Creepy guy on Camino del Norte (Santilla del Mar to El Arroyo)

[Eli_]

September 18th 2022, around 07:45

This morning there was a weird guy that followed people on the camino between Santilla del Mar and El Arroyo.

I was walking and I started to heard keys jiggling so I turned around and there was a guy behind me playing with his keys in his hand. I know, not scary, but he didn’t feel like other people I encountered.

The girls who have just past me stop in front of a house to “tie here laces”. (It was the last house of the street and after was a strech without houses).
I stopped with her. The guy continued his way, but a few meters later (20-30m maybe?) he stop and seemed to be waiting (looking around, playing with a branch, etc.). Another girl stopped with us because she scared a little too. We stayed there a few minutes. The first girl said he followed her since maybe 10 minutes before.
The guy went back, past in front of us and re-stopped to “wait” a few meter (10-20m?) before us again.
*All that time he was playing with something jiggling in his hands, maybe keys ?
We were about to call a taxi when an another girl passed in front of us.
The guy started to follow her, so we decided to follow him from a distance (to make sure nothing happens). Just before the next city he stopped, turn around and went back to El Arroyo.
Nothing happened but I wanted to inform people because if I had been alone I would’ve been reallyyyyyy scared.

 

[dick bird]

You should inform the police or, even better, the Guardia Civil. If he is harmless, they will warn him off. If he is not harmless, you may have saved someone from being a victim. Please, report this.

 

[henrythedog]

My sympathies ordinarily do lie with anyone who is made to feel unreasonably uncomfortable; but honestly I don’t think the Guardia Civil are going to get the comandante off the golf course on the basis of that level of, admittedly, strange-sounding behaviour. A recently reported actual assault with what was thought to be a BB gun, relayed on here, didn’t get anywhere despite the strenuous efforts of the victim.

Should the OP be so inclined; the AlertCops app gives a quick, easy and multilingual means of reporting actual events, although the 12 categories available do seem to be rather focussed on reporting an incident rather than a perception.

 

[SabsP]

My sympathies ordinarily do lie with anyone who is made to feel unreasonably uncomfortable; but honestly I don’t think the Guardia Civil are going to get the comandante off the golf course on the basis of that level of, admittedly, strange-sounding behaviour. A recently reported actual assault with what was thought to be a BB gun, relayed on here, didn’t get anywhere despite the strenuous efforts of the victim.

Should the OP be so inclined; the AlertCops app gives a quick, easy and multilingual means of reporting actual events, although the 12 categories available do seem to be rather focussed on reporting an incident rather than a perception.

Although I understand what you are saying I would follow my gut feeling in this case.
It did help me in more than one situation. Off and on a Camino.
If a situation or encounter feels " off " or out of the ordinary : react accordingly. Most of the times one is right to get away and/or alert police.

 

[Eli_]

You should inform the police or, even better, the Guardia Civil. If he is harmless, they will warn him off. If he is not harmless, you may have saved someone from being a victim. Please, report this.

That’s a good idea.
I didn’t think of it because nothing happened.

 

[Colette Z]

Didn’t one of our female forum members report to police (and on this forum) about being attacked near maybe Luarca? Maybe I’m mistaken. As a female solo pilgrim I’ve had my moments like that described and why I use AlertCopps.