STAGE FOURTEEN: San Vicente to Pendueles

This would be the greatest day of walking and finding nature's hidden treausres.

We had a wonderful night last night in the family run albergue of St Vicente's!

Pedro would wake up and make us breakfast ( part of the fee here) and would walk us up to the church for a great view.  So last night there were only five pilgrims at our place....myself and four really nice guys. York from Germany, Sebastian from Germany, Benjamin from Belgium and the young doctor from Poland. he kept reminding me he was still in school and not yet a doctor BUT for some reason I turned my voice into Jerry Seinfeld's mom and had to call him " the doctor" in her classic NYC Jewish mom voice, all impressed etc....

Sebastian, Benjamin and I would walk together...

Sebastian broke off for a cup of coffee before we did so we would miss him for the rest of the day.

I think it was Colombres where we crossed the Rio Deva ( river) and were eager to have coffee....I'm glad we held out till after the bridge as we found a great spot, cross the bridge to the right with a graphic of a fisherman I think. I have learned to ask for a grande cafe con leche or I get a small one.

There is a town called La Franca that appears to be going thru some major highway work, a huge bridge is going in and a tunnel. Today could be oossibly the most beautiful walk or the most boring pending what you do here.  We had bought some items to make a lunch and were lucky to come down off the road coming out of La Franca and looking for a great place to sit and eat. I saw a car parked on the side of the road and between that road and the Ocean were almost dunes of rock, sand and yellow flowers. Upon seeing the empty car I suspected they had parked and entered this dune area so we searched for this opportunity. Lucky formus there was a small chance to hop in there, crossing a railroad track and entering where a sign is.  Benjamin and I were the only pilgrims from where we stayed tonight who saw this opportunity. We sat out on the high cliffs overlooking the. Ocean.  About ten minutes into our walk after lunch he noticed he was missing a stopper on one of his walking sticks..I was gladly willing to retrace our steps to try to find it, we didn't.

Deep in the dune area Benjamin saw another pilgrim waving to us from the road, we thought it was Sabastian and waited for the person to cross on into where we were, when they didn't we assumed they chose to walk alone. Amazing natural sights on this walk the first being a huge hole in a rock. About an hour later we were skirting the road but still on the Oceanside and we concluded the pilgrim we had seen earlier was not Sebastian but York, I heard him singing and yelled out, " York is that you????" At which he didn't hear me but Sebastian told me that was " such an American thing to do". Feeling slightly sheepish for being so loud all of a sudden I hear, " Amigo's is that you? ".... Louder than my attempt....it was York so I guess that was " such a German thing to do". I quickly realized we could say little pokes and just keep inserting different country names if we wanted to....

We got York thru the brambles and he wiuld join us for what would be the icing on the cake of this walk. We woukd stumble upon a huge rock arch....a beach within these dunes where water runs under the cliffs and had actually formed a beach with the dunes....and....a tunnel/ cave that lead to the Ocean. There was a man getting his picture taken in a hole in the griund and I said, what is he doing? What does he know that we do not?"....he told us it led to the Ocean. The boys were hesitant to go as it involved leaving our backpacks there BUT I urged them to do it and it was marvelous. Lije most of my adventures this trip I was convinced I was the inly one to ever enter this cave when coming at us was lije 20 headlamps....and coming out of the cave was lije 20 more getting ready to descend. We were low to the ground and I captured pictures the best I could.

Now all we had to do was find Sebastian!

York said he had run into him and thought he was going to stop one town shy of our original goal....so we all went there and were going to contribute what he paid to get him out and to come with us. it was closed but he left us a note that he was proceeding to our orignal place....

We would stumble on a gem of an auberge! Run by Javier whose parents were in town helping him this place was true Camino spirit....great dinner, great drinks....music that woke you....breakfast and a sweet send off....LOVED this auberge!!!!

What a day!

I hope the pictures do it slight justice....

STAGE THIRTEEN: Corbreces to San Vicente

This would be a wonderful walk!!!!!

I slept well last night, two Spanish bikers ( cyclists) would come to the auberge but they kept to themselves on the otherside of the long recangular garage auberge....so we had no interaction but smiles, holas and " Buen Caminos".  The boys and I discussed makinf St Vicente our stopping point but had no real commitment to pull it off. Sabastian would leave a good forty minutes before Benjamin, I would leave about ten minutes behind Benjamin and about ten minutes down the road would run into Sabastian! He had taken a wrong turn which had us share about an hour of walk together, he left to grab a coffee and I kept going wanting to spend some time in Comillas. I really liked Comillas!

I would meander thru the streets and had a goal to find a bar ams Skype my family at 2:00PM which would be 8:00AM their time...prior to school. I had a lunch, visited the open market where scarves, watches and ourses were being sold and would end up at the BEST bar....Bar Guadalupe, where the bartender greeted you with a huge smile and I felt for a few minutes I might be in Key West! I ordered a beer and went outside to Skpe, he showed up and gave me a warm bowl of chickpeas with onions and a broth....great chat with kids and Steve....

On my Camino forum one of my fav gals with advice mentioned the Angels in Comillas so I went out near the beach to the cemetary and saw those and grabbed some pictures.

Then I was off to St Vicente!!!!!

I approached the town looking for the auberge. Bobbi, who I met on the Frances had recently done the Norte and mentioned the " family run auberge" in this town as very memorable for her. i would hear my name in the streets and there were Benjamin and Sebastian....

