Camino de Santiago del Norte

Day 4 (plus a rest day!)

This is a camino of gratitude for me. Each day, I choose something I am grateful for in my life and think and journal about it throughout the day. I will share an excerpt from my journal entries at the end of each day’s post.

Day 4: Liendo to Santoña ~ 6.9 miles

21 September 20172

This was a lovely and interesting day’s walk, shorter than the last two days. In the early morning I walked up and over a cliff to a lovely view of the seaside town of Laredo. Entering the city through the old gate was magical. At the end of the promenade I walked out onto the beach to catch the ferry to Santoña.

View of beach and cliffs near Laredo, Spain
View of Laredo Spain from the hills above
Laredo is below me. We walked all the way along the seashore way out to that point to catch the ferry.
Old gate to enter Laredo
Entering Laredo
Ferry from Laredo to Santona
You catch the ferry right on the beach!
Camino Journal Day 4

Rest & Work Day in Santoña

23 September 20172

Occasionally I have to stop for a day to rest my bones and to catch up on the work I do while traveling: designing book interiors for clients back home. Right now, I am working on a hiking book. How appropriate! I feel so grateful that I can do this work from just about anywhere in the world! 

I fell in love with this town across the bay from Laredo. I was lucky. This was a fiesta weekend in Laredo and I walked through the town on Friday early afternoon before the festivities started and thus avoided all the weekend crowds. Instead, I had a room on the second floor of the pilgrim’s albergue with a tiny balcony overlooking the plaza of Santoña.

Overlooking the plaza in Santona

The families gather here in the evenings, especially on the weekends, and the chatter that I hear below late into the night reminds me that I am definitely not at home. The chatter provides a comfortable backdrop to my sleep for some reason.

The food here was stupendous—really amazing! For 11 Euros, a friend and I got the menu del dia at the restaurant next door (2 courses, a pitcher of wine, and dessert). My grilled red tuna was absolutely devine, and it was followed by a dessert that was like just the custard part of cheesecake. We both had to take a siesta after that. 

Pilgrim's meal of filet of tuna in Santona
Delicious pilgrim's meal of filet of tuna. Wine is almost always included in the meal.
Fellow pilgrim pouring wine in Santona
My fellow pilgrim from Germany pouring wine for us.

Both evenings in Santoña , Marieanne (from Germany) and I visited an excellent tapas bar. The food was a work of art. It was so hard to decide what to try and they had different things each night. 

How, you ask, was I able to eat anything after that full lunch?

I managed…

Tapas in santona
Tapas in santona
Tapas in santona

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Picture of Cathy Fulton

Cathy Fulton

I am Cathy Fulton and I became a world nomad in 2014. Traveling has become a way of life for me. Except for the fact that I am a citizen of the United States, I don’t have a residence. I am retired and I like to travel solo and independently. I don’t know how many times I have heard, “You are living my dream.” My reply is, “It doesn’t have to be a dream. It can be a reality!"

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