September 9, 2010. Santander to Santilla del Mar

How did I get this far you may wonder as the distance is 44kms. After much discussion, we decided to take a train to shorten up the journey between these two points as there is no accomodation available between the two. In addition, I have been feeling horrible for the past two days and during the night realized that I had better not overdo it today. So with our new friend Elana who has sore feet, I took a train and then walked only about 7kms very slowly which made a big difference.
The trains and the buses are wonderful here in Spain and it is easy to get around if you can understand the systen. It is also cheap and fast. The yellow arrows took us through a wonderful country road all the way from Barreda to Santillana del Mar.
This town is ancient and very full of tourists today with many buses in the parking lots. It is like a medieval town with old stone roadways and very old old buildings. The alberque is near the church and seems to be in what was formerly a stable. There are only 16 beds so it will be quieter than last night in Santander. The alberque there was so crowded it was nearly unbearable. People kep arriving and were placed on the floors around the bunks which were already squished together. Quite a fire hazard if you thought about it too much. As well, there was one bathroom for the women and one for the men, so imagine the problem. It made me raalize that I do not want to stay in the cities at all as the accomodation is just not that nice normally and this one seemed to be just a money making venture the way it was set up.
Oh well, everyone was getting up at 6 am to get out of the place today, so we had an early start.
Maggee

Sept 8, 2010 Guemes to Santander (15kms)

We took Father Ernesto´s advice this morning and left for the next village to search for the long way around to Somos by the sea to get to the ferry to Santander. It was an extra 4 kms, but well worth it. The walk was along the cliffs above the beach and the sea. Not much climbing today so not so hard, but a good long walk none the less. I am not feeling great still and think I will be better tomorrow. Today was a wonderful walk for most of the morning and then we hopped on board a ferry for a 30 minute ride across the bay to the city of Santander which is pretty large and one we are anxious to leave tomorrow.
It is always more expensive, even for a drink and the albergues are not always as nice as the ones in the country. For example, we are in a room with 38 people tonight. Clothes were washed in the kitchen sink and hung like the Spannish people do, on a clothes line out the window,(sure hope it does not blow away, as I will never see it again). I am here in a little dive of a place using the internet which is abundant in the city and not so much in the rural areas.
People seem to live on top of each other in this country and maybe that is a fact in Europe. We take for granted out space facilities that we have in our country, seeing how so many people live in small flats which are noisy and crowded and in the midst of city traffice and all that brings with it.
Tomorrow we are negotiating a strategy that will get us out of here on the train and will shorten up the day by about 20 kms as the next albergue is 44 kms away and it is just too far to walk that distance.
Again it looks like rain tonight and if we continue with our luck we will walk in beautiful sunshine once again. I am taking seriously the advice we got yesterday and will walk with more intention, when I am not trying to just cope with breathing my way up the hills that is!!. Getting more focused on my freedom and seeing what shows up in my thoughts around creativity is my intention for the next few days.
Because we are 3 women who seem to have experience with walking the camino, we are giving out advice and taking care of some of the others who do not have the simple knowledge of how to do a walk like this, so it is a great way to make new friends. Someone today called me ´magical Maggee´as I have been helping with foot problems and sharing my socks. I brought all of them (5 pairs) and some people really get into trouble with their feet right away.
Well must catch up with the group as it is time for our aperatif.
Maggee

Sept 2, 2010 Santona to Guemes (25kms)

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

Camino El Norte 2010

We have had a interest in walking the El Norte for close to one year now. Since Kirsten, Alvina, Barb and Linda, the original Camino Sisters from our 2008 experience on the Camino Frances, met in the Gaspe in September 2009, we have been planning our trip. We are only 3, meeting together in a few days to begin this trek. We have followed the experiences of a few other brave souls who have ventured out on this route earlier this year and read about the difficulties that they encountered with the terrain, the weather and the accommodation. It is a more difficult route because it follows the mountainous coast of northern Spain and the weather along the sea is therefore more unsettled. So we will see how it goes.
We have learned from other pilgrims that this experience is different in that we have already proved ourselves on the Camino Frances and so do not need to 'do the Camino' in any particular way.
Our intention is to meet in Paris on Wednesday morning, take a train to Hendeye and then begin the walk on Thursday morning and just see how it goes.
as on previous occasions, I will write as I go.
Maggee