Day 12 - Castro Urdiales to Laredo

Date: Wednesday June 26

Start: Castro Urdiales, Cantabria

End: Laredo, Cantabria

Daily Mileage: 19.6mi (31.5km)

Total Mileage: 143mi (230km)

Today was our longest hiking day (by distance) yet. Despite this, we did not get out of town particularly early this morning. It was around 9am when we were finishing up a breakfast of Spanish tortillas with chorizo, fresh squeezed orange juice, and coffee. 

Heading out of Castro Urdailes, it was a beautiful day. The skies were blue and the sun was shining, though not yet too hot. The Camino slowly routed us out of town, taking back streets and tunnels to walk us under a highway and slowly lead us to country roads. 

A women’s walking group was getting all geared up along the outskirts of town. Trekking poles at the ready, they seemed very chatty. Very energetic. As the cheer goes – FIRED UP (clap, clap), READY TO GO (clap, clap). For the next couple miles, we would see them off and on - hearing the click-clack of trekking poles behind us. 

After the first few miles, the Camino finally routed us along some natural trail along the coastline, which was a welcome change to the pavement. There had been a lot of pavement in the last couple days.

If there is one complaint I have on the Camino (beyond hostel etiquette), it would be the lack of public restrooms. A #1 is easy enough to resolve... it’s those pesky #2s. Generally speaking, we’ve not had any issues – we typically route through towns often enough that we can take care of any bathroom visits with a stop at a cafe (and we are fond of breaks anyway). 

But there are also times when we find ourselves outside of town, but not so far outside that there is anywhere to sneak into the woods. Walking along the outskirts of town or down country roads, most of the land appears to be private – homes with stone walls, farms, etc. Unless we are on a forested trail, it’s rare that we see anywhere that we could sneak into the woods. Often times even parks don’t have public restrooms. Mostly, you have to try and ignore it and hope it will ‘go away’ until you get to town. But it would be nice if there was a bathroom from time to time. 

Hiking into Islares

This morning, I was just getting to the point where I was in need of a baño as we walked down some small country roads after our jaunt along the coast. We were surrounded by field, pasture, and the occasional country home all along the road. No where to escape. No where to hide. Luckily, we weren’t far outside of the next town, because this #2 was not going to ‘go away’. 

And so, as we came into the town of Islares, we made a slight detour to an open cafe. Crisis averted. And, having found ourselves at a cafe, we may as well take a break. Since we’d eaten and caffeinated ourselves not all that long ago, we ordered agua con gas, and enjoyed our icy fizzy waters on the patio, where the women’s walking club had congregated, having diverged from our route at some point, only to reunite again here at the cafe. 

The day was growing quite warm and humid, and the fizzy water hit the spot. We had both woken up quite groggy and tired and set out a little later than we intended for our longer mileage day. It was no matter, really, but it would likely mean we’d be hiking later into the hot afternoon than we may have liked.

Despite knowing this, we weren’t in a huge hurry. It was over half an hour before we pulled ourselves away from the patio and continued on.

The next stretch included quite a bit of road walking along the N634 – mostly either along the shoulder or a small trail that ran along side of it. The first section was actually pretty nice, offering great views over the coastline and Playa de Oriñón, with a chiseled mountain background. Several surfers in the water were playing on very small rollers. 

Continuing past the beach, the walk along the highway wasn’t much to write home about. Soon enough, the Camino routed off the busy highway and took us through some backroads, eventually leading us along sidewalk and through the town of Rioseco, where we took the opportunity to fill our water bottles. 

I guess we’ll take our chances.

On the outskirts of Rioseco, the Camino walked through a drab industrial park before depositing us on a small dirt track that walked along a river through a park. This little jaunt was quite short though and, after crossing the river, it was time to climb. 

For the next mile or so, we would climb some fairly steep dirt roads. Back in Rioseco, as we had left the water spicket, we waved to a pilgrim who was coming up the road behind us. Too far away to chat with, but I figured we would eventually all unite and say hello. As we began the climbs along the dirt road, she was still just a short way back. 

Shawn hiked on faster than me on the steep roads. I kept up my steady pace, probably a bit faster than average, but not super fast. Not slow – though I felt slow. I kept hearing the woman’s footsteps crunching in the dirt behind me, though she never quite caught up. 

The climb was a bear – not only steep, but super humid. My shirts were soaked. I kept moving steadily. I always feel awkward about looking back when you know someone is behind you, because it looks like you’re checking to see how far away they are. Like you’re racing. And so, I kept my head up the road, slowly making my way forward. She sounded pretty close. We would meet soon enough.

Finally, as we crested one of the last ascents along the road, she walked up nearly alongside of me – but not quite. Just short of the point where it would be appropriate for us to exchange ‘holas’ or ‘buen Caminos’. Then – she stopped. Again, I felt a little strange looking back, so I didn’t. The incline had eased more now and I kept walking a normal pace to meet Shawn up the road. 

And we never saw her again. We never saw her coming up the road behind us again. We never saw her come through the next town, where we stopped to eat lunch at an outdoor table at a cafe in a plaza right along the route. It was kind of weird. Of course, she likely stopped for a break somewhere along the route behind us. She must have. I hope she’s not dead. I hope she was real.

