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Santander
After many delays, mostly by my own apparent inability to match dates and days on a calendar (for another time), I left Santander yesterday morning under a light, but deceiving, cover of cloud. It was just me and the early morning revelers from the night before, all of us staggering along toward our respective destinations. My plan was to walk to a place called Puente Arce, for which there was an "H" symbol marked in my spanish guidebook. As it happens "H" stands for Hospital, not Hotel or Hostel as I had thought. All that aside, I had a lovely morning walking mostly on roads, which is fine except that the asphault heats up and this heat goes into your shoes and your feet swell and you get blisters. Yes, I have several on each foot now...
On the way to Puente Arce
But, I digress. After Puente Arce, I was still in great shape and feeling philosophical about life, and just going along with what it would present me. My next option for accomodation was in Polanco, but I was unable to locate the Albergue, which only had 6 places. There were no pensions or hotels that I could see and the locals were unable to help with suggestions. I understand why there were no places to stay there; what looked like coal fed Nuclear towers are busy spewing out "Agua" (water) all day every day. It was offputting to say the least, so, at the 35 km mark I just kept going and hoped that my feet would hold out and that I would find a place to stay soon. After 11 hours of walking - no exaggeration - I landed here in Santiallana del Mar, a charming and ancient village, nearly 50 km from where I started, when all the detours I had (another story) during the day are accounted for.
Needless to day, my feet were extremely unhappy with me last night as I staggered up the stairs of the Pension in Santillana - the most delightful ancient village with cobblestone streets - where I spent the night. In fact, my poor feet fairly throbbed all night and I had to have them hanging off the end of the bed away from blankets and sheets in order to get any relief. If that wasn´t enough, I managed to get a sunburn on my arms and legs, despite a liberal application of sunscreen in the morning. I must have sweated it all off and I am sporting a rather sporty contrast of red and white on my upper arms and ankles today. Please don´t feel sorry for me - it is my own fault for not investigating accommodation more thoroughly in a language I actually understand, before leaving home. This morning, the feet feel remarkably good, but I know that they will protest loudly if I try to do too much, so the plan is to walk only about 13km.
Santiallan del Mar
A few months ago I read a book about the Camino written by a popular German comedian. While the book was not great, I did take something from it. Each day he reflected on his experience and had a lesson learned from it. I am taking a proverbial page from his book, and doing the same on this walk. I think there are several lessons from yesterday, but the one that stands out is about bragging -I did this about my feet last time I was here. I felt quite smug about how well I did and while I did not pass judgement on the problems other people were having, I believed that I was immune to this kind of thing. So, if you think to yourself "it can´t or won´t happen to me", you are wrong. I was.
Smallest shower in the World
On the lighter side, I must tell you about the delightful shower in my room at the Pension. I believe it may the smallest shower in the world, at an estimated 22" x 22". Now, I´m not a big person, but it took a lot of effort to get into it, close the doors and then access my shampoo, face wash and soap. I basically had to hold it all in one hand, use the other for washing and then let it drop onto the floor - away from my poor feet - when I was finished with it. It was truly funny and despite my pain, I laughed the whole time. And on that happy note, I must hobble off and hit the road again as the sun is out and rising in the sky, ready to add insult to injury.
