Our eighth day started as planned with perfect weather when we left our albergue at 7:30. We followed the recommendation of the lady from the shop yesterday and a wikilocs route I had found online towards the coast. This meant ignoring the recommendation of the Camino book which highly dissuaded from taking this path. Instead of walking 25 km along the highway again, this little mountain path would lead us straight over a mountain next to the seaside and along the coast to Laredo in only 11 km.
At first, the path took us through a nice forest towards the wild beach of Sonabia which lay peacefully and without any human footprints in the morning sun.
With views towards the beach, the path went steeply and rocky upwards along a bushy cliff to our right. This was where Johanna’s second thoughts about this way started to consolidate. With much less mountaineering experience, she had great difficulties finding stable and secure steps and trusting her body and it’s coordination.
As we went further up and the path got rockier with the need to use our hands, this sensation worsened but we crossed a point of no return and she decided to go on.
At the top of the mountain, we crossed the key passage along a steep cliff which was secured by a metal rope.
After this, the worst part began for Johanna. The path went down on the other side as steep as it had gone up and climbing down is always harder than climbing up. She did the last few hundred meters without her backpack and I did the piece twice with both our packs but we finally arrived downstairs at a small mountain hut, which we chose as our breakfast place.
I think we both learned a lot by choosing this path today. Johanna seriously challenged her skills and comfort zone and clearly defined her limits and I learned that I tend to overestimate people’s mountain – coordination skills. I am very thankful for having grown up like I have and all the mountain experiences that I was encouraged to have during my childhood and youth. I also found out once more what I already knew: this is my element. I am not made for alphalt and roads and houses. Where I feel comfortable and able to walk many hours and safe and good is in the mountainside on a challenging path with no civilization in sight.
After breakfast, the path went on easy through the mountains and grassy landscape with cows and horses, up along a broad path and finally down towards Laredo. We got there earlier than ever before and descended through the old town, surprised by it’s beauty.
Laredo has a 4 km long beach and spreads along a weird “horn” out into the bay. This is where we will have our first break day tomorrow, which is why we had to book an Airbnb (you can only stay in pilgrims’ albergues for one night). We checked in and went to the beach to eat and chill a bit while reading about the coming stages and destinations, trying to plan our further paths and choosing between the many alternatives that the Camino offers us in the following days.
Afterwards, we split up for a while and I passed by the tourist information to get my stamp and met a Spanish camino-hiker I knew from the past days. We sat down and had a drink in a bar where he told me about his mountaineering adventures. Walking along the promenade afterwards, I met our two Catalan friends who -as usual- started talking and didn’t stop anymore. I rejoined with Johanna and we spent another hour at the promenade listening to Ángel and Timoteo and their funny stories. They are deeply fascinating us with their very slow walking speed and beer-stops in every bar on the way with which they still, somehow, magically, arrive pretty early at the albergues. Also, they have enormous backpacks, plus extra purses and cameras and extra shoes, they are over 65 and they just walk, always talking and in a perfect mood, over 30 km without complaining about too much pain or being concerned about landscape.
Around 8, we started looking for food and found a not too good nor cheap menu in the old town which we ate dirty and sunburnt in our equally dirty outfits. Back home, we threw all our clothes into the washing machine and waited after showering in hiking shorts and rain jacket (the only remaining pieces of clothing) until 11. We went to bed later than ever in the last week, we had fresh towels, sheets, a shower to use without flip-flops, a private room, lots of space to be chaotic, and no alarm clock for tomorrow morning.
