When I arrived here I felt apprehensive about the place but with the warm sun low over the sea shining onto my tent it is just beautiful. The sunset was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.
This is my last full day on this trip and I awoke with barely a cloud in the sky. It should be a beautiful day to sit and walk by the sea. Last night there was a constant thumping of dance music, a couple of miles away but persistent and headache-feulling. And in the other direction down the coast, I am sure, is a kennel, where hundreds of dogs pine and bark incessantly for their masters and mistresses. Strange this is such a beautiful setting but penetrated by such constant noise.
This morning I went for a walk, partly to pass time, out of curiosity about this town and partly to make sure I knew the way to the main road for the morning’s quick getaway. This part of Laredo is strange. As soon as you leave this little area, and pass the stables full of horses and ponies to rent, it seems to be dominated by what looks to me like high rise public housing, as well as a hospital with various old people making their way towards it, and, rather tastelessly I think, a funeral parlour directly opposite it. There are lots of old often fat men sitting around. There is a grid of brand new roads around here with grassy lots in each square. Clearly there were plans afoot for more flat building but the recession must have struck.
As an after thought I turned right instead of left toward the campsite as it looked like there was another opening toward the sea in that direction – we must be on a small promontory. A street from the main drag, things turned into a more upmarket feeling, with again flats but clearly holiday flats and a huge wide beach with a handful of people strolling up and down or a few swimming. By this time I was rather hot, being overdressed in a vain effort to keep my non-biking clothes vaguely clean for the social life on the boat, so I came back to the site. I used the shop – large but the usual poor quality and no fresh produce unless I missed it and the person there had no English. And the only camping gas they have comes in cans that don’t fit my stove. I’m nearly out and not sure I can get one more meal out of what I have.
I walked for 2 hours on the beach from the campsite, past the boat club, under the pier and found myself the other side of the headland and a beautiful sweep of beach, with only a dozen or so people in sight.
The site is emptying out as I thought it might. At first it seemed heavily populated but it seems full of caravans and awnings that people leave here.
