19 miles for about 236 miles total. We are fine, but the feet are feeling the wear and tear.

Today’s stage promised to be a 16 Mile day, with a mix of Inland and Coastal views. One of the things we have learned about Asturias  is that there are many beautiful things to see. To ensure that the pilgrims sees them all, there are many many optional paths that we could take. And everyone favors one vs. the other. With multiple miles on our feet, we were hoping to keep this 16-mile day to a 16-mile day.

Shortly after we started to walk, a local informed us of the beautiful Coastal walk versus the Inland route. While we pretended that we couldn’t understand Spanish, he converted to English and begin to explain the virtues of the coastal route. We acquiesced and proceeded along that trail, knowing that it would end up being longer.

He was right, of course, it was more beautiful. And we were right that it was longer. First the photos of the day.

Clearly, the coastal route was beautiful. Unfortunately Bill’s foot, which had been problematic for the last 2 or 3 days ,begin to hurt even more. And the extra 3 or so Miles this route took those didn’t help. By the time we were in Celorio, he was more than ready to be there.

Our last challenge awaited. Apparently, Google isn’t 100% foolproof. While  Bill had located the hotel the previous night on his phone using the internet that was available, when we arrived in Celorio the streets around the hotel did not exist! We searched and searched for a way to get to the hotel, finding streets that were not on the map and finding streets that were on the map that didn’t exist! We finally tried a route 180 degrees opposite of our existing approach and succeeded in locating our hotel. While it would have been difficult to find with a good Google Map, it was nearly impossible with a bad map. Nonetheless, we had arrived!

Problems like very poor internet and no restaurant within a mile that served a dinner were minor at this point. We managed to fuel our bodies (grocery store) and clean are closed in preparation for the next day.

One final note, with lots of ice, rest, massage etcetera Bill prepared his foot for the next day, hoping that it will work one more day.

19 miles today, for 216 miles total.

This will be a very short post because the Internet is very poor here. We hope all are well.

We crossed from the state of Canaria into Asturias this day. Here are some photos of the journey.

Sorry for the brevity. Very poor Internet.

15 miles today, bringing the total to 197 miles.

Today was entirely rolling hills for 15 miles across farmland and the coast.

Our first bit of encouragement on this walk was a sign indicating just a short 534 kilometers until the finish.

Should we do it in one day? Or, should we savor it over several days. We decided to enjoy it over another 17 days.

Today was also a breakthrough day. There are times we have spotted three and maybe four pilgrims at the same time, today we spotted 16. In this photo, we captured 8, and there were another eight behind us at that point. 

It was a good chance to start some new conversations with new people. We met several native English speakers from a mix of places like England, Ireland and of course, United States.

We have begun to enjoy lunches which come from the grocery store. These consist of a baguette, some purchased cheese, turkey, and soft drinks that we carry until we find a nice place to sit and have lunch. It is much more flexible than stopping at a restaurant and the service is pretty good too.

Ultimately, we found a way back to the coast. And there, sure enough, was our destination: Comillas. 

Now on to the daily chores laundry, bathing, and exploring the local town.

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.

Continue reading →

The details: 11 miles walked, 170 miles total.

Before getting into a description of today’s travel, I want to talk about food. One feature of Spain is their enjoyment of a high-quality late evening meal. For a Spaniard, starting dinner at 10 p.m. is not at all a problem. For a pilgrim, anything after about 7 p.m. requires a sheer force of will as they are so hungry from the day’s walk and also tired. We arrived into the town of Guemes to a spectacular bed and breakfast.

In this town, there were three hotels, 1 hostel, and only one place to eat. While a typically friendly place, this dining establishment would, under no circumstance consider starting their evening meal before 8:30. Okay. Unfortunately, the cook was a bit late arriving to work that afternoon and so dinner wasn’t started until about 9:15. With no particular rush, the meal ended about 11:15. Again it was a wonderful place to eat at, but they had no particular appreciation for the pilgrim need to sleep. It was, after all, our problem.

