San Vicente de la Barquera to La Franca
Distance covered: 14 mi / 22.5 km
This mostly inland section of the Camino del Norte passes through a few small towns, starting out in Cantabria and crossing the regional border into Asturias.
Though I had intended to stop in Colombres, I found all the albergues there filled up early, and I had to continue walking to the next town over. Fortunately, I was able to find a place to sleep in La Franca, and secured a bed there for the night. Based on the unpredictable numbers of pilgrims during the two years prior to my Camino, many albergues were still closed or operating on a shortened season. The unpredictable traffic led to fierce competition for the few available beds at the end of each day, since in some small villages beds were extremely limited.
Aside from the spike in travel that the summer of ’22 brought with it, the number of pilgrims has been steadily climbing over the last decade. The official pilgrims office keeps track of the number of pilgrims who stop by to receive their official certificates, and they regularly publish statistics at this website throughout the year. If you don’t speak any Spanish, you can use Google Chrome to give you a rough translation by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner and selecting “Translate”.
If this is the first post you’re reading and want to start from the beginning, check out my Camino del Norte page, which features all of my Camino posts in chronological order. If you want to learn more about the Camino de Santiago itself, check out my post breaking down the basics.
Morning in San Vicente de la Barquera
After the exhilarating car ride to San Vicente de la Barquera, I found it a little hard to relax and get to sleep at my usual time. The snoring pilgrims, along with the late evening coffee that I drank, certainly didn’t help either. Despite being exhausted, I woke up at 6:30 with the other pilgrims and casually ate some breakfast at the albergue. I was out the door around seven, and I made my way down to the river to take some pictures of the town.
Though I had initially intended to double back and complete the short section that I had missed, I bumped into a Danish pilgrim I had met a few days earlier and decided to walk along with him instead.
The pilgrim from Denmark told me a bit about his life back home, where he was a musician. We talked about the bands that he had played in for a while, about life in general, and about how long we each expected to be on our respective Caminos. He was in a rush and had a much more condensed schedule – definitely not my style.
The hours went by quickly with someone to chat with, and the cool, misty morning made for pleasant walking conditions. I missed a handful of photo opportunities as a result, but that’s a tradeoff I was willing to make. Striking a balance between documenting your adventures and experiencing them is tough, but that’s life.
Aside from stone signs and painted arrows on all types of surfaces, there are also tiles, paintings, and other markings indicating the correct path integrated into signs, sidewalks, and buildings.
Passing through Pesués
The Danish pilgrim and I stopped for a quick coffee in a small café beside the river in Pesués, where we ate some tapas from the bar. We ate at the counter and bumped into a few other pilgrims we had met a few days earlier at an albergue on our way back out. After making some food recommendations, we threw our packs back on and headed out.
Searching for an albergue in Colombres
As we approached the albergue that we were planning to stop at for the night, we came across a large crowd of highschool-aged Spanish kids. They were on a summer trip with several of their schoolmates, and after we helped them practice some English for a bit, we arrived at the albergue. The place was huge, and we expected we would have no issue finding a bed. As it turned out several schools had booked this whole building months in advance and they had booked every last available bed.
Tired and a little bit hungry, I stopped to look at my phone and figure out where the nearest albergue or hostel was. The Danish pilgrim decided to walk ahead a little faster since he wanted to cover some extra ground, while I explored the town a bit longer to take a few photos.
Continuing on towards La Franca
Now walking on my own, I had the time to take things at my own pace. A big part of the Camino is meeting other pilgrims, but it’s also great to have the freedom to say goodbye when one of you wants to go faster or slower.
After a few more kilometers, I stumbled upon an albergue run by a wonderful woman from Mexico City. Her father was from this small Asturian village, and she had opened up this small albergue a few years earlier. She told me she still spends half of the year in Mexico City and half of the year in Spain running her business. It was one of the cleaner albergues I had stayed in, and I was one of only three people in a large dorm room.
For just a few extra euros, breakfast was included with the price of the stay, which was a bargain considering there were few stores in this small town. Plus, any chance to get home-cooked Mexican food is absolutely worth it in my experience.
I showered, bought a quick meal at a bar in town, and headed to bed early. The next day included a picturesque walk along the coast, and I was looking forward to getting an early start.
Though the weather was dreary, the vibrant colors of the flowers along the trail really popped, which made the walk a little more enjoyable.
Final thoughts
All in all, this was a pretty mellow, overcast day without too much excitement. Chatting with another pilgrim helped the time fly by, and before I knew it, I had already walked most of the day’s miles.
Even though I missed a few good opportunities to stop for some drone photos, the conversation was in full swing, and it wasn’t worth stopping our chat. This balance between wanting to document things and enjoying the experience was something I struggled with the whole trip, but that’s a balance that everyone has to find on their own. I was already excited about the next day following the coastal route along rugged cliffs with the Picos de Europa mountains visible off in the distance.
Let me know down in the comments if you have any questions about this route or the terrain.
And as always, ¡Buen Camino!
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