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June 20th
Castro Urdiales Laredo Guemes After the weather cooled last night we had a great night sleep in the tent, It rained but I did not wake up much only having to leave the tent once to go to the restroom inside the albergue. In the tent we actually had very conformable mattresses with enough space for our panniers and other items.
From Castro Urdiales we stayed on the Camino along the coast instead of taking the main highway. A few tough uphills and downhills where we had to walk the bikes because of the stones on the path, once we reached the beach we had to take a small boat to continue our passage which is part of the Camino to avoid a long ride of over 5k, We waited for the boat but in the meantime a fisherman entertained us by catching small squid. There were a few more walking pilgrims with us waiting for the crossing. We continued to stay on the Camino until we became too tired to push the bikes so we got on the road until we reached Guemes. While on the afternoon ride towards our albergue, we came across some cherry trees in a remote small town, I ended up jumping up on a stone fence and picking a few cherries, thinking of the time Jessica and I did the same on our Camino. |
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From the fence I was standing on enjoying cherries, we thought we were in town, but we were told by the locals we still had a couple of K's left and a little climbing to get to the albergue. I rode to the top thinking Carmen was right behind me, but looked back and she was as tired as I was. I decided to ride my bike down the hill to get her, she was still riding but very slow and tired.
We arrived at La Cabaña del Abuelo Pueto, by far the best Albergue I've come across. The albergue was started by a priest who had gone out to South America to teach religion but had many wonderful learning experiences in his travel. Most of his travel is documented in a mini-museum at the albergue. Carmen and I were the only pilgrims on bikes of the 30+ people there for the night. We had a dorm to ourselves and enjoyed our privacy, able to hang our stuff to dry out after the shower.
Now rested we went up to the Library for some wifi, I fell asleep in the sofa for a while. We walked the grounds and were very impressed by what they have done in the past 18 years. Many of the workers are pilgrims who choose to do extended stays. They are people who need time away from other things in their lives. At 7 pm Father Ernesto gave a talk about his journey , from were he started as a father to his travels and the albergue. After he spoke to the group, I asked him how he had funded his travels, his answer was " we had the desire, we were young, it was what we wanted to do. We would work wherever we were at, , then we moved on to another place. After his talk we had a communal dinner with other pilgrims of Paella and all the wine you could drink, this time we sat with some French women , but we managed to talk a little.
The albergue was a donativo, we left 10€ each in the morning after breakfast of the usual bread , butter, jellies and some fruit.
We arrived at La Cabaña del Abuelo Pueto, by far the best Albergue I've come across. The albergue was started by a priest who had gone out to South America to teach religion but had many wonderful learning experiences in his travel. Most of his travel is documented in a mini-museum at the albergue. Carmen and I were the only pilgrims on bikes of the 30+ people there for the night. We had a dorm to ourselves and enjoyed our privacy, able to hang our stuff to dry out after the shower.
Now rested we went up to the Library for some wifi, I fell asleep in the sofa for a while. We walked the grounds and were very impressed by what they have done in the past 18 years. Many of the workers are pilgrims who choose to do extended stays. They are people who need time away from other things in their lives. At 7 pm Father Ernesto gave a talk about his journey , from were he started as a father to his travels and the albergue. After he spoke to the group, I asked him how he had funded his travels, his answer was " we had the desire, we were young, it was what we wanted to do. We would work wherever we were at, , then we moved on to another place. After his talk we had a communal dinner with other pilgrims of Paella and all the wine you could drink, this time we sat with some French women , but we managed to talk a little.
The albergue was a donativo, we left 10€ each in the morning after breakfast of the usual bread , butter, jellies and some fruit.
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Carmen -