Today was a relatively short day with some highway walking and some nice countryside walking. Arrived in Ribadesella shortly after 1:00pm, hotel unfortunately located far from restaurants of the old town. Room not ready so, hoofed it back and found some lunch. Somehow, even though it was a short day I got a solid blister bubble on the outside of my left heal, oh well, moleskin tomorrow. Always comes as a surprise, in my thousands of miles of walking I’ve only ever had one blister. Not sure why now! 23,000+ steps today.

I can highly recommend the Hotel Don Paco in Llanes is you are ever that way. Lovely breakfast this morning in what was an old chapel at one point. Off walking out of town shortly after 9:00am and caught up to by American couple. They, of course, turned out to be from Seattle, Queen Anne. So we walked together all day and stopped for a terrific lunch at a Sidreria that was on the way. Even though it was a mere 17km, it was about 4:00pm when I got to the hotel in Nueva. They took the bus to the next big town where I am headed tomorrow. Nice scenery today, lots of good surf. Nueva typical small town, but nice hotel with limited dining options around.

Urquena was a very small town, but by some miracle the pizzeria had GF pizza. I was so happy I ate a whole one! Walked around a bit and caught a spectacular sunset picture. Slept well and didn’t wake up until 6:00am, first time on the trip I wasn’t wide awake at 4:00am. After breakfast, decided to catch a bus to the halfway point of my scheduled day, that meant a 16km day instead of about 28km. That worked well and the scenery today was fabulous and included blowholes! Even though it was only 16km there was a lot of up and down and it was hot, so it felt like a very solid day. Llanes is a slightly bigger town with multiple restaurants.

Beautiful weather today and started walking out of Comillas in a relaxed way. Eventually ended up on the coastline weaving between various beaches, Absolutely beautiful and lots of up and down. This was more what I was picturing walking on the Norte, not endless suburbs. Still all on pavement but the gorgeous scenery made up for it. Had lunch and finally got some paella. One of the travails of traveling alone is that you never get paella or other dishes only available for two. In this case, it was the plat of the day, inexpensive and good. Hoped a bus the final few km to Urqena where I am in a very basic hotel. Not much going on and of course the best restaurant in town is closed on Monday nights!

Woke up this morning to monsoon level rain going on. A look at the forecast showed that rain was predicted all day. After some research on google, I found a bus that would take me to Comillas with possible drop off in the town before. Considering it was Sunday, this was a surprise, but it worked flawlessly. As we arrived in the town before it was still raining so I decided to stay on the bus the whole way. This turned out to be a good choice, checked into the hotel and then went and did the little tourist train around town, 20min, then found a hearty lunch. Turns out that Comillas is a pretty big town with some nice squares lots of old buildings and a beach. It has some very interesting Gaudi buildings, among the few outside of Catalonia. After walking down to the beach, I found a gate that Gaudi had designed and then went to the Capricho de Gaudi, Gaudi’s Caprice and interesting building built for someone who had made his riches in Cuba. Next door is a palace and so on. Quite a surprise for a town that I have never heard of.

So I want to write a little about an important travel skill that also is useful in life. I call it the “pivot.” When it was raining hard today, I just did not want to end up walking in the rain for 6 hours and being soaking wet. So the Pivot was to explore the options, which included a taxi or a bus or possibly another transport option. As it turned out the bus was great and, because I arrived in Comillas not having walked for 6 hours, I was able to go and explore the sites. This would not have happened if I had stuck to my original plans. I remember another pivot I made on my second camino outing, I arrived in Sahagun after 7 days of walking on the flat Meseta with a golf ball sized lump on my right calcaneus, Dr. Google said Calcaneal Bursitis. So, the choice was to stop walking rather than risk permanent injury. I was very disappointed at the time, but ended up taking the train to Seville, where it so happened that it was Easter week, the famed Semana Santa. Anyone who has been to this in Seville knows that it is remarkable! So, that was another pivot that worked out to be better than the original plan. The ability to pivot in travel, life, business and tango is critical!

