ocean Archives - Cruisin with the Colemans

Camino del Norte | Güemes to Comillas | Days 10-13

Posted on June 25, 2024 by CruisinColemans

I wanted to write a blog but decided to take a nap. Seriously, I can’t seem to get enough sleep lately. My body is trying to adjust but this Camino is tough on all my parts.

Today was lucky day 13 on the Camino and it’s my first day in awhile without a nap. However, it could be because of the circumstances. We’ve been quite spoiled on this Camino. Heck, I’ve been spoiled on all Camino’s thus far because I’ve never slept on a top bunk. Six Camino’s and no top bunks. I hate top bunks. I despise them. They require upper body strength I don’t have anymore. Let’s be serious, I probably never had it. And in the middle of the night I pray I don’t have to use the bathroom.

Let me back up a bit. I know we haven’t had a “true” Camino experience thus far because we’ve been in private rooms the entire time with only two communal meals. We’ve enjoyed many private rooms over our many Camino’s. I have no shame in that because as a couple I quite enjoy sleeping next to my husband. Yep, I said it. Even when we’re laying near each other in our separate twin beds, which is typical. I enjoy the little bedtime conversations we have before we drift off. I enjoy our luggage spread out all over the room. I don’t care who knows it, I love sleeping with my husband. 😆❤️ I know his habits and have learned to tolerate them. But this guy in the lower bunk across from me is super annoying right now.

I long for communal dinners. I love conversations over a meal with other pilgrims. I don’t need to share a room with them. At this very moment as I lay on my top bunk, I’m listening to several people rustle in their beds, a few still coming in and out of the bathroom, one person stinks of cigarettes, another person just stinks, the person below me has her light on, and another person is touching every loud piece of equipment they brought with them. I’ve usually napped by now and am asleep for the night by 10 p.m. Currently, it’s 11:05 p.m. and several people still have their lights on. I am, by the way, laying in bed in the dark with only the light of my phone to write this blog. I miss discussing this chaos with my hubby.

It’s honestly hurt our Camino to not have communal dinners because we haven’t bonded with anyone until last night. But, in our defense, there have been so many tourist cities it’s been super easy to just stay in a private room. Also, I look for communal dinners and the opportunities have been limited.

Having fun with our new Aussie friends at the Gaudi Castle in Comillas

But, alas, our pilgrim family is beginning to form. We have a pilgrim daughter from Alaska, Sophia. Brian taught her to thread her blisters tonight. She is so happy with how her feet feel! We have friends from the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, and France.

Last night we had an outstanding communal dinner at Albergue El Convento in Santillana Del Mar. We enjoyed wine in their gardens, a sharing time with other pilgrims, and a communal dinner. The rooms were 2 beds each so Brian and I had a private room. Fortunately Brian took the top bunk. He loves me. We had an outstanding communal breakfast. I slept like a baby. I don’t care about shared bathrooms. I just hate sharing a room and despise top bunks, if that’s not clear yet.

Tonight’s albergue is this shared room, photo above. It’s stuffy in here because the doors are closed, the fan is off, the A/C isn’t running, and there’s no air flow in the room. The curtains are nice but they don’t help the air flow.

The plus side for tonight has nothing to do with the lodging but rather the company. Because we enjoyed a communal dinner last night, we made friends with another couple and we went to dinner with them. It just takes one good communal dinner to make relationships. Besides growing closer together as a couple, we walk Camino’s for the relationships.

I want to tell you about the epic scenery we’ve been experiencing for the last few days but I’ve been talking long enough. Please follow our YouTube channel for breathtaking footage of our walk. Words and photos don’t do it justice but we try. This route is simply stunning.

Cows and the ocean. It doesn’t get much better

I have to get some sleep now. There’s already one terrible snorer and it’s not Brian. If I was alone in a room with Brian I would just call his name and tell him to roll over. It would work and I would get some sleep. But this guy is a stranger so I don’t think it’s a good move to smack him.

This is my last top bunk for any Camino. I can guarantee that for sure. Sorry, but in the future I’m going to do my best to quietly sleep next to my husband. ❤️ Thanks for reading today’s rant. It helped to vent.

Update: I didn’t sleep well and I am looking forward to today’s nap.

Camino del Norte |La Arena to Santoña | Days 8-9

Posted on June 20, 2024 by CruisinColemans

The days have been gorgeous but the mountains all around us are daunting. Every day I have to mentally gear up for the hills.

The contrast of the mountains and the sea

A German pilgrim said it best, “I love to climb mountains. But when I go up, I want to go down. I don’t want to go up and down multiple times in a day.” The climbs are no joke. And I agree with her. I’m fine to climb one mountain (or huge hill), but we climb 2, 3, 4, and even more in a day, every day.

The beautiful flowers that surrounded the doorway to a home

The funny part is I knew this is what it was going to be like. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I just keep going back to the fact that we’re from the flat lands of Ohio. However, we’re not the only ones feeling this pain.

The views are amazing! I knew they would be great. My legs are sore but they will look fabulous by Santiago (as fabulous as they will ever look for a girl with cellulite issues). If we meet in person, please ask me to flex my calf muscles, it will make me smile.

The villages are great. There is something very special about Spanish villages. I love days like yesterday and today where we wandered through several of them in a day.

The bigger cities that we stay in make it harder to meet pilgrims. We’ve only stayed in one albergue with a communal dinner. Part of that is us, we’ve been leaning more toward private rooms. But part of that is the Camino and the limitations of who will accept our reservation and luggage service.

We have not seen one pilgrim menu. A pilgrim menu is something we would have daily on the Camino Frances. Even finding stamps for our credential is difficult. This is quite surprising to us. We were in a church yesterday and they didn’t even have a stamp. That was shocking. It’s a different Camino but we knew it would be so it’s ok. But these are my observations for today.

