The D-Day Dodger

 This is one of those days when we could take a short cut, not known to Google, but we won't’  We will go to the beach the longish way.



To be honest, and why not, we are not going the route most people would take but will nip down a back lane and over the single tracked bridge and sneak into the back of Soto de Luna.  Before we go there we will pass that way we will enter La Tiendina.  This is both a woman owned and LGBTQ+ friendly shop.  These will not affect my view.  It is a splendid place to buy empanadas and bread and other things of that kidney.  It gets 4.5 stars from 110 reviews and I will share Ignacio’s from a month ago ‘A phenomenal site. Very well set up store, with a wide variety of products, some of them typical of the area, cheeses, bread, beer, cider... Kindness in abundance ❤️’  Four people gave them 1 star. Invite these people to examine their life choices and say then publicly admit their error.





Into Soto de Luna.  It looks a bit smarter than some of the Google streetview shots.  Let us pop into the Dia Supermarket. To be honest I found it did a job and was generally pleasant however it only gets 3.9 from almost 200 reviews.  A year ago Stev gave a star and said ‘One of the girls is really unfriendly to foreigners, without any reason.’  This could well be a cultural misunderstanding.  To be honest Stev seems a bit grumpy as all their reviews are one star.  Three weeks ago Rosa said ‘Ideal to prepare or replenish, before or after a good day at the beach.’  





I feel Pedro hasn’t really got the hang of reviewing a thing.  ;Here I bought dinner for my first night on the Camino de Santiago. From Gijon 60km arriving at 9 at night. I bought an omelet and some croissants and went to rest, I had to sleep for the next day!’




We are about to encounter a UNESCO World Heritage site.  St Mary’s church is apparently built over an old spring. The plan is a Latin Cross, with three naves and three chapels. The church was begun in 171, the central nave ended in 1752.  





Turning down for the beach, we pass the Colegio Público Nuestra Señora de la Humildad, It has one review. It is 5 stars. The website is unobtainable.





And so we come to the beach.  This is a rare sandy cove in a coast of cliffs. This place was a centre for the local whaling industry.  That declined but the fisher boats remained until recent times.  I was minding my own business, looking for any history of the area I could find when suddenly a Tank Landing Craft hove into view.




The story you will get in precis. The full version will come out soonish.  Picture the scene.  November 1943.  A lot of landing craft have been used in the Med during the summer. Now they are needed for D-Day.  Inadequately protected from stormy seas, all is well until the engine fails on LCT 332.  It drifts and drifts.  Seeing the sandy beach the skipper attempts to land but hits some rocks.  He and his crew are interned and remain in Spain till 1945. The LCT is so badly smashed it can not be refloated and is sold for scrap.


The kast reported site of LCT332


They were lucky.  The rest of the convoy [Flight-P] are hit by the first gale of the year.  More LCTs are lost than in any other action until D-Day.

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