Today was a perfect hiking day: cool, partly cloudy (no sunburns!), relatively flat and evenly paved walking paths. Everything worked smoothly. Pure bliss!
We began our day just after 6:00 am, climbing into the hills surrounding the beach village of San Vicente de la Barquera. The views were lovely. Below is a picture of the Castillo de San Vicente alit in the background.
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| Castillo de San Vicente at Dawn |
We walked for hours through quiet rustic villages, passing very few people in the early hours.
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| Views Along the Way |
But there were many farms and farm animals. And bath tubs in the fields.
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| Bath Tub in a Field |
What are bath tubs doing in the fields, you may ask? They’re used to provide water for the livestock. Pretty cool way of upcycling something that would otherwise get added to landfill!
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| Horses and their Watering Hole |
We found an open café before 8:00 am and settled in for breakfast…and live footage of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. The festival of San Fermin began July 6th and continues through July 16th. There’s a bullfight featuring the country’s best bullfighters every day. Each morning at 8:00 am, the six bulls that will fight in the afternoon are released from their pens to run through the streets of the city and into the bull fighting ring. Crazy Spaniards and tourists think it’s fun to run in front of, or alongside, these vicious creatures. Each year, runners get mauled by these animals and this year is no exception. The news stations were playing footage all day of a person who got seriously hurt in the melee. That’s one way to become famous!
Fellow pilgrims started to join us at the café. These were mostly people who had spent the night in San Vicente and got an early start to the morning. Sophia, the Italian student arrived soon after we did, as did Manuel, a young man from Cordoba in the South of Spain.
Manuel was wearing a white and red wrist band, signifying that he was walking the Camino Lebaniego. He explained that it’s a special, 66-kilometer section of the Camino, which starts in Santander and ends at the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana. The monastery holds the largest know section of the true cross of Christ. It was built in the 6th century, and the fragment of the cross was placed in its care in the 8th century. Pilgrims have been flocking there ever since. This is a Jubilee Year (2023-2024) for that Camino, meaning pilgrims who complete this journey earn special blessings, so there are many pilgrims on this particular path. (It makes for confusing road markings, too!)
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| Street Flag Announcing Camino Lebaniego Holy Year |
Sunday we walked along a path adjacent to a pipeline. Today, we walked along a shady woodland path adjacent to a train line.
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| Paco Along the Rails |
Mid-morning, we walked across two fjords along the border between the provinces of Cantabria and Asturias. One of them is named after me: Tina the younger!
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| At the Fjord of Tina the Younger |
Then later, we crossed into Asturias.
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| We're in Asturias! |
The first town we passed through was Colombres. It boasts a museum detailing the migration of Indianos, everyday Basques, Cantabrians, Asturians and Galicians who were able to emigrate to Central and South America in the 1800’s to escape the abject poverty in the area. Some of them became rich and returned home, building lavish villas to show off their newly-acquired wealth. These mansions are especially well preserved in Asturias, and nearly all feature large palm trees like the ones in the tropics. It’s quite stunning to see.
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| Ornate Home in Asturias |
The last 10 kilometers of our trek took us back toward the coast, with beautiful scenic views and comfortable walking paths. We arrived at our destination, the village of Pendueles, at 1:30 PM, just in time for a nice big lunch.
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| Beautiful Hiking Trails |
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| Hiking Along the Coast |
Today’s totals: 7 ½ hours of walking, covering 33 kilometers. Santiago de Compostela is 455 kilometers ahead!
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