We arrived in Santander at 1815 which allowed us time to head out for a 2 hour drive, mostly in the dark through mountains and tunnels, climbing all the time.
We had planned the campsite which was situated in Burgos. "Campsite Fuentes Blancas". We'd been told that the cafe and bar would be open until 2200, so had enough time to put up the tent and sort ourselves out with the usual domestic stuff before heading for a well-earned meal and a beer or three. Regular readers will not be totally surprised to discover our renewed disappointment at the lack of local knowledge regarding opening times....drinks were possible, kitchen was closed for cleaning. Once again however, we were able to impose upon the goodwill of the management and secure 3 slices of Spanish omelette and what was left of the bread from lunchtime. This was produced with much shouting, gesticulating and crashing of kitchenware. We couldn't work out whether the racket was normal behaviour or in sympathy with the losing team in the widescreen football match being played above our heads. The tortilla, given the state of exhaustion we were in, tasted like manna from heaven.
We had a noisy night due to the rain, but packed and were ready to go by 0745 with the exception of a minor running repair to the t-piece on the hose that feeds the turbo gauge. Mike noticed last night that it wasn't giving any readings which could've meant one of 2 things, but as we were still able to make satisfactory progress it probably wasn't the turbo at fault! As it was, the t-piece in the line was broken and Mike bypassed it with a bit of fuel hose. Normal service resumed.
The day proved to be a long one, as we had to drive all the way down to Algeciras in a one-er. The Spanish autovias are excellent, mainly because not many people seem to use them. Towns and cities passed by quickly: Palencia, Valladolid, Caceres and Seville was the final major city. I had already identified a campsite near Tarifa and used an old satnav to get directions to it as the all-singing updated one that Mike had set up for the trip didn't have campsites in its database. How useful is that if you want to go camping?
We're about to get to Cadiz, and it's dark now, and still raining....