23km (339.3 km)
Sunday 18 June 2017
I was on my own this morning, as I left the Pension in Santillana Del Mar at 6:20. It was so quiet and a perfect temperature to walk in. The honey may have stopped my feet from becoming infected but the pain was pretty intense and I had to concentrate on trying not to limp so that I didn’t create even more problems with knees etc, more whining but at least I was alone to whine! Marianne had gone on yesterday but had decided to wait in Comillas before continuing on to San Vincente de Bacareau once I had caught up…12 more kilometres.
Although most of the walk was on the road there was much to appreciate and enjoy. The rolling countryside was broken up periodically with church spires and the route went through a few picturesque little villages. San Martin de Ciguenza was a rather odd town with a particularly stunning church and a few kilometres down the road Cobréces stands out with its colourful buildings, an enormous Albergue (which is in a Cistercian monastery) and another impressive church.
All in all a very pleasant walk and I arrived early in Comillas but really not wanting to walk for another 12km. As luck would have it there was an open Pharmacy so I now have bandages, antiseptic cream, rubbing alcohol etc; enough to kit out all the pilgrims on the Camino (it does feel good to not be relying on honey and vodka though). I decided that I was staying in Comillas and headed off to the Albergue at noon, Marianne had decided to stay too. The Albergue opened at three but there was already a queue so we joined it and waited…for three hours! I became the queue monitor, ensuring that new arrivals joined the back of the queue. There were twenty beds and many more walkers but we had beds! Throughout the day more and more pilgrims arrived and were turned away, some having to continue walking until they found a space, which isn’t a particularly inviting prospect at the end of a day’s walk . Comillas is a real tourist spot and apparently (so the guide book says) features some of the most impressive architecture of the Camino. Unfortunately the last thing one wants to do at the end of a long walk is go sight seeing so we headed to the beach for a while before a very early bed, ready for a 5am alarm call to avoid the sun tomorrow. The sight seeing will have to wait for another time.
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