Santander and then the harsh reality of Pompey

We were more than sad to leave the splendour of the Leon hotel. However, we had an appointment with a big Brittany Ferries ship to make and the plan was to spend the night beforehand close to the terminal in Santander. 

Driving towards the coast, we had, horror, some clouds but the snow capped mountains made up for that:

The hotel was on the seafront area of the town so we had a gentle trip to Santander and then a little urban traffic to get to the hotel Gran Victoria.  One coffee stop on the way and as it is mainly downhill and the traffic was kind, the car was rather economical:

2.5 tons of car, heavily laden with our gear and 2 bikes. We were pretty pleased with that. 

Our expectations of the hotel were not high but we were pleasantly surprised. Apart from the tight space in the underground car park, all was well and the set menu late lunch that we had was very good, copious quantities of food and it included a bottle of Cune Rioja  Not the usual cheaper stuff. You can see how close we were to the water:

An ideal place as the trip to the ferry check-in was only about 10 minutes the next morning. All went well, the ferry was on time and apart from a VERY annoying car tour lot who took over the lounge in the evening for a "prize giving" event with much squealing and yelling over each other, enjoyable.

Priority disembarkation was something we'd debated but decided to pay a little bit more for. We are so glad that we did. Third vehicle off the ferry after the usual Portsmouth delay as one of the ramps was not working properly. We were third thanks to a member of that annoying car touring trip lot who noisily started his sports car and roared off the ferry without being released by the ship's crew. How he didn't rip off  his car spoilers on the ramps at the speed he was travelling is a miracle. He went the wrong way once in the port area, roared through the customs check and seemed in rather a hurry to get somewhere, We hope he did it in one piece and with no more points on his licence.

We were still fast enough and did the short run up to the very ordinary but very cheap Premier Inn at Port Solent. For an overnight stay after a late evening ferry arrival, it was fine. Here is a borrowed pic from their website:

Yes, not quite the same architectural splendour as the Parador in Leon..... We knew we were back.

After some sleep, we walked to the nearby Costa for breakfast and had the reality shock of UK prices again. Also the realisation of what a scruffy messy country we are now - litter everywhere from the various take-away food places in the area, plenty of cigarette butts laying around and the blight of loads of broken glass too. Reality was harsh and continues to be so.