Numbers first. 12 miles walked, 182 completed.

Last night we had the opportunity to meet with new friends for dinner. Again it was a typical Spanish meal, so it went late into the evening.

Starting from left to right: Daniella and Sabina, from Romania. They both work in the high-tech industry have done multiple segments of the Camino,  are active Christians working with mothers and orphans. Next up, Ken, from England. Ken is a warm personality who is retired, a walker, a sailor and a quietly sensitive person. Now comes Pam and Jim, a couple from North Carolina who are also retired, are Christians and are on their fifth Camino. Working our way to the right corner, is Rob, another Brit who is still a working stiff, and a very pleasant conversationalist. Finally, rounding out the illustrious group is Diane and Bill.

Today had the potential to be a 44 kilometer hike, or in American terms, about 27 miles. To avoid this, the guidebook suggest that you proceed several kilometers out of Santander to a train station where you get on the train to go across the bridge over the river. Once acrossed, about one kilometer along, get off the train and proceed to walk. This one train-related shortcut saves about 7 miles, as the Camino loops several miles south to find another bridge that pedestrians can cross over and then comes exactly back to the other side of the train bridge. No problem with the decision there.

The next challenge was one of aesthetics. For the first eight or nine miles out of Santander, the Camino follows a very industrial path, not a very pleasant sight. That was compounded today by the presence of significant rainfall. (note the presence of Ken from dinner last night, joining us for this walk.)

Many suggested that this was not the best part of the Camino and a bus or a train through this might be appropriate. Since we already decided that we would take the train across the train bridge, and it was raining, we decided we would jump on the train a little early. As in, Santander. The result shaved off another 8 or so miles, leaving us with a very pleasant 12 mile walk from the train station on the other side of the river to Santillana.

The last few miles into Santillana, very rural, afforded us a very civilized Trail. In fact, they provided large “people walking” symbols every thirty or forty feet to make sure we knew that we people could walk there. As I looked at that image it looked far more like a crime scene than a Camino path. Nonetheless, we found it.

We arrived in Santillana to see a beautiful medieval village fully restored. The streets are amazing

The shops take you back five hundred years and our hotel is wonderful. The  rooms are very comfortable, for a 500 year old building, and we are quite content until tomorrow morning.