Camino flowers

Hello, everyone.

Life on Ye Olde Homestead has been very busy and it's been hard to find time to make a post. Today, while the next one in the series covers the walk between Comillas and the next place we stayed, i can't remember the name. There were few pictures that day, also, just one of water in the nature preserve and a few flowers. I think this was the night with the huge shelter with bunks that didn't have ladders, and the "blankets" were part and parcel of the mattresses, with a zipper to open to get under them.

True geraniums, which are different from the potted "geraniums" we find at the garden center.

The nature center. The water with its colorations almost reminded me of the swamps in Mordor with the ghosts in the water, from the third volume of Lord of the Rings. (It wasn't scary but the way the water was so still with opaque bands and splotches had that kind of effect.)

Even though much of the day was not memorable, or maybe we were too tired to take a lot of pictures, there were still some things to observe and think upon while walking.

From Santillana del Mar to Comillas

Hello, everyone. The last post talked a little about the thirteenth day of walking. Today's post will go on from there--is it the fourteenth day of walking if it begins two mornings after arriving in Santillana? I can't remember any more if I counted days when we rested in Bilbao.

First, a picture of the little map the ladies at the Turismo gave us.

The top right is where the Camino path enters the village on a tiny road. The village is a very popular spot to visit, and especially on weekends and holidays many local folks drive over to visit the picturesque village and also the museum about Altamira Cavern.

When we walked on, we returned to a more coastal area. We also entered the area that many people had emigrated to Latin America from, and some of them made their fortunes there and then returned to their home towns and villages. They were nicknamed Indianos after they returned, all of this being in the late 19th century I believe, and they had a distinctive style of building.

This church showed two of the very common marks of the Indiano building style: the painted walls of the building, with the gingerbread accents, and the palm tree. It is said that the Indianos, when they returned to their homes, planted palms to remember their years in the Americas. Regarding the paint, most of the Indiano painted buildings that we saw had brighter paint colors than this. Red-orange was popular.

 In Ruiloba, we saw another style of very painted building. These folks have painted murals on both of the street facing sides of their place.

At the end of the day, waiting on the front patio--or sidewalk--of the Comillas old jail for the hospitalera to return and open for pilgrims, we saw some people working (painting? cleaning?) on an old house. I want to call it an old Victorian type house. They have brought in the power lift and the men on the basket are probably 40 or 50 feet up. The sight reminded us of the time we rented the Genie TZ50 for house painting of our own.

From Santander to Santillana del Mar, the village of the three lies

Hello, everyone. It's been a long time since the last post. Things are very busy around the homestead right now. Posting may continue to be "gappy."

The train station at Boo de Pielagos--no actual "station" just a
stop where people get on and off the train. 

The day after we arrived in Santander, we walked to Santillana del Mar. This was a long day's walk.


And after we crossed the river on the short train ride, we walked through what seemed like an endless series of tiny villages. When we finally got to Santillana, we didn't know we were there until we saw the information map posted at the outskirts of the village. Fortunately, we encountered the very friendly man who has the "milk bar" and he gave us a lovely recommendation for a place to stay. He also gave us a ride out to the museum of the famous cave with the ancient paintings.

A church we saw while walking that day.

The entrance to the museum.

We made a rest day in Santillana and enjoyed this small town a lot. If you are there, don't forget to look up the sisters in their convent, who sell pastries. They also have an albergue there, I think.

The Oficina del Turismo is close to the convent. They have maps of the village and give directions how to find the Camino route when walking on.

The twelfth day of walking: to Santander

Hello, everyone.

Returning to the series about the Camino del Norte in 2018:

We got up and were given (European-style) breakfast before departing from Guemes. The coffee was hot, there were tea bags for those of us who don't start with caffeine first thing in the morning anymore, and there was bread. There was probably butter and jelly as well, but I don't remember.

Some of the paths of the Norte route go alongside steep cliffs. It's important to remember that nature doesn't come with grab rails.

This was our third ferry ride of the pilgrimage. It was a little bit longer than the other two. We passed a cruise ship in the harbor at Santander. When we got to the church there, we found the cruise ship tourists. They were crowded into long lines, gabbing away inside the church, and generally acting like they were there to see a side show act. 😞The Tabernacle was there and they all acted like they were out in the public street. The lines led to the reliquaries of San Celedonio and San Emeterio, the patron saints of the diocese.

We stayed in the albergue there. There is a washer but I don't remember a dryer. There are clotheslines outside the window of the dormitory...two stories up, reached by opening the window and reaching out to pin the clothes onto them...but hey, a bunk in a dorm beats no bed at all.  And the sleeping was fine. Pilgrims give thanks for what we receive.

Followup to that brief sewing post

Hello, everyone.

The sewing club project for September is done! It was quite an undertaking, and it introduced me to some new materials and tools.

This is the partly-done bag:

The front side pocket and the back side sleeve are done, and the handles. The zipper is in place and so are the little tabs at its ends. What remained at this point was the addition of the two end panels, each of which has a pocket.


And this is the finished item:

As y'all can see, it takes up most of the seat of my computer chair. I'm not sure if it's qualified for carry-on or not! One of these days I'll probably drag it down to the airport and try it on for size in the bin.

The eleventh day: to Guemes

Hello, everyone.

We got up early and walked out of Noja when the sun was just up--our favorite time to depart. We walked along a series of quiet country roads. Some had red anti-slip paint on one side for walkers like us. Some didn't.

We made a moderate day's walk and arrived at Güemes around lunch time. Father Enrique runs the famous albergue there, which is in his old family home. When we walked up to the door, the hospitaleros immediately told us to come in and sit down for lunch. (Well, immediately after putting down packs and sticks of course.) They fed us wonderfully warm and tasty lentil-and-sausage soup. The weather stayed clammy and cloudy and moved on to rain after a while, but we were in for the night and it didn't bother us.

The picture is from the Ermita de San Julian, a sort of museum of pilgrimage and pilgrims in what appears to be a former chapel.