The Road from Santiago

  We are pottering along at 91m but will be a mere two by the day’s end.   We are heading for San Vicente de la Barquera. It is one of those places, on a hostile coast, which provided a safer shelter.  As a consequence it got a castle. The place did the usual having Bronze Age chaps loafing about. The Romans made a small port.  It really got going when Alfonso I sent peoples to populate it in the 8th century. The castle was built, the town followed.  Things really got going in 1210 when Alfonso VIII gave the place a charter.  It got the same privileges as San Sebastian. Castro Urdiales, Santander and Laredo.  Along with Laredo, it has not prospered as much.  Fate was not kind.  From the mid 15th century, fires and plagues did not help.  When Charles I visited the town a bullfight was held in his honour.  He fell it at it and had to spend the night at the Convent of San Luis.  The town has a website.  https://aytosanvicente...

Once I thought about writing a book about Spain.  Well, about me and how I found Spain- apparently you just go south from Greenwich and you end up on the Zaragoza road.  One bit was going to be about Northern Iberia and how each area does it. The Galacians are a long way away and will gently acknowledge being Spanish.  The Asturians could claim to be Spanish, and everything else is a post 718 add on.  The Basques aren’t.  Cantabria is reckoned to be the most Castillian of the northern realms.  Maybe it is easiest to get to.  Probably the existence of that great natural port, Santander, meant it attracted more than a glance from Madrid. We are going up 80m today.  En route we are passing the Cafeteria Royal III [La Casa Azul]    https://www.corbatasroyal.com/   They sell things, cook things and will put you up.  A Waffle carousel will set you back 22 euros.  The intriguingly translated Almond sighs are 8.50.  Two days ...

  It almost feels like  we are crossing a no man’s land today.  We are passing between two estuaries as we make progress through Cantabria.   An extension of the town of Unquera exists because of the road and along its edge are petrol stations, supermarkets and other commercial undertakings.  The Restaurante La Corbata is open till 11.  https://restauranteslacorbata.com/contacto/   I have put on today’s menu.  The arroz caldoso marinero looks interesting.  A week ago Pablo wrote ‘ Restaurant with a menu worthy of the best a la carte restaurants. Menu of approximately 15 euros that has 5 starters, 5 seconds, 5 desserts to choose from. Quality raw materials used in all dishes, and abundant. It will not leave you unsatisfied. I recommend sticky rice, lentils, pork entrecote with pepper and cheesecake. Lupa has a supermarket here.  There is something about supermarkets.  They do not garner love.  Lupa gets 3.9starts on average....

  A shorter walk today,. It seemed appropriate.  The road we are walking along is the National Road.  Alongside it is the A-8. We first arrived in Asturias when the A-8 was being built.  It was a landscape of new piles of earth and huge trucks.  We will pass Colombres. It has 1300 inhabitants and, in 2015,was declared an Exemplary Town of the Principality of Asturias.  The King and Queen turned up to award it.  If we had wished it, we could have nipped out to the 1852 lighthouse. On the border is the village of Bustio.  It has a wiki page but very little else. Now, to the River Deva.  We've got time. Let's get up close and personal with this geographical feature,  The Deva River was named by the Cantabrians in honour of their goddess mater Deva . I can find nothing else about her than the river is named after her.  Imagine her as a silvery green nymph looking meaningfully out of a limpid pool.  Go on, you know you want to. The ...

  Off we go.  We are approaching La Franca.  To be honest The Playa gets more attention than the village.  Wiki says it has fine grain white and moderate waves.  The place seems to have a place where people landed goods to avoid paying tax in Llanes.  In the 19th century the returning South American settlers financed a resort.   We can see the beach while we pass.  It gets 4.7 stars from over 2000 reviews.   Six days ago Kat says ‘It is a place to go to rest and relax, the weekend we went was rainy however we enjoyed it after escaping the hot summer of the city. There is a hotel and a camp to stay very close to the beach. As well as a couple of restaurants and a supermarket.’ In the river valley is the Camping Playa de la Franca Bungalows.   https://playadelafranca.com/   Six days ago Carolina said ‘Unbeatable location, Abdul in the cafeteria-restaurant, a crack!!!!!. The workers, super willing. What surprised me the most, like the ...

  We are walking, again, on that narrow strip of land between sea and mountain.  Enjoy it.  It isn’t raining in the pictures.  The forecast for today - and the next three days ,suggests about 50% chance of rain.   As we approach the N-632 we will pass La Casa en el Camino.  https://lacasaenelcamino.com/ Check in time is 3 and check out, 11.  Generally people seem happy in what they got - from a one star hotel.  Civilin, a year ago, was less so ‘The house is quite good. The rooms are not excessively large but the beds are comfortable and the bathrooms are very new. There are common areas. The breakfast they offer for adults seems expensive for what they offer: industrial buns and bread with butter and jam.’ The Restaurante El Paso de Buelna is next on our list.  Over 1000 people have given it 4.6 stars.   Fababda tops the references in the Google Research and turbot comes second.   Yesterday Francisco wrote ‘Highly recommended....