Into Every Life...

some rain must fall. So, I have had beautiful (albeit sometimes too hot) weather since I began so I shouldn´t, and won´t complain...had a bit of misting rain today. It wasn´t bad..very light and actually kind of cool temperatures even. One of the days, while I was in 100 degree Valladolid, it evidently poured here so I am still feeling pretty lucky with the weather. After another wonderful stay in Valladolid, I took the train to Torrelavega (which is not on the Camino) and walked only about 5 miles (on a road with a sidewalk) to Santillana del Mar where I stayed last night. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous town full of old stone buildings, old stone streets, etc. It is incredibly well preserved. It is also incredibly well touristed and as it was a Sunday there were tons of Spanish day trippers there...that and the many souvenir shops, made it a little less charming than it would otherwise be but it is still a really lovely place. I felt a little bit lonesome--missing my friends from Valladolid, missing the camino friends that I had met (who are a few days ahead of me now)and not enjoying so much the new camino people that I met.
This morning I walked about 20 miles to San Vicente de la Barquera, yet another really pretty seaside town. I am in Cantabria which is quite beautiful with lots of rolling green hills and seaside views. There are tons of small scale dairy farms where the cows actually graze on grass. I expect to see more of this in Asturias which I will enter tomorrow--I am eager to try some of the cheeses here as they are well known in Spain and, maybe, beyond. In Santillana del Mar, it is typical to have a snack of a small cake, or cheese tart and to have a glass of milk. It was funny as there were these sort of walk-up places where you could by a glass of milk and a sweet snack.
I walked part of the day with a nice Italian man. He walked a bit slower than I did and it is hard for me to not walk at my pace. I eventually left him behind on the trail but he must have continued onward as he is not at the albergue. It is a pretty good place and they even made lunch for us which was great as I was quite hungry upon arrival. I will have dinner there as well.
I have heard from Irene (from my old crowd) they are a couple of days ahead of me so I doubt that I will catch them. But, if the weather remains cool, I may do a pretty long day tomorrow (40 km.?) as well.
I always feel awkward knowing that you all are reading these hastily thrown together posts, but now I feel even more foolish as my favorite student of all time, Miguel, is now following this blog. He is the best writer that I have ever known and this is based on his writing at age 14 or 15. (Valerie, you are the co-best/funniest writer). Yikes. I hope everyone had a Happy 4th. The paella was great!
CCW--I´m developing quite a farmer´s tan--not a Massachusetts Farmer´s Tan but a rest-of-the-USA farmer's tan. I´m sure it will be all the rage on The Cape.