Oreña

Today the GPS tells me I walked 32km. But I outsmarted the GPS by hopping on a train right outside the Albergue door. This is the spot at which pilgrims have three choices. Walk 9 extra km to cross the river legally; scamper across the train tracks and hope you don't get plastered by a train (this is what Dana, the German girls, and I did ten years ago) or be law-abiding and take the little train for a total of 2 minutes to cross the bridge. Since the train stop was literally outside the albergue door, and since there was one at 7:30, it seemed the prudent thing to do. By 7:35 we were walking by the little bar where one of our German friends got locked in the bathroom.

This is not one of the Camino's shining stages. Almost all asphalt, winging your way around a huge bleach factory, following alongside two huge pipes that also deposit something inside the bleach factory. But then you arrive in Santillana Del Mar, and if you can see past the hoards of tourists and the trinkets shops, there is some lovely architecture and an amazing Romanesque cloister.

I had decided to go 6 km beyond Santillana, to an albergue opened a few years ago by Alex(of Bodenaya fame to Primitivo veterans). One km outside of town, it started to rain, and I arrived soaking wet at the albergue. Now after a hot shower and wearing dry clothes, life is good in the restaurant next door where the menu del día offers lots of warming options. The rain might hang around for a few more days, but it's all in a day's walk. I will be going to San Vicente tomorrow, but you can be SURE I will not go to the Albergue where the hospitalero attacked us verbally and told us how we should be ashamed of our imperialist hegemony. Imagine what he would say now. Luckily the town is a tourist destination so I assume I will find something.Read more