23 km. Hilly. Started out sunny and cool, but by the end of the day clouds were rolling in and it was a bit cold. Overall, good walking weather. There were sea sightings at the beginning and end of the walk, but most of the day was on country roads through mountains. The landscape is starting to change. We could see snow-capped peaks in the distance.
I ran into Silvan shortly after setting out this morning, and we walked the whole day together. We picked up Claudia from Germany at second breakfast and she walked with us, too. Claudia and I hadn’t met before, but today when I introduced myself she said, ‘Oh, you are American Terri, who lives in Australia!’ Apparently, she walked with Sue and Dave several days ago. I have not seen them since Bilbao.
Walking together made the time pass so easily. Unfortunately though, all three of us were having some leg troubles. Silvan had pains in his shins, Claudia has been having knee trouble, and my left leg now decided to give me trouble at the top front of my thigh, causing problems again on the climbs. I was in a lot of discomfort before lunch, but it settled down some after.
We stopped for lunch at 2:30 in Colombres, and Cary showed up with a friend and joined us to chat for a while. It was great to see her! She has walked with all three of us previously (separately), so it was a fun catch up. After lunch, I decided I’d better stay in Colombres but then couldn’t find a room. Claudia shared the name of the place where she was staying, about 3 km further, just outside of La Franca. I booked there, and it’s lovely. Silvan also stopped in La Franca but headed to the albergue.
Claudia and I have really enjoyed our day together and will walk again tomorrow. We are similar ages, have similar life circumstances that brought us to the Camino, both enjoy a relaxed (read ‘after coffee’) start in the morning, love menú del día and a light dinner, and both look for cheap private rooms. Perfect partners. She heads back to Germany Saturday, so we’ll probably stick together until then.
She told me about some blowholes off the coast near here that are supposed to be spectacular. They spray up to 40 meters. To see them we must veer off the Camino, but at least it is still west of us. There is a hiking trail from our hotel that we can take to see them; however, the hotel was not sure how we get back onto the Camino after that. We will figure that out tomorrow…as well as what the 65% chance of rain really means.
Final update: We left the autonomous region of Cantabria today and have entered Asturias. I have had people rave to me about how beautiful Asturias is. How can it be possible to see scenery even more beautiful than what I have seen so far?? My head might explode. Have I mentioned how grateful I am to be doing this?
Photos from the day:
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