Castro Urdiales to Laredo
Cantabrian coast
- Distance
- 30.5 km
- Climb
- 610 m up, 625 m down
- Ground
- 0 to 220 m
- Time
- 7 to 9 hours
- Difficulty
- hard
- Underfoot
- coastal, forest, dirt, paved
Where this day sits on the Camino del Norte
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 34 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
The Cantabrian coast is gentler than the Basque coast — softer hills, longer beaches, smaller drops between bays. But today is still 30 km and by mid-afternoon the legs are complaining. Oriñón beach is where many pilgrims take their shoes off for the first time. Liendo is a pretty valley with nothing but houses and cows. Laredo arrives as a long beachside town with a medieval walled quarter (the Puebla Vieja) at its northern end and 5 km of straight beach running south from it.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Taking shoes off at Oriñón for the first beach crossing
- Liendo valley — cows and silence
- Walking the last 2 km along Laredo's promenade with the beach on one side and holiday apartments on the other
- Finding the Puebla Vieja hidden at the north end of a seemingly modern beach town
Your body is now doing something it could not do two weeks ago. What is the work of the long Camino?
The ground
Another long coastal day. The route climbs and drops across a series of small headlands, passing Islares, Oriñón (with its medieval beach), and the quiet village of Liendo before dropping into Laredo's long straight beach (La Salvé, 5 km). Many pilgrims split this stage at Islares or Liendo.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Castro Urdiales depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
In Pilgrim's Honor mode you can walk this stage as it is drawn here, and save its maps for days with no signal. The morning opens with this day's word, Cantabrian coast, and its story. When you arrive, it asks the question above, and you can answer out loud. Your walk stays on your phone.
With Pilgrim on your phone, this opens the stage, ready to begin. Without it, you'll see the stage and where to get the app.