Camino del Norte | Deba to Markina-Xemein to Gernika | Days 4-5

Posted on June 14, 2024 by CruisinColemans

What started out as a good day, took a rough turn, but ended up being our best evening thus far!! Oh, this Camino del Norte, she remains a painstaking, action packed adventure.

It started with a late breakfast which always stresses me out because that means we finish our walk later. We stayed at this Casa Rural that I thought would be pilgrim friendly but the prices were high and they didn’t start serving breakfast until 8:30 a.m. Most pilgrims like to be walking by 7-8 a.m., depending on the weather, sometimes earlier if it’s going to be really hot.

The climb wasn’t too bad before our first stop for a snack but then we made the mistake of looking at Google maps. Our map did save us time, meters of climbing, and mileage but there was a cost. We had to walk through a closed fence that, fortunately, wasn’t locked and then we had to climb through some barbed wire. It felt like we walked through a private compound. There were at least 6 vicious-sounding dogs, thankfully they were chained up. Then there were, we will call them, deer blinds but some could call them guard towers. Fortunately nobody was around but we were thrilled to get the heck out of there!! But no, we weren’t about to turn back and climb down the hill only to climb up a different, bigger hill! Plus, if you know me at all, I have been told I can be intense. So, we were fine. 😆🫣

The route we went on was a bit easier according to the pilgrims we talked to in the evening but – yikes – it was intense!! No, there are no photos of the “compound” as we didn’t need evidence we were there.

We listened to the stream water most of the day

We walked about 15 kilometers on the blacktop which is brutal on the back, hips, and knees. But we only gained about 400 meters (1312 feet) of elevation, as opposed to the main route which gained almost 700 meters of elevation. It was a killer of a day! Brian hit rock bottom, I’m just thankful we both didn’t because I’m not sure we would have made it to our accommodation. We could still be on the side of the road.

An area for pilgrims to visit, meditate, and just relax the afternoon away

But it was the most perfect evening! I can’t believe a day could have so many highs and lows but that’s the Camino. We stayed at this most wonderful Casa Rural (rural house that provides lodging). They did more than provide lodging! We had cocktails, a washing machine, perfect weather for clothes to be dried outside on the clothesline, and best of all, we had our first communal dinner!

We spent the evening with our toes in the lush green grass, sipping cocktails, and talking to people from Germany, France, England, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. We enjoyed the best meal with produce from the garden. It’s truly the biggest blessing of the Camino. Nights like that remind us why we love the spirit of the Camino!

We slept like babies in the most comfortable bed! We woke up to a delicious breakfast including gluten free bread and homemade jam. Seriously, I pray we have so many more nights like this one.

Today’s walk was uneventful, no barbed wire. 😆 We followed the route. Though it was quite hilly we had lots of little villages to enjoy.

Unfortunately we had to climb down 7 flights of stairs today

We made the decision to bus ahead so we only walked 13 kilometers and took a bus for 12 kilometers. We needed the rest after yesterday. Tomorrow is going to be another big day of climbing so it’s time to nap. Bilbao will be here soon with 2 rest days. We’ve never needed them as much as we need them now.

👉🏼 Follow our social media channels for more videos and photos throughout our Camino.

👇🏼 Remember to leave a comment below to show the silly algorithm that people are interested in our blog.

Camino del Norte | Zarautz to Deba (and then some) | Day 3

Posted on June 13, 2024 by CruisinColemans

The views continue to improve. I don’t know how long it will last so I’m trying to take it all in. Though this terrain has my knees and thighs screaming!

Every kilometer takes a long time and every view takes my breath away or is that the climbing? I don’t know but I’m constantly exhausted. We decided to walk the Norte route because it was hard and had epic views. We’re not getting any younger so we need to check things like this off our bucket list while we still can do them.

I can’t believe this morning started with an easy 5 kilometer walk along the ocean, it was amazing!! This was an optional route and I’m thrilled we took it! The sounds of the waves splashing on the rocks made the walk fly by!

Then we left the seaside to climb, and oh did we climb! We are just training because tomorrow’s climb is even more intense. I keep telling myself it will get easier but we’re from the flat lands of Ohio where a hill doesn’t even compare to this terrain. And honestly, I don’t mind the climb, my problem is how long it takes me. We’re getting into our accommodations much later than I like to arrive. Some nights our clothes don’t have enough time to dry (in part because we’re having to dry them inside because of the rain).

We did have to bus ahead a bit today because it was time to get the staples removed from my head and I had to get to a clinic before they closed. Click on this blog post if you don’t know what happened. My head is healing well. I still have headaches quite a bit. We’re taking 2 full rest days in Bilbao which I pray helps. I’m resting a lot when I can, daily naps are a blessing.

After I got my staples removed, we had about 3.5 kilometers left to walk and a massive climb at about 350 meters (or 1,148 feet). A tough climb especially at the end of the day. We’re staying past the village of Deba at a Casa Rural in the middle of nowhere but with an amazing view of the ocean while perched on a mountainside.

The views are worth it. Tomorrow we’ll have a bit less of a climb, though it’s still going to be another tough day with about 450 more meters of climbing and about 600 meters of descent. 3 days until Bilbao, then 2 full days of rest. 🙌🏼 Maybe we’ll find a boat tour, unless Mother Nature keeps this rain around us.

Time will tell. I would not change a thing! ❤️

👉🏼 Follow our social media channels for more videos and photos throughout our Camino.

👇🏼 Remember to leave a comment below to show the silly algorithm that people are interested in our blog.