Day 5 Markina Xemein to Gurnika

Today again was a top day. We started off early with a quick bus trip from Etxebarria to Markina (we didn’t need to walk that 2 kms again). Spot of breakfast - a frittata like thing for a change, then we set off. The weather was nice and cool which was great on all the ups. We took our time - took lots of photos - and eventually made it to the Monastery of Zenaruzzia, which was just spectacular.

Then we set off for Munitibar and our route took us through beautiful forest. Headed down to Munitibar and were enjoying a coffee when along walks Marte! So we walked with him the rest of the day. It was great.

Such a beautiful day. We said goodbye to Marte who headed off on the train to a couple of towns closer to Bilbao. It was lovely to spend the day with him again.

Checked in to our hotel and turned on the TV to discover the news of Queen Elizabeth II's passing. 

I was lucky in the early 2000s to be a part of a guard of honour with 2 kids from my school for the Queen at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. Whilst we never actually formally met her, we were standing in extremely close proximity to her, with no security guards and no people in between. We would have been only a couple of metres away from her. 

So it was a shock when we were in our accommodation in Markina Xemein to turn on the TV and see the rolling scroll on the bottom, "Muerre la reina Isabel II" - "Queen Elizabeth II dies". This was something we would then see reported on for the next week or so - clearly the Spanish had a fondness for Lizzie too. RIP. God save the Queen.

Headed out for dinner and finally got some vegetables - yay. Very tired now… ‘twas another 26km today - so we are over the 100k mark…

Highlights video https://youtu.be/PIaLF7miFZ8

Camino Del Norte Day 4: Deba - Markina Xemein / Etxebarria

Day 4 Deba to Etxebarria 29 km

Today’s video update if you’re interested is here…. https://youtu.be/tEkFhTj5IP0

Yet again, another fabulous day on the Camino.Today we left the coast and headed inland. As usual, most of the day was spent going up, then down, then up, then down - in the book this is another ‘challenging’ day and yes I can attest to that. We haven’t really had an easy day yet. One challenge though that the guidebooks don't mention has been breakfast. As we understand it, on routes like the French route, you get up early so you can walk in the cooler part of the day, have breakfast en route in another town, and are often in to your destination by around lunchtime. Not so on this route. Firstly, the other towns are few and far between. If we had followed that model on the first day we wouldn’t have had any breakfast until mid afternoon. Secondly, leaving very early isn’t really an option, because many of the cafes and supermarkets in these towns don’t open until after 8am. In a way this makes sense as the sun doesn’t really rise until 7.45am or so. It makes it particularly challenging when Russell has to take voltaren for his knees, and that's best taken with food, so we really do need to have breakfast.

Because we had to stay in Mutriku, some 6kms off route, we had to get the 7.15am bus back to Deba. We found a cafe at 8am and had a croissant and coffee (I am a bit over all the bread and pastry products - there’s no English breakfast here!). The supermarkets weren’t open and today’s route apparently didn’t have any services on the way so we picked up a bocadillo to go (more bread!) and set off.

Not far into the route we were joined by a young German guy called Malte from Copenhagen. He was fantastic company today and we really enjoyed walking with him. He comes over to Spain every year and just does a little bit of walking, as long as his holidays allow, and then comes back the next year and does some more - like most Europeans, we have found. Whilst he is prebooking accommodation like us, he is doing it on the fly - he looks ahead each night to see how far he thinks he'd like to go the next day, and then books something on booking.com. He was really very fascinating to talk to and it was lovely to have someone else to share the day with. He was telling us the background story for another lady we had seen on the Camino - a German lady - who we had noticed with very heavily bandaged knees. It turns out that she has walked from her home in Germany! Such a long way...

We enjoyed a well earned coffee and pintxos (Basque tapas) in Olatz, which was the only place open on the route today. Several hours later we made it into Martina Xemein, which should have been our stop for the night, but like last night, we couldn’t find any accommodation, so this time we had to walk the extra 2 kms to Etxebarria. Before we did that though, we enjoyed a ‘menu del dia’ with Malte, having a well earned rest prior to the last little push.

We are holding up very well - I have a slightly squished pinky toe, but other than that, we’re feeling fine. Because we ate so late we didn’t need to go for dinner (just as well because they don’t eat until very late here). It’s astonishing to believe that in 4 days we are almost 100km into our journey! Technically we have 742kms to go…

Camino del Norte Day 3 Zarautz to Mutriku 23 km

 Camino del Norte

Day 3 Zarautz to Deba 23km

Highlights video https://youtu.be/PaPkGmcRdRk

Well another fabulous day. We left Zarautz and again it was straight.. you guessed it... up!! We’ve come to the conclusion that’s pretty much all you do on the Northern route. Go up! But that’s how you get the best views…!

We took a quick detour to Santa Barbara to have a look at the view from there which was absolutely spectacular. Why is it though that when you go up, the next thing is you go back down? We have been up and down a lot today!!

Along the way today we passed several home vineyards which were pretty. In one, we discovered the owners had used the space for a double purpose, storing their car in there like a garage!

We enjoyed a coffee at the church of San Martin de Askizu (which was another steep up) and this time I actually managed to order my coffee in Spanish! After this the route took us through yet more farmlands. The towns on this route are few and far between but the views are spectacular. We took plenty of breaks just so we could enjoy the view more.

