Santoña--Guemes

Yesterday I walked this route and it wasn´t hard but I felt very tired--due the previous day's long walk. It started out with an early morning climb over a large hill jutting out into the ocean. It was a difficult climb as it went up a rocky little path with lots of prickly plants --very steep, and just as steep going down the otherside. On the other side was a very wide, very long (2 miles?), very beautiful beach. As I decended, I saw an older, heavyset man walking down the beach carrying a bucket. He was buck naked (he was quite far away) and walked towards the many rock formations on the beach and stood among them doing exercises. I think he was pretty sure that there was nobody else around. I averted my eyes and carried on across the lovely beach.
Arriving at the very special albergue, I was delighted to find Manolo and Juan. I don´t know if I have mentioned them before. They are two blind fellows from Mallorca. They have walked many caminos before. They both work for ONCE(this is Spain's national organization for the blind. As employment, many blind people in Spain work for this organization and sell national lottery tickets. The lottery is very popular here and has been for years). They are fun and I hadn't seen them for a few days. They are also in a group of blind people that performs plays all over Spain. They are nice and funny and it was great to catch up with them again.
The albergue in the small hamlet of Guemes is lovely and they feed you dinner, breakfast, and lunch, and provide a room and you provide a donation of any amount. The whole operation is run by Don Ernesto--a local priest who looks like Santa Claus (white hair and beard) but dresses like Father Guinesse (hippy like). Last night at this place, way up in the hills among the cows, there was a concert with a group from Catalunia. A young chorale group and orchestra--they were great. A large tent was errected on the grounds and one or two hundred people came in from the neighboring villages to see the show. They were very talented group and it was fun to have an activity. Don Ernesto made special mention of Jeanine, the 79 year old French woman.
There was a party of sorts afterwards where we had loads of tapas and some beers. I said farewell to the group (as I will be heading off to visit friends for a couple of days). We all went to bed very late at 11:30 p.m. which was about 2 hours later than usual. It was the first time since I've been here that I went to bed when it was dark.