Portugalete to Castro Urdiales
Crossing into Cantabria
- Distance
- 32.1 km
- Climb
- 640 m up, 655 m down
- Ground
- 0 to 280 m
- Time
- 7 to 9 hours
- Difficulty
- hard
- Underfoot
- coastal, forest, paved, dirt
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
You cross a provincial border today but not a cultural one — the Basque-speaking world ends somewhere around Kobaron. By midday you are in Cantabria and the road signs are only in Spanish. Castro Urdiales is your reward: a perfect medieval port with a 13th-century Gothic church (Santa María de la Asunción) sitting on a rock above the harbour, looking exactly like a fortress-church should. The sun on the church at the end of a 32 km day is one of the Norte's great moments.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Crossing out of the Basque Country without a sign marking it
- The fatigue that sets in at 25 km of a 32 km stage
- First sight of Santa María de la Asunción at Castro Urdiales — Gothic on a rock
- Eating anchovies (bonito or bocarte) at the Castro harbourfront — the local specialty
Three regions now — Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia, Cantabria — and you have not yet walked a thousandth of the Camino. What is the long walk teaching that a short one could not?
The ground
The longest stage so far. Climbs out of Portugalete through La Arena beach and the Kobaron coastal ridge, crosses into Cantabria at the Ontón pass, and descends to Castro Urdiales. Most pilgrims split this stage at Pobeña (~10 km) where there is pilgrim accommodation at the albergue in Santa Maria de Abanto.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Portugalete 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, Crossing into Cantabria, 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.