Two Ferry Tales to Santender

Today's plan was to head out to the very tip of the point we were staying on to meet a ferry and cross the bay with the bike. After that we would ride another 24 miles to another ferry and cross another bay to the city of Santander.

The weather was sunny warm and windy. I have always liked riding in the wind. Its a bit harder at times, but its lots of air and less car smell if there are any around. I dont fight it, I just go with it. The wind today was gusting to 20 mph.

We reached the boardwalk for the ferry and was told by an older fellow that if we didn't hurry, we would miss the boat. Funny, he told us that standing in the way.

I got by him with the bike and could see the little ferry speeding tward the shore across a large beach of deep sand. Tere were a large group of Pilgrims with backpacks running across the beach to meet the boat. I hit the beach and the bike sunk down 6". Crossing the beach was interesting to say the least! the bike did not want to go in a straight line. Barbara yelled "Hurry Up!"

They waited and we crossed standing on the deck. A truly magnificent morning!

We reached the other side to a large town and had a little breakfast of Tortia Patota and coffee. It hit the spot!
Next to find the Office of Tourism and "The Stamp"

After rounding the town on the bike we found city hall and our stamp.

On the road again, this morning, pavement. Following the mark to the highway 114.
Along the way we came across a hardware store. I have needed a pair of plyers for some creative derailleur bending. We have been having problems shifting into the small chain ring when needed.

After the "Fix" we started out and snapped our front derailleur cable. No problem. I carry extras and in less then 10 minuets we were back on the road.

We reached the dock of the next ferry with 25 minuets to wait.Beautiful afternoon, nice breeze and a great view.

Our next ferry was larger then the first. Climbing on to a moving boat has always been interesting for me. I feel like you kind of need to catch it at the right moment. With the tandem made it more so,

The ride across the harbor was spectacular. Sunny, windy and warm. We were much further out in this bay then we were in the last crossing. We were cutting off about 6 miles of riding in traffic by taking this ferry and were coming into the heart of the city of Santander.
as we approached, we could see a large yellow helicopter hovering over the water. I could see tat it had a camera off the front and was there for something going on in the harbor.
as we got closer I could se many white sails bouncing around in what was now white caped water. The water started to splash up and over the bow of the boat and at one time pretty much covered me and the tandem. Wow! It was so nice to be out on the water.
As we got closer there were huge inflated champagne corks floating around in the water as course markers for the sailing race that at that moment had just begun. There were hundreds of people watching from the shore in bleachers and about 125 boats with spectators
We crossed in front of the bleachers and could see and hear the race going on and we were right in the middle of it!

We came ashore in the middle of a large fair for the sailing event. There were many tents set up among the promenade in view of the race. Food and drink were being served. Its where we had a snack and met the fellow with thee hams as seen in the photos below,
as it turned out, the race was the World Championship for Windsurfing. There were people from all over the world attending for the whole week.

We found our hotel after lunch in a nice spot in what looked like an old market. It was very clean and the service was great.
Our room was huge. bigger then most we are use to.
The town of Santander was nice. The waterfront is spectacular and one that we will remember coming into with our tandem adventure for a very long time!