The Coastal Camino: Day 2

If the early Primitivo of 3 weeks ago was by far the toughest of the 6 or 7 caminos I've done todate, this stretch from Santillana del Mar to Comillas was almost certainly the prettiest. And it was done with an excellent companion who, unlike the Dutch Bastards, didn't abandon me the minute we got to a hill. To cap it all, the weather - being warm and slightly overcast - was perfect for walking. Other highlights included chatting to a lovely Colorado-based family over a terrific menú del día in Cobreces. And running into a cycling race and chatting to one of the stewards about it.

Until you get to Cobreces, this must be one of the wealthier rural areas of Spain, where the village houses are not only all pretty but beautifully kempt. It's rich pastoral country, redolent of Shropshire and, in its wealth, of Cheshire, my home county.

Rather a lot of fotos:

Leaving people-free Santialla del Mar at 9.15

Just a bit of the rolling hills after Santillana

And a couple of the villages in the folds of said hills:

A new development that might not be going begging:

A little friend: Llámame Fred. Geddit?

An enormous church above a small village.

First sight of the sea

 A duck island fit for an expenses-claiming Tory MP.

 More rolling hills:

A vast church erected by an indiano for himself and his relatives in a village composed almost entirely of houses he had built for his relatives and himself - from the wealth he'd gained in Peru.

The only bit of derelection we saw before the poorer town of Cobreces. An early 20th century addition to the village, now abandoned.

A rather magnificent albuergue in Cobreces:

A pretty church in Cobreces:

Almost next door, a Cistercian-built monastery, now housing 20 monks of the St Bernard order. And their dogs, presumably.

Finally . . . Proof of a claim that - despite a camino history of more than 1,000 years -  Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia can't agree on which way the traditional conch shell sign should point. In Galicia, it's one way; in Asturias it's the opposite way; and - as this foto shows - in Cantabria it can be either or both ways.

All the evidence you need of the Spanish 'localism' that so often gets in the way of sanity??