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.
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.
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.
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…
Other Blog Posts You May Find Interesting
Camino: Day 32
I was hungry and looking forward to ordering the menu del dia at the café. I sat down and waited. No one came to my table….Some men at the bar said that they had stopped serving at 2:30. But I had sat down before that!
Camino: Days 21–23
But I got to thinking about how taking advantage of this refuge fit in with my gratitude choice for the day—being appreciative of things that happen in my life. If you are appreciative for the offer of a gift or opportunity and accept it, then you honor the giver.
Camino: Days 14–15
David, the hospitero, greeted me warmly, and unlike in most albergues who begin the registration process right away, he said, “First things first…Sit down. Would you like tea? Café? He asked where I was from, how my day was and I felt like he was truly interested. I ended up in a room of four beds by myself.
1 thought on “Camino:: Day 4”
I bet with all this walking your calorie intact doesn’t matter at all. Lovely post.