Camino del Norte Day 14 Güemes to Santander

Today was a short day, much -needed after our long day yesterday. There are several options to get to Somo, where the ferry takes us to Santander. Dave took the coastal route, with amazing cliff and sea views. I took the road route, which was a bike lane along a two-lane road. We met at the ferry station in Somo and took the 30-min journey to Santander.

We went to the albergue, which was open and the hospitalera invited us to leave our bags and come back at opening time (wait! I thought that was hopelessly against the rules!) 🙂 We were so hungry, so we stopped by a grocery store and had a picnic in front of the cathedral. After checking into the albergue, we walked around town, visiting the cathedral and the port, and had a very filling dinner of pizza.

The Santander albergue was extremely crowded, with 38 beds all in one room with little ventilation. There is also no common space, just a large dorm and two toilets/showers. The worst part we discovered at lights out time, when everyone crawled into their beds, that these are the world’s creakiest beds. Every movement elicits a loud creak. Dave was also placed next to rather loud snorer so he got almost no sleep. If you’re planning to stay in Santander, I recommend finding a private room! The hospitalero was very kind, and the facilities were in good shape, but would be more adequate to 20 people rather than almost twice that.

We’re taking a rest day tomorrow! Well, Dave gets a full rest day, while I go back to Laredo and walk the ‘inland route.’ This is a route to Güemes that can be used when the ferry between Laredo and Santoña is not running in winter. The coastal route was so nice that I can’t imagine who would choose to walk inland, but we need the GPS track to at least show the option and amenities in the book.