Day 8 Laredo to Santander Thursday, June 12

 My bike carries me. Sometimes I carry my bike. More to come. 

Laredo to Santander

June 12

It was a very foggy morning.  The sun shined brightly. It was just my head that was in the clouds from another sleepless night in the albergue.  Getting out of Laredo was easy and the ride was mostly flat farmland with a few rollers and only one push climb through the eucalyptus forest.  We made good time. We even had a tailwind for a little while. We took a ferry that crossed a spit that saved us about 5 miles of pedaling. We averaged just under 10 miles per as we rolled along, the fastest so far on the trip.  I was optimistic about getting to our intended destination, Santa Cruz, ahead of schedule. The good lord had other ideas. Suddenly, with no warning, my rear tire went flat for seemingly no reason. No problem, I thought to myself, I’ll fix this flat in a jif and we’ll be on our way. So, in the shade of a tree I hoisted the bike, released the tire, grabbed the spare tube and went in for the fix. I found the cigar sized mini pump the bike rental owner had included with the bikes but when I went to attach it to the tube I realized he had only included the head for presta valves and the bikes had the wider shraeder valves. No go for air. Now, northern Spain is populated with lots of cyclists, so we flagged down the next unsuspecting saddled soul and asked him for air. He stopped and we managed a conversation and he let us use his pump.  Sadly, after fumbling and fooling, his pump also failed. I could tell he was getting impatient so after about half an hour I bid him adios and we were left to get to the next town, Somo, on foot, which by the grace of God was only 1 K away.  The rim was rolling on the tire when I walked the bike so I had to roll the bike lifting the rear wheel off the ground as we went along. This became exhausting to my right bicep so at one point I hoisted the bike over my shoulder and carried it. This became exhausting to my whole body. We got to Somo and a fellow pelegrino on wheels was there with his bike as we pulled up. We asked for help and he obliged. He pulled out his cigar sized pump on steroids and I fitted the valve to the tube and began pumping with fervor. Too much fervor. Just as I was feeling the tire had enough pressure POP. The tube was pinched against the rim and blew like an M80 on the Fourth of July. Next tube up. No time to give in.  Where there’s a will there a way. One of these cliches is bound to get the job done. Tube mounted, pump 

attached, tire inflated. Or at least partially inflated. We mounted up and limped into Somo, where to our delight, was a ferry that took us to Santander. We decided we would look for a bike shop the next day and call it quits in Santander for the night. We found a pilgrims albergue and got to our bunks. We were thrilled to be the only ones in the room equipped for twelve. Our elatement was short lived as a Catholic youth group of 10 soon invaded the room. We showered, went to the Cathedral of Santander which is a truly awesome site - a reconstructed fourth century church where the heads of the martyrs of Santander are entombed (but that is another story all its own and for another time), had dinner and went back to our bunks.  Much to give thanks for today.  Let the adventure continue, I can only imagine what tomorrow will bring. One thing I know for sure is that no matter what happens, we are under His wing.