Cycle Touring near Santander

thehungrycyclist

Morning all.

Have just booked a birth for myself and the beast on the ferry to Santander. Leaving on Tuesday and was wondering if anyone out there knew of any special routes or must see must eat places to stop while in the area. Ill be there for ten days and will add photos and recipes to my blog when I return.

any advice greatly received

Tom
The Hungry Cyclist
www.thehungrycyclist.com
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alp777

Have a good one Tom, hope it doesn't get too rough in the Bay of Biscay!

Look forward to reading any replies as i will be heading that way later in the year.

thehungrycyclist

me too, Im a bit of a land lubber - no sea legs on this cyclist...

MichaelW

I flew into Santander but once there:
There is a campsite by the lighthouse to the west.
Santander has a fantastic maritime museum.

Exit from the city is tricky, The A-67 has a parallel older, quieter road for some stretches. You could also take a couple of stops on the local stopping train service. Once over the bridge at Barreda you can follow the coast road West.
I took a route South from the coast from Val de San Vincente Pedreo then west across a couple of passes to La Hermida. You get fantastic views of the Picos.
The Picos de Europas may be a bit snowed in this time of year. I rode up from Portes to Fuentes De and took the cable car to the top, then a mega descent down trails , tracks and roads to Sotres with some tricky navigation in foggy conditions. Could turn nasty in cold weather.
My fav town was Luarca, home of the worlds largest Squid musuem.

chris payne

Are you looking to camp or B and B? It is a bit nippy at this time of year, and some of the campsites will not be open. Every village has a Band B though. I have been a couple of time to Santander, great city to have a look at, and as mentioned a bugger to get out of. Make sure you take some spare bits and bobs for the bike, not many bike shops once outside Santander, great countryside, good roads, reasonably priced accomodation inland. Tough going in the hills but worth the effort. Green with envy.

djmc

When I went there there was a little ferry for foot passengers which went to Somo which is the other side of the estuary. It goes from quite near the wharf where the Brittany ferry docks or at least did so. The roads on that little peninsula were quiet. It wasn't too bad going west along the coast either. Head for Santillana which is very nice. San Vicente along the same road is also to be recommended. The mountains are very spectacular; Potes is a good place to stay. In general the roads were quiet and the scenery magnificent. Very small towns and villages inland often don't seem to have any where to stay.

geocycle

Well if you fancy some climbing how about the Miera valley. You can ride up some 1350m to a pass and then loop back around the Ason, probably over a couple of days. Even if you only get to San Roche de rio miera (~600masl) the mountain stew in the village bar is worth it!