Today started off much better than yesterday, at 7 o’clock and with pretty decent weather. After a few meters outside the village we entered a coastal path with beautiful views over the sea and coastline. We followed this path -unfortunately asphalt but very nice nevertheless – until Ontón, another small village at the seaside.
There, we had to change to a national road which was thankfully not very frequented but still very ennoying and stopped for breakfast on a stormy-sunny terrace next to the road after our first 7 km.
After breakfast, a light rain started to fall while big black clouds steadily moved over our heads. Rain stopped after a few minutes but the road went on for a few km until we could finally change to a small forrest path which our feet appreciated very much. This path took us through stunning mountainy-grassy coastal landscape towards Castro Urdiales which turned out to be a very beautiful city. By the sound of the name I had somehow expected a very ugly place but Castro Urdiales had a nice beach promenade, very pretty buildings and a very beautiful cathedral.
We also stopped by a farmacy as soon as we got to the city. Johanna had been seriously suffering from a muscular contraction in her leg and in general our diverse pains have been getting worse over the last two days, especially since yesterday’s asphalt day. We bought Magnesium pills and the “wonder ointment” for pilgrims that is supposed to help with any kind of pain and has a very strong smell with which we are already familiar from the albergue dorms.
Suffering, we crossed Castro Urdiales and followed a main road until leaving the city through a smaller road. At some point, it finally turned into a path again which was again very beautiful but short. Passing through the very authentic, small and sleepy villages of Allendelagua and Cerdigo we made our way towards Islares. At a picnic area right before Cerdigo, we stopped to have lunch and rest our broken feet.
Our final destination was supposed to be only a boat-ride from Islares across the bay, as the albergue in Islares was closed. Asking for information at a campsite, we found out that there is no such thing as a boat. The possibilities of crossing the bay were two: with low tide you could walk from one beach to the other, with higher tide you had to walk for 4 km along the motorway.As we saw that the tide was not super low and the beaches were not entirely connected, we spent some time trying to tramp but nobody stopped for us. We saw a police car and asked them for help but they also suggested to take the road because of the rising tide. We walked along the highway for a while and then found a way down to the seaside where a few people were sitting. I had to ask 3 times to turn a clear “no” concerning crossing the beaches into a “yes maybe”. We hurried and descended again about 100 m further, climbed down some rocks to a place at the seaside where the water was not very high and took off our shoes and pants to cross barefoot. After this first crossing we had to cross a few other “rivers” and got a little wet because the sand under our feet seemed to be trying to swallow us and we had to run through the water. The cold seawater however felt soothing on our hurting feet and legs and we could walk the rest of the way along the beach, almost until the albergue in Oriñón.
The place was a private albergue-hostel and we were the only guests. The owner said this was due to the fact that she is too “alternative” for some people. Alternative is one way of putting it… Nothing really works here; we had to fight for toilet paper, there are no blankets, the water sink cannot really be used because the water comes out downstairs in the bar.. she said she liked to do everything herself but didn’t seem to be very good at it. We were happy nevertheless because we didn’t have to deal with sleeping people everywhere at 19:00, could freely do whatever we wanted and would be sleeping in silence without any snorers for the first time in a week.We had a half-functional microwave in the hostel so we decided to cook today and went to the only available shop in the village – the campsite store. The old lady who directs the business had everything a small supermarket has to offer, but in only 3 square meters. You want apples? No problem, they’re in the box under the box with the lemons and the one with the pears and the one with the bananas. She was very nice though and probably sold us more than anyone has ever bought at once in that shop and we went home with two bags full of food.
It took a good while to cook the potatoes in the microwave but in the end we had a delicious simple dinner, topped off with a surprise beer from the bar.
Despite our freedom to come home later than 10 and go to sleep late, we were in bed at 11 anyway, destroyed and tired from our first week of Camino. After being super fit and motivated in the beginning, the last two days have been hard and painful and our humor is ever more turning into black, ironic and absurdity-focussed gallows humor.
