Day 06: From Ontón to Castro Urdiales

Date	20 Jul, Saturday
Weather	79° F / 26° C Started out cloudy, but the sun came out.
Today's Distance:	5 miles / 9 km
Route and Stats	Route Video
Total This Camino:	26 miles.
Total 2024 Caminos:	129 miles
Total All Caminos:	2129 miles
Lodging:	Ardigales 11@ $ 138
Total Lodging:	$ 278
Planes:	$ 1500 (round trip)
Total Planes / Travel Insurance:	$ 2100 / $ 246
Buses / Trains / Taxis:	$ 37
Total Buses / Trains / Taxis:	$ 101
Food:	$ 20
Total Food:	$ 144

On The Road

Good start to the morning. Packed everything well last night, so that when the alarm went off, I was able to jump out of bed, grab my backpack and head out to the community area without disturbing anyone else. 

Waiting on the taxi in Portugalete to return us to Ontón and then we start walking.

9:10 a.m. Just finished a 1.25 mile 10% upgrade climb in just over an hour. Did not really plan on starting the morning by really working up a sweat. 

10:20 a.m. Stopped in Moiño for a fresh squeezed orange juice. 2 and 1/2 mi to go.

According to gronze.com, there was supposed to be a turn off to take a diversion along with beaches and cliffs. But I never saw it, and there was no way to get down the embankment anyway from the road.

Random Thought of the Day

I had been reading how the Camino Norte is a lot of asphalt. I assumed that meant road walking. 

But many of the trails, for example the E9, are asphalt trails for bikers. 

For the most part, I'm not walking on roads, but I am still walking on asphalt. 

I don't want to minimize the amount of road walking so far, but we're coming out of a very urbanized area.

*****

It's now late at night, but I'm across from our hotel. I'm sitting in a bar, under a tarp watching all the people go by in their head to toe rain jackets, because it is quite the downpour.

Meaningful Moment / Notable Memories

Today was our first real opportunity to just kick back and take it easy in a place where we were visiting. 

The three of us dipped our feet in the Cantabrian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean. 

This was part of what I wanted to do on this Camino.

It's a small thing, but on the Frances, I skipped the part where you get in the ocean. 

So I wanted to make up for that here. The water was cold and clear and refreshing.

Did some sightseeing this afternoon visiting the Basilica of the Annunciation, which was constructed in the 13th century. Walking around the grounds of this Gothic style Church, we enjoyed the spectacular views. The church was closed for visiting, but I'm sure there'll be lots of churches between here and Ribadeo

Then we walked over to the castle- lighthouse.

We followed that up with a walk down to a concrete beach, which was a former boat launch. 

We had the opportunity to step into the water and enjoy the ocean. 

******

In the late afternoon, we went back to see the castle and received a bit of good luck.

As luck would have it, for us, and not for the recipient of the church services, the Basilica of the Annunciation was open because a funeral had just finished. 

So it was open to guests and we had an opportunity to go inside, and really enjoy this wonderful combination of architectures.

The church was started in Gothic style which means flying buttresses, but after 100 years of construction they ran out of money which left it in an architecturally unstable state. And that's what leads to the blending of the churches style. 

They then had to in order to stabilize the church install horizontal stone supporting beams which gives it a Romanesque style, which architecturally precedes the Gothic. 

And that is what gives this church its wonderful blending of two significantly different but important design styles.

Lots of green outside of the urban areas

10% upgrade that lasted for over an hour. 

The mountains go right up to the coast, 

so you have to go over them.

One of two tunnels today through the mountains just for bikers and bikers

Castro Urdiales is a beach community

13th century Gothic style Church and the castle-lighthouse

The church is a combination Gothic and Romanesque style Church. They started it as architects were learning how to build in the Gothic style. 

But over time they ran out of money and the building was incomplete. That left the building architecturally incomplete and led to issues. 

The solution was to incorporate older Romanesque style elements. 

It makes for a visually distinctive combination of the two.

Blessed Lady of the Annunciation 

Cantabrian Sea

Castro Urdiales was a Roman Port and as a result there are many excavations that could be found under the city, but it is very crowded and very in use.