Camino del Norte, 8.June.2024, Saturday

Comillas to St. Vincent de la Barquera, 8.7 miles

Today was an amazing day. First, the scheduled hike was only 7 miles which felt very doable (the different mileage reflects how much we walked in the town, getting to the hotel, lunch, etc.). Then, we were able to get an earliesh tea and coffee from our super nice front desk woman who also manned the bar (that’s where you get coffee) until the breakfast opened downstairs.

We left at 9, so civilized and not at all motivated to leave earlier.
The weather was cloudy, cool, but t-shirt weather most of the time with a bit of breeze.
The scenery was so engaging, I never turned on any books or music, just watched the scenery go by.
My back rallied and so did my energy!

So we had a great day, both of us marveling. We were on a beautiful avenue out of town and then made a right and were next to the ocean the rest of the time. Even when we couldn’t see it because of a hill between us and the water, we could hear it. Such a nice way to walk.

Ideal farm:

Rick and I watched curious to see what would unfold with these guys. It seemed like a lot of work and noise, but they must have been pleased once they got up. I realized when I rewatched it, that it does a nice job showing the ocean and the fishing village we’re walking to built into the hills. Gorgeous. Raining, misting, but raincoats were great and it stayed a perfect temperature.

Proud town sign, the bridge beyond is a stone bridge built in the 15th century on the site of another built of wood, then added to over the centuries. When it was built during the time of Carlos III, it was considered one of the largest bridges in the kingdom.

The town itself is up and down hills, a fishing town, with a giant castle and a giant church, both built in the 1300’s and added onto till the 1500’s. Both of which you could only see on Monday. Really? We tried because we were told at our usual late lunch that a wedding was happening at the cathedral at 5 and if we walked up, we should be able to see it. We saw the florist walk in and Rick and I went behind, Rick got a few feet in and saw the beginning of splendor before the wedding planner yelled that we weren’t supposed to be in there.

So, really, this giant Catholic Church has been turned into a wedding venue. Amazing. I tried to photograph both the castle and church, plus the town walls from the 1300’s, but hard to get a grasp.

Here’s the sign for it – just tempting people, really.

This is the door of the pilgrim. San Vicente de la Barquera was an important point of the Camino del Norte and had numerous hospitals and shelters for pilgrims, all within the city wall. Hikers on their way west, after leaving town would go through the wall by what is known as Door of the Pilgrim.

Pilgrim door on the left, church, and hospital on the right.

Here are some of the city walls outside the church:

Best I could get of the castle. Castillo del Rey. Built in 1210 (!) by Alfonso VIII, on top of an 8th century castle when King Alfonso 1 was the Asturian king.

This photo is from our hotel window and kind of shows how the town is built up into the hills, with the marina below. We’re on the next hill over from the castle and church. I’m sitting here, listening to the church bells celebrating the wedding and to sheep baaing, though I can’t see them. Probably in the hills just behind us.