The Camino is a great experience, and one that everyone should undertake, but there is cost that every peregrino must pay, and that is ‘Ampollas’.
It was a long day yesterday and before I knew it, it was 0800h – just made it to breakfast. Coincidently it was the same time as sunrise. The view from the albergue was something else.
From the long walk yesterday I had developed a large blister, one I should have dealt with before going to bed. But the with all the pilgrim activities and communal dinner, it was the morning before I addressed the problem.
According to the albergue volunteers it is 15km to the boat that takes you into Santander. I went the coastal route as recommended, and it didn’t disappoint. Stunning rock formations, sandy beaches and crashing waves.
The path drops down to the beach that you follow to the mouth of the estuary. I didn’t take off my trainers this time as I had bandaged my freshly treated blister.
I followed the line of pilgrims along the shoreline to the ferry point – this time from a jetty not the beach.
Familiar faces queued up for the boat to Santander. Henry from France who I had been crossing paths with since Irún was there. Despite I can’t speak French we managed to build a pilgrim bond, and haphazardly reading between my non existent French and his equally limited English, we established that Santander would be the point we would part ways. – we shook hands and said ¡Buen Camino!
Once the ferry dropped us off, we headed to the cathedral to buy a new credential, John’s and mine had now run out of space. I called into a farmacia for some supplies for the ampollas tax, then grabbed lunch.
The weather changed to heavy showers, forcing us to put on the ponchos. It was all road out of Santander, following a busy one until the suburb of Penacastillo.
The route goes more country road. My already sore toe started to get worse, as if I had something digging in between my 3rd and 4th. I had to assess the blister.
My iodine bandage I had applied this morning was saturated. I pulled it off revealing the damage, it had gone over the top of the toe – the upper layer of skin had been removed, over most of my fourth toe on my right foot.
I had applied a gel tube bandage I picked up from the farmacia, which felt a lot better, and pressed on. I knew I had to get the wound cleaned and disinfected asap, so I went full steam ahead – I still had 8-9km to go.
I raced past John and Elliot. The Route was pretty much road walking all the way, nothing exciting – the on and off showers were the only source of entertainment.
I got into the albergue and immediately put my foot under the tap to clean my open blister. I had a shower and went to the bar. Jenny was there and I met a new pilgrim from Canada called Chris. We all had the pilgrims meal, but I needed to have a few drinks as I still had to pay the ampollas tax.
I moved into the main bar where with my pigeon Spanish and the aid of google translate, I seeked advice from a couple of friendly locals that I got talking to. Despite the language barrier we had a laugh – mostly at my expense.
Then came the time to pay the ampollas dues, I had to sterilise my blister. I locked myself in the albergue bathroom, put my belt in my mouth and flooded my toe in iodine. – ampollas tax paid.
Hopefully it will dry out tomorrow and won’t give me too much grief. Having done a long stage today, we have eaten in to the 36km stage, meaning it is now only a 25km walk.
Stu's Camino 