Day 12: A Beautiful Walk from Santillana to San Vicente de la Barquera

Let's face it.  Yesterday's walk sucked.  20+ miles in the rain was no fun.

The albergue,  on the other hand,  may have been the best in Spain. They got every small detail right. We didn't have (but should have had) dinner there, and it smelled great.  On top of that Tina tells me that the staff are all ex-cons. The experience was close to perfect.

Today, I get to write about a 20 mile walk on a sunny day with a high temperature in the mid 70's. 

First highlight:

Coffee and tortilla española before 8 AM! A new record! The bar was called something close to los Sopranos and the owner looked like James Gandolfini.   Interesting,  huh?

I didn't get any inspirational early morning shots,  but I was impressed by this church:

It's in the tiny town of Cigüenza.  It's a carbon copy of a church in Lima, Peru.  Doesn't that sound backwards?  An emigré from this town made it really big in the New World, in Peru, and when he came home he built himself a palazzo and this church.  Today, the town has 100 inhabitants.  They all seem to live in amazing  mansions. I don't get it.

The Camino sometimes seems to connect the dots between little town churches.   Next on the list was Cobreces.

Cool church, but the Camino had us circumnavigate the church before continuing down the same street.

That's becoming a theme.  If there's an easy, efficient way to get somewhere,  this Camino ain't gonna take it. I'm convinced we walked an extra five kilometers in the rain yesterday. 

And would it kill them to make a decision about the one true Camino? Intersections with choices are not helpful to tired pilgrims!

Our book said that the objective for the day was the popular beach town of Comillas.  We got some amazing beach views on the way there.

Just a short way from that red church was the playa de Luaña.  These shots are out of order, but you should be able to see that this is a gorgeous part of the world. 

So our original destination was Comillas, but that wasn't enough. We got there by noon and had a refresco. 

The pause that refreshes...

Sitting under an umbrella,  we made the decision to continue walking to the town of San Vicente de la Barquera.  This way, today wouldn't bee a mere 22+ kilometers and we could shave some mileage off the stupid amount I'd put forth for tomorrow. 

This is where my tirade about routing comes in. 

See, we wanted to go from right to left on this map, about 7 kilometers,  in time for lunch. Walk a straight line? Too easy! 

I'll spare you the details about how some of our fellow pilgrims lost their cool in frustration en route.  

Smiling even though I'm walking and walking on indirect roads calculated to make me miss lunch two days in a row.

Tina and I made a command decision:  consult Google Maps.  Our friends from Silicon Valley got us to San Vicente by 3:35 PM, and miraculously we got a table at a Michelin rated restaurant. (Someone canceled.) 

Grilled white asparagus over a shellfish medley. 

Our hotel is an ancient two star with twelve foot ceilings and no air conditioning. It reminds me of my grandparents house in Southern Spain.  (The only albergue in town is permanently closed.)

We got to put our feet in the water! 

Tomorrow,  we walk to some place in the province of Asturias named Pendueles.  What was going to be a 38 kilometer walk will now be much more reasonable. 

Tina will tell you how it works out.