Today’s walk was surprising because it was probably the most picturesque we’ve done so far. We followed the coast from Unquera to our idyllic home for this evening, Llanes. A blow hole to treat us on the way too. We left Unquera as the sun was rising and headed straight up a hill to get the lungs off to an early start.
We hit the countryside pretty quickly as we left Unquera. The farmland started as soon as we walked up the hill out of town.
We passed through a few small towns as we walked today. We stopped at one for a long black coffee each and patata frittata to tie us over till we got to our destination for the evening. The sun was out with no breeze, so it got warm as we walked. Our hats were on for protection against the sun.
We followed the railway line most of the way today as well. A small gauge track and we only saw or heard a train once.
We crisscrossed the main highway a few times, heading along the coast. We’ve seen this highway since leaving Bilbao.
We hit the coast before long, and the path led us to the cliff’s edge, where we passed a fisherman with his rod cast down to the depths below.
We come across our first beach for the day, La Paz. A little cove with a camping ground and nothing else, no shop or surf school. If you’re there to camp, everything comes in with you.
The farmland we passed through was for cattle and grazing. The ground was pretty rocky in places where there was grass; there were cattle or sheep. Many bells sound today as the cattle all seem to wear a bell. We can’t quite work out why.
A little diversion for us was the blow holes along the way. This one was active, and a few other pilgrims were having lunch nearby. The sound of the waves and the power of the boom as the water surged up and blew up was terrific—an excellent little interlude for us.
It was at about the 20km mark we began to see signs pointing us towards Llanes, our home for this evening.
Llanes seems like a posh little town and the prices for a beer seem to reflect that. Ron and I a looking for a place to go and eat that doesn’t break the bank balance. The hotel we’re staying in seems quite lovely, but the restaurant it has seems a little over the top for a couple of pilgrims in shorts and t-shirts. We’ll venture into town and find something cheaper and more substantial.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow is a long walk of 30+ km. We’re looking at changing direction on our trek again and taking what they call the Primitive Way, which goes inland slightly and doesn’t have long walks as the coastal ones do. We may not have the time to do that, though. We’ll see.
Thanks for reading and Buen Camino. 😎
A map of today’s walk is below.
Kiama eat your heart out!