Day 13

Had a good sleep even without the earplugs but woke up around 6 again so given that I planned to start early to do some distance before the rain that was predicted from 8, I left the hostel at 7.

Well, apparently I’m not good at keeping the promises I make to myself: once again it was pitch black dark but now with rain and fog. I couldn’t see more than a few meters far and my eyes got tired from the attempt to hunt for signs.

I only got to turn my lamp off after a good hour. However even then the fog gave limited visibility for quite some time.

Apart from some 1 minute stops for orientation and getting thing out from the bag the first stop I’ve made was around 12:30.

I manage to add a few extra kilometers and hills with the coastal way but it was nice. Lots of surfers everywhere.

Unfortunately I started to feel that I have blisters on both of my feet and also the extra 5k I’ve planned would have had to be at least 7 as an albergue was closed to when I arrived finally in San Vincente I decided to stay.

It has been a good 35k anyways in under 7 hours with which I was quite happy.

Until the albergue opened I’ve checked out the church and had the leftover from my sandwich.

Although I was happy that my heel didn’t hurt today at all my new blisters might cause even more problem.

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.