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393 kilometers more to walk to Santiago de Compestella

We left Ribadesella by way of the Santa Marina Beach promenade . We knew we were going to leave early and no stores or cafes would be open until 9:00 am, especially on a Sunday, so we bought yogurt the night before and left them just outside the window to stay cold. There are no screens in most windows in Spain and the window ledges are a great place to keep food cold overnight if we don’t have access to a refrigerator. So far we have had no problem with bugs or insects flying in. We also bought a loaf of bread, cheese and ham for lunch as well as a couple bottles of iced tea for the morning to drink on the way in case we didn’t find an open cafe with coffee for a while. We were in luck, however as a cafe was getting their pastry delivery and even though they were not officially open he was able to make us a cafe con leche “take away” and we were able to sip on our coffee while walking on the promenade. .

We walked for a couple hours thru forest and pastures, and saw dozens of horreos, which are little buildings on stilts designed to store grain and vegetables to protect them from rodents and moisture. They are very common in this part of Spain. Soon we could see the ocean in the distance and the cute town of Vega de Ribadesella.

As we started walking toward the ocean we saw a sign in front of an old stone building with beautiful roses that read, “ welcome peregrinos (pilgrims). Coffee and breakfast available. Donativo.” We were ready for another coffee and went inside. There we found a young couple – Madeline from France and Alfonso from Italy. They had a thermos of coffee and milk and a couple of cakes. The building used to be an alburgue but was currently closed. Madeline was the caretaker and was offering refreshments for pilgrims as a way to earn money to fix up the building. Apparently Alfonso was in Spain for work and he met Madeline and decided to stay for a while ❤️. They said they served a lot of pilgrims the day before but not too many that day. We left energized by our unexpected cup of coffee. As we left a group of pilgrims stopped to read the sign uncertain if they should stop. I encouraged them to stop and they did. Alfonso thanked me for the advertising.

We made it to our alburgue by 2:00 pm. We only walked 15 k today. The alburgue was spotless and run by a woman our age who has walked several Casinos and does not speak a word of English. Once again Google translate came in handy. She ran a tight ship but was very nice. She washed the clothes we wore that day and we had a delicious supper of unlimited homemade lentil soup, rice, salad wine and dessert. It was all donativo. We were there with 3 young people from Czech Republic and they appreciated the unlimited soup. There were also two Italians, Silvio and Eugenio who appreciated the wine. We had a great conversation at supper – mostly about US politics of course. The bunks were very comfortable with room between each. The albergue was not full which was also nice as it is still early in the season and it was a kilometer off the Camino up a big hill (I didn’t realize that when I booked it) but it was a great place to stay.

409 kilometersrill we reach Santiago de Compestella (more than half-way there).

We left Llames via the coastal variant, a walk that went on a cliff side path along the coast. The weather was beautiful as were the views. We just couldn’t get enough of the sea, the rocks, the lush green landscape and of course, the cows. We met a young Italian couple who were walking the Camino in sandals as they heard it was better for their feet. We were happy with our Hoka trail runners, especially me as I frequently trip and am sure I’d stub my toes more than usual in sandals.

We walked along the cliffs as far as Poo where we stopped for coffee and a tortilla. We then continued inland a bit – still with glimpses of the sea thru Celerio, Barrio and Naves. We walked again thru pastures near the coast where we stopped to ear our lunch. At one point we lost the train and a man saw us from the distance and called out to us in Spanish “Camino Santiago while pointing us the the right direction. This actually happened to us several times. The locals are very happy to show us the way. Our destination was Ribadesella which was a total of 30 plus kilometers. This is pushing it for us so we decided to shave off a few kilometers and caught a train near the end of the day. We met a mother and her son from San Diego at the train station who had the same thought as us.

we arrived in Ribadesella and headed for our Pensión. It was quite unique. It was a group of tiny homes or individual rooms built into the hill in the old town. Very cool. We did our usual Landry and showers (and nap for one of us) and headed out to check out the town. It was split y a river with a mountain backdrop and very pretty. There were lots of shops, bakeries and traditional Austrian food. It wad several beautiful promanades along the water and a large besufptuful beach the promanade on the beach was lined with brpeautiful “Indians” style homes. I’m sure it gets quite busy in the summer. After checking out the town we headed for dinner and had our first “chop salad” and I had the traditional Fabada, a bean stew with sausage. We struggle with the menus here. Google translate often translates the items in away that has no meaning to us. But “chop” salad and potata con tres salsas we understand. The 3 sauces with potato usually includ cabreles cheese cause, spicy tomato sauce and mayo with garlic. Of course John always asks for ketchup. 😊

