Nothing But The Sea to See!

We’ll not strictly true as we did have a leisurely first part of the morning waking up in the services car park. This had facilities for Camper Vans but we arrived 10 minutes after they closed the shop where you pay and get access. The beauty of the van is that we basically have everything we need. The first gas bottle finally ran out after 5 weeks of use which was impressive. Then on to Santander - 12 km away and leaving the Duke in the line for the ferry. See one extra for the view we got when returning from a delicious lunch (see bgleyna’s blip) and wondered for a second if we had got the time right. Everything was fine and we boarded eventually and found our clean and modern cabin with 4 beds - choices! The other extra was taken as we sailed out of the harbor and then later we had an unimpeded view of the sun setting as we went for dinner. This was adequate and the wine was a let down after the excellent Alentejano wine we had been used to but it was waiter service and we didn’t have to wait too long. I love sailing and feeling the gentle swell - it has been.quite a while since we took a ferry anywhere. Only real problem on this boat is the internet access. They proudly claim to have free WiFi and then when you sign in you realize your 30 minutes has started and whether you use it or not after 30 mins that’s it. But of course you can buy extra time - but that works the same way and so it’s like running a race in an athletic meet. Get everything prepared and as soon as you have typed in the code - it’s off to the races, so blip, Duolingo, send texts, WhatsApp and then ‘ping’ times up mate - put another £3 in the meter. Who doesn’t need Internet access these days? And when using your cell phone on the boat will probably end up costing you re-possession of your main residence when you receive your next bill, I don’t know why they don’t just add £25 to the ticket price and make the Internet free for the whole voyage. Otherwise this new boat is pleasant enough and not too crowded. Still slightly odd seeing everyone moving around the boat with masks on!