Camino Del Norte - Day 12 - Laredo to Guemes - 30K

TODAYS PICS

TODAYS VIDEO:


Today was the Disneyland of walks.

An early rise, and surprisingly the hotel had breakfast open early, so got a coffee, juice and some toast before leaving, without going out of my way.

Then I had a lovely 4k walk along the "boardwalk" of Laredo with a glorious shining sun. I had a look at some nice prospective oceanfront condos - just need some investor help - ANY TAKERS???

Normally a sunny day is something I usually am a little fearful of during walking (HEAT), but today the weather was in DISNEY-SYNC! Lovely and sunny along the beach with wonderful cool breeze; then later a wee bit overcast, cool and breezy. This really helped on this longest day yet.

Seems I'm becoming a record breaker.

After the boardwalk, there was a pilgrim ferry across a narrow strait to a town on the other side; a fun way to make up some miles and avoid walking AROUND!!! The ferry lighted 10 minutes later in another lovely town and I thought about having second breakfast, but as I'm a pilgrim and not a hobbit, I opted to keep moving.

A brief walk thru town, then up to the beach for an amazing (and a wee bit scary) climb along a mountain-goat path on a beautiful and high cliff. It was exhilarating and steep, a bit slippery, and the couple of downs on the way up, were nerve-racking. The views were lovely, and the descent on the other-side tough on body (feet, ankles, and knees) and focus.

But the landing was a lovely sandy beach, that I walked along for 2k - amazing and lovely. I stopped for a rest here and realized that there was a primo alburgue (pilgrim hotel) a little further (5miles) than I had planned to walk, but I decided to do it anyway.

The rest of the day was long, tough and a beautiful walk thru the countryside. I had strong and consistent energy, but a lot was along roads, so my feet and legs were vibrating and aching most of afternoon. It often looked like rain; and was a little nervous at one point, but I turned the corner saw MISS KITTY hanging on a house, and my friend Kerri assures me that when I see this all is well, so continued on!

A lovely bar just a mile before end, tempted me to stop for a "radler", a german concoction of beer and sprite or orange soda, that is a lovely refreshing cocktail in summer, It was a wise choice, as I had not breaked for a couple hours, and my feet were about to revolt. Having Salomon

Unfortunately, there was a steep climb at the end, but it wasn't long, and I was in no danger of bonking. The alburgue here (pilgrim hotel) is reputed to be the RITZ-CARLTON of Alburgues. I judge it is probably run by pilgrims for pilgrims; so it is set up to serve our needs; and there is no fee; only an ask to make a donation before you leave - according to what you can afford, and what your heart dictates. Did I mention this includes dinner too.

What a great ending to an awesome day!

Buen Camino!