Camino de Santiago del Norte
Days 5-7: Sañtona to Santander
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 5: Sañtona to Noja ~ 5.25 miles
24 September 2017
With a bit of a tear, I left Sañtona. It is a lovely little town and I hope to come back someday—if for no other reason than to sample more tapas!
Today’s walk began across a lovely beach full of surfers taking advantage of the huge breakers.
But then…a climb over a steep hill, which, I had read would be somewhat dangerous. It wasn’t so bad, but I did have to pay attention to how I made my way across it.
On the Camino, we pilgrims are always on the lookout for waymarks, which are mostly yellow arrows (fletchas amarillas) to keep us on the right path. On this rock trail, which I sometimes had to climb over, someone had painted an arrow pointing straight up—as if I was planning to fall down the side of the steep hill!
Then I had a view of another lovely beach at low tide and some interesting rocks where I ate my lunch. The second beach was over 3 miles long!
I felt very incongruous walking with a full pack among the Sunday beach-goers in their suits and bikinis. I took off my shoes and joined them in the promenade.
Day 6: Noja — Guemes 9.3 miles
25 September 2017
I got rained on a bit on the way to Guemes, but at least I never got cold and the sun returned in time for me to sit down and eat my lunch.
During one windy and rainy squall I came upon an old lady wrestling with her poncho. I helped her secure it and she sped on to Guemes. I found out later that night that she was 80 years old—and she had left me in the dust!
The Guemes albergue has quite a reputation for its beauty and hospitality. It was a place that is communally supported by a large organization. It is a campus of many buildings and accommodates up to 100 pilgrims each night plus a large staff of volunteers. They feed you dinner and breakfast and the accommodations are comfortable.
It is difficult to explain, but as I left in the morning feeling like the hospitality was a bit forced—like it was expected that everyone would be amazed at how wonderful it is. Not everyone leaves feeling this way, so perhaps it was only my perspective. It may be that part of my problem was that there were over 70 pilgrims in residence that night—that is a lot for an albergue on the del Norte.
Day 7: Guemes—Santander 10 miles
26 September 2017
This sign was the beginning of my seventh day. I have quite a few days to go!
I am walking slowly and not covering as many miles each day as I had expected I would be by this time. This is especially true when I am walking along the coast—there are so many places where I just have to stop and study the water hitting the rocks…
…or watch people learning to surf
I become acquainted with pilgrims only for one or two days and then they are way ahead of me.
But I realize more and more each day that THIS is my Camino and I must do it in my own way. And if I am dispacio (slow), then maybe that is my way. I met two pilgrims that said they were doing the Camino Escargo (at a snail’s pace). I have to relate to that! But I do believe they have passed me up as well…
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Thank-you for whatever you can give.