For our part, we were hungry – anxious to get lunch in the next town – so kept plodding away. While the climb itself had been pretty boring, now that the incline had eased, the terrain opened up a bit to views of beautiful pastureland and forested mountainsides.

The Camino eventually left the gravel roads, descending along a paved road under a highway, and routing us along a small trail back to civilization. We popped out onto the pavement next to a home of flowers. Large flowering bushes and potted flowers formed a natural ‘fence’ around the house, the balconies and terraces off the home also  covered in potted flowers. As we passed the house, Shawn told the man in the driveway “Me gusto tu casa!”

And to dust you shall return.

As it would turn out, we would spend the next mile to Liendo walking by many beautiful homes – perfectly manicured lawns, flowers cascading down balconies and along highs stone walls. Wrought iron gates, arched doorways, sunny balconies. There was an occasional field of hay; a church left to be reclaimed by weed and forest – like a forgotten temple of Angkor Wat; but mostly the street we walked was lined in beautiful homes. The Beverly Hills of Cantabria. There was even a soaring palm tree from time to time. 

This walk of luxury homes brought us to Barrio Hazas (also called Liendo), where we made a sharp right at the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Liendo and headed for the shaded town plaza, where we planned to get lunch at a cafe.

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Liendo

The minute we stepped foot in the plaza, we heard her voice. It was Megan, from Virginia – the one who doles out ‘buen Caminos’ like they are going out of style. Walking up to the cafe, Julia and a new acquaintance (Emma), were sitting at a table outside. “Where’s Megan?” I asked, after exchanging hellos. I knew I had heard her. She was here somewhere.

As if on cue, Megan emerged from the cafe, beers in hand. “THE AMERICANS ARE HERE!” she bellowed. Please don’t do that.

We chatted briefly. The normal hiker fodder: what time we’d left town, stops we’d made, how far we were going, etc. She had left Castro Urdiales at 6am!! We were still deep in slumber at that time. Julia had taken a bus part of the way here. Not the worst idea. They were both staying at the albergue here in Liendo tonight, breaking their walk to Guemes up into three stages rather than two. Megan launched into the laundry situation at the hostel here – there was a washer AND detergent there that they could use for free. There was more information about the cleaning of clothes. She is really into laundry.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away from this riveting information to place lunch orders and get cold beverages of our own. As we waited, two other female hikers from the U.S. had arrived at the cafe. Megan told them about laundry as well. Everyone must know!

Eventually Emma left them, hiking on for the day. Megan and Julia slowly pulled themselves away from the cafe. Back to the hostel to do laundry! “Buen Camino!” Megan shouted to us. And then again to the other table of pilgrims. And then they were gone.

And then it was... kind of quiet. Some kids were having a water gun fight in front of a children’s school/daycare center at the corner of the plaza... though even that seemed relatively quiet. Locals were beginning to arrive for afternoon conversation, coffee, and cigarettes.

Finishing up our hamburgers and fizzy waters – we headed on. There were just under five miles left to Laredo. 

After a bit more time on a tour de beautiful homes, the Camino climbed into the mountains, weaving its way up a rocky trail past baby goats to some jaw dropping coastal scenery which was slowly being overtaken by misty clouds. 

The last good view before the clouds rolled in.

It was hot and humid and there was no sign of rain... the clouds seemed more like steam in the sky – humidity and water vapor and pure sauna. It almost looked like the cloudy haze would burn off or float away... but no such luck. It mostly obscured our beautiful views while providing no shade or relief from the heat. So useless.

The trail climbed a gravel road before turning onto rocky single-track trail once again, zigging and zagging through overgrown thistle and mud (mixed with a bit of cow poo, by the smell of it). I deftly avoided both ‘mud’ and thorn, weaving my way up the trail.

Mountains in the mist.

Unfortunately, while there were small stolen glimpses through the cloudy haze, it obscured much of our view over the coast. Still pretty in a way. We waited briefly to see if it would clear before beginning our descent into Laredo. 

Along the descent, views of Laredo and its long crescent white-sand beach came into view – Playa La Salvé. We descended into the east side of the city along steep concrete roadways that eventually leveled out, leading us along a stretch of homes with small fields and garden plots. As we neared the downtown, the density of buildings and homes increased. No more garden plots. 

Hazy view of Laredo & Playa La Salvé.

Entering Laredo’s old quarter, the Puebla Vieja – everything was completely silent. Every door was closed. Not a single person was in the street. There were no shops, no cafes, no bars. It is possible it was siesta time and things were just closed. It was possible that some of these streets contained only homes... but all was eerily quiet, even for siesta. 

After a long day, we didn’t care too much. We made our way to our hotel for the night, which had a contactless check-in that Shawn had already taken care of. After showering and relaxing for a bit, we made one more quick trip into the streets of Laredo. This time for the supermarket. 

Plaza de la Constitución

Walking through a bit of the old town and along some more modern streets with cafes that were open and busy, there wasn’t much that we saw that begged to be explored – which isn’t to say Laredo has nothing to see. I’m sure it does. But after a long day of walking, we were content to spend a lazy night in the hotel.

And now, we’re listening to the pitter patter of rain, with the occasional thunder and lightening, which will hopefully make for great sleep. And clear up before morning.