Camino de Santiago, 5-35 Days, 113-780km.

The Camino de Santiago or Way of St James is a journey of the soul along an ancient pilgrimage route from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. Walk the whole way or just a week or two, you will never forget it!

Our hearts pound away happily as we climb the hill, pausing occasionally to catch our breath and admire the mountain scenery on one side and the magnificent beech wood on the other. There is also oak, hawthorne, dog rose, bracken, heather and brambles. Soon we come to the first stone hut, followed immediately by the first water trough, Fuente de Fonfria,  where we fill our bottles. This is the only one for a while without a 'no guarantee of cleanliness' notice, although of course it may simple have fallen off. One always accepts a small risk when using these sources of water but in my experience it is a very small risk indeed. And the mountain water is so cool and delicious. I have known this one to be dry so its best to bring a bottle of water just in case. 

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Soon we pass the second trough with its tadpoles and cross the second cattle grid, which has now been rendered useless as someone has knocked down the adjoining fence (just an old bed frame really), so now the cattle can enjoy the facilities down at the camp site. It was all intact when I was here just three weeks ago. Cattle and horses are grazing all around where I have never seen any before. More stone huts. We ignore the path leading off to Pido as we carry on up the hill. Occasional white and yellow marking show us that we are on a 'short' (no more than two days) path. Actually those marking refer to a different route so pay them no heed

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More stone huts (winter byres?), in various states of repair, until we arrive at the first T-junction, more of a Y-junction really, where a sign directs us to turn right for Ruta Vadiniense, which is an alternative route for Camino de Santiago pilgrims, running 135 kilometers between Potes and Mansilla de las Mulas in the province of León. That clearly is not for us today. 

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A few more meters and the path does a hairpin and starts going back on itself. A small stream runs under the track through a concrete culvert. A small overflow trickles over the path. Soon we will meet three more like this. We are witnessing the birth of the Rio Cantiján which we will meet again later on. 

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From here the path snakes around quite a bit, going through another beech wood giving welcome shade. There is a scrawny birch tree and a sapling. Round one of the many bends, by one of the small streams, there is a fence on our right. Just inside the fence is a sign saying that Castilla y León stands behind the sign. There seems to be a strong independence movement afoot. Leon people wanting to be independent from the Castilla people. All over Leon I have seen 'Castilla y León' signs with the Castilla bit scratched or painted out. This sign is no exception. I have never really understood why Castilla was split in two, one half being attached to León and the other to La Mancha. But then again Spanish history and Spanish politics are not my strong subjects. Apparently it all happened way back in 1301 for reasons that made sense then but many folk believe do not make sense today. There had been a previous union in 1037 but that ended on the death of Ferdinand in 1065. More recently, in 1983, Castilla y León was declared an autonomous community under the Spanish construction. Anyway, as this walk is all the other side of the sign, in Cantabria, lets attend to the matter in hand. 

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The hut is made of concrete blocks, clad on the outside with stones to give the appearance of being a stone hut. The hut is unlocked and looking inside we see there is a tiny, glassless window in one wall, a concrete platform (bed?) on the left and a brick fireplace on the fight. Logs and a builder's hard hat litter the floor. There is graffiti on the walls and everything is filthy with a thick coating of animal manure. There is a water trough outside but it would still take a bucket, a stiff broom, a shovel and a full day of hard work to clean the place up enough to spend the night there. I suppose the farmer could drive up with a generator and a pressure hose but it would still be a big job. 

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