Stages 8 & 9: Castro Urdailes - Laredo - San Miguel de Meruelo, 50 kms, Hot & Sunny, 28 kms

Highs & Lows

There you go Dad, the first sunrise taken at Castro Urdailes a couple of days ago. We had no wifi, so no blog yesterday and instead we went to the beach for a long walk in the surf and along the sand. Very nice.

Yesterday morning we set off quite early as it was to a be a toasty day. A bull ring on our way out of town. Still operating in spite of world wide condemnation, but hard to change traditions. I understand, but don’t necessarily agree. Hard on the bulls and even the matadors. 

Ken, the cats began appearing in some numbers as we progressed. Thought of you and wished you were here with us. 

Some really nice signage in the small village of Cerdigo. Ceramic shells with an arrow.

We found our way back out to the coast for a time which was really nice. 

Such an amazing weather change.

Wonderful beaches with long strands everywhere!

I’d noticed Annemarie didn’t seem to have much energy yesterday and when questioned it turned out that her knee was hurting. The same knee as in 2013, but on the outer left side, a new area. So we pulled off at the first bar I could find and by then she was in real pain. So I asked about a bus, any bus, and was told that there would be one at 11:53. Perfect. Time for a little food and a cold drink. I asked where the bus stopped and was shown on a map, but when we arrived there wasn’t a stop there. We hurried back only to see the bus coming in from another direction at the three way corner. Darn! Missed it.  Pearly a communication issue. I asked a fellow with a VW Van for help, explaining Annemarie’s injury and he told me he was heading to Laredo shortly and that he would be happy to drop us off. He was waiting at the cross roads for his nephew to be dropped off. We waited a while and then along came the hand off, and we were away. He kindly dropped us at the Laredo Emergency (though we had no thoughts of a hospital) and soon we were transferring room to room with forms to be filled out. Then back to the waiting room with the other unfortunates. Eventually our name was called and we went in to meet a doctor, two nurses and a surgeon who spoke some English. There were so many attendants that I suggested we must be making a guest appearance on Grey’s Anatomy where even all the doctors meet ambulances at the door! They questioned us closely then made what seemed to be a thoughtful examination of the appendage in question. Fete some discussions in Spanish the surgeon reported that everything was structurally sound in the knee. He also check on Annemarie’s arm and while agreeing my patch work was ‘adequate’, he still proceeded to ensure that a nurse applied multiple levels of antiseptic and a clean bandage that ran the length of her forearm. She was looking pretty sweet when they finished with her! All buffed up and ready for a cerveza! I took a photo during the action, with doctor’s blessing of course. Prognosis, a few shorter days and pain killers and all should be fine. 

There were literally thousands on the beach yesterday! 

We walked and walk with the cold Atlantic waters soothing our tired feet. The beach is 5 kms long and it was plenty busy at 4 pm.

Last night we found a good meal and then eventually a bar where we could watch the Champions League final. Frankly, it was a rather dull game, and the Spanish weren’t at all interested in watching. Usually in the bars here when there is a top game on, everyone is involved, but this time with two British teams playing, no one cared and I had to look in at least 10 bars before I found the game on. Oh well, a shout out to my friends who are Liverpool fans, particularly Ariel who has been inviting me over to watch games through the CL run up. Hope you enjoyed your evening. I think I hear you screaming all the way over here!! 

As I write this Annemarie is uncharacteristically behaving herself and icing her knee! I’m in big trouble when she reads this! I’m drinking a cold beer as we chill in a small bar in San Miguel on a Sunday. You know. One of those small Spanish villages that shut down in the afternoon. A great time to write.

Finding a bed last night in Laredo was something of a challenge as the annual marathon was underway this weekend and kicked off this morning. There were runner types all over the place and they had booked up the town well in advance. We found a bed opposite the monasterio in a simple pension that provided us with a nice pilgrim rate. The ladies running the place were very kind to us. We were unsure if we would find breakfast this morning, being Sunday, but the marathon encouraged the operators to open their bars early which benefitted us. A good breakfast on board and we were on our way to walk out the 5 km stand along the beach.

Too much beach time!

The walk today was very simple, mostly boring as we stayed away from the headlands to let Annemarie’s knee heal. Lots of tourists at the beaches and many locals. The one interesting thing that happened today was the transfer across from the end of the sand spit to the next town to continue our walk. The bandwidth on the wifi today, Sunday is very poor. So I’ll upload one more photo and post this. 

Can you see what this is? Carol, a new gardening idea!