Today was another short walk from San Vicente to Unquera. 16km all up, which is what the guidebook suggested. Even though, as the crow flies, it was a measly 9km. As we headed west, the track led us inland to avoid the estuaries that sprinkled the coast. Most of the way, we walked on farm service roads, with an occasional shoulder to navigate on the main roads. Tarmac all the way.
We must have our backpacks packed by 8 am each morning for the courier to collect them. It was still dark when we were up at 7 am to get packed. It doesn’t get light till around 8 am here, so we were able to catch the sunrise. We stopped in a cafe for breakfast which consisted of bacon and eggs on toast washed down with black coffee. A good start to the day.
We headed directly south inland through luscious green farmland and small towns when heading out of town. It seemed like we were sometimes heading opposite where we wanted to go, with the track heading east at times.
We shared a track today with another Camino, the Camino of Saint Toribio de Liebana. This track ultimately headed south and met the Camino Frances in Leon. The Camino has distinct red arrows, whereas the Camino to Santiago has yellow arrows.
We came across a small cafe in a town we walked through. Some families were playing basketball in the church courtyard nearby as we sipped our coffees and shared a patata frittata which is potato and eggs. An excellent snack to tie us over and give us a break on the walk. Plenty of small sparrows flew nearby, asking for crumbs to be dropped so they could share in our meal too.
This is where we said goodbye to the other Camino we followed for a while.
Passing over an estuary with the main highway above, it wasn’t long before we saw signs pointing to our home for this evening, Unquera.
A walk by some train tracks led us into town.
We ended up being a little early for check-in to our hotel, so we opted to stop at a cafe and grab another snack. Ron had bits and bobs he wanted to buy from the local $2 shop, and then we could go to the hotel and settle in.
Tomorrow’s walk will be longer, with hopefully more scenic coastal views. The map for tomorrow looks promising as it heads back to the coast. 26km all up, which we haven’t done for a while, so it will be interesting to see how the feet and legs fair up. At least we are no longer carrying our heavy backpacks as the courier service is reliable and working well for us. Thank God!
For a map of today’s walk you’ll find it below.
Thanks for reading and Buen Camino. 🤓