May 13th, 2017
Alburgue Juvenile de Sontona to Camping Derbi de Loredo
Km walked: 35
Km total: 263
Last night was was fine until someone banged on the top of our tent around 8:30. I opened the fly and a police officer stood in front of me.
“Espanol?” He asked.
“No. Ingles?”
“It is forbidden to camp here,” he said, sternly, with a pissed off look on his face.
“Why? The Alburgue worker said it was okay. I have his permission.”
“Wait a moment.”
He left the tent and went inside. It began to rain again and the last thing I wanted to do was pack this tent up and find another place to sleep. A few moments later he came back, this time with another police officer.
The new officer spoke, his English was better: “The worker made mistake and it is not allowed to camp here. But for one night we let you stay. You must go away in the morning. Understand?”
“Yes, sir. Gracias.”
The police officers turned and left and I closed back the rain fly. Carolyn and I looked at each other in the tent and laughed. We wondered why it was illegal to camp on the Alburgue’s lawn, and then made the connection that it was a municipal Alburgue, so it was city property and not private land.
We were happy that we hadn’t made the decision to stealth camp anywhere yet. I think it is fairly illegal in Spain to camp on public or private lands without permission. It’s not something I want to get wrapped up in while in another country.
The walking today was wet in the morning and dry in the afternoon. The rain didn’t stick around too long early on, as we ascended a bluff with a nice view of the ocean and beach near Sontona. We reached the next town Novajo and went to the supermarket, and on our way out of town, I turned a corner and was blasted in the retinas with a white wrinkly butt belonging to an old lady pilgrim. She clearly didn’t think anyone was behind her as she squatted to relieve herself by the side of the road in someone’s driveway, and she didn’t see me seeing her taking a whiz. I held back and walked the other direction to give her some privacy, and then continued on. It is one of those things that you cannot un-see once the image has branded itself into your brain. It was an unfortunate event- but life goes on.
The bulk of the day was spent road walking in the countryside, a rather boring and monotonous walk, with views of hay and cows and sheep, and the many pleasant smells that accompany these creatures.
The end of the day brought us back to the sea, towards some sweeping cliffs and a long beach tucked into a bay. We walked the bluff on the cliffs edge for about an hour and it was very nice. It pains me that the trail isn’t more like this section- it has a lot of potential to be way better than what it is.
I don’t know what happened to the majestic first 5 days. They were really great. It seems there is more and more road walking with each new day, and that, coupled with the Alburgues, and the always having to pay for camping because we can’t stand staying in them, makes me wonder why this trail is special to so many people. Perhaps it just isn’t such a great fit for what we want right now- woods, quiet, someplace to spend the days away from cities and cars and others.
We are at a campground tonight near Somo. We have to catch a ferry over to Santander tomorrow, a large city across a bay. Some guy decided it was as good a time as any to mow the grass where the tent sites are. Nothing like eating dinner while the mower and weed wacker blare into the evening, sending grass shavings and dust billowing into the air. Everything smells stuffy and of recently cut grass. Some guy at the site near us has jazz blaring- which is actually kind of nice. He has an old dog that sleeps near him and the guy is a drunk. He can’t walk well and asked me where his dog was when it was sitting right beside him.
He laughed and smiled when I pointed him out.
“Muchos Gracias!” He said. He continued to sit, and took a drag from his cigarette and listened to the sun. The Jazz ended and the Sesame Street theme song came on:
“Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?”
No directions are needed. We are already here.
