Santander was a beautiful place to spend a month.
We knew we wanted the flexibility in our trip through Europe to stay in the one spot for awhile and as our journey progressed we decided Spain was the place. Originally (so long ago now!) for our time in Spain we thought we could get jobs or volunteer as well as some hiking along the Camino de Santiago (St James' Way) but that evolved. We decided we were most excited about staying put for a month somewhere near the beach, and do small walks on the El Camino de Santiago. Doing a huge part of the walk was out of the question (I think that it is more than 800km long), but setting ourselves up in the beach-side town of Santander meant that we could do a few parts of the Camino Del Santiago Del Norte quite easily.
In the end even that turned out differently than we imagined. Kat finished off some research work then got sick (and now has stories to tell about a home visit from a Russian speaking doctor and a trip to the emergency room). Whereas I landed a job working remotely for a client in Australia that allowed us to save up some additional travel money, but this did tie me to a computer. We learned some Spanish (but there's a lot more to go!), and we saw some amazing sights. Little did we know that Santander was once summer residence of the Spanish royalty, but more on that later.
The first week in Santander was really hot and we took the opportunity to visit three of the best beaches in Spain, according to Rough Guides. We went to Playa de la Magdalena, Somo & El Sardinero; all of which lie along the Camino Del Santiago Del Norte and all are very close to each other and all beautiful in different ways. The beaches were full of Spaniards enjoying the final weeks of the summer holidays. We enjoyed watching some play paddle ball and alternated reading in the sun with swimming in the ocean. It was so lovely to be at the beach as it had been awhile!
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| La Playa de la Magdalena |
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| El Sardinero |
El Camino del Norte
"The Way of Saint James" follows the legend that St James' remains were taken from Jerusalem to the city that is now known as Santiago de Compostela. Although a pilgrim could take any route to get there, regular routes developed over the centuries. Nowadays, the northern (del norte) walk has about 20 pilgrims starting per day and follows the northern coastline whereas the standard or "the French" camino (so-called because traditionally most pilgrims were French) can draw up to 200 pilgrims per day, particularly in the peak season (source). The weather is probably less reliable in the north, and apparently goes up and down a lot more. Overall, I think there are a number of reasons to pick the French route over the north, but we were happy to join a part of the north route along the beautiful coast. Luckily for us, it passes through Santander.
On our first weekend, we took the local ferry across the bay where locals go for warmer waters trapped in the bay by the sand bank (no Dolphin Sands Road-ing here, although one would think that the real pilgrims would go all the way around). With our tent, backpack and hiking shoes, we didn't really fit amongst the beachgoers who I am sure never wear sunscreen.
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| A little out of place at Somo |
We had a pleasant walk along to sand dunes and beach for a few kilometres to reach the campsite at Somo. After a bit of a standoff with a waitress where I was trying to explain that I only wanted one meal and she was only trying to find out our table number, we left for our (reverse) walk along El Camino del Norte.
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A beautiful coastline
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| Deep in thought |
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This walk took us along the clifftops by Somo where we saw the true wrath of the Atlantic, again like our visits to the Cliffs of Moher and other places in Ireland. With nothing to stop us falling off, and no idiots trying to get that perfect photo likely to fall off, we quickly left the busy-ness of the beach and Somo behind and thoroughly enjoyed the combination of sun and wind.
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Kat making friends with el Camino del Norte
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| Kind of wish they moved after 2 hours (we passed them in both directions) |
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It seemed a strange place to find a crop of maize, but that's indeed what we found, alongside wild berries, that I foolishly tried to eat. The picturesque walk along a dirt track, sometimes overgrown with berries was quiet and peaceful and ended in a steep descent into a cave-like bay where we took a dip and briefly read our books.
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| The downwards climb at the far end of our loop |
Our return to Somo coincided with my ability to finally internalise (and express) the word for 'ice-cream' and we settled in for a night interrupted "only" by what I would describe as a cannon, or some other ear-splitting explosive device, going off every hour, something that took me back to the traumatic experience of sleeping in the backyard of a train station in Edinburgh.
Sunday was a lovely day, a long sleep-in to then wake with coffee and pastries on the beach, which we visited tent and large backpack in hand and enjoyed for the remainder of the day before a comfortable ferry ride back to our cosy room in Santander. Although we did not earn a plenary indulgence, or a compostela/certificate of accomplishment (only awarded for those on a religious journey who make it to Santiago de Compostela and who walked over 100km), we did have a great weekend, with many of the things we both enjoy. Food, coffee, walking, camping, and beaches.
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| El Camino |
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