Gone North

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Today we’re sat on a beach in Comillas. Things have moved on somewhat since our last entry. Our testing and ultimately abortive day attempting to return up the Camino del Norte gave us only one realistic option to that plan. Abandon it and commit thoroughly to memory all the stories and circumstance of that challenging day for future telling and embellishment. For those without a world atlas in front of them open on the Southern Europe page Comillas is in Cantabria on the Northern coast of Spain about 50 kilometres west of Santander. This is some 500 kilometres from Melide where our previous update was penned. Having used only our feet as transport for six weeks we unfortunately had to succumb to more mundane methods resorting to motorised vehicles. We were not going to be defeated by the Norte. Through the use of several coaches we arrived two days ago in Santilliana del Mar. This journey putting us back on the Norte in an excellent coastal location with plentiful campsites in order to begin our walk now in the right directions down this so far troubling path. Our 40 kilometres plus walking epic five days ago left us with one dodgy foot and a sore shoulder. Two days rest fortunately overcame these temporary hindrances. Yesterday we completed our first successful day on the Norte (hurrah) moving from Santilliana del Mar to Comillas. The locals did try to fox us further by shutting some of our path but being the experienced pilgrims we now are we wouldn’t be out manoeuvred. The pilgrims who established this route certainly knew a thing or two. A dip in the sea after a days walk is definitely the ideal tonic for tired limbs. Five days or so of walking would take us away from the coast so we shall be taking a measured approach to this section.

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