Santillana del Mar was the first real screw up from the company doing our bookings – not only did we have to shift hotels, the restaurant we were sent to also had no idea who we were! Our hotel room was very authentic, old school pilgrim type accommodation but also very dusty so we were quite happy to get back on the road. To help clear our lungs out we had (as has been said in these pages before!) a steep climb out of town but were rewarded with great views back over Santillana and then the rural countryside. A short stop for a proper breakfast at Caborredondo about an hour and a half after leaving Santillana (along with about 8 other peregrinos – we had seen no one the last few days and suddenly it’s like Hay St!), then onwards. Rain set in just after San Martin de CigĂ¼enza and continued for about an hour all the way to Cobreces. There were many alternative routes through this particular town which was quite confusing and we ended up on one that took as past the beach at Playa de Luaña where we were able to get under cover and dry off. Another very big climb and then descent before arriving into another medieval town called La Iglesias for lunch at a place called Meson Ocho. The joint was deserted when we arrived at about 1:30pm but absolutely full by the time we left an hour later!
The bottle of wine we had for lunch kept us going the remaining 4.5km into Comillas, our destination for the night. Another picture postcard town but, after going to bed reasonably early (and reasonably well lubricated) we got woken up by the crowd from the two nearby pubs at about 4am – apparently that happens every night!
23kms today and 330km in total!
steelewalking 