Odd breaks - now and then

 I suspect it is going to be one of those days when we manage to not meet an awful lot. We will come through January 25 in the streetview - it is just abit Cantabrian in feel, and we will get onto the C-440a, which has all the vibes of the old road north before the motorway came along - including encroaching vegetation. We have a service station and a cafe to do but what first.


Time for a filler and that is what kings are for.  Felipe VI is, at the time of writing, 58 years old. He has been king since 2014, after Juan Carlos I abdicated ahead of things getting just a little too hot, what with one thing and another.  Felipe was made Prince of Asturias in 1977 and sworn in as heir in 1986.  He was educated at Santa María de los Rosales School in Madrid and then attended Lakefield College School in Canada.  He also studied law at the Autonomous University of Madrid and earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.


Well, we have come down to the Estacion de Servicio Repsol. Now, the Google details are a little odd. It is listed as being open from 6am till midnight each day however it closes from 9.59pm to 10.01pm.  No, me neither.   Generally people average at four stars, Mark goes the whole five three weeks ago.

‘I have used this gas station on several occasions .  The cafe offers good tasty food at a reasonable price, the toilets are always clean.  Friendly staff, smiling and eager to help.  You can get ferry tickets for the Moroccan ferry beside the cafe from Mustapha.

                                

On we go.   Phil-V, as the cool kids call him, married Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano in 2004.  She is the daughter of Jesus, Jesus Jose Ortiz Alvarez and Maria de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodriguez.  She was born in 1972, in Oviedo, and was a divorcee - she was married to Alonso Guerrero Perez for a year in the 90s.  Possibly marrying a divorcee was yet another reason for Franco to be spinning in his grave. The couple have two children.

 Up we go to the Venta El Frenazo Los Barrios Restaurante.  http://ventaelfrenazo.es/  It is a lunchtime sort of place - open from Wednesday to Sunday noon till five.   It gets 4.4 stars from 2331 reviews. Let us pick some key words.

Pork loin in lard - Javier wrote fulsomely ‘A place like no other. An authentic roadside inn where you can enjoy typical local products: pork loin in lard, venison, wild boar, and hearty stews. We sampled some of the most traditional dishes. They served us an appetizer of pork cracklings that were to die for. We started with a picadillo soup that could revive the dead, with its chunks of meat and noodles. We shared tripe with chickpeas (a good stew), an excellent wild boar stew, and a dish of eggs with pork loin and potatoes (the eggs had runny yolks, the potatoes were perfectly fried, and the pork loin was exceptional). Everything was perfect. Impeccable service from beginning to end. A must-stop if you're traveling this road around lunchtime.’

Cyclists - apparently not to eat.  Ernesto declared ‘Breakfast with brown bread and olive oil. Added value for cyclists: bike inspection and repair area.’

The heir to the throne is Leonor, who went to the UWC Atlantic College - which means, if they had given me the job in the 90s, I might have taught her. Leonor was born in 2005.  Apart from the Atlantic College she joined the General Military Academy in 2023. She has done various military things and made her first solo flight on 18th December 2025.

So, here we go. On towards another day.








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