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Spanish and Cantabria Flag

IRUN - SANTANDER
Camino del Norte

Ondarra to Santullan

1st October 2022

A splendid breakfast watching surfers,
along an old cliff-top railway,
and inland into Cantabria

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We should have followed the signs!


We said good-bye to our AirBnB at Uribarri in Bilbao, and set of in the early morning by metro and bus to Ondarra beach. There, we sat in a tourist restaurant that had an amazing selection of tortilla and pastries, watching the early morning surfers through the picture windows. After our coffee and pastries we set off across the beach on a board walk and then up and along the cliffs on well prepared paths. Later, at a former mining village, we discovered that these had been railways to take iron ore to be processed and then sent on to England. We also found places where sea weed had been harvested and winched up the cliffs. From there, the path turned inland, and we were dissuaded from taking the official route by vociferous locals, who insisted it was much safer to take the main road. This wasn't very good advice, as we had to walk on the edge of the road or behind crash barriers, although the road wasn't very busy, and then when we got to a small village having a village fete, we had to walk 2km back to the hostel, Speaking to other pilgrims later, the official route was also on roads and considerable longer, but still safer and more pleasant. We think the locals were just fed up with having to avoid pilgrims on their local roads! We finally left the Basque country and crossed into Cantabria just before Castro Urudiales, and the ubiquitous Basque flag was now replaced by the Spanish and Cantabrian flags on official buildings. There was a gigantic open-cast mine on the mountain overlooking the village of Santullan, which was completely carved out in spiral workings, although this isn't obvious from the photos. The hostel itself was modern and welcoming, and we had showers and used the washing machine. Sue was even there at exactly the right time for mass at the church opposite. We met Graham, originally from near Glasgow but now living near Nice, and had ham and cheese omelettes at the local bar for evening meal.



Pilgrim stamps


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Location of photos

Our route



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