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Day 17 Comillas to Peral 18 miles (269 miles total)

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Woke up to a nice day. 
I toured Comillas but I apparently missed this casa.  Not that big of a town. How do you miss that?

It was a really nice, partly cloudy, 65ish kind of day. Good walking weather. 

Got my long board out to shred a few today. 

I think we should all chip in, buy this beach house, and just make it party central.  I’ll be in charge of the Budweiser. You guys figure out who’s in charge of all the rest of the minor details.  Who’s in?

Approaching the town of San Vicente de la Barquera. Appears to be another nice surf town. I’d only been walking for a couple hours but thinking about stopping here for the day. 

Went by a bunch of surf shops and surfers just before town. I was liking it. 

Just as the Camino reached town, it made a hard left and headed up the hill. I thought it would still go into town but was wrong. It wasn’t worth the effort to backtrack down the hill without knowing if I could get a room or what the town was really like. Plus, 6 miles?  Just not far enough to call it a day. 
These are some big horses. The guy is a really big dude. If the other horses don’t follow right behind the white one, he lets them know they are not being good via a little prodding with the stick. 

This guy must be extremely patient. I can’t imagine how long it takes to rake together one of those big bales!

One of my “things” is I smile and say “Hola” to everyone. Construction workers, joggers, farmers, everyone I pass. I get extra special enjoyment when it’s an elderly person who is alone.  I’ve gotten some unforgettable smiles in return.  You can do this at home yourself. Sometimes these people are alone and sad. Your hello may make their day. It’s easy and you’ve nothing to lose. Give it a shot.

Met a couple Danish guys today. One is young and the other, Thomas, is 53. He is fascinated by the AT and knows about as much as I do about it. Hoping he can one day hike it. 

Staying in a 3rd generation Pension. Think of it as a house where the entire upstairs has been converted to hotel-type rooms. Really quite nice for $15. 
Those cows are passing by the front door. BYOC (Bring Your Own Cow) night I guess. 

I offered $1000 for this old school cigarette machine. Fortunately they said no because I really didn’t think about how I would carry it. 

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 16 Santillana del Mar to Comillas 15 miles (251 miles total)

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My feet and knees were sore enough last night that I got up about 1AM and soaked in a hot bathtub for 20 minutes. Felt a bit better after that. 

They weren’t lying about the wind warning. Blew pretty hard all day. Guessing sustained winds near 30 mph and gusts to 40. 

I really like the Spanish architecture. They’re not afraid to accentuate with flowers which I like as well. 

Remember yesterday when I saw what I hoped were clouds up in the mountains. Well, they’re not clouds. 

Llamas…or are they alpacas…or is it the same thing?

Heading back to the coast. This wind is howling. Going into the wind, my hat tries to blow off but string holds it on…and darn near chokes me. 

In most of the towns, the Camino goes by or near a church. This is in Cóbreces. One of the standouts from my perspective. 

Kris, I say we get something like this to tow around the country!  Looks like something the Clampett’s should have had.  Jay Reidenbach, think we can just park it in Plantation?

The sea is very angry today. 

That really is snow and it keeps getting closer!  Been walking towards it for 2 days. 

That is Comillas in distance. It is an older beach town (cobblestone streets).

Antoni Gaudi is my favorite architect. Well, right after Bernie and Renae Wenzig.  These pics are from El Capricho, one of his first works of importance (1883-1885). 

Kris and I toured a few of his buildings in Barcelona last spring. He died in 1926 at the age of 74. He was so far ahead of his time that I’m not sure his time has come yet. Well, maybe the 1960’s!!
Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 15 Santander to Santillana Del Mar 26 miles (236 miles total)

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Another really nice day mid-70’s and mostly sunny. 
It took a long time to get out of Santander. I was walking against the flow of people walking to work and I felt a bit like a pinball sometimes. 
These clouds scared me a bit at first. Looked like snow out on the mountain tops. 

I have no clue what the name of this river is but it was a major pain in my butt today. See those houses across the river?  I would walk on the other side of them 2 hours (and 6 miles) later. Frustrating!

When you walk by yourself for 8 straight hours with no music, podcast, etc., you have lots of conversations with yourself and sometimes animals. I really tried to encourage these sheep to take a short break from eating and enjoy the view. They did not respond which I guess is fortunate.

Got just little teaser views of ocean this afternoon. 

Every once in a while the towns and the setting are so scenic it almost looks fake. 

26 miles is a loong way. I don’t care what the terrain is like. After 20 miles my legs are pretty dead, my mind is pretty shot, and I’m pretty much staggering down the Camino. A bit scary when you’re walking down a road. 

After 8 hours of walking, I finally made it to Santillana del Mar. It’s billed as one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. Many movies are filmed here and it is filled with tourists. 

