Day 21 - Santander Shopping Spree
Date: Friday July 5
Start: Unquera, Cantabria
End: Santander, Cantabria
Daily Mileage: NA
Total Mileage: ~231mi (~371.8km)
After yesterday’s backpack barbecue at the laundromat, today we had to make a little field trip to find some new packs and a couple other replacements for things we’d melted.
As an aside to yesterday’s tale of destruction, I should have mentioned that there was no damage to the dryer. No mess even. Everything that melted simply stuck to other things we had in the dryer. Thankfully we realized what was happening fairly early and stopped the dryer or we might have burned the place to the ground.
Anyway, back to our day. Last night we decided the best course of action would be to take the train back to Santander, the nearest big city, which had plenty of outdoor and sporting goods stores where we would hopefully be able to pick up the gear we needed.
Since the first train to Santander didn’t leave until 11:30am, we were able to sleep in. So that was nice, at least. After eating a simple breakfast at the hotel, we grabbed our things - which now resided in reusable grocery bags - and head over to the train station.
Just waiting for the train with our grocery bags.
Not long before said train was supposed to arrive, a woman approached and told us, along with the few others on the platform, the train wasn’t coming today. Of course it isn’t. Why would it be easy? There would be a bus arriving in about 15 minutes instead. Whatever, as long as it goes to Santander.
We were originally under the impression that said bus was, in fact, going all the way to Santander. Especially when the driver of Autobuses Juan asked where we were heading, and after telling him Santander, he replied with the affirmative “bale”, which is kind of a catch all for yes/good/perfect/clear/of course, and the like.
After a couple stops to pick up/drop off people at other train stations, we found out that we too were getting off the bus, well before Santander. It was back to the train! Apparently there was just an issue with service at a few stations. At any rate, we were onto a train and off to Santander.
Shawn helping a Camino biker fix his chain. The man had ridden the Camino Frances to Santiago and was now doing the Camino del Norte back to Bilbao.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and just before 1:45p, we were at Santander’s downtown train station. Less than a two hour trip for ground we’d taken about three days to cover walking, by the way. And it would have been even quicker without the bus/train changes. The Camino route had been far superior, at least.
Our first stop was hotel check-in, to drop our grocery bags of things. We weren’t sure how long it would take to find the stuff we needed, so it seemed like the safest bet to give ourselves the rest of the day and just stay in Santander for the night.
Running errands on the outskirts of Santander.
The rest of the day involved a lot of running around. While Santander had a decent selection of shops, they weren’t all centrally located, so the day included two different train trips out to the suburbs. The first to buy packs, the second for me to return mine after I found one that I liked much better at a later shop. All in all, we walked all over the central/Puertochico area in Santander, as well as our far flung trips to the outskirts of the city.
After our last trip out to the ‘burbs, as we waited for the train back into the city, we could hear the shouts and screams of people in surrounding apartment buildings as they watched the exciting finish of the Spain-Germany Euro 24 game. From each window, we could hear various announcers, cheering, and wailing. We were living vicariously through the excitement while we checked the score online. In the end, Spain won 2-1! And our train never came, so we got a Cabify. Lolz.
Just waiting for a train that isn’t coming. Actually a few flew by, but none stopped.
After a long day of walking around, fueled by only a small breakfast and a snack sized ham sandwich, we were hungry. As much as we love the Spanish fare, we went with Italian for tonight. Shawn enjoyed a nice pizza diavola (maybe the only thing with some spice to it since we’ve entered Spain), while I had a delicious risotto. All carbed up, we’re ready to walk again! Bellies full, we were also ready for bed.
It should also be applauded that this was the first time that we were actually eating during Spain’s acceptable dinner hours (almost). When we arrived to the restaurant around 8:45pm, it was completely empty. “Tengo reserva?”, the host asked. Do you have a reservation? Ummm, no. Do we need one, we thought. The restaurant was empty. Around 9:15-9:30p, as we were finishing our meal, all the other diners began arriving, the place quickly filling up. So we were a little early, but near dinner hour nonetheless. I doubt we’ll eat this late again.
We didn’t replace everything we lost, but picked up the most important things for now: backpacks, some stuff sacks, toiletry bags, and a warm/fleece layer for each of us. We may pick up a few other things along the Camino, but we have what we really need for now.
I think we ended up walking about as much as we have on some of our Camino days, so it wasn’t exactly a day off, but at least we’re ready to move forward.
Tomorrow we have an early bus back to Unquera and then we’ll be on our way again.