Camino de la Costa

9/7/18 the second day is the first hiking day after yesterday's arrival... it was quite a challenging day. The most significant difference I noticed was that there were hardly any other pilgrims.

In 2015, I walked 600km on the Camino Francés without any blisters on my feet. Today, we walked from Santander to Queveda, 31.5km mostly on asphalt and not through the most beautiful scenery. Now I have my first blister on the Camino de Santiago and I’ve also walked a ton (******). The start in Santander wasn't great, going right through the city, it was very loud and there were many cars. Eventually, it got better, except for the terrain. Besides a huge chemical factory, there were also a lot of animals to see, from small salamanders to cows, horses, cats, and even the occasional billy goat. The sea was briefly in sight today. It would have been a nice way to cool off in this heat.

Unlike on the Camino Francés, there were very few pilgrims on the way today. I met a couple from Austria today and we hiked together. They caught my attention at first because their clothes were hanging in all directions to dry on their backpacks... They told me about the route before and how they hardly saw anyone. However, this will change dramatically at the very end :(

My Spanish is just good enough to survive... I can order a tortilla patata and a Radler/Panache. Although the latter didn't go well today. Along the way, there was a prohibited section that would have taken us over a railway bridge right next to the tracks instead of bypassing it. So we took a train for 1.7km... in hindsight, maybe the more sensible option.

Today, everything took a while, my feet hurt, the water was running out, and the hunger was growing. A restaurant and a supermarket came at just the right time...

We continued for about 1.5 hours on the tough track until we finally reached the long-awaited hostel... finally out of our shoes, taking a shower, and having something cold to drink... 28-34 degrees really take a toll, and the ton of walking makes it even harder...

There was a pool at the campsite next to the hostel, but none of us had the energy to jump in... so we settled for a Radler and a game of UNO. Another pilgrim from Germany joined us for the improvised dinner, so we had a nice group until the evening...

That's it for today, we will continue tomorrow... until then...

Charlie, Quack, and Our Charly

Ps: as pictures, here are some impressions from the day...