First day hiking in Cantabria, Spain | Camino de Santiago del Norte

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On the Day 9 of our Camino de Santiago del Norte we hiked from the town Castro-Urdiales to the coastal village Oriñon.


That night it was raining a bit and the highway that was under our camping was quite noisy all night long. But we had some good sleep and were planning to do 15 km to Orinon.


Only in the morning we realized how cool the spot where we camped was with the views of the ocean and coast and no one around. We met the stunning sunrise there, had our breakfast, packed everything up and were good to go.


Also we figured out that we're in the other province now in Cantabria we moved from Viscaya very quickly without even noticing it. We understood it by different indicators because that is what you first see on the way.


We were glad to be back on the trail and keep on walking and moving forward. We started probably at 11 am so not very early but we knew that the distance that we planned we should do without a problem.


First part of the way was going along the highway without any interesting scenery or views. But when we crossed it by the tunnel the route started to go closer to the coast and we finally saw the great and incomparable Ocean! We were so happy to see it and to be able to walk close to it again. As you can see we missed it a lot, its sound, its smell and look.


The route was partly going on gravel ground partly on asphalt but was very easy overall especially comparing our previous days in the mountains. But it was very needed then, this chill out day. Because we didn't want to skip days, we wanted to keep on moving but just less distance. The less distance you go the more you see and feel the place so we always try to remember it and not start to race for the kms number.


We didn't find a place to put a stamp in that day as all the churches were closed and there wasn't any tourist offices. The area was quite rural that we were passing by comparing to Viscaya province, we saw more old villages and more vegetable gardens with farmers working in it. And we didn't hear the Euskara language anymore just the Spanish. We tasted the most delicious figs right from the fig tree by the route - they were so juicy and sweet.
We met some pilgrims that we didn't know because we skipped part of the way and we simply didn't come across with them like we did on our initial route.


The Camino continued along the ocean and we decided to take the round in Las Islares to go even closer to the cliffs cause the map was showing us some path there. It was very picturesque with unusual relief place but at the end we turned to the wrong direction and then had a hard time finding the way out. So couldn't recommend anyone with a backpack to take it. Better just to follow it for 1 km to see the view and go back to follow the Camino. We are fans of doing rounds and taking alternatives but this one is not perfect at all. Sometimes it felt like there was no actual path there and we had to go blindly.


Then we came out to the beach of Arenillas, ate the ice cream there because the weather was quite hot and continued on to Orinon. Almost all the route to Orinon was going on the highway because there was just no other way there. And we had to do the big round going over the area where the river comes into ocean. But when we crossed the bridge there was a dirt road that we took and the area was quite unique with the river coloured in turquoise, lots of herons around and rocky mountains in the background.


After this 3 km of beautiful route we got to Orinon, checked in in the campground and even had time to go to the beach to have a snack there. This rythm of the day was appealing more to us and we were aiming to continue our Camino this way. Less kms, coming early to the spot and have more time to breath and enjoy the places.


Watch the full video here:
https://youtu.be/cTQz3lzy08A


Hope you enjoyed our video! Leave us a comment if you have any further questions left or just want to share your experience. We would love to read your feedback - it is very important to us!