It seems to be a very old city but I had a difficult time finding a place to stay and the cobblestone streets hurt my feet so I wasn’t a huge fan. Could also have something to do with the fact that I was dead tired when I got there. 

Wind warning apparently in effect for tomorrow AM. Fortunately I plan on only 14 miles to Comillas which is a beach town known for caves, waves, and Gaudi. Sounds cool. 
Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 14 Somo to Santander 4 miles (210 miles total)

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Today was a “nero” day. As in nearly zero miles. 
It was raining, windy, and cold in the morning. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a fair weather hiker! 
I basically walked out of Somo to a ferry stop, took the ferry across the bay to Santander and walked a ways through the city. 

The temperature today was in the mid-50’s. My planning for this trek did not factor these type of temps in. 
As I was killing time I decided to check out the latitude here and discovered it is basically the same as Toronto, Canada. Add in the fact that we’re next to a cold ocean and it starts to make sense. Probably should have looked into that a month ago. I would have brought a pair of long pants along!
Santander is a fairly big city with some interesting architecture. This is the Banco de Santander building. I found that interesting because, at one point, I owned some stock in that. Can’t remember how that worked out so that means probably not very good.

The Camino goes right down “Main Street”. 

By late afternoon, the wind was still blowing but sky was clearing up. Today was first time I recalled any real wind. 
This picture looks back across the bay to the cliffs we walked along yesterday.

This whole latitude discovery helps explain another thing. Sun doesn’t set here until about 10PM. 
I thought about stopping in here and buying myself a fiddle but all they sell is clothes. Guess I could have gotten a pair of pants. 

I’ve covered 210 miles in 2 weeks. I hoped to do 100 miles/week so pretty much on pace.  I know now that I can really do 100 miles in 5 days and take 2 days off so I’ve got that going for me…which is nice. 
There is a path called the Camino Primitivo that splits off from the Camino del Norte somewhere up ahead. It sounds much more physically challenging. I’ve really done zero research on it as I just heard someone talk about it last night but my curiosity is peaked. 
The Camino del Norte eventually turns inland. If the Primitivo doesn’t force me to miss too much beach scenery, I may take it. Something to think about. 
Tomorrow’s weather sounds nice so I’ll be getting a move on in the morning. 
Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 13 Noja to Somo 18 miles (206 miles total)

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Thought I was going to be in for some rain today as I left Noja. 

The first 12 miles or so today was up and over some hills. Ended up not raining. I was happy about that but guessing the farmers not so much. Some of the fields look pretty dry. 
This corn won’t be knee high by the 4th of July!
John Deere green. She thinks his tractor’s sexy. 
If you don’t get it, you need a little country music in your life. 

I’ve seen thousands of this type of palm tree in my days. Never seen one with geraniums growing up the trunk. Love this look. 

And then for the last 5 or 6 miles we are back to the beach. That just doesn’t get old!

The Camino goes right along the top of these cliffs. 

Sometimes it’s good to take a look back and see where you came from. 

Sometimes it’s good to take a look back and see where you came from. 

Sometimes it’s good to take a look back and see where you came from. 

Our destination is that long stretch of sandy beach ahead and the surf town of Somo. 

Spent some time with a couple salty locals.

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 12 Islares to Noja 22 miles (188 miles total)

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As I awoke this morning I looked up out of my tent and realized 2 things:  (1) I’m glad I’m not into rock climbing; and (2) If there’s an earthquake right now I’m screwed.

Another nice day for walking. They seem to be planting lots of eucalyptus trees around here. They smell great and love that blue/grey hue. 

 I have an app where I’m a little dot that flashes and the trail is a series of blue dots. As long as the flashing one is matched up with the blue dots, all is good. Hasn’t got me lost yet.
As I’m following the blue dots out of town below, an elderly guy who was missing a few teeth asked “Camino?”  Si. He pointed back down the hill and showed me a yellow arrow (like white blazes on AT).   It’s not following my app but for some reason I listened.

Trail started going up a dirt toad and away from my blue dots. Scenic but disconcerting. 

I’m seeing a random yellow arrow and the road makes no turns so I keep going. 

Starting to get a little nervous. I am now convinced the guy who led me this way had a bit of a grin when he sent me on my way. There are random chain saws revving through the forest. All I can think of is Spanish “Deliverance”.

At the top of knoll (blue dot on app now MIA) I see a Caterpillar-type machine plowing a road. It makes a turn and is heading up one lane (for a car) towards me. I can’t see driver so guessing he can’t see me. There is about 2 feet of brush and a barbed wire fence. I became as intimate with the fence as I could as machine headed towards me. Machine missed me by a foot or 2. Fence, not so much.

