What a relief to start the day with clearing skies. It poured with rain last night - all night - and we were thankful we had declined to stay in a tent at the youth hostel in Santona, as some of our fellow travellers did, we learned later. It was again a tough climb up and out of the city. For 4 kms we walked along a cement sidewalk and then the arrows pointed off to the right, so we followed them, which turned out to be my 3rd frigthening experience on this trek. With the rain, the clay and mud path was slippery and treacherous and daunting as we climbed higher above the beach and then the cliffs over the sea. Both Kirsten and I were not happy with this trail, but once we had started up, there was no going down. It would have been worse to do so, so we continued, hoping it would get better. Eventually we reached the crest, but I tell you it is something to make you way up a slippery slope with 10kgs on your back, trying to balance and find foot holds on clay and stones. We were pretty happy to be on the beach on the other side of the hill. thank goodness for my hiking poles. I could not climb like this without them.
As happens with all of these arrowed tracks, it leads you somewhere you cannot get to with the roads. So there we were, with about 4 kms of an expanse of beach ahead of us that was astounding. The weather was clearing and it was magical to walk this way on an isolated stretch of beach to the first coffee stop.Did I mention how great that first cup of cafe con leche is!!
The day was long as we seemed to take all of the long routes, through about 8 small villages, remarkable with their new housing developments on one side of the road and sheep grazing in pastures around falling down ancient buildings on the other side of the road. The weather, by afternoon, was glorious once again and we had a wonderful walk through the hills to an albergue that we had heard nothing but good reports about.
We arrived there around 3 pm, It is actually a very old homestead that turns out to be the home that was built originally 100 years ago by the grandfather of Pedro Ernesto, who is the local parish priest and an avid supporter of the camino. The whole place is set up to care for the pilgrims, from the moment you step into the door, you are cared for in a way like no other. We were offered fruit from a platter, fresh water and some small talk, before being shown to the showers and the dorms. The lower lever of the homestead was originally the place for the cattle and has been renovated into a charming sitting area complete with large stone fireplace. The dorms out the back are spacious and built like chalets so there is a lot of room and plenty of space for washing, showering and hanging up clothes.
The best part was the evening session with the Father who led a discussion about the trail we had passed and the one that lay ahead of us with some advice for being a pilgrim on the El Norte. This route is not a race for a bed like the Camino Frances has become. His advice was that this route is for the courageous who are there to develop their creativity, to give up the GPS style of living that we have at home and to use our intelligence to gain something through the living university that is available with the conversations between our fellow travellers along the way. It was inspiring to hear him speak.
This was followed by a communal meal that was prepared for us by a young couple who work for him. He has space for about 70 people, has taken care of 4000 this year alone and has about 50 people who volunteer in the place to make it all work. On top of that, there is a group that has formed an NGO and they provide support in Guatemala somehow, so a lot of good work is being done in this place and you get the feel of the energy of it quickly.
We were tired by the time we got to bed. The weather had shifted again at dinner time and we were treated to gale force winds and driving rain, such as I had heard about. This went on all night and then cleared in the morning so that we were greeted by a new sun rise once again. We are truly blessed with this weather along this stormy coast.
I am getting sick now and a few people have been affected by the gastro that is common along the camino. I know that my body is tired and the reaction that I have now is a sore throat and feeling of flu which will pass. The days are long and the walk is very tough so it takes a lot of energy just to keep it all going. I sometimes think that I will never make it to next week at this rate, but when I am up and walking, I am loving the feeling of freedom and the beauty of the environment. I can harldy believe that here I am walking across the north of Spain with friends that I have only known because I took the effort to create this experience this way.
We are walking with two German women now. there was such a great crowd in the albereu in Guemes, all of the people that we had met along the way, so it was quite like a large family of friends getting together with lots of laughs and fun.
Maggee
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