We headed out of Santillana Del Mar early after drinking our instant Starbucks coffee we brought with us. We like a cup of coffee before heading out but sometimes there is no cafe open before 9:00. Maria Joseph had provided us with a tea kettle and biscuits in the room. As we headed out of town we still were amazed at how beautiful and medieval it seemed.

Shorty after we left it started raining. It was a soft rain and not too bothersome. We even saw another rainbow as the rain stopped. Soon after we left town we were walking through rural farmland. The sky turned blue and it really was a buaetiful walk so I took lots of photos.

Along the way we saw beautiful old churches, lots of grazing cows, goats and sheep, and frequent views of the blue ocean in the distance. We talked with other hikers from Northern Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, and Hungry as well as more Germans. It was one of my favorite walking days so far.

After 24 kilometers or a little more we finally made it to our destination, Comillas. We are staying in a dormitory style albergue tonight called The Magic of the Camino. They had a real washing machine. It will be so nice to have clothes that were washed by a machine. The sun was still shining brightly at 5:00 pm and we hung them on the lines to dry before heading out to check out the town and find something for dinner.

We left Santander on a rainy morning with 561 k left to Santiago de Compestella. We had planned to walk a 28k coastal variant but decided against that as the forecast called for rain and heavy winds. Instead we walked the traditional Camino route to Boo. It was a short day, only 14 K and we arrived in the early afternoon noon after a somewhat boring walk thru the Santander industrial zone and suburbs. We did talk with a guy from Austria at our albergue who said the coastal route was beautiful but it was extremely windy. We arrived at our albergue, Albergue Piedad, in the early afternoon and had to wait to get in. We had a coffee in the adjacent cafe and talked with other hikers from the Netherlands; Germany and Pau from Taiwan. Even though most of the people there were in a dormitory room we were lucky enough to get a private room. The albergue was very clean and like many of the private albergues we stayed at, run by a family. It was in a rural area and since it was Easter Sunday everything was closed.

Tomorrow we head to Santillana Del Mar, along with most of the people staying at the albergue. We may be walking in the rain but have our rain gear and backpack covers. The weather seems to be unpredictable here. We are enjoying out time in northern Spain. 😊

After a restful sleep and a coffee we headed out. Today will be a longer day – we are headed to Santander – about 27 k away.

Soon after we left our pension, we saw Pao from Taiwan and Alex from France who we had stayed with a couple nights earlier. They had spent the night at the Albergue la cabana del Abuel Peurto. They said it was a great communal experience and would recommend if we return. We walked on and stopped at a cute town called Galizano where we stopped for a delicious tortilla and coffee. Galizano is near the beach and the Camino left town and headed out to the beach.

As we walked uphill (of course) toward the beach, came across Pablo who was out walking his dog. I asked about the mountains in the distance and he named them all for me. The Picos Europa were in the distance and covered with snow. He asked where we were from and when we said Maine in US, he told us he heard it I was very cold there. His nephew has been working in Maine and wrote to him about the cold winters. His nephew is working on the CMP pipeline for Avangrid, the Spanish parent company of CMP.

Our walk soon climbed up the cliffs near the beach and was simply breathtaking. We passed another Laredo Beach and continued walking. At one point we saw Santander, our destination in the far distance. Y

At one point we again heard someone calling out. We turned and of course our two German grounds Karls and Mike caught up with us. It was great to see them again.

We could see the town of Somo in the distance and at some point had to once again walk on the beach. We had to take our shoes off to cross a tidal inlet and the water felt so good on our hot and tired feet . We stopped at a rock to put our shoes back on and had a nice conversation with Patrice from Madrid who lived in San Francisco for several years. Finally we reached Somo and after a well deserved cafe con leche, we headed they town to catch the ferry across the Mira Estuary to Santander.