I was really having a bad day at this point. As I got to bottom of hill I saw that machine had left a huge mud hole. Should be OK if I just follow tracks.  Not so much. 

Now I am livid. Lost, bleeding, and muddy is no way to go through life.
The rest of the day was way better. Meet Luis. He is restoring this 1950’something Fiat. Incredible looking little car.

 

Laredo (not TX, Austin Bonner!), a nice resort town with a huge beach. 

Getting close to my destination of Noja (Kris,notes).  Anxious to get to this small surfing town.

You can go short way or long way. Short way has warning sign in my guidebook as being very sandy and steep. Only time I’ve seen that warning so I am excited. I can feel adrenaline kicking in.  That little brown line”ish” thing is trail.

Very fun climb with view back to Laredo (way in distance). 

The other side of the mountain!

I was so excited by vistas and climb I decided I was going in ocean. Got down to water line and hardly noticed the 5’7” gorgeous brunette young lady with a butterfly tattoo on her ankle and a pierced bellybutton who was topless. For some reason, she screamed in horror just as I was stripping down to my Tommy Johns.  Not exactly sure what scared her.

Hiked final 2 miles on the beach. For a day that started pretty bad, it ended fantastic. Remember that next time your day totally blows and it’s not even mid-morning. 

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 11 Castro Urdiales to Islares 7 miles (166 miles total)

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So I spent all day yesterday celebrating Sunday Funday only to discover today that it was Saturday. Oops!

Today I made a totally unplanned early stop. Just because I could. 


I may have missed the running of the bulls in Pamplona (July 6 if interested) but I witnessed the sauntering of the sheep in Castro Urdiales. Guy is a true urban cowboy. Herding them down the road with his car. 

Ever in your life come across threesomes that just make zero sense?  I just don’t understand what those nice bovine would be doing with that jackass. On top of that, this is the worst pastureland I have ever seen.  The picture does not represent how steep that hillside/cliff is down to ocean. 

I ended up stopping today at base of big hill on the left. 

Got in the water a couple times. It was cold. Guessing low 60 degrees. Wanted to body surf but it was too cold for me. If that guy in picture rolls 2 feet to his left he’ll roll another 50 feet. Straight down. 

My tent spot for the night. Not real scenic but great location. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny and then 4 days of cool temps and rain. Not a fan of those days. 
Before I let you go, I have one tip for the fashionistas out there. Canvas Converse All Star high top tennis shoes. They are all the rage here. All of the fashion forward ladies are wearing them. Just remember you heard it here first. 
Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 10 Castro Urdiales 0 miles (159 miles total)

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First of all, mad props to Rod Benson. He made a commitment to a goal and he has kept at it. Lost 28 lbs in 3 months. More than half way to his goal. That makes me happy. Keep going, Rod. You’re kicking butt…or maybe losing butt!  
 
Spent a very relaxing day. Another gorgeous one. 
This town is really old. Became a Roman colony in the year 74. Not 19, 18, or 1774.  I’m talking 0074!
The building on left is the Church of St Mary. Built in 13th century. The arch-shaped bridge (right-center) was built by Romans in medieval times. Have to admit, they built things to last. 

I had a lot of fun with the nude beach thing in yesterday’s blog!  I won’t mess with you today… but if you look really hard…

Don’t recall ever seeing stadium style seating at a beach. 

Couple of random thoughts…

Americans are really good at lots of things. I didn’t quite realize how good we (you) are at this music thing. Everywhere, no matter the size of the town, if there is music playing, it’s US. Hardly anyone speaks English but they’ll listen to everything American!  I don’t get it but I like it!
Siestas are an awesome thing if you’re the one doing the siestaing. If you’re hiking, a bit inconvenient. Businesses close from 2-4pm. Everyone goes to a bar and has lunch and a couple beers or wine. At 4 the bar empties. I don’t really have a problem with that unless I’m looking for a market at that time. The real problem is that they’re not ready for dinner at 8pm. Hiker midnight is 9pm so that is way late for me. 
Rested and ready to roll.  Please notice that I have “town clothes” for this trip. Kris strongly suggested it. 

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 9 Bilbao to Castro Urdiales 26 miles (159 miles total)

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The hostel last night worked out OK. Only 2 others in bunk room and they were pilgrims. One of the guys snored (of course). Deep, guttural, disgusting sound. Fortunately it lasted only an hour. 
Wow!  Another perfectly gorgeous day. I’ve got nothing better to do. Think I’ll walk a marathon. 
Left Bilbao along the river. Went right past the Guggenheim Museum. I didn’t stop but I did get to thinking. Wasn’t there a Crazy Guggenheim on TV back in the day?  Maybe on Red Skelton?  Buddy of Clem Cudiddlehopper?