Today ended up being a long, hot day. Projected walk was 18km but turned out to be substantially longer. The Palacio de Arce was lovely, simple rooms and a great kitchen, slept reasonably well, still adjusting to time zone. After a solid breakfast out the door slightly after 9:00am. Mostly not very attractive walking but a couple nice sections. The whole day on pavement. Got into Santanilla Del Mar just before 4:00pm, so that made for at least 6 hours of actual walking. This town is all cobblestones and apparently a big local tourist draw. I’m staying at the Parador. Paradors are restored historic buildings run as fancy hotels, a little old and creeky but very nice! After washing clothes in the sink and a nice shower it was out to check out the town a little. Because it is all cobblestones and tourist stores not that much to see. Hopefully tomorrow will be cooler. I have some serious chafing going on that makes things a touch uncomfortable! Invariably when you have these super long uncomfortable days, you start to think: whose idea was this anyway? Then you realize, a lot of things in your life are pretty much the same, self inflicted hassles that you didn’t say no to, or just chose to immerse yourself in! 29,000 steps.

Today was the first day of actual walking on this stage. As usual, a certain amount of reorganization takes place to try and make what I actually carry as light as possible. And, as usual, I am unsuccessful and end up carrying around 20 lbs in spite of having a suitcase transported. Walking out of big cities is never that great and today was pretty much solid pavement walking all day. First hour or so was just getting out of Santander, and glad I had an app to guide me as there was not much waymarking. Once out more in the countryside, still not great as often busy roads with no sidewalk etc. Did end up at nice roadside restaurant for lunch about half hour short of final destination, menu del Dia for 13 euros including wine! After lunch it turned out that the direct route to the hotel involved a substantial hill climb but fortunately of limited duration. Lovely old Palace type place, Palacio de Arce hotel, seems like a family enterprise with pleasant but sparse rooms and what appears to be a very active white table cloth restaurant. It’s now 4:30pm and people are still finishing lunch. Dinner is not served until 8:30pm at the earliest. As usual on the first day, a certain amount of soreness sets in, nothing can really train you for 4-5 hours of walking per day with heavy pack other than just doing it. Since this is something like my 10th trip like this, I am used to the idea that I will be sore for the first 3-4 days and then you get the second wind. 23,000 steps.

After a nice breakfast at Simona Coffee Club, it was off to the bus station for the 3+ hour ride to Santander. All went smoothly and then a quick walk to the hotel. Same hotel as I ended at last trip, so easy to find and to know where things are. Tomorrow starts the actual walking phase. Walked around and found a quick bite for late lunch and then checked out the funicular. Good view from the top. Had a lovely steak dinner at a covered market upscale food court type place.

I was very lucky to have a smooth train ride today. The day started at about 6:00am with intense croissant baking smells coming into my room. I hopped a bus to Gare Montparnasse and was lucky that my train left on time. Seat opposite me was empty so that made for a comfortable ride. About 4hrs later got off at Hendaye, the last town in France walked about 2 minutes to the Euskotren and then a 40 minute ride to San Sebastián. Bus to near the hotel. I’ve stayed at this one before, newer and comfortable on the edge of the old town. Rainy and humid here, but not too bad. Off to eat Pinxtos as no lunch happened. Did the usual rounds and had various small dishes. Delicious! This is a lovely place with excellent food and a nice beach, kind of nice with some mist!

A nice mellow day in Paris today, It warmed up very quickly to the mid 80s. I had some repositioning of gear to do, I keep my poles etc. in a storage place that we have for the fractional so decided to leave some things I won’t need while walking and get some other things out. After a fair amount of walking and excellent Burrata and Tomato salad for lunch. Then a regroup with a short nap, followed by an Apero on Ile St. Louis and an excellent Duck confit at the St. Regis cafe also on Ile St. Louis. Need to be at Montparnasse by 9:30am for train to Hendaye.