Missing things

 Today was as much about things missed as things seen.

It started well with a trip on a transporter bridge over the Nevion. Opened in 1893, it's one of the few still in operation. There was one over the Kiel canal that we saw on the Scandi trip but it was closed as a ship had run into the suspended pod. We've been to several cities where they used to be as well: Nantes, Brest, Rouen, and possibly Widnes.

We liked this engineering marvel so much we went over and back as foot passengers then took Reggie over on it too.

A statue for the bridge engineer and workers (and some nice old buildings from a similar period).

Not the best of weather for the long view

Our route was plotted to include a visit to some cave paintings. We followed the signs up the hill to find that you had to buy tickets at the office at the bottom of the hill. Cuevas de Castillo what sort of f..ked up system is that? What's the point of having signs at the top of the drive, not the start? I was pissed off. It's not easy getting Reggie up hills and to go down and back up again would have taken us into their siesta so we missed out.

Onwards then, to Formista to see a Romanesque church, and a canal flight.

We're out of the mountains for a while on the Cantabrian plain. There has to be a connection...

I was awed by how large these plains are - they seemed to go forever in every direction 

Here's a lovely (restored) Romanesque church

The church had to be fortified during the medieval period and looked like this when restoration began. But bigger of course.

The flight of locks was missing some important features

No locks since a long time.

The canal ends here, though it seems another stretch could be reopened rather easily

Formista itself was weird. I know it is the time of day we were there but it felt to me like a town in a western that's expecting a gunfight: there was noone to be seen but you knew they were there. Jude and I couldn't help but whistle the theme tune to 'The Man With No Name'.

By the time we left a few tourists had shown up, and some pilgrims. We will be following the Camino de Compostella autovia for a day or two more so will see plenty more of them.

Further through this big country to our stop. A little out of the way but with free power and internet how could we resist it. We spent the evening trying to get our door lock back in order. The air was blue...