Boo de Pielagos to Santillana du Mar 26km

My first day on the Camino proper. I had been a hard day yesterday, and I slept really well. Staying in a nice Albergue with share facilities, so first concern was guessing when the toilet would be free! My next concern was breakfast. I’d heard stories of people getting up at 5am and getting going in a “bed race” to their next stopping point. I’m pretty sure it’s not an issue on the Norte, there don’t seem to be too many people. So I went down about 7:30 everyone was just waiting in the yard for the breakfast to open. They were also waiting for a train!!!

There is a railway bridge across a river, that you are not allowed to cross on foot. It does seem to be on the Camino, but perhaps rules have changed. Most people were planning on getting the train to the station on the otherside to start walking. Obviously, with my fear of the wheel, I couldn’t take the train, but was planning on taking the purist route which is a 7km detour to a bridge you can legally walk over. Any way the 7:54 train came and went, and nobody flinched. Then a rumour started saying the 8:03 was the next train and there were no more for the rest of the day so they all dashed off to the station (a quick google told me the next train was 8:54 and they were every hour!). Anyway the breakfast man arrived with arms full of bread, and the few of us left sat down for coffee, toast and orange juice. Everyone else came back after the imaginary 8:03 train didn’t arrive!

I headed off, past the sign warning that the Camino was blocked, but on an alternative route (Stu – I think it might be the Cycling Camino route, worth looking into). It was along side the river, pretty much all paved but on quiet roads, maybe only two cars passed all morning. That’s what the morning looked like pretty much, small towns quiet roads through farm land. It was nice.

I stopped for a sandwich (super thin cheese as yesterday!) on a perfectly positioned bench, at 10km and at the top of a hill. I soon met my first fellow walker, Xavier from Switzerland (who 5 days into the Norte, but had done the Francis 20 years ago). We had a good chat, and eventually I headed off. It was downhill from there, in all meanings! Firstly a nice long down hill, initially on roads, then through lovely meadows and then eucalyptus trees. Then the route headed into a rather industrial area, which wasn’t too nice. I took a cut through to join the “other” Camino (the route those on the train would walk) and was greeted by two ductile iron pipelines, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The nearest one was warm to the touch, so I wondered if it might be some sort of district heating from the industrial area. At least one if the businesses was a smelters, so maybe spare heat? It reminded me of the geothermal pipelines from my cycle in Iceland. The biggest conundrum was that there were very few expansion couplings, and each pipe was bolted down to two support blocks, who knows what happens when the pipe expands, maybe each socket and spigot takes up the movement, who knows (it’s very unusual to have spigot and socket pipes above ground, at least so I thought!). Anyway, after the brief highpoint of the pipeline, it started to rain. Even that didn’t seem too bad as I was just walking into a town, and it seemed to be perfect timing for a cup of coffee. However, it was Sunday, and everything was closed. I bumped into Xavier, sheltering in the restaurant doorway. He had asked in an open pharmacy (it seems so easy to type that… it should be chemist, we are losing the English language!!!) who told him it was about 500 metres and a 50 minute walk!!! It turned out to be neither of those things, and we plodded on for another hour along a busy road with no sign of coffee, increasing rain and increasing industrialisation. Eventually, there was a miracle, and the Camino provided a bus shelter. A really nice one at that, although the acoustics were bad with a lot of wet tyre noise slightly spoiling the ambience, making it a 7/10 shelter in my book.

A few walkers went past, including a party of Irish pilgrims, who had been at my albergue and took the train. The rain really started to come down, we had stopped at a perfect time!

The rain nearly stopped almost as soon as we finished eating and we continued in light drizzle. The route continued completely on roads for the rest of the way, the rain gradually subsided, and the sun started to come out. It really burst out as we entered our target for the day Santillana, which was a real step back in time. It was quite amazing to see all the old buildings, a fair few tourists, and open restaurants. A bit of a shock from the last few hours walking. We stopped at a bar for a coffee, and Xavier ordered a plate of anchovies and one of mussels to share (thanks). They did look appealing and were tasty, certainly better than a packet of crisps that I would have ordered.

Xavier found the Municipal Albergue, and I was tempted to stay there, but there was a campsite just up the road. The thought of being outside, rather than a bunk bed in a dormitory, won me over. I walked up to the campsite, for the first pitching of my rather “Heath Robinson” tarp and walking poles tent.

I may regret my decision, but I think I’ll camp when I can, and save the municipal albergue for when there is no choice. That said, the campsite has great showers, really good clothes washing facilities and a closed :( swimming pool. Generally, it’s just nice to be outside on a warm evening (writing all this rubbish, haha).