Santa Cruz de Bezana to Santillana del M

Bonnie sets two alarms in the morning. The first one just vibrates. 95% of the time this wakes her up. She has been doing this since our Camino in Portugal. Our family was waking up earlier than other pilgrims and she didn’t want our alarm to wake them. Her second alarm is a backup for those rare times she doesn’t wake up from the mini-shaking. Today was one of those days.

She then shook my shoulder. “Dad, it's time.”

Ugh.

Some mornings are just bleh. 

I didn’t care that I was in Spain or walking the Camino. All I knew is that I had a rough night of sleep, I had tortured dreams, and I wanted to roll back over and not start this day until much much later. Like maybe even tomorrow.

Bonnie wasn’t pleasant either. There was a dog outside the window that should have shrunken into oblivion from the words coming out of her mouth. I wanted to make a dad joke about being dog-tired, but I knew better.

We had planned to be on the road 30 minutes after the first alarm. It took us an hour.

Once we left neither of us had anything to say except to point and grunt at arrows. So we kept moving forward.

And that is what it took.

By the time we found a marker that told us we were on the “Camino Oficial Official Route,” we started laughing, especially since the next sign was covered and it led us into a road construction zone. Our joints became lubricated by our motion and we got into a rhythm. Even though the day was overcast and we never met our shadows, we were thankful for the respite from the heat. We met new pilgrims and had good conversations. We reached our destination town in 6.5 hours having walked nearly 30 KM. 

Sometimes you just have to keep moving forward - Ultreia.

***

Santillana del Mar is a unique little town with great stone buildings and medieval history. It is a tourist trap and every other shop sells the same local treasures and treats. It is full of museums, including one full of religious art (that we went to) and one about medevial torture methods (that we didn’t). 

Tomorrow is another full day of walking, our longest one yet, and like today it will be almost all on the road. Our feet are worn out from the pavement so as I write this I have my feet up on the wall hoping that the elevation will help the swelling subside. 

Bonnie is already repacking her backpack. She has set her alarm. Both of them.Leer más