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So having made up my mind (and paid for the ferry), I'm mooring at Santander, capital city of Cantabria (the Cantabrians will not be impressed if you say Asturias... I have a friend of many years who is Cántabro and I tease him, pretending to forget and call him "Asturiano" and even after more than ten years I'm not quite sure he can take the joke), on 11/04... that's the 4th of November for you 'Mericans and the 11th of April for the rest of us, at 18:15h. Sunset is officially at 20.59h leaving me roughly 2 and a half hours of sunlight, which is what Google says I need to get to where I'm thinking of staying the night: Boca de Huérgano. This, is all Wikipedia has to say about Boca Huergano (do I hear duelling banjo and guitar?): Boca de Huérgano (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈboka ðe ˈwerɣano], Leonese language: Boca de Güérganu) is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2010 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 531 inhabitants. So I will wheelie off the ferry with the following route on my GPS (Satnav for you poms). First bit is highway, in Oz where I learnt my English we say highway (motorway or freeway for you foreigners)... and the last bit is what they call a National road... it's maybe a byway for the USAranians, it's a highway but there is no large median strip between the two different directions of traffic, often has two lanes per direction and higher top speeds (than country roads, but less than highways or tollways) and in good nick... but I get off that ASAP and take what they call Provincial Roads... backroads basically... might be two way, may not have markings, can have tractors lying in wait, cows and other obstacles. There is a pass I come into off the backroad which may or may not still be having roadworks done... cross fingers. With squiggles like this I just have to try (Mr Squiggle, the man from the moon, eat your heart out; sorry Aussie reference)... Here's an idea of the classification of roads in Spain (with pictures for non-Spanish speakers and Timmy). Yes, Km/h!! My main POI on the trip is to see (and ride) the Picos de Europa so the next day I will do something like this loop between breakfast and morning tea (almuerzo)... That will take me through places that look like this: Probably will go past Oseja de Sajambre up to Soto de Sajambre and then back to the loop. Then I have the rest of that day, probably another 8 hours of daylight which is how long Google says it take in a straightish line... and all the next day to make it to Murcia, my home again after 2 years working abroad in a land where the sky constantly falls on your head and they drive on the side of the road which is not right, it's left. I realize now that my timeframe has been limited by circumstances differing to earlier... now I'm leaving later and also have a due date (14/04 not too late in the PM) which I previously didn't have... that I could essentially get back that same day (12/04) if going East of Madrid where there are plenty of curvey options, instead of going west down the Portuguese border and across to Murcia along the Betic ranges... I could get home that same day (more pain than fun) or take it easier and enjoy it over 2 days, which I do prefer. As such I may very well take the entire 12th just to make incursions into the Picos de Europa from different angles and try and see the most of it... so here's a tanget I could easily add onto the above loop... In as much as from there to my Endpoint Destination ...As the crow flies-ish it looks like this... I am awaiting well known local info on the least straight line for the journey over 2-3 days to the East of Madrid... as I said, probably won't do the Portuguese border route. It's the green patches... national parks and mountains... that's where the good motorcycling stuff is. Wish me luck.