Santillana del Mar - Day 3

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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.

Starting again.... KM 534

Norte Route - click to enlarge

Its been nine months since my last blog from the Camino del Norte, but I will be back on the trail again starting on Saturday May 29 from Santander, Spain. The walk will last till, well, I don't know when exactly. Suffice to say I have about 500km to cover and a return ticket to Vancouver on June 19; we'll see how it goes. I began this walk last August, but returned home when my step-father became ill. Happily, he is well again and I am ready for another break - if you call walking up to 30km a day over hill and dale, in weather of all kinds, with a 10kg backpack strapped to my back, a break. Yeah baby, bring it on!

The Camino del Norte is a walking route to Santiago de Compostela, Spain much less travelled then the Camino Frances, which I walked in 2008 to the same destination. On the Norte route there will be fewer walkers - at least I am hoping that will be the case. For those of you who aren't familiar, 2010 is a Holy Year for the Catholic church, and during these times, the pilgrimage routes tend to draw big crowds. I almost decided not to go for this reason; visions of sleeping on park benches, in the rain, have been running through my head. Still, nothing ventured... and I do have a Plan B - a nice Club Med in Cannes - but I hope to not use it (just kidding, I don't believe they allow backpacks at Club Med).

I will attempt to make regular postings, but given the sparseness of accomodation on the Norte route, I also expect less internet access than I had on the Camino Frances, so they may be somewhat sporadic. I believe if you have gmail you can sign up as a follower and it will alert you to postings as they happen, if you are so inclined. Also, computers in Spain can be painfully slow and as such, uploading photographs are not always practical - but I will get them on as I can. Thanks for reading and to all of you, 'Buen Camino'!

Dublin - August 13

You are probably wondering why I am posting from Dublin... As it happens my stepfather is rather ill in the hospital, and it seems prudent to curtail my wanderings and return to help give him some support to get better. So, I am postponing the balance of this walk to another time - to be determined. While I feel a little sad do this, I am happy to have spent a nice week in Spain with my nephew; we both enjoyed the experience very much and Jonathon has proven himself to be a terrific walker and a great companion as well.

We leave our journey in the little city of Portugalete, 20 km to the west of Bilbao. It was a tough walk getting there, with much up and down along the way through industrial areas, apartment blocks and farm fields alike. Not only did we have to navigate land but had the challenge of which kindly citizen to listen to about our route. At one point it was evident that there were two different routes we could take; no less than 3 gentlemen stopped to offer their opinions in rapid fire Spanish about what would be best for us. I felt a little like a pinball being zinged back and forth, but happy as I knew our guides had the best of intentions. This is a common theme in Spain; people are only too happy to offer help and direction.

Portugalete is a very old port, dating back to the 1100's and it boasts the first transport bridge in the world. It spans the river about 500 feet and carries up to 6 cars and about 200 people. If you are brave (and possibly stupid like me) you can take an elevator up to the top of the bridge and walk along it from one side to the other. We did this and I have to say I rather enjoyed it, though I did feel a bit wobbly at the knees at times. The views were spectacular as you can see from the images.

This morning we took the train back to Bilbao - a speedy 15 minute journey, versus the 4 hours it took us yesterday. Then it was off to the airport and on to Dublin. So until next time, thanks for tuning in. Miranda

Bilbao - August 11

You can run but you can´t hide... last night when we went back to the Albergue we were literally funneled down into the church on the auspices of having our credentials (pilgrim passports) stamped - however, it was really just to get us to go to a service. The sneaky monkeys literally pushed us into the choir nave (?) to listen to gods word, but I refused and we ducked out. Now don´t get me wrong. I enjoy a good sermon in another language but neither J or I were ready to be bamboozled into sitting through one. Especially when there was beer and pinchos (little treats) to be had at the local tabernas.

We arrived in Bibao at about 1130 and were installed at a pension by 1:00 pm. Then it was off to the amazing Guggenheim for the afternoon. That Frank Gehry is an amazing man and there are some equally incredible works of art in the building - all rather mind blowing actually. Bilbao is a nice enough city but quite like many other European cities when you take away the Guggenheim, I think.

A highlight this evening was our prowl for dinner in the food district of the city. An interesting Chinese restaurant displayed a menu for our perusal no doubt translated from Chinese to Spanish and then Spanish to English. Jonathon´s favorite was ´Chicken wrap up with sesamo´ and I was caught between ´Squids bobbies´ and ´Pellets of fried greeness .´ Photgraphic proof to follow... Needless to say we did not dine there, but it provided much amusement for the course of the evening.

