Basgallop Blog

Güemes – Santander, a route that starts in the countryside, then offers up crystal clear views of the Picos de Europa beyond the city of Santander. The path returns to the coast and cliffs above surfer beaches.
I stopped for a couple of swims, followed by a majestic arrival in Santander by ferry!

Communal breakfast in the Albergue before we set out, a lush sunrise out the door

I love this place… when I arrived in Bilbao at the beginning of the week I briefly visited, but didn’t really get it, rather insight came only on my return a week later
pouring rain outside
lighting a candle, sitting alone with my thoughts and fears
For of course it is a shrine for the Virgin Mary, the universal mother who tends to our sorrows
a very powerful sense of opening, of grace flowing down from above, this clear Crown Chakra energy, and also as it is the mother energy, something welling up from the earth, rooted below
a feeling similar to meeting Amma in her Ashram
‘be still’ with her beauty and tranquility

From the internet:
“The legend goes that, some time between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a shepherd stumbled across a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary on Mount Artagan. It appeared on a holm oak tree as if it had sprouted out of the earth. As such, local people wanted to find a suitable place to build a church to venerate the miraculous image. However, according to the legend, when they tried to move it, the carving took root in the soil and a mysterious voice exclaimed “Bego oina!” or “Be still!”. Thus, the church had to be built right there, and the image, ever since known as Begoña, became the patron saint of Biscay and amatxu (meaning mother in Basque) to the people of Biscay. On this exact point today stands the Gothic Basilica of Our Lady of Begoña—built in the early sixteenth century on the site of the old wooden church—which has loomed over the city of Bilbao”

I love churches! I wouldn’t deem myself a Christian, which i’m not sure is either a help or a hinderance to my affection!
I always think of churches as being places of stone of light and through the stained glass windows of colour
It’s the ancient nature, centuries of congealed worship, resonant soul spaces, a connection to our ancestors, a yearning for something greater… the beyond
I associate churches with silence
which is true for both small british country churches and vast cathedrals… its the still, personal, inner movements I appreciate
yet on this holiday I also got to know church as a place of music… for of course they are also social spaces of throng… ha, and even of song
congregations of hubbub
I was in a 17th century Jesuit church in Santander, just after the mass, myself alone, sitting in a pew
then the organist decides it’s time to practice, a huge roiling wall of sound, tumbling down from above
an astonishing acoustic amphitheatre of ALL ENGULFING music. Baroque baby!

After lunch the walk continued Noja to Güemes
The path turned away from the sea, then across tranquil, tho somewhat muddy, farmland for the next 15km to Güemes
met many Peregrinos, arrived in gumes accompanied by some german women and a irish pilgrim complete with a huge, massively impractical yellow suitcase! maleta amarilla grande!
First the bar for a glass of wine, then the church… here we stopped to help an elderly grey haired and bearded man who was taking down a display
A softly spoken fellow, Ernesto Valverde, 85, he was the founder of the local Albergue, legendary on the camino
he offered us a lift, we hopped in the car and were whisked in comfort the last few km
Such an idyllic spot! spacious, green and welcoming… there was a shared meal of Rice, Vegetables and wine
We had arrived on an auspicious evening, when these things begin o happen you know you are in the flow,
It was 25 years since the first pilgrim had stayed in Güemes, at the same time a local choral society had been founded… This evening there was a celebratory concert for these events in the church
After dinner around 20 of us Peregrinos bundle squashed into the back of an old van down to the church for a concert
It was gorgeous, really started me thinking about churches and music
I loved this Albergue

The morning was a walk from Santoña to Noja, first along the beach at Berria, there was then a choice twixt going over the headland, else, tediously, along the road
the guidebook/camino forum insisted: ‘Under No Circumstances ever go over the headland if it’s been raining, it’s muddy, treacherous and slip slimy, tho you might be alright if you have poles!’
Or words to that effect
Not having any poles, nor being one to heed good advice, I attempted it anyway… BIG MISTAKE… it was alright getting up to the top, view of the pristine beaches either side was glorious
but proceeded to stumble and tumble all the way back down again, hairy, each time I slipped I tried to grab onto any vegetation, even the merest strand of grass to steady myself… everything was a variety of thorn or gorse, ripped to shreds by the undergrowth!
Finally made it down in a muddy heap, but was then a blissful 3km stretch of almost empty sandy beach.
The sea swashing backwards and forth across the lip gloss sands, huge swathes of storm clouds looming on the horizon
absolutely lush, shoes and socks off, i paddled along very very happily

I had a beautiful couple of days based in Santoña, a town surrounded by the sea, wild and rugged… It’s like Cornwall on steroids.

Trekked to the Faro de Caballo , gallumphing down 763 steep steps to the lighthouse at the end of the headland, there at the bottom of a cliff meeting a couple of potty locals and going for a swim with them, jumping  into the churning swell of the Ocean. We all cheered at each others audacious leaps.

Giant slugs on the footpath, they LOVED the rainy weather.
Wild goats, a huge impressive sweep of horns, 3 of them came around the path, of course I went to photograph them, but, as usual, pressed the button to turn off my phone, rather than take the snap, I will never make a nature photographer

A rainy day in Bilbao

from the streets of Bilbao