Normally, I would take off to France, but Spain was the more appealing option this year given that the Spanish were allowing fully vaccinated Britons to enter without any additional testing requirements.
Thankfully, my second vaccination was on 14th June, so the mandatory fortnight following that second dose had elapsed prior to flying out on 5th July, arriving in Santander at 1620hrs.
It was a smooth enough trip; near-empty airports and a quick turnaround at the car rental desk, meaning I arrived at my hotel in the Liebana Valley just after 6pm.
There were a couple of other obligatory hurdles to overcome, the first being the requirement to test myself within 72 hours of flying home and the second being the completion of the passenger locator form to present upon landing back in the UK.
These were relatively easy to deal with though, even if the 10 day quarantine period is still in situ for amber destinations (this won't be removed until 19th July).
So, I am confined to barracks until 23rd July, but that is a small price to pay for the 80+ butterfly species seen in 6 days in what is a beautiful part of Spain; quite green and verdant in contrast to much of the rest of the country.
I based myself in a small town called Potes, which gave me easy access to the areas I wished to explore, and it is a lovely place, with plenty of old buildings to admire as well as rivers, woodland and lush hillsides:
