hzxrcmcHhc Walker Brothers – “ My Ship is Coming in”


The Port of Bilbao is located on the Bilbao Abra bay, and along the Estuary of Bilbao, in Biscay (Basque Country). The main facilities are in the Santurtzi and Zierbenamunicipalities, approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Bilbao. Also called Exterior Port and Superpuerto, the port complex occupies 3.13 km2 (773 acres) of land and 16.94 km2 (4,186 acres) of water along 17 km (10.6 mi) of waterfront.

It is actually nine miles from the city as the original port was removed in the late 20th century,planned in 1975, as part of Bilbao’s “ makeover” followed by the Guggenheim museum etc which makes the city a far more pleasant destination today .

“ Dirty Old Town “ – the Pogues.

Our concerns about delays on exiting the port, fingerprints,etc, proved to be unfounded as we simply had to exit the car,enter a border control cabin where our passports were scrutinised and our photos taken. We were waved off with a cheery adios.

We were soon driving along the Autovia and on the lookout for a breakfast stop.
It was a well engineered highway,impressive viaducts and bridges and a few miles on great scenery.
THE VILAGE OF ISLARES

We have become accustomed to refreshment stops on Spanish motorways. There are rarely purpose built facilities that we are used to in the UK.Usually villages and towns served by the autovias are signposted with the addition of a “ services” sign below,plus distances. The reasoning is twofold, it can be difficult to find appropriate areas to build alongside the autovias and this is beneficial to these places, utilising existing facilities.
I had never heard of this hamlet
but who should I meet at the cafe door?
Never far away from a Camino in Spain!

The best and most imaginative Tortilla I have ever enjoyed- more brunch than breakfast.
The local road on which we parked.

“ Country Roads” – John Denver

A Saturday market was being assembled opposite – the queso looked very tempting.
A house opposite the cafe.
A distinguished house complete with shields.

We continued the journey,bypassing industrial Torrelavega and with the help of the satnav found our accommodation in Suances. As we were to discover, Suances is a town of two distinct parts. The upper town where we were based and the lower town which is the seaside “ resort area”. The major difference is that the separation is more marked by the steep hills descending to the coast.

This is a view from on high. Before descending there was the business of shopping to complete and there were no shortages of supermarkets about a ten minute walk away.

https://youtu.be/hCuMWrfXG4E?is=Itde_bxxBb4Bu4Bm

“ Uptown Girl” - Billy Joel

An enormous stage overlooking the main square and our thoughts were that the World Cup Final might be being shown here.
By way of a contrast….The nearby parish church
Real flowers!

We decided to walk down to Playa Concha, the main beach,to get our bearings and we soon realised that Clio ack up in 26* would not be fun.

Marvellous beach and we liked the atmosphere.
And I liked the Tinto Verano as we awaited our taxi back up the hill!

https://youtu.be/Cby46XsFm7Y?is=qXRruE_jsyW9TcO8

“ On the Beach” - Neil Young.

Waking up to the news that England had beaten France 6 – 4 in the Bronze final was good if surprising news. Quiet day by the pool,home cooking and maybe an evening stroll to the square for the final.

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