Spain, May/June 2018. Day 18

The plan today was to pack the car ready for leaving tomorrow.  Consequently it was with some anticipation that we greeted the day.  It began as so often with very low cloud and mist but once the sun got up it has gradually burnt off to leave  a beautiful hot day.  After breakfast outside we cleared and tidied the car and then brought out all of the boxes and fridge from the tent.  They in their turn were sorted and the car loaded.  The only things left to go in are the tent and bedding.  After a light lunch we finished off and went to pay for the site which worked out at £14 a night which is great value.  Heather then went for a swim and I went up the road for a last go at the lizard.  It was my most successful visit yet and I am really pleased with the shots.  Black kites and vultures wheeled overhead and the warm air was filled with the chirruping of cicadas.  A real bonus was the glimpse I had of an ascalaphid or owl fly an insect predatory on others.  Later we had a final potter in the valley up to yet another photogenic, but real village; this time Cosgaya, where there is a statue of Pelayo a famous Visigoth warrier.  A visit to Potes to buy some wine and local walnuts and take some photos of the town was next followed by  dinner in the bar after which it was time for an early night ready for packing the tent in the morning and moving to the coast.
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Spain, May/June 2018. Day 17

Good morning dear blog.  I am able to report that I am sitting in the sun relaxing after a late breakfast.  We had a dry night and the weather prospects for the next two days look promising.  We have booked the Hotel Colonial in Santillana del Mar from Friday for 5 nights.  Partly as the weather is going to go off again but also because we want to explore the coast.  We had one night in the Colonial on the way here and really enjoyed it; we look forward to a few nights of luxury to finish the holiday in exchange for our swamp.
After our late breakfast in the sun we set off off up the Puerto San Glorio pass again at nearly 6000 feet in the hopes of views.  In my case this was the fourth trip and it proved to be successful; well semi anyway.  We certainly had wonderful views all around but cloud had bubbled up again and obscured much of the Picos; we were actually above much of the cloud.  The object of the drive really was to photograph the life size statue of a cantabrian brown bear at the top of the pass with views behind to the mountains above the cable car at Fuente De.  Although the bear was beautifully lit, sadly the mountains had their tops hidden in cloud.  It was still a special place, however.  The statue is on a col that is used as a corridor for this rare animal which is in danger of extinction.  Chough were plentiful up here as were Griffon vultures; a squadron of 6 making a very close fly past.  I was also fascinated by the numbers of bikers on big touring bikes, especially the two on old Honda Africa Twin machines.  The stickers on their panniers testified to their travels.  Chatting to them made me nostalgic for my land rover trip to the Sahara with Steve.
Eventually we gave up on the clouds clearing and headed back down the pass, stopping for lunch on the way.  We called in at the site briefly for Heather, while I went back for some more shots of the occelated lizard.  I was delighted to find that one was two and I got shots of both in the same image.  Unfortunately the one bus of the day disturbed them on the way up and then, again, on the way down.  Such is life.
We next pottered up to Mogrevejo another very attractive village above the main valley.  We enjoyed wandering round this old village.  I find them fascinating.  Obviously real working villages rather than full of holiday homes.  I loved the way that ad hoc repairs have been done to buildings often using different materials to the original, but with the two juxtaposed.  In one house swarms of of honey bees were busily flying in and out of two different windows; presumably the occupants lived upstairs and the ground floor was for animals of barns.  Sadly the bar was closed so we repaired to the site for a beer in the bar (well it was nearly time) before cooking a simple meal out of a tin, managing it all before the evening's rain set in.  The main meal may have been simple but we finished with local sheep's cheese, local cherries and grapes and coffee.  It may now be time for a 10 year old Torres and an early night.
A good day.

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