After a 24 hours sail from Portsmouth to Santander we arrived in port at 5.00pm GMT. It took a further 45 mins to drive off the ship and then, near the end of a long road in the port area we had to wait a further 20 minutes for a lifting bridge to come down before setting off. The roads and motorways have totally changed since last year and it was a circuitous route of about 9 miles (should have been 4!) to get to the hotel.
Last year, at this hotel, a Russian professional cycling team were staying. This year there is a Spanish team and a French team here. La Vuelta a Espana, the Spanish equivalent of the Tour de France is taking place just now. I noticed it on Eurosport on Sky TV last week and wondered if there would be any competitors here. There were so many that I could not drive back to the hotel car park after checking in! A kind member of one of the teams moved some barriers to let me through. When I got to the hotel car park, seeing my British number plates, a staff member moved some more barriers to allow me to park in a car park bay they had reserved for me. As we arrived a lady ( the owner's wife) came over to welcome us back! We had received an email at the end of January to ask which room we would like as they remembered us booking in 2011!
Well, after some hard travelling we are now going downstairs to sample Paella in the dining room. Watch this space. It may be Saturday before I get an Internet connection that is free of charge like this. Tomorrow we set off for Toledo, an amazing historic city full of fantastic architecture and culture.
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