bus/trains on north coast

[iika]

Hello to everybody,

Just found luckily this forum
I walk from Pamplona to Burgos last April. Now go back on 28th of March and as north coast camino looks very nice nature wise plan to
walk Santander to Ribadesella -
train/bus inland to Oviedo-Leon-Astorga
- walk Astorga to Santiago.

As all the time I have is just till 13th of April I might need to use some bus/train also on north coast. I have found http://www.alsa.ee and http://www.feve.es sites and to my surprise see, that there seems to be only 2 trains and 4-5 busses per day from Santander - I tought that there will be much more traffic.

Are there some more local bus/train lines I'm not aware of?
Can I assume for example that Santander-San Vicente de la Barquera bus will also stop in the smaller villages? This was the first stop Alsa page gave me after Santander. I have tought to take bus out from Santander to Santillana del Mar and go on from there.

Regarding albergue in Santander - is it easy to find? Will take bus from airport.

While French way is very well marked - can I expect the north way to be as good?

Thank's for any replies.

 

[Paulus]

Hi Iika,

Some answers and one question: you said to walk Santander-Ribadessella and take the bus out of Santander to Santillana del Mar...???
That's difficult to do both......

Albergue in Santander: easy to find near the cathedral. Albergue Santos Martires in Ruamayor 9 is from the local Federacion Camino Norte.

Route is not as well marked as the CF but much better than I thought when I walked in May 2006. Take a guide from the UK association.

My experiences with the bus: when getting in ask the driver to give you a sign: he will stop also in the little villages.
And yes: there's a train from Ribadesella to Oviedo and there you can take the train or bus to Leon.

Good luck!

 

[iika]

Thanks sillydoll and paulus,

As I might be short of time for all my plans - I really tought to bus Santander -Santillana del Mar and then enjoy more the landscape from there onwards. So I could reach Cobreces in the evening.

I'm based in Estonia, so UK associations do not help me much at the moment :wink:

But I believe that it will work out fine after all. I will see it in 3 days!

 

[Paulus]

Good luck and...Buen Camino.

Paul