A Quiet Night?

We decided to spend 2 full days in lovely Laredo. 

First day we did our chores - clothes washing and thoroughly cleaning our bilges, below the cabin sole boards (a worthwhile but lengthy task).

View from the fort

Second day we decided we had earned a walk up to the fort and its battery above our marina - Fuerte del Rastrillar and Bateria de San Gil, San Miguel y luego SAN CARLOS (catchy title 😃).

Street-climb upwards

Lemons growing beside our footpath

View to sea from the fort

Then it was time to set off again - to Santander, 18 miles to the West, unfortunately with light NNE F2-3 winds.  We used the engine to keep us moving and the sails aided our progress a little until we finally dropped anchor in the Playa de la Magdalena at 18:30 after a slow passage.

Santander anchorage with the Cantabria mountains behind

Guitar practice

Next day, we rowed ashore for a comfortable shady walk through the pine trees beside the beach, where families were enjoying a peaceful Saturday.  This was broken intermittently as they were setting up for a huge music festival that was to take place that evening next to our beach!


"Hoky Music" was coming to town this evening and it is VERY loud 😁

We didn't fancy a disturbed night, so we consulted the Pilot book and headed up river, past the city of Santander to where they described was a peaceful place to anchor in the countryside...

Gentle sail (jib only) beside the city

Up-river anchorage

The only thing the pilot book had neglected to inform us was just how close we would be to the end of the Santander airport runway.  Not quite the peaceful night we had planned!

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