I checked in to our auberge which was very sweet, humble but filled with a families love!

Pedro would check us in and make us dinner and breakfast in the morning, we would hear about how he has travled and jst kind of ran out of money and parked himself there for a month to make needed funds to continue. GREAT guy!!!!!

We snuck in a bite to eat before dinner, had a few drinks and a German guy alittle older than I am joined us, his name is York and a real charming guy....

back at the auberge would be a young Polish University student, in school to be a Dr....and dinner was great this evening as we talked about the World and had a wonderful conversation.  Pedro kept the wine coming and one by one we each got up and went off to bed....

STAGE TWELVE:Santillana del Mar to Cobreces (short)

After giving Tom a huge pep talk that maybe he needed a rest day, or just go a few kilometers and park yourself I found I needed just that. Yesterday's walk was tiring, I ended up in a little slice of paradise and while I make several typos pecking from an iPhone or an iPad with little time to attempt to fix them I did notice a huge typo in yesterdays blog, I omitted the word "not" in describing Santillana del Mar, I meant to say it is not a reproduction...this is a very genuine medieval village. I woke to everyone in the very small, modest but appropriate auberge scurrying to get up and ready. I sat from my top watching everyone bump into each other updated my blog and waited till all were gone.

It started to sprinkle and I ran for my clothes on the laundry line. Huge snorer beneath me last night ( I always grab a to bunk if available, though most do not) but my gel ear plugs and eye mask are seeming to do the trick as I watch the faces of others when " the snorers" walk by.

Every vacation there is a picture that gets away from me....an image I wanted to capture and could not some reason....with all of this gorgeous scenery the image picture that has gotten away from me was right here in the courtyard of this auberge. Where the clothesline is hung is a small building with two windows behind the clothesline....in the window are huge masks that must be used for some festive presentation in the town...I did get a picture of one of the windows clearly and if I have not posted it I will, but the other window I could tell had a devil mask in it BUT it was turned around.  My missed opportunity was not asking the museum employee ( who manages the check in for this auberge) to let me have a peak in that building....I so wish I could see those masks!

This reminds me in Santander there was a huge tent up with one gentleman kind of managing the access in to it. In there were floats, or large scenes of the Stages of Christ. I attempted to get in but these were clearly being assembled for the upcoming Easter festivities as Catholic Spain centers more around Christ at this time than a Easter bunny. 

So I would head out very slowly leaving this beautiful town...I'd stop at a corner hotel, restaurant where I saw for Chocolate con Churros...a hot thick chocolate with a sugary battery fried thingy. normally really good....in would walk a female beggar who honestly would not leave me alone....minutes later when out on the street the cops pulled up quickly and once out of the car did the typical cop move,ent of adjusting their pants up around their waist and seemed ina hurry heading towards the quaint part of town. i wondered what could happen in this small town to get cops so up in arm? A few seconds later I see them both around the little lady who was begging....

I wouldn't go far today....my rain jacket stayed on me but I just didn't have the required strength today I would stop in Cobreces where the auberge is " in the Cistercian Abbey". I would get to town trying to upload pictures to clear space on my phone. I was devastated to find I had no space left on my phone for photos and certain it was due to all of my videoing....the nice bar owners let me plug my phone in behind their bar while my photos uploaded ( a procedure I still do not understand)....

The abbey would not open till 4:00 I was told by a Spanish pilgrim who decided to catch a bus and move on....at 4:00 I would ring the bell and a man not resembling what I think would be a monk opened the door, checked me in and kept saying I was by myself....the place was big....over and over. It was raining, I was freezing....and not really certain what he was telling me. he opened the door to the Abbey structure and I think He assumed I knew where to go and then I wondered , " does he know I want a room? Or did I jst give this abbey a donation?" .  I think he finally understood and walked me to a boring rectangular building lined with beds. This place was very dirty!!!!!! The sheets on the bed were blue and clearly were dirty, even the tables had not been cleaned off....and while I know this is a new season I was pretty convinced this filth was left over from before Winter. Surprisingly the bathroom was clean though.

I bring my own punk satin sheets....so I was OK , just not thrilled!

I was by myself....it was drizzling outside and thunder was overhead....it seemed slightly creepy to be in this " abbey" ( large garage like structure) by myself with such weather conditions and imagined a scene from Scooby Doo!

Right then the door opens up and in walks Sebastian, the 30-ish year old German who I briefly met the night before but noticed his huge smile as he instantly recognized me. he would have a new kid on the block with him...Benjamin from Belgium...similiar age to Sebastian. I was happy to see these guys!

I would walk back up to the bar with my phone...and in the three hours that it was to upload to clear space on my phone it uploaded a whole 14 pictures. Wish I understood this but it is very frustrating.

the boys would come join me for dinner here and we all agreed that we would attend Vespers, the nightly abbey service as we were invited and thought it best. We had about nine minutes to make it and ran in the rain thru town giggling at the thought of this.  Sabastian is Catholic and helped me with where we were in the hymn....Benjamin who thought we should go as we were invited made it clear he was not all into it....

We walked into a quiet chapel...it was neat to experience....I prayed for anyone , everyone and anything I could think of in those minutes and then in walks a formal two lines of monks....most barely able to walk a straight line, clearly all older...and my mind wondered in ten years will this exist? I have passed many vacant monasteries....what would keep this monastery alive with a population of monks this age?