Camino del Norte

10.7.18 After the asphalt comes the asphalt again, today it went almost exclusively over the hard stone track!!! A short section towards the end of the day was a slightly more pleasant surface. For me, it is clear that the section from Santander to Comillas (55km of 60km asphalt) can be skipped, not attractive scenery and constantly walking along the road... if you already have problems with your feet from the previous days, don't be too proud to take the bus and stay a day or two longer in the beautiful Comillas.

I have strained my feet a bit too much at the start on two days of 60km on a hard track was definitely not the best idea. That's why I'm taking a day off on the 11th. Today, too, there were only very few pilgrims to be seen, it is really much quieter than on the main route, and once you get to the coast, it gets much nicer, I could experience a small glimpse of it today. In general, it is always nice when you can catch sight of the sea, the air becomes fresher and the wind provides a little cooling.

I was walking again today with the couple from Austria, it was good not to be completely alone when my feet hurt so much. In the afternoon, we took a slightly longer break in a restaurant. Taking care of wounds and especially fortifying ourselves. A typical pilgrim's menu, for 10€ we got a starter, main course, and dessert as well as a bottle of wine. However, the starter was already as huge as a main course :) but the food was very tasty.

Not only the food, but the wine as well. I poured the remaining wine into a small bottle for the road... an older man saw this, who also saw that I could hardly walk because of my feet. What happened next was simply great... he invited me to join him, took his bottle of wine and wanted to fill up my little bottle, at first I refused, he pointed at my feet, and I agreed. So we went with a decent sip of wine on the last 6km for the day. The more I drank the wine, the more I understood the man's gesture! My pain decreased, as if the wine healed from the inside. Very good realization! It was also good that I was sweating so much that the alcohol was sweated out right away, because I was anything but drunk, the pain just disappeared...

When you think back, pilgrims used to eat a lot of wine, water, and whatever they got along the way..

The last few km went almost by themselves, the sea suddenly looked wonderful, the wine helped and the destination was near. Now you were really looking forward to a shower, a bed, washing clothes, and eating... but as if the last two days hadn't been bad enough, what had to happen happened... the hostel was FULL, it was so full that there was already a mattress in the bicycle room and the first tent was standing next to it.

That was initially a disaster, especially since there is only one pilgrim hostel in the town, the rest are expensive pensions. We considered taking the bus one more stop, trying our luck there, returning tomorrow and then walking. Two Irishmen offered us a tent, but three people in a two-man tent without a sleeping mat would be too cold on the ground and too tight anyway. So we wanted to choose the pension described in our book. We passed by the tourist office beforehand, where we got a tip for a cheap hostel (right next to the supermarket).

With three people in a room, each with a bed for 15€, it's really possible in this place. Normally you pay twice as much, etc.

I would also recommend to everyone to be at the hostel at 2:00 pm, then it opens and fills up very quickly. Alternatively, you should really visit the tourist information office (it's marked), they give good tips! We quickly decided to stay one more night here, to rest and recover.

In the evening we walked towards the coast and found a great place where we could watch the fantastic sunset...

... so a weird-crazy day ended in this wonderful way... that's the Camino, sometimes it takes everything from you and gives it back to you twice as much!!!

Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow...

ps.: not all pictures are in the text, some more are in the picture folder...