Having read many Camino guides, I knew the walk out of Santander is reputed to be very boring across miles and miles of urban sprawl. So I took a 20 minute train ride to get me beyond that sprawl, and started my walk at Barreda.
It turned out, however that I still had about 8 km of road walking, including past a huge factory. However, my heart softened when I saw it was a Solvay factory, which made me think fondly of my Belgian passport in my backpack as I saw Belgian flag flying proudly above the factory.
The walk from the factory was on roads with nothing but maize fields as far as the eye could see – and constant drizzle. So just in case anyone was feeling very jealous, there are some less than perfect parts to the walk.
When I reached my intended destination of Santillana Del Mar I was relieved that today I hadn’t made an advance booking for somewhere to sleep, because I really would not have wanted to stay in Santilana Del Mar. Although it is a beautiful medieval town, it is totally over run by tourists and bursting with shops selling tourist tat.
So I walked on instead to Caborredondo, where I got a bed in a lovely traditional Alberge run by an Italian woman who had always dreamed of opening an Alberge after having walked several Caminos several times. Traditional Alberges are run on donations and include a communal evening with all the pilgrims staying that night. Tonight we were 8 – 3 from Slovakia 2 from Southern Spain and 2 from Germany – with many different experiences to share. The three from Slovakia had slept out last night – but were frightened away from their first sleeping spot by wild pigs, and ended up sleeping in someone’s garden! Clearly they are a little more intrepid than me!
As well as having a lovely meal, we were entertained by two lively kittens, one of whom seems to have decided he is having my allotted bed.