Some pretty funky architecture in Bilbao. Some of the bridges are supposed to be renowned but I wasn’t that impressed.

I walked alongside that river for about 10 miles. Went from nice looking, modern to urban industrial sprawl. Not a nice walk. I went as fast as I could walk. 

The river must end at the ocean but the Camino crossed it and ascended before I could find out. Next was 8 miles mostly along a bike path. Easy but boring stroll. I, again, went as fast as I could. On pavement like this, I will jog on the downhills. It’s actually easier on your joints. You just have to be able to control the speed. It would be bad to take a spill.

Finally a sliver of ocean up ahead!

There are 2 small towns, La Arena and Pobena (Kris…notes), within a half mile of each other on either side of this beach. Very nice towns and beach. If you zoom in you can see the nude sun bathers. 

You zoomed in, didn’t you. I knew you would.  Really just a bit of classy toplessness that I can’t show here. This is a PG blog plus my mom will be reading it!
For me this is a big decision point. It’s 2:30. There’s a nice beach bar that is very active. I can stay at a hostel here or proceed the 8 more miles to Castro Urdiales which is a larger beach town that I plan to spend tomorrow night in. 
Chill here or push on and be able to take a zero day tomorrow?  I’m guessing that the scenery will be good so let’s go for it!
When you do big miles late in the day, there is only one thing that can get you through. Just Pete Rocket Fuel. Coke and gummy bears. WARNING:  Kids, do not try this at home. 

This pic is looking back to the beach from the hill you didn’t notice in other beach photo because you were zooming in.

We have now left the Basque country and are in Cantabria.  I haven’t noticed any changes. Von, can you provide any insight?

This looks really sketchy. 

I rolled into town about 5:30 and went for the first hotel I could find. They had 1 room!  I must have looked (and smelled) bad because receptionist suggested I just go to room to shower and rest and then come back to check in!
Tomorrow will be Sunday Fun Day. Laundry and then cervesas at a beach bar all afternoon. I am ready to relax. Look out Castro Urdiales!

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Day 8 Gernika to Bilbao 19 miles (133 miles total)

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Woke up today to a clear blue, no cloud in the sky day. Yes!!

I have been remiss in reminding people who are following that I am raising money for charity with this hike also. In the past couple of days I’ve had someone new to this hike and someone who followed the AT adventure from day 1 ask how to pledge. My bad.

To pledge, go to at-pete.com and click on Pledge page. You can read about charities on Charity page. While there you should check out the Appalachian Trail page. I think it’s kind of funny!!  Now…back to the sunny day. 

Reminded me of a San Diego morning. Absolutely gorgeous. 

The Camino is already beginning to dry up. Another good day of sun and it will be perfect.

The morning was spent ascending out of Gernika and into the forest. It was my kind of weather for hiking and I was literally skipping up the Camino. 

I walked next to so many small farms and homes today. If I see someone I always wave, smile, and say hola. About 5 miles in I came across trail magic. A very pretty lady, about my age, was at the end of her driveway with a table full of goods. There was change there so I assumed she was taking donations. I had just 5 minutes earlier been thinking how good watermelon is on a day like today. Jackpot!  I tried to take her picture but she refused. We had a nice laugh (international language) and I was off. 

It is really easy to walk when you’ve just had a slice of watermelon, it’s a sunny day, and the Camino looks like this!

When I first saw the brownish tint near the tops of the trees below, I was assuming some sort of disease was infecting them. When I got close, I realized it was a forest of Eucalyptus!  It’s just a San Diego day here in Spain!

I had lunch in Lerrabetzu. It’s kind of the center of the Basque resistance (if that’s the right word). Saw lots of graffiti coming into town. Most about political prisoners. “If anyone deserves freedom it’s those who fought for it”. Wish I knew more about this. 

The end of the day was a long descent into Bilbao. 

Bilbao is a pretty large city and I found the Camino to be difficult to follow. However, I made my way to the hotel I had found in my guide book. It was very near the Camino and in the center of town…but no vacancy. 
I found a youth hostel near there that had a bunk. I got 1 of 14. At least the receptionist felt sorry for me and gave me a bottom bunk. It’s actually fairly nice. Of course, I’m the only one here now!
I saw a Five Guys burger joint on my way here. Took a shower and got on Uber to get a ride.  No Uber service here! 
If there’s one thing I despise after a long hike, it’s walking.  I was uber upset! (You have to admit…that is a really good line😂) Had to walk half mile up hill both ways. My Five Guys bill was $22. It was worth that just for the 2 milkshakes. 
Now I lie hear waiting for 13 young, drunken revelers to walk in. Wish me luck. 
Happy trails and buen Camino!