Day 24 (del Norte): Noja to Guemes

At last night's dinner in Noja's town square, we had to wait a long time for food to arrive, but the quality was excellent. The wife had one of the best prepared ox-tail dishes in memory, which made the manager of our little hotel scratch his head since most people go for fish in this coastal town.

Noja at dusk: the main street leads directly down to the beach.

Noja: Church of San Pedro

After an overdose of beaches yesterday, today's walk feels downright simple. Rolling hills are the most exciting vista. The biggest uncertainty is whether there will be bars/restaurants along the way, since that determines how much food and drink we need to carry. While the added weight is always an issue, my recent abdominal troubles make it imperative that I get sustenance during the day. Ah, the constant trade-offs in life...

Noja: during breakfast at our little hotel, the wife notices on the wall the quotes from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of her favorite authors.

Leaving Noja: by now we have the No-Ha to get out of the city center easily.

Noja outskirts: a quick transition to the rural scene. At this point, we are reminded of the daughter who recently informed us that she now has an ear piercing.   

We soon have the open vista.

The limited information available suggests no open establishments unless we deviate from the Camino. In San Miguel de Meruelo, we unexpectedly find an open bar so we take a short break. Kas Naranja is what I order as I do sometimes on the Camino, although I stopped drinking sodas at home some years ago. The server and her two friends come out and start smoking. Sitting at an outside table sometimes means we get more smoke in our faces. 

A little further ahead, the albergue which we have seen advertised at multiple spots along the route today finally appears. Boy, we could have had lunch here. We do enjoy chatting with three pilgrims who had passed us earlier but now are resting outside the albergue. The French couple started just north of Vezelay in France two months ago. The German journalist is walking to Santander only, like we are. The French lady has been blogging everyday. So the journalist is the only one who is not writing! But we do have an interesting conversation with him ranging from Merkel to Africa.

San Miguel de Meruelo: an albergue at the far end of town, apparently located 21 cm from itself! Here we have a good conversation with other pilgrims. 

Time to hit the trail again after a nice long break. After what seems like a relatively short walk, a town is seen up ahead. Could it be? I consult the map and yes, it is! Guemes, our destination, is visible already. So we walked longer than we thought. I will take this pleasant surprise.

Getting to the hotel requires a temporary deviation from the Camino, which the Google map enabled by my portable wifi hotspot takes care of. As we approach the town, there is a structure that is slightly taller than the rest. I click my booking.com app since it usually shows a photo of the hotel. And voila, that is our hotel indeed. Following the on-line route aided by a visual cue, 15 minutes later we are at the door 15 minutes later. Oh, the power of the digital age.

Guemes coming into view

Guemes: rising out of the cookie-cutter houses, like a soaring angel guarding the town, there it is, our hotel Posada El Angel de la Guarda!

Guemes: a room with a spacious balcony and a jacuzzi is worth the 5 euro upgrade 

Guemes: a room with a view. A rural view, that is. Cows are the main action.

Speaking of digital, since tomorrow is our last day of walk, I am going to spread out all the stuff I brought to help with navigation and take a picture. This is a slow news day anyway. 

A collection of navigation aides, some of which were superfluous due to excellent waymarking (from lower left to top right): Cicero guidebook (excellent capsular info but lacking detailed maps), printouts of the route info for each stage from Gronze.com (extremely accurate), printouts of the elevation info from Gronze.com (very helpful), Garmin eTrex 25 (a new model) (never used!), my trusted phone with Google Maps and off-line Nokia HERE maps (both helpful and complementing each other), printouts of the Google Maps with the Camino hand-drawn in (easily pulled out on the trail when there is no internet connection), copies of the Cicero book for each stage (I did not have to carry the book itself in my backpack), a concise route guide by Confraternity of St. James (never opened).

This is a very rural town, surprisingly so considering it is the stop just before Santander, the capital of Cantabria. In the evening, the town is pretty dead. The only place open for food is the bar where they offer nothing but jamon and queso bocadillos. Although I have developed a better appreciation for jamon during this trip, I could have used more substantial food now that I have essentially recovered from my stomach trouble.  

Guemes: our posada has fresh flowers everywhere, and sure enough we catch them bringing a whole bunch this evening.

Guemes: At dusk, the town is extremely quiet. Except there is noise coming out of a hall across from the church - it's a Zumba class!

Guemes: bocadillos seem to be the only food option available tonight in the vicinity of the hotel. Most pilgrims are staying at an albergue which is reportedly one of the nicest on the entire Camino so I figure they are probably having better dinner than we are!