walks Archives

We got off the ferry in Santander and walked toward our hostel. We were tired and hungry and too early to check in so we stopped for a coffee and tortilla on the way. The city was full of people there for the Easter holiday. Our hostel, Alojamientos Cantiber was great. It was very clean and had a great kitchen and common area. We shared a room with 4 other people – including Wishy, a young guy from China and Alfonso from Rome. They were hardly around so we had the room to ourselves except at night. We were able to take it easy for the day. Our room also had a nice balcony that overlooked a street with shops and cafes. I would recommend it as an inexpensive place to stay if in Santander.

We were sitting on our balcony the night we arrived when I heard the sound of drums and trumpets. I looked down the street and saw the police had it blocked off. I realized that since it was Good Friday, it must be the Semana Santa parade. We headed down the street and were able to see most of the parade. The streets were lined with people but we found some steps to climb up and had a great view.

While in Santander we also went to the Catedral de Neustra Senora de la Asunción de Santander. The lower part of the church was built in the 12th century and several years ago, archaeologists found remains of the Roman Empire under part of the church. It is a beautiful and simple gothic style church. The complex includes a cloister where you can hear the organ music and the sounds of the mass going on inside the church.

Elevators instead of stairs in neighborhoods on hill.

Santander seems very prosperous with many stores, restaurants and museums. It is built on a hill and even has outside escalators instead of stairs to get to the hillier parts of the city. We didn’t explore the city as much as we might have as we needed a break from walking 😊, but enjoyed our time people watching.

We headed out of Laredo and walked the length of the 5 kilometers beach. It was raining lightly off and on and we saw a beautiful rainbow, which I considered a good omen. At the end of the beach we knew we had to find the boat that ferries pilgrims across the estuary. We followed the arrows to the beach but did not see a dock of any kind. Eventually other pilgrims joined us and soon we saw a small boat coming from the other side. I wasn’t sure if we would have to go in the water to get on but they put ramp down to the beach. A few minutes later we were off to Santana, the city across the water. Santana was smaller than Laredo but seems much more prosperous .

Walking along the Paseo Maritimo and beach for over 4 k

Santana is a lovely town and if I do the camino Norte again; I would choose to stay there instead of Laredo. Outside of town we walked and walked and walked around the El Dueso Prison -one of the largest in Spain with a perimeter of 300,000 square meters and 336 cells. Santons has several beaches and we walked by them as well. There are surfing schools everywhere and there were surfers in the water and on the beach – all wearing wetsuits as it was only in the 60s.

After passing several surfing beaches the trail headed up a steep incline. We were heading over a mountain peninsula that separated several beaches. The climb was steep and difficult as it was wet from the rain earlier that morning. But the cliffside trail had unbelievable views the higher we climbed.

Near the top, Stephanie from Austria and the two Germain girls we met on the boat caught up with us. We all stopped to get our hiking poles out of our packs for the slippery steep walk down. We made it down and started hiking across the very long beaches. Apparently northern Spain has some of the longest sandy beaches in Europe.

We finally made it across the beaches teaming with young surfers attending numerous surfing schools and into the city of Noja where we stopped for a well deserved hamburguesa and fries. There were hundreds of people everywhere, spending the Easter holidays with their families.

After lunch we still had 16 k to go so we trudged on. As we were walking across a field we heard someone yelling to us and it was our old friends (by now) Karls and Mike from Germany. We enjoyed talking with them for a few k but they were stopping at San Miguel for the night. They apparently didn’t sleep well the night before and had also walked 40k the day before. Not to stereotype, but every German we have met have been intense hikers. We had reservation at a Pensión in Guemes 8 more k and trudged on. Soon we started talking to a family from Brussels who were doing 10 days on the Camino. We walked with them off an on until arriving in Güemes were they also were spending the night. One of the nice things about the Camino is talking to others while hiking as it makes the miles or kilometers fly by. Of course our current political situation was a topic of discussion.

Güemes is a very small town with a Pensión and an albergue with two cafes. We had a nice dinner at our Pensión and a great conversation with a couple from France who were basketball fans and knew about Newport, Maine because it is home of Cooper Flagg. The husband told us he attended Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 and saw the Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson etc play. John was happy to talk sports with him. Altogether today we walked 33.6 k or 21 miles. Tomorrow will be a shorter day to Santander.

Tag: walks

Camino del Norte – Rest Day in Santander

Camino del Norte Stage 10. Laredo to Güemes.