Camino del Norte Day 12 Islares to Laredo

This was another day with a road option and a longer option (actually both options were almost entirely on pavement). The scenery on my road route was nice, so I was disappointed that there wasn’t a dirt track through the surrounding forest that we could use.

My feet are really hurting from all the pavement, but I am feeling stronger every day and I am used to the weight of my heavy pack.

Laredo is a popular beach town, so accommodations are more expensive. We were hoping to get a private room but they were all out of our price range, so we stayed at Albergue El Buen Pastor, run by a group of nuns. It is a rather strange place, with a lot of religious statues in the rooms, and also a lot of floral fabrics everywhere. It kind of felt like staying at grandma’s house, or perhaps the setting of an Agatha Christie mystery…

We had a nice big room with only four beds in it (not bunks!) which we shared with two German pilgrims. They had wifi and a kitchen, so we were able to get work done but unfortunately as it was Sunday, we couldn’t buy groceries to utilize the kitchen. Luckily, tortilla de patata is very filling and only about €1.20 for a big hunk of it with bread.