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In Which I Confess, And Mooch, And Catch My Breath
September 12, 2007 by Mike
Santander
Route: Bilbao (Basque Country) - Santander (Spain)
I can't hide from you, gentle and alert reader, that I got way behind on this blo- I mean diary.
(If you're reading this at some future date, ignore me and carry on.)
Truth is, I remember little of this day, but most of what follows probably happened.. to someone not unlike me.. at some point.. probably.
--
Leaving Bilbo -- I mean Bilbao.
--
More good roads today, not as wildly spectacular but in their own way memorable. Because, dear reader, today I got to ride on a motorway. It doesn't happen very often so I was more excited than I'd care to admit. Me and the Bonnie cranked it up to 70 (miles per hour! Not kilometres! Blimey!) and ate the miles. Crossed the border into Spain without blinking. Realised in a flash that Santander was less than an hour away and I had no need to rush.
I stopped at a 'mirador' (beauty spot) to catch my breath, air the hammock and spring-clean the panniers. In other words, I turned the beauty spot into what looked like a student bedroom.. clothes and books scattered across every available surface.. and was just getting down to the serious business of cutting my toenails when the first car arrived. To see the beauty spot. Not to see me. It occurred to me. After they had left said beauty spot. Quite quickly. Tutting.
But even I have deadlines sometimes. (The last one was in December, but you get my point.) Tomorrow I fly back from Santander to Blighty to see my parents. My sister is there. My brother arrives the next day. Magellan, Shackleton, Tenzing, Palin -- they never had the luxury of nipping home. (Oh, what's that you say? Palin does it *all* the time? Then it must be OK.)
And so I mooch in to Santander, pick a cheap pension because there's a dry cleaners on the ground floor, get my good white shirt and the suit pressed in readiness to scare the Ryanair cabin crew. Spend too much of what remains of the day tracking down a tie that might in some circles be described as fashionable (Spain vs. fashion -- and there can only be one winner) and investigate the tapas and the vino tinto. All good.
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