The train trundles out of the city along tracks lined with fluffy wands of pampas grass, the view through the window turning from graffiti-covered warehouses to cliff-backed suburbs. Then, a thick blanket of green.

Travelling from Santander – where I’ve just spent two sunny days hopping between pristine city beaches and taking bracing sea dips – to San Sebastián could take as little as three hours by bus. But, tempted by a bonus night in Bilbao and the prospect of views over a lush area known as “Green Spain”, I’ve decided to take the slow route along two narrow-gauge railways.

The first, a three-hour service from Santander to Bilbao, winds eastward, almost kissing the coast before heading slightly south, through the hills of Cantabria and the Basque Country. The train itself is tiny, bo

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