After several days of storms, a 110 metre high Communication Mast was brought down:
Not in itself, a surprising event, where the towers came from is however a fascinating story...
Due to the proximity of the province to the Atlantic and in particular to the Cantabrian Sea, in the early 1940s, the German government asked (and received) permission to construct a Navigational 'repeater' station. This operated unil the end of WW2 with the facility staffed by German personnel. The facility functioned like an early form of GPS - a ship or aircraft, could, using triangulation, map their position quite accurately from the transmissions and the station was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers during WW2. Obviously, it was a pretty 'obvious' facility transmitting 24 hours a day and was effectively a military installation. That being said, and I have no way of confirming this, local 'legend' has it, that at the end of the war, with spares for the station in short supply, an R.A.F. aircraft, air-dropped components to keep the station functioning. A story which has a certain amount of logic, as it was of as much value to the Allies as the Axis.
Two towers still remain, as an interesting monument to a 'Neutral' military facility...Jim
