The tenth day: Laredo to Noja

Hello, everyone.

Returning to the Camino series, on the tenth day we walked the length of Laredo to the beach at the very tip of the land and boarded the ferry across to Santoña.

This is the sign at the ferry landing. (Well, it's actually a section of beach and you walk across the sand, but it's the landing.)

The ride was pleasant and uneventful.

The other photo, below, is of a primrose that was growing in the sand along the way. It looks a lot like a similar primrose that grows at South Padre Island, Texas, but it may be a different species. It is still lovely!



After we arrived at Noja, we found a pension to stay at and loaded up our laundry for the walk across the small town to the laundromat. While we were there, the heavens opened and dumped down strong rain. There was also lightning and possibly even a bit of hail. All very exciting! Especially as we dashed back across town with newly dried laundry. We did duck into a bar to wait out the worst of it.

A quick little sewing post

Hello, everyone.

The monthly sewing club meeting is coming up and we're doing a fairly complicated project this time.

The prep work before the meeting involved both cutting and quilting.

This will be my first time working with Annie's Soft and Stable stabilizer. (From Amazon.com)

The plan is for the leaves to be the face fabric, the brown to be the straps, and the wood-grain blue to be the lining. (Fabrics from fabric.com, fusible fleece from the local JoAnn store.)

The pattern book has several very girly fabric choices for bags but the busy little prints just didn't appeal to me. Instead I am using a busy medium print in calmer colors.

Day 9: to Laredo

Hello, everyone.

Returning to the series of Camino 2018 posts, we revisit the ninth day of walking, from Castro Urdiales to Laredo.

This day was a lot of seaside walking along the bluffs. The weather continued cool. There was a fair amount of scenery. We did remember to take a few pictures.

The hills and bluffs seem to gather convection to themselves. There is a possible rain event building up on the mountain in the distance. We were walking in sunshine when the picture was taken.

By the time we arrived the the outskirts of the city the sunshine had been replaced by clouds.

 Laredo has a long beach.

There is a ferry ride here, not quite as short as the ferry in Pasajes but not long either.

We stayed with the Trinitarian sisters in their convent albergue. The alburgue had beds and warm blankets. They had evening Mass in the church. At the end of Mass the sisters gave all of the pilgrims paper stars to keep. They were very sweet.

Camino del Norte day 8: from Portugalete to Castro Urdiales

Hello, everyone.

As mentioned in the last post about the Camino, we rode the metro to Portugalete. This is basically getting to the edge of the city. Once there we found the trail, which follows a dedicated bicycle path. The path is controlled-access: periodically there will be an exit for a village or town. After that, we continued on.

The way down at Las Arenas. It was still pretty brisk on temperatures, especially for us Texans. There was a little bar and we had tortilla and coffee there. Then we continued on.

This part of the coast was a mining region at one time. The trail even went through an old mine tunnel!

The walking was fine, but I did manage to trip over a rock on that day and get a bit of "road rash" on one knee. It is important to pick the feet up!

At Castro Urdiales, the person who has a sello for your crdencial is the lady at the tourism office. We stayed in a pension room above a restaurant. We did walk around the old church-castle complex and saw nesting seagulls and flowers. The church wasn't open that afternoon. The castle had some art displays.

A little bit more about Bilbao

Hello, everyone.

We stayed a couple of days in Bilbao, just to rest and recuperate a little, and since there have already been some posts about the city, this will be brief.

En route from Larrabetzu, a kind lady invited me to borrow her restroom. This was entirely unexpected, but very gratefully received. She was a true Camino Angel for me. After that, feeling somewhat unsettled, we took the train into the city.

 This is a baptistry, the place in the church where people are baptized into the faith. The Easter candle is there, convenient for use during the rite. (I think I remember this as being in the Church of St. Nicholas.) There is a sculpture of the First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus being baptized in the river Jordan by His cousin St. John, in the niche behind the basin.

This is a very, very old tabernacle. It may be of white stone with bronze doors, but the people of that time beautified it with carvings.

This was my first time to eat the very traditional Spanish breakfast food called Pan con Tomate: toasted bread with fresh tomato (chopped or shredded) and olive oil. It was wonderful!

When we left Bilbao, we rode the metro over to Portugalete and began walking there.

A lovely bit of needlework

Hello, everyone.

Today, visiting with family, I saw some beautiful old needlework.

The stitches were done by hand and they are so even and small!

This is an old christening gown. The main embellishment is the several sections with diagonal tucks. They're separated by

embroidered strips. At the right, the front on the outside.

At the bottom, a closer look at the neckline. (Posting this from the tablet and missing the mouse buttons a lot right now!)

I am amazed at the beautiful work our ancestors did. They took such care to make the piece beautiful.