Thursday 27th, which was the last day of walking with Sarah, started with a wonderful breakfast in the beautiful Posada we had stayed in the night before, quite a treat as it was the first time we had had breakfast before walking several miles.

The day was a glorious sunny (but not too hot) day, which made for great walking. We went across grasslands and dunes, at times bordered by maize that was taller than me (no comments necessary), which took away the views of the sea, but also gave great shade. Among the animals encountered today were some very happy goats.


The walking day ended with a 4KM barefoot stroll on the beach, which we rounded off with a beer and mussels in Somo, before catching the ferry to Santander, just a 15 minute ride across the bay.

When we got to Santander, the big city was quite a change from the gentle countryside we had been in for the last few days, so we said goodbye to the cows, donkeys and goats, and threw away the remaining stash of carrots, which we had been hoarding to share with them.

In Santander, we wondered around the imposing seafront and went into the Bauhaus style exhibition center. Our walk then took us across the city to the Sardinero beach, where we stayed in a little Pensione, which seems to have changed very little since 1970s, including the rather stern landlady with whom we had a very awkward first 10 minutes as she tried to make us a special offer for allowing us to bring in two pets for the price one. We couldn’t work out why she was so sure we had pets with us, as we clearly didn’t have any in tow. However, it turned out that when I asked for two beds, she understood two pets, and there was much relief all round when it turned out we didn’t have to pay extra and we weren’t going to bring any dogs or other stray animals into the house.

After a brief lie down we ventured off to the beach, but decided that by 8 o’clock is was too chilly to swim, so we listened to some flamenco guitar on the bandstand, and then went to search for a restaurant. We ended up in a sports bar, which hadn’t initially appealed to either of us, but encountered not only delicious food, but also amazing service from a young team who fell over themselves to work out what we wanted between our minimal Spanish and their school English. The evening ended with us having two of the recommended local drinks, which definitely hit the spot. way.

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