So, satisfied but tired, we returned to our bed and breakfast before an abbreviated night’s sleep.

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise 

and possibly the best breakfast we have had in Spain and possibly all of Europe. The owner of our bed and breakfast did an amazing job here.

Enough about about food. There are two routes into Santander, both requiring a ferry for the last kilometer. There is the direct route which is about seven and a half miles, and the coastal road which is about 11 miles. Our decision was to take the coastal route for the beauty. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that we were well on the way along the short route and had missed the turn for the coastal route. Not to be dissuaded, we turned around and found our way back to the coast around adding about 2 more miles to our journey.

This route was also beautiful. 

And after a few kilometers, we had our first view of Santander.

All that was left was 2 miles of walking on a beach and then taking a ferry across to Santander.

In short order we found our hotel room and are quite comfortably cleaned and ready to explore the town.

Today was another 17 miles, bringing the total to 159 miles for 10 days of hiking. Once again it was a mix of following the seashore and then moving in land. To add a novel twist to the seashore, we needed to cross the water on a ferry. Here many of the peregrinos are lined up waiting for their chance to climb aboard the ferry.

Once across we traveled through an interesting town, passed a very large prison which wasn’t accepting visitors at that time, and then had our one climb of the day. Bill called it a pimple. It turned out to be a bit more. After hiking across sand to get to the climb, you then needed to scamper up an approximately 300 foot climb, basically hand in hand over foot fashion. While this photo doesn’t look that challenging, what you can’t see is just behind Diane is about a 200-foot fall should she choose to make a mistake. This was, without question, the most challenging portion of trail we have found on any Camino.

The reward for that ascent and descent on the other side was the opportunity to walk between 2 and 3 miles on the beach. Again, perspective is lacking in the photo, as the beach went on and on and on. It was really very cool.

Shortly after this beach stroll we took a turn inland for about 8 to 10 miles. Somewhere over the top of the last mountain range you see is the ocean we left behind. Not to worry, because tomorrow we will see the ocean again just before we enter the large city of Santander.

We should also note that we met our first Americans on this journey. They are from North Carolina and have done 5 Caminos at this point. They will be staying in the same town we are this evening so we plan on meeting for dinner and discussing, what else, the Camino.

We hope all is well with you. You are in our prayers.

Greetings. 17 miles today,  bringing the total to 142.

Castro Urdiales is a beautiful Seaside town with a very large tourism industry. Many of our Pilgrim friends who stay in hostels we’re forced to move on to the next town because everything including the hostels what were full of tourists. Fortunately, Diane and I had a reservation and so we’re able to spend the night.

This day started with a walk along the hills that meet the sea. for about 5 miles, the path followed in this fashion. Thereafter, a river inlet forced us to turn inland. to the left of this photo the river goes into a valley for several miles. At this point, we needed to make a decision. Continue into the valley and had six more miles to our walk or, follow the highway for 15 kilometers to reach our next destination of Loredo. We opted for walking along the highway. It was a backwoods Highway and so wasn’t crowded it was still very forested, but it wasn’t a natural Trail.

We arrived into Loreto with a classic sight, rooftops!. Yes, at this point all but one of our entries into our final Town required a steep descent into town. Loredo did not disappoint.

After recovering from the walk, we explored the old town of Laredo. It seemed Queen Isabel after commissioning Columbus comma chose this town for her summer vacations.

This town also has the longest continuous Beach on the northern coast of Spain. And great sunsets and sunrises.

This would definitely be a town it to consider visiting just as a tourist.

Numbers first: 16 miles today, bringing the total to 125 miles. We are about 25% of the way to Santiago.

While the most common nationality of the Camino is Spanish, the people we seem to meet the most are French. There are about 12 – 15 French people that we run into very regularly. Some speak English and we can communicate that way. Some speak Spanish and we can use that language to communicate. And finally, there are those who speak no English or Spanish, and we are forced to use our French. Oh, if we had just practiced a bit more before coming here!

Today’s trail had several interesting features. The first was the smoothest surface we have walked on ever during a Camino walk. For the first seven miles we were on a bike path.

