Sunriser

Sunriser was back at her birthplace, La Rochelle, to start her adventures into new waters. Also for us we venture into unknown seas where we have never sailed before. Like Sunriser I start the trip by going back to my roots in Spain, my birthplace.We decided to aim to Santander where I have some childhood friends very dear to me whom I had not seen for years;  

The planning of the trip was difficult as we knew a front would be coming over with the wind increasing a lot and turn about 360 degrees within 20 hours. Because of this, the trip lasted longer than planned and we needed 2 full days and 2 nights. The high waves made it uncomfortable and Jos got a bit seasick. We arrived at 8 oclock in the morning quite tired; but were picked up an hour later by my life long friend Charo. She and her sister Begona own a coffee factory in Santander (el Dromedario) and gave us a roundtour. Fortunately they had very good coffee and we now have enough coffee and tea stock for years on Sunriser.

As we wanted to see the Cantabrian coast we rented a car for some days. The first day we visited the cities of Santillana del Mar and Comillas where the famous house “El Capricho” was built by Gaudi.

The second day we went into the mountains “Picos de Europa” starting in Potes and in the afternoon we where picked up by a colleague of Charo who drove us up to the top of the cable car (teleferico) in his 4×4. That was an unforgettable drive through forests and rugged terrain. 

The final days here we visit Santander and the animal park. We plan to sail (and probably use the engine a lot as there is very little wind predicted) towards Gijon.