Laredo to Güemes
The ferryman and the dreamer
- Distance
- 28.7 km
- Climb
- 540 m up, 495 m down
- Ground
- 0 to 180 m
- Time
- 7 to 8 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
Today begins with a ferry — a small boat from Laredo across the bay to Santoña, the anchovy capital of Spain. The crossing takes fifteen minutes and skips a 20 km road walk. From Santoña you climb Monte Buciero, descend to Berria beach, and spend the afternoon walking inland to Güemes. The reason to stop in Güemes is Ernesto Bustio — the 'Abuelo Peuto', a Catholic priest and traveller who has run an albergue here for decades, where pilgrims share a communal meal and a talk by Ernesto in the evening about pilgrimage, generosity, and the world. The talk is in Spanish but the ideas translate.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The Laredo-Santoña ferry — the second water crossing of the Norte after Pasaia
- Anchovies in Santoña — buying a tin to take home
- Arriving at La Cabaña del Abuelo Peuto in Güemes
- The evening talk by Ernesto — an unrepeatable Camino experience
A stranger has been welcoming walkers like you for forty years. What does that kind of quiet commitment look like in your own life?
The ground
Starts with a short passenger ferry across the Santoña-Santander bay from Laredo to Santoña (ferry runs frequently in summer, check schedule in winter). Climbs over the Monte Buciero headland past a 19th-century lighthouse and the Trenga viewpoint, then follows small cliffs past Berria beach, Noja, and into the rural interior to Güemes. Ernesto Bustio's legendary albergue at La Cabaña del Abuelo Peuto in Güemes is a Camino institution.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Laredo 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, The ferryman and the dreamer, 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.