Camino de Santiago del Norte
INTROThe Camino de Santiago is a network of long distance pilgrimages throughout Europe, primarily Spain, leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Sunset in La Franca., Spain
This is about the North route (del Norte) which I began in San Sebastián, Spain. This route is roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers). This is different from an other backpacking I’ve done; less wilderness, more showers/town food. This comes after my completion of the Camino de Santiago Frances.
Day 11 - 14 took me from Arce, Spain - Llanes, Spain.
OVERVIEWDAYS4
MILES/kilometers62.3/100.3
TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED6885 ft
TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS6904 ft
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Continued wonderful socialization with folks from all over the world. Similar hiking patterns emerged.
Beach day in Llanes!
A few lower mileage days allowed my body to recover.
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Heat + humidity increased.
Snorers, insomnia, and inconsiderate people in the night at albergues lead to being tired.
Trying to be gluten free - ugh!
Peregrino references everywhere
In Depth
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Accommodation: El Convento
Distance: 15.6 miles / 25.1 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1334 ft
Elevation Loss: 1084 ft
Because it was a relatively short day into Santillana Del Mar, I decided to stay at my nice private accommodation for as long as possible. I had breakfast at the hotel and then laid around and did nothing until 11:00am. Now that was a birthday present!
Much like the several days prior, it was mostly pavement road walking the day. I hiked alone this day and tucked into some podcasts to make the time go by quickly on the road. The trek took me over rivers and crossed train tracks, through small towns. It was very sunny and despite my best sunscreen efforts (because I had skin cancer in 2022), I was a bit toasted.
I arrived in Santillana Del Mar and my accommodation was an old convent converted into an albergue. One unique thing about this convent was that there were only two beds per room because each of the former nuns used to have their own room! Luckily, I got paired with Silvia and there would then be no real snoring.
The patio area was stunning and it was an easy decision to spend part of the evening out there enjoying the view. Impeccable gardens and tons of seating for whatever activity. I also did dinner at the convent, which was a beautiful gathering and a well organized efficient meal. Though the meal began at 8:00pm, I was upstairs and in bed by 9:00pm.
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Accommodation: La Magia del Camino
Distance: 14 miles /22.5 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1803 ft
Elevation Loss: 2007 ft
Although I began the day alone, I end up hiking with Marina most of the day. This day brought the trail back from the inland Santillana Del Mar to eventually the beach town of Comillas. The actual town of Santillana Del Mar is a beautiful medieval town and the architecture was one of the highlights of the trail. I wish I had spent a whole day there as they were a couple neat museums that would’ve taken some time.
There were some beautiful bluffs within the farmland looking out at the ocean that made for some epic views. At one point, the trail overlooked Playa de Luaña, walked down onto it and then curved back up and climbed away from it. Once you climbed out of Playa de Luaña, there were expansive pastures with many cows, specifically calves that did not realize how beautiful their scenery was.
Eventually dropping into the coast town of Comillas for the evening. There were many hotels, but not very many albergues in this spot. So the majority of the folks that I had been seeing in the last several days ended up at the same accommodation for the night. Somehow, I ended up with a low single bed, despite paying the same as other folks in the dorm - I did not complain.
Despite Comillas being on the beach, the hostel was just over a kilometer away up on a steep hill from said beach. So I looked out and admired it for the evening, but did not go back down into town. I am gluten free in the United States and I had been consuming gluten for the last 5-6 weeks and feeling ill. I would begin to wean myself off of gluten - including this evening. I went to the grocery store in Comillas, which was also down a hill, and began my several week journey of mostly being hungry as I was gluten-free and a wheat dominated country.
Myself, Marina and Sonya planned the next several days of staying the same accommodation, which was nice to have a plan! They were very on top of planning so it felt nice to share the load. It turned into a relaxing early evening, chatting trail with some lovely German women. I eventually got tucked in bed and slept all right despite the snoring.
