Waking up in the Alberge Izarra was very gentle as Guilia, the hostaliera, has banished alarms from the alberge, and instead at the evening meal the night before agrees a time at which music will start to be played quietly in order to let people wake up gently. She then serves a delicious breakfast and proper coffee (she is after all Italian) before sending people on their way.
I set off out of Izarro across beautiful countryside with gentle slopes and climbs, taking in some magnificent medieval streets, and some small villages with very grand churches and houses, but with populations of probably no more than 20 to 30 people in total. In one village I found the old public wash house still fully intact, but now koi carp swim in the water which is no longer used for washing clothes.
After several hours of quiet walking on my own, admiring some of the beautiful cows that seem so prevalent in Spain, I ran into a group of five people walking very purposefully towards Comillas, which was just what I needed to spur me a long as I was beginning to feel a little tired even though it was only a 20 KM day.
The five were from Czech Republic, Netherlands, and Germany, and all had interesting stories to tell. But they were also a little stressed because they did not have a bed booked find for the night in Comillas, indeed as I saw them later that evening catching a bus to the next town because they had not being able to find anything in Comillas, I was very glad I had reserved in advance.
I stayed in a nice Alberge with a very well behaved crowd who managed to get into their beds without the noise that sometimes plagues Alberges, so it was easy to get a good night’s sleep, even though I was in a 12 bed dorm. Amongst the 12 were four lovely women from France who were walking the Camino over 1 week every summer and had been doing so since 2016 when they started in their home town in Brittany, even managing to walk in the Covid summer; a man from Cork called
Simon, with whom I struck up a good conversation; and a couple from Liverpool, who are walking a different route to take them to Garabandal, the place where four young girls saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in the 1960s, and which still draws quite a significant crowd.
I spent the evening wandering around Comillas which is a remarkable town dominated by a the Sobrellano Palace built Marqués de Comillas in late 19thC who made a fortune in Cuba as a tobacco planter, shipowner, banker and slave trader. It was designed as summer residence of the Marquees and the Royal Family. Comillas also has El Capricho which was just the jewel you would expect of a Gaudi building.
As I was in an Alberge, with the doors locked at 10, I had to turn in just as the town was filling up with Spanish holiday makers, but I welcomed an early night, because even though the walk had only been 20 KM, I was tired.
