Portugal & Spain 2008

Monday - Soft soap

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Monday 23rd June

Breakfast wasn't in the usual dining room this morning, today we're having breakfast in the large room that was used for Saturday's wedding, and it's a buffet! It looks like the normal buffet was suspended while the staff were organising the wedding. So it was cereal, jam and toast all round this morning, well, that was until one of the guests got a piece of bread stuck in the toaster which had to be rescued smouldering from within by the waiter (it happens everywhere we go).

N43 09 47.9 W4 36 35.0 (Google map)

10:15 Dave and John just have to fasten their packs on and we're off, we're going straight to Santander, no passing GO, no collecting £200 and no missing the ferry!

N43 09 47.9 W4 36 35.0 (Google map)

11:45 Sixty five leisurely miles later we arrived nice and early at Brittany's terminal in Santander and rode up to the kiosk, I tried to soft soap the guy in the cabin for a free cabin upgrade or anything else I can think of, but all he did was laugh, why do they always laugh? :-(

N43 27 38.9 W3 48 12.7 (Google map)

Then it was down the dock to wait. did I say we were early? Well we are, in fact of the bikes, we're the first!

N43 27 34.2 W3 48 18.8 (Google map)

Bikes come in, in dribs and drabs, it's a long, hot wait. While we were lounging around, two girls came around taking a survey of peoples thoughts on the ferry service, we praised the ferry in general but criticised the catering, so if the foods any better next year, you know who to thank.

N43 27 34.2 W3 48 18.8 (Google map)

12:28 Our ship's coming in. This is a very good sign for us as last time we were here the ferry was damaged in a freak storm and we had to ride home through Spain and France, that was not good...

N43 27 34.2 W3 48 18.8 (Google map)

13.47 What a load of bikes! We must make up a significant part of Brittany's customers, perhaps we should be asking for some extra biker facilities, but all I can think of at the moment is French cabin maids, but I just don't think Brittany would swallow that...

N43 27 34.2 W3 48 18.8 (Google map)

To pass some time, I went for a walk to the end of the queue to see how many bikes were navigating with GPS, at a guess I would say maybe 1 in 10 were fitted, I was surprised it seemed so few. So Garmin, if your listening, there's a big market here still untapped, but can we have something better than the current Zumo please, preferably with contour mapping, built in bike to bike radio, external temperature sensor and satellite weather... yep, that should do it for now, thanks.

14:15 Suddenly, there was movement... The can of pop I'd just opened had to be stashed quickly in my top box, and after some customs man had had his way with our passports we were riding on to the ferry, Dave and John were directed to the left side...

While Patto and myself were directed to the BMW side <sniff!> :-)

Up on deck we had to wait a short while for the cabins to be cleaned and made ready, then we finally got in to dump our bags and change.

Hmmm, John's berth seems a little unusual, but he doesn't seem too unhappy with it, In fact none of us are, memories of the last time we tried to catch this ferry home are still quite fresh in our minds, this time we're really goner do it!

Then it was on deck to give Spain a final wave off, bye bye Spain, bye bye Portugal, see you again soon! Hey, guys, you're not waving!

A celebratory drink seemed in order, so we wandered over to the main bar. On stage was a gorgeous girl singing her heart out. I don't know why, perhaps she felt sorry for me (I often do) but she came and sat on my lap to finish the song, I haven't felt so honoured since that night in Prague... <wistful> Patto got his camera out to capture the moment, but he was too slow.

Later of course, we went for our evening meal. First, we tried to get in to the Le Flora restaurant for an upmarket buffet, but after enduring some youth playing the bar's piano badly we then found out the Le Flora restaurant was all booked up! But at least we had the pleasure of seeing one of the ship's officers move the twerp off the piano to make way for the real pianist!

So we ended up in the La Belle Angele restaurant again, I can't remember exactly what it was we had, but it certainly wasn't the fake Shepherd's Pie again!

Tomorrow we land back in Plymouth having let the ship do the hard work of taking us all the way back to Britain, all we have to do then, is ride the long ride home, but for road toughened bikers like us, that should be nothing!

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This is today's route, just 65 miles back to Santander.

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