A week since I started walking in Santander, Spain, I find myself in Villaviciosa. I think I’ve probably been walking about 25 km per day but haven’t really kept track. The first days were hard since I got some significant blisters. They seem to have resolved now although my feet still ache by the end of each day. There’s also been a fair bit of rain–probably every day but two has had some rain and a couple had solid rain all day. But all that rain creates a beautiful green landscape!
I’m still figuring out the lodging situation. The best stays are in albergues–basically hostels for walkers. But a lot of them are closed this year so I’ve also stayed in pensions and hotels. It takes more time than I expected to figure out roughly where I want to get to each day and then find an albergue or cheap hotel at the appropriate distance.
The first day was basically walking out of the Santander suburbs. Then the subsequent days have alternated between rolling hills with farms, pastures, and orchards; and coastal forests and beaches with the occasional outpost of surfers. And then add in a few industrial zones along the highway (which I didn’t take many pictures of so you may get a slightly skewed impression of the pastoral nature of the route).
I’m taking pictures and everything with my phone so forgive me if any of these photos don’t look as good as they seem to on a small screen.
