Elechas

Elechas is a small locality in the municipality of Marina de Cudeyo, in Cantabria, in the hill terrain south of the Santander bay. The name derives from helecho, the Spanish word for fern, with the suffix suggesting a place covered in fern or bracken vegetation. The toponym is common across the Cantabrian coastal hinterland where bracken colonises the open hillsides and woodland clearings.

The surrounding landscape has the enclosed green character of the Cantabrian hills, with bracken, oak woodland, and pasture on the slopes above the bay. The inland position behind the estuary gives Elechas a sheltered, verdant quality.

For pilgrims on the Camino del Norte taking the southern estuary route, Elechas falls on the hill section connecting Pedreña with Pontejos and the approach to Santander.