Up the hill from last night’s ‘tiny house’ albergue is a church and old rectory. As we walked towards it early in the morning, we could hear heavenly singing. It was Sunday morning so I guessed there was an early mass. It turns out the old rectory is also an albergue. They play a recording of the singing to rouse and oust the pilgrims every morning.
Gathered outside the musical albergue were “The Camino Chicas”, from Bordeaux, France. They are a group of friends who gather to spend one week walking together every year. They even have matching sweaters. We shared accommodations with them most nights for the next week.
Boyoung is from Korea. She has been travelling alone on her way to Santiago. She speaks very little English and no Spanish, but did quite well getting her messages across. We spent several nights in the same albergues.
Today’s stretch of trail passed through some sunny old fishing villages now frequented by surfers, and crossed some beautiful foggy beaches. We caught up to Kevin from Alaska just outside La Isla, our destination for the night, and stopped for lunch with him.
Nuria, is a resident of La Isla. She was our friendly waitress at the Hotel Monte Ymar in La Isla. She said she was the boss, the cook, the cleaner, the bartender, the paycheque writer, and in charge of everything else.
Tonight we are staying in La Isla at the municipal albergue. Volunteers checked us in and the place filled quickly with mostly familiar faces.
Phillip is from Belgium. He started last year in le Puy in France on the famous Jacob’s Way. This year he continued Bilbao. He has walked 1200 km so far on his journey.
William is from France. Like us, he started in Irun. Unfortunately he forgot his only pair of pants at the ‘tiny house’ albergue last night and is trying to find a way to retrieve them. He did have a pair of shorts to wear in the meantime. He did buy another pair of pants two days later in Gijon.