This was an absolute gift to our feet. Speaking of food, Diane’s feet have suffered a bit on this walk. Brace yourself for a picture of her bandage toes.

The Camino path provided other interesting choices for travel. It went across the beach.

It went through tunnels.

And it crossed grassy hills.

One of the challenges of today’s course was the number of options available. There were two major branches, giving 4 choices where a decision had to be made which direction to go. And it seems that the trail marking went from 100% marked to 50% marked, to barely marked. Thus, the political alliances. French, Spanish, and American forces joined together to try to figure out which way the path went. Through this multinational force, we were able to solve the riddle. And we arrived! Our hotel here in Castro Urdiales is absolutely wonderful with a great view of the beach. What a great place to do laundry and get ready for tomorrow.

Today was 16 miles bringing the total to 109 miles in seven days. In the guidebook, this stage looked like a 12-mile day. That afforded us the opportunity to play tourist in Bilbao. We figured that walking around 1 or 2 miles wouldn’t hurt. Well, by the time we found our hotel we were at 16.7 miles. So, never count your chickens until the fat lady sings.

Last night in Zamudio Diane and I searched in vain for a local restaurant that would offer a meal before 8:30 at night. We gave up and settled on a salad and hamburger at our hotel. Diane had the salad, and I had the burger. It was probably the biggest hamburger I ever ate! Over a half a pound of hamburger, loads of bacon, two fried eggs, goat cheese and all the vegetables you could imagine. I gave up trying to pick it up and settled on cutting it to shreds with my knife and fork. Without question, I was satisfied by this 7 Euro Burger!

Today’s walk took us out of the sleepy villages and into the mega city of Bilbao. Bilbao is a beautiful city. We managed to be tourists and saw the local church, where we stopped to reflect on the thousand-year plus history of pilgrims and then to offer our prayers, too.

We walked through the old Town and took in many of the classic sites. Here is a picture of the Guggenheim Museum.

Our map showed a bridge crossing the river to where our hotel was. As we got to the bridge, it was clear it was not a bridge but one of the most unique ferries we have ever seen. Here’s a picture.

We are now in our hotel with laundry done and bodies cleaned. We are resting up for the next week where many of our stages will be between 17 and 21 miles. The good news is that we return to the ocean on tomorrow’s stage. There is something amazing walking along the coast on this pilgrimage we have chosen to do.

Another 15 miles brings us to 93 miles overall. We spent the evening in Guernica being tourists. The first stop was the tourist office to get information about the city, then for the walkabout. A must-see is the replica of Picasso’s Guernica mural.

The next stop is the house of meetings and the old oak where the Lords of Vizcaya met for centuries.

There is a stained glass replica of this meeting Hall also at this location.

Unfortunately, the stained-glass image of the old oak is all that is available these days. When Hitler bombed the city of Guernica at the request of Franco in 1937, almost nothing was left of the city hall (actually about 80% of the city was lost) or the oak. It was this event that was captured by Picasso.

On a lighter note, let’s talk about Pilgrim food. I should have brought out my camera to capture last night’s meal but I didn’t. So, I will have to describe it. Imagine a first course with a full sized dinner plate. On it, fill the plate with a salad then put three large scoops of potato salad mixed with tuna. This is called Russian salad and is your first course. Now imagine a second plate which has half a chicken oven-baked, and the remainder of the plate full of french fries. This is your second course. For dessert, you will receive a large scoop of ice cream with whipped cream. This meal is accompanied by half a bottle of wine, should you choose. For Diane and I we chose sparkling water instead. A full basket of warm bread accompanies us. The cost? 12 Euro. Not too bad!

Today’s hike was another up-and-down hike through forests and then into valleys and then into more developed city. We are just a few miles away from the Bilbao airport, so it is no longer rural.

Tomorrow’s course will take us over the final Ridge to Bilbao where we will head north and east and end up about 10 miles out of Bilbao.

Laundry, shower, and food awaits. More tomorrow.