Day 12 Noya to Santander

I left Noja just after 7.30 intending to stop after 6k for breakfast in San Miguel de Meruelo, it was not to be. The café con leche and pain chocolate I finally had in a café in Güemes at 15k was delicious. I chatted to a pilgrim from Germany who recently retired has given herself 3 weeks on the Camino del Norte and is taking each day as it comes, nothing planned in advance. She decided to stay in Güemes even though it was just 11.30. I wish I had that level insouciance.
The next 15k felt easier in the sunshine, egrets in the fields and goldfinches in the hedgerow. The last couple of kilometres were along a beach which finally ended with a short walk to the ferry in Somo for another river journey across the Bay of Santander where the boat docked close to the city centre.
I visited the cathedral and followed the Camino route to my hotel. For a very basic 2 star hotel it’s pretty good value. I have a bay window from which my washing is dangling. Everybody else’s is hanging from whirligig contraptions and getting wet because it’s just starting to rain.
A shower and then out to the museum of modern art which is nearby. It opens in the evening until 9, I think it was temporarily closed when I was in Santander in 2022 after wolf watching, so I pleased to be to see it. A mix of Goyas and contemporary Cantabrian art, no translation available, although of course the attendant who lent me a euro for a locker spoke excellent English.
32k, 554m ascent, 5 pilgrims, 3 good conversations.