Camino del Norte Week 2

Day 8, Portugalete - Castro-Urdiales

35 kms, 7.5 hours, +240m.

Took the metro to Portugalete from Bilbao to get us a little way out of the city - very crowded trains at 8am! Followed the cycleway to Playa de la Arena, steady rain all the wway. The first bar as you come into Playa de la Arena was open and provided excellent and welcome coffee and tortilla. Interesting coastal walk from here along the line of an old mining railway -- lots of information panels and a very rugged coastline. 

Yellow arrows lead us away from the coast at Onton and we took the Otanes variant to stay away from major roads - 8kms longer and quite hard, pleased to finally get to Castro-Urdiales. Stayed at Pension del Mar for the night, very comfortable room (44 euros), great food at the Cafe Bajamar next door. Castro very attractive harbour town, lovely old cathedral but weather still very cold for late April.

Day 9 Castro-Urdiales - Laredo.

6.5 hours, 25 kms, +210m

Day 10, Laredo - Guemes.

7.25 hours (with detour), 30kms, +200m.

Another wet day with rain for much of the day. Constant rain over te past week had caused the Rio Campiezo to flood so we could not use the medieval pilgrims bridge which was under water, lengthening our day

The Albergue at Guemes lived up to its reputation and looked after us well, extended talk from Father ernesto in the evening, andd an excellent dinner (soup, paella, pasta, wine).

Day 11, Guemes - Santander.

15kms (using ferry), 3.25 hours, +50m.

Dull but no rain, even a little sun in the afternoon. Pension Plaza near the cathedral (40 euros) provided comfortable accommodation.

Day 12, Santander (Guarnizo) - Santallina del Mar

40 kms, 9 hours, +400m.

Our longest and hardest day so far, largely because we used the wrong train line to get out of town which added about 3 hours to our walking. It took some tiime to realise what we had done wrong but fortunately a camino variant goes through Guarnizo and we eventaully got back on track at Arce.

Very tired by the time we reached Santallina del Mar and we hada rest day here - Pension Casa Ocatvio, first Pension as you come into town and overlooking the Albergue very good (30 euros a night).

Day 13, Santallina -Comillas.

24 kms, 6 hours, +230m.

Pleasant walking through undulating limestone farmland, small villages every 2-3 kms but no bars for morning coffee. Arrived in Comillas and booked our place in the queue for the Albergue, it was full overnight. Sociable evening at the Albergue, comfortable with small dining room and a couple of microwaves allowing us to self cater. Very few pilgrims use tthe kitchens where they are present which has surprised us.

Day 14, Comillas - Colombres

29 kms, 7 hours, +300m

Spent the night at the Albergue El Cantu, 24 euros (for two), expensive and poor value.