Logroño - August 10

I sometimes forget that I am a little clausterphobic... (sp?)but I was reminded in the small hours of this morning, when I awoke and perceived the air in the room to be somewhat depleted of oxygen. Someone had closed the big windows at the other end of the dorm and the nice breeze that had been moving through earlier was gone. It was hot, and there at least 14 other people in the room using up my air! I calmed myself by ripping my sleeping bag open and planning an exit from the room. It was unecessary though as I drifted back into a half sleep and waited for the morning light.

I didn´t have to wait for the light because by 0545 people were getting up and ready to sprain their ankles from walking in the dark. Even Jonathon was up by 0630, and we were on the trail shortly afterward. I don´t fully understand why people want to be up so early but I think it boils down to two things; beating the heat of the day and getting a bunk at the next albergue. I don´t mind the heat, but I´m not big on the competition for beds and vow never to come back to the Camino Frances in early August. Tonight we are installed in a place in Logroño which Jonathon said looks like a prison - I have to agree with him. But, it beat lining up for two hours to get into the other Parochial Albergue... I hope. They wanted to give us mats on the floor but I said my back would not likely tolerate a mat (and no my nose is not growing) so he showed us to the special dorm with real bunkbeds and bars on the windows. I think they would like us to join them at mass later on, but I plan on eating at that time, so they will have to do that without our company.

The walk today was mainly through farms and vineyards. It was pretty in the early morning light and stayed cool almost all the way to Logroño, so we were here by about 1200. Logroño is a pretty city with lots of pedestrian malls so it is quiet and easy to get around by foot. Unfortunately the museum is closed for renovation so that leaves blogging here at the Hotel Marques de Vellajo, the park and eating ice cream for this afternoon. Later, we´ll head back to the Albergue for a change of clothes and provided they let us out again, we´ll head out to one or more of the many little tapas bars that line the backstreets of the city. There must be over 100 of them and as such, it will be a good chance for us both to try some local cuisine. The bus leaves at a leisurely 0930 tomorrow for Bilbao, so we can let the rest of the pilgrims in our luxury dorm get under way before climbing out our bunks.

Torres del Rio - August 9

Another lovely day on the Camino de Frances. We left Estella early this morning after probably the first decent nights sleep since we arrived here. The rock band in the square a block away shut down by 1030 pm and people stopped feeding the recycling bin with wine bottles about the same time.

Weather was overcast all day; perfect for walking at a decent pace. It was a quiet kind of day -with a suitably Sunday kind of feel to it. I am experimenting with a kind of walking meditation - basically mind clearing - to see what that is like. Today seemed like a good day to start.

Tonight we are staying at the Albergue Marieta in Torres del Rio, making it an easy 20km walk into Logroño tomorrow morning. There are many people here - about 60 - but I feel well able to cope with the snoring and other noises that await us this evening. It is nice for Jonathon as there are several english speaking young men for him to connect with.

Tomorrow we will stay in Logroño and head to Bilbao the following morning, by bus! That should be strange - you get used to moving at a certain pace and being on a bus will seem very fast. I should be able to post some photos from Logroño as I expect the computer equipment will be a little more modern there? We´ll see...

Estella - August 8

Just as I had hoped, we are here in Estella tonight. Estella is a pretty little city, with lots of old buildings and antique shops. There are many more of those than there are places to stay, actually. We arrived about 2:30pm, which is relatively early by my previous experience, but all the albergues here were either full or not of a standard where one would want to put one´s head down. So, we are at a pension, on a ´quiet´plaza. Well, quiet by Spanish standards I suppose, but still full of people and the regular sound of breaking glass from the recycling bin, which is located conveniently beneath our window! At least it is clean, well sort of... and the senora is pleasant, so that is something. Unfortunately, there is a rock band playing later this evening, in the plaza one block away. I am thankful for earplugs...

Today´s walk was relatively flat, meandering through wine country. The grapes are not yet ripe so there was no point in pilfering any, but the vines are lovely to walk past, nonetheless. There were quite a few people on the trail as well, but it was never congested. So far, we are the only Irish or Canadians on the trail that I know of. Yesterday Jonathon was delighted to meet Desmond from Scotland who spoke English to him. The balance of the folks have been either Spanish, French or German, so the conversation is somewhat limited for us both. Still, most people have a friendly word or two to say as they pass.

Jonathon continues to impress me with his ability to walk long distances without any apparent fatigue. I wish I had his endurance, but I suppose being three times his age I am doing alright. Tomorrow´s destination is one of three locations - Los Arcos, Sansol or Torres del .... (um I forgot). If I can find a map, I will try and upload a map so that these names are more meaningful.