Day 23 – The one with the last beaches

I left the albergue at 8 while it was still somewhat dark. My plan was to get to a viewpoint before sunrise.

I found a nice hidden beach – off track. Then found my way back and got to the viewpoint but by then the sun was already up. The view was still spectacular so all was well. This was already the coastal alternative that I decided to follow. It is a bit longer but it was a short day anyway.

Got to Tapia de Casariego around noon which was a bit slow but with the early stops it was not surprising. I took my lunch here and went on to Ribadeo.

In the afternoon I crossed Maria and a poor German guy who had it even worse than I did a couple of days ago.

The rivercrossing just before Ribadeo left me with mixed feelings. The way leads through the highway bridge (at least with a fenced sidewalk) that was ugly however the view on the huge delta was impressive.

Finally arrived to the albergue on the riverside after just below 30k in close to 8 hours. It was a slow day but kind of intentionally: I started early and had many breaks to enjoy the last day on the coast.

I just crossed the border of Asturia and Galicia and Ribadeo is the last stop before the way turns inland to Santiago.

Also, less than 200k to go 🙂

Day 12

We went together this day with Maria. It was a good thing too as the weather and i the first half the path was quite depressing.

Ate a few figs along the way and had to use the raincoat for the second day. Although after a while I realised that it might not actually help much: since the rain was head-on it fell into it next to my face as well there was a lot of condensation on the inside so all in all I think I got more wet from it than without it ..

We took a break next to a beautiful industrial chemical plant pipe that was actually warm 🙂

In the second half the path went to the countryside away from the busy car roads finally and the misty scenary was a bit better but still depressing.

We arrived in Santillana Del Mar around 2. I was a bit disappointed as I planned to go forward but my shoes were just too wet. I went to the albergue I had a sandwich as it was still closed. Finally I figured out that the municipal albergue was actually more expensive than a hostel a few minutes away so I went there. Apparently Paul, Andre and Maria too.

Since I’ve been postponing doing laundry due to the weather I now had to do it and we shared it with Paul.

The place had a surprise: massage shower 😀

After some streching and settling we went for a dinner where I finally got to eat some paella.