We sail out from Bilbao and head west. First intended stop is Castro Urdiales approximately 10 NM away including some miles within the Bilbao harbour. In the pilot book, it should be hard to find a berth and suggested berthing alongside of the wall. I am not particularly fond of alongside berthing as the combination of swell and tidal water make the boat hit the wall continuously as well as having an audience on the quay. I call the yacht club on the radio and instantly there is a guy coming out to us and direct us to a mooring buoy. He tells us that they run a 24×7 water taxi to the moored boats and the price including all services at the club for 25 EUR. Hard to match so we clean up the boat and call the taxi to get ashore.

The city is dominated by the Santa Maria medieval church next to the crusader fortress at the end of the harbour. Timing is perfect, we get time to experience the beautiful church from inside before it closes at 18 and as we come outside, the fortress is opened. The main portion of the fortress is however closed probably since the lighthouse installed on the top is operational. This is why a hideous glass construction with an elevator is raised on the wall facing the sea. We stroll around on the grounds and then we hit the old town. We split up where Birgitta go for the shops and I stroll around in the narrow streets and get a grip of the town. The old town is very dense and on the other end of the city is the nice Ostende (!) beach.

 

We grab a table on one of the restaurants and try out the grilled Anchoas that is a local speciality. Just delicious! Then we stroll more in the old town as the restaurants and bars fills up with people before returning to the yacht club. It really impresses me how these friendly boatmen handle their taxi boats in the swell.

Next day, we start with a breakfast at the harbour promenade before we go for a shopping tour and do some provisioning.

We have decided to leave this beautiful town and do a short hop to Laredo further west. After a short but beautiful sail, we enter this big ultra-modern marina at lunchtime. We get a good spot as the marina is half-deserted, which feels weird but the marina is probably too new to have filled up its many berths.

New town to discover and we start by taking a look at the old town and the road that leads up to the Santa Maria church. The road continues up the hill and on the top, we get a great view of the city and the bay over to neighbouring town Santona. We take some time to make the scenery sink in before we go back to the town.

At the first restaurant there is a typical stag party and another hen party blocking all the spaces so we continue to the next one just to experience that it is also packed with people dressed up as hippies. It turns out that we landed in the Laredo Ye-Ye fiesta celebrating 60:s and 70:s. Music on the streets and people of all ages dressed up. We do not find any costumes for us but we buy some flowers to wear in our hair. The party gets more and more crowded with outdoor scenes all over town. Very nice atmosphere.

Next day we check out and go over the bay to Santona. Again the pilot tells us about the limited berthing places and probably only alongside. This time it is correct, no watch on the VHF and no spaces. I find a deserted spot on a hammerhead on the entrance and try to find a harbour captain but there is none. I ask a man in a neighbouring boat but he tells me that I probably can stay for free and offers me his second key to the gate. Feels strange but I put on my running shoes to get a grip of the town and try to find someone to talk to about the berths. The mountain with its forts and lighthouses should also be worth experiencing and I need to move my legs.

At the tourist office, they do not know anything about the harbour so I decide to climb the steep mountain. The views from the mountain is stunning and a good place to let the mind wander.

As I get on the far side of the mountain, Birgitta calls in distress. Some guys have came and told her that our place is deserted because there is a boat on the bottom and we will be in trouble at low water. I run back and exactly as they say there is less than 2 meter at the berth. The harbour was clearly deeper when I entered and as we leave the berth, the depth clears to more than 5 meters directly. On our way out, we pass the same mountain scenery and the small lighthouse at the far end where my run was interrupted.

As the weather forecast for next day shows rain, we decide to continue to Santander where we should stay some days waiting for Sofie to arrive. We have a nice sail in fair winds and arrive to Santander in the afternoon.

The city marina is full and do not have possibilities for catamarans so we continue to the larger marina south of the town. This is a modern marina with all the facilities but far outside town.

We stay some days in Santander that is a nice town and we have managed to hit it during the “Semana Grande” fiesta so there are music on the streets. As Sofie arrive by plane to the airport nearby we go out to the Magdalena palace that was built for the Spanish royal family in the beginning of last century. Great views over the bay and the main beach – Playa Del Sardinero.

We celabrate that Sofie has arrived in our newly found favorite restaurant – Bodega Cigaleña. Apart from excellent food, the classic interior has wine bottles from floor to the ceiling.