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Accommodation: Triskel Albergue
Distance: 19.6 miles /31.6 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 2251 ft
Elevation Loss: 2211 ft
Though the albergue offered breakfast now being as gluten-free as possible, I prepared with many items from the grocery store, and that was the correct move. It was a long day today as again accommodation was somewhat booked up for the typical stage on the Camino. So myself, Marina, Sonya, and Silvia all had a room booked in La Franca.
Straight away this on this morning there was another beautiful beach called Playa del Rabia. It looks like a popular surfing beach and I stopped for a quick break there. This was going to be a warm day and it was already very humid. The trail wound around the beach, which gave Laredo a run for his money at length.
This day also hit another beautiful spot called San Vicente de la Barquera, which was my original stopping point. While walking through there, there was a big part of me that wished I had worked out the schedule enough to get accommodation here. It was just plain stunning. Roman Bridges, near the beach, and on an inlet from the ocean. They’re beautiful boats everywhere and families out enjoying the area.
There were several more climbs for the day and again it ended up being very warm. At one point I stopped at a small town local bar and got two electrolyte drinks and drank them as if my life depended on it. Most people were drinking beer already, but thought of dehydrating myself on such a humid and hot sunny day was… not it. There were some steep ones near Columbres which was the typical stopping point for this day and I can definitely understand why. That small city sits on top of a plateau and after that climb, I was exhausted. Luckily, I had been talking to a Finnish guy for the last few miles of the day from the Columbres climb to La Franca, which made the last road walking miles go by much quicker.
Upon arrival at a very cute small albergue in La Franca, I signed up for the albergue dinner, and luckily the four women, including myself were in a room, so hopefully that limited the snoring.
After a shower, I felt like a brand new woman. Markus and Nicole (from the day prior), were there and allowed us to throw in some laundry into their load of laundry, which was very kind. When you sweat so much, it’s very nice to start out the following day with a clean shirt. At dinner, there were about 17 of us and my gluten free plan went out the window.
Dinner lasted a while and I tried to tuck in as early as possible. There was some insomnia from another person in my room, which led to not very good night sleep.
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Accommodation: Hostel Llanes
Distance: 13.1 miles / 21.1 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1497 ft
Elevation Loss: 1602 ft
Because the day prior had been a relatively long day this day, heading into Llanes was much shorter. After a pretty terrible night sleep, I luckily had packed some gluten-free breakfast foods to eat.
My goal was to get to Llanes as quickly as possible in hopes that I could check into the hostel early. So I set out after Sonya and Marina, who were staying at the same spot, and said I would meet them there. This had a lot of farmlands, but did have some beautiful coast as well. I took a few alternates that led me along the coast line, including an area for a blow hole. I ran into some folks from the night before Rixt (Netherlands) and Phil (UK) at the geological feature and would see them later on.
I got onto Llanes just before noon and couldn’t check into the hostel for a few hours so I walked around a bit. I originally wanted to go to the beach, but all the beach huts and bathrooms were closed so I didn’t know where to put on my bathing suit or what would happen if I needed to leave myself to go to the bathroom.
As I was walking through the Town Square, Phil caught my attention. We sat down and had lunch. I have spent some time in the UK recently, so we gabbed about that and how life throws you curveball sometimes medical curve balls, and needing to bounce back.
Eventually, Sonya and Marina joined us and then the three of us went off and went to check in at the hostel. We got settled and then headed to the beach for a lovely afternoon. It only was then that I realized how actually terrible my hiking tan lines were. I was assaulting people at the beach with my very pale skin that had been hidden by my shorts and shirt for several months. My legs looked great though.
We grabbed food for dinner to make at the hostel on the way back. A full load of laundry with Alessandro (Italy) and Matthieu (France) too all well chatting on and off with Markus and Nicole who were coming in and out.
This hostel had a really nice dorm area so we all slept well.
GALLERY