We had lunch (back down at sealevel!) in Zumaia. This is a cute little town with a big port. Funny thing we saw there were all the people swimming in the port where the sign said not to, and a kid fishing off the the back of a stand up paddle board. After some lunch we set off again on the route - you guessed it - up - and walked along the road up the steep hill where we saw the walled garden of the Convent. We went in and took a quick look, enjoying some brief respite in the shade.

More steep ups and magnificent views and then there was a massive steep down into Deba.

Unfortunately we hadn’t been able to organise accomodation in Deba because there’s some public holiday today or something, so we have to stay in Murtiku- which was another 5kms away. But we weren’t walking that! We had a bit of a panic moment when we tried to book a taxi but you have to phone - on Whatsapp of course - and 1. No one answered and 2. Not sure they would’ve understood us anyway. We were then in a bit of a tricky situation. Not quite sure what we would do, we approached another couple we saw getting a taxi and tried to ask whether their driver could help - he wouldn't.  Eventually, in a flap we typed up a message in Google translate and showed it to a stranger, who pointed frantically over the road at a bus stop. Dubiously we went over there and surprisingly a bus actually came! Hooray!!

We were required however to wear a mask as they still have those requirements in Spain post covid. 

Our accommodation in Mutriku is quite small - we are in a tiny little attic room at the top of the building, but it is adequate. They provided us with a nice little tray table outside our room (I think its shared for everyone) of juice and biscuits which we enjoyed. 

We then headed out to explore the town which is built on the side of a very steep hill leading down to the port. Enjoyed a nice quiet dinner before heading back for a well earned rest!

It’s been another stunning day…

Camino Del Norte Day 2 San Sebastián to Zarautz 22.5km

Our accommodation last night didn’t have breakfast provided (yes in case you didn’t realise we aren’t using alburgues - sacrilege - but pre-booked accomodation because with the large number of pilgrims post covid we wanted to be sure of beds) so we headed off at a slightly later than we would have liked hour in search of breakfast. We found a nice little cafe and enjoyed a toastie and coffee before setting off on today’s adventure. 

Such a hot day it was today as well - 32 degrees! This seems madness as it’s supposed to be Autumn now - but it’s like the height of Summer! Todays “Way” involved climbing 3 mountains - Igeldo, Mendizorrotz and Kukuarri. Yes none of these names mean anything to me either. But what struck me about this route was the farmland we passed through. Loads of donkeys and cows and even the odd sheep, as well as of course lots of cabbages, corn, apples, and obviously grapes. 

We encountered many fellow “peregrinos” today - some British girls, a Canadian couple, the same Englishman from yesterday….and 3 Spanish boys we dubbed “Una direccion” because they were walking along (at a cracking pace!) and singing along with their loud music! Russell would

like it known he called them “The three tenors” but they didn’t sing well enough in my opinion to warrant that fine name!

As we headed down the hill to Orio we came across a Spanish couple who had set up a rest stop outside their house, offering coffee, tea, cool drinks and baked goods for pilgrims, so of course we stopped and rested a while. 

We had a beautiful lunch in Orio - our first “Menu del dia” - wow what a load of food! It was like 2 lunches rolled into one! And this was where I learned how to order my standard preferred coffee - “cafe con leche desnatada corto cafe “- aka half strength skinny latte, thanks to a very patient and helpful young waiter. Although later on in our trip, once we moved out of the Basque Country, I found that in Cantabria they got a bit confused with this order and eventually it had to become ‘corto cafe, largo leche’. By the time we hit Asturias they needed it to be ‘corto cafe, mucho leche’!

The last 5kms into Zarautz was very pleasant, but it seemed to go on for ever! It was just like walking along the old Gold Coast highway through the suburbs, past holiday accomodation mixed with regular houses. We eventually arrived at our accomodation - the very oddly named “Somme Hipsuites”, having to navigate narrow little back streets using a combination of the Buen Camino app and Google Maps, only to find yet again our pack had not been delivered - but was waiting at the post office! Ya what?! This was most frustrating. We are carrying day bags and shipping a bag on each day (paq machila) - which is a brilliant service but for the last two days has been tricky as they won’t deliver if there is not a manned reception desk.  Yesterday they left it (securely) at the bar next door and today they messaged Russell to say it was at the post office. So, once we had completed our check in using the self automated vending machine system. It was relatively straightforward once we got into it, but a little nerve racking at the start as I wasn’t convinced it was actually going to work, and we had no real way of contacting anyone save for the messaging section of the booking.com app.

The room itself was very modern and had a very funky window shade sort of system with wooden slats that could be angled but covered a sort of vacant but well lit (and unable to be opened) window area. And it was one of the few places on the whole trip where we got a ‘matrimonial’ bed!

I decided to have a shower and stay in the hotel whilst Russell went out to look for the post office and find our bag. We were quite concerned because Correos emailed him and said that tomorrow he would have to take the luggage back to the Correos depot because of all the problems we’d had with reception areas not being manned, however the Correos bloke told us that their post office would be closed for a public holiday the next day! What to do? Fortunately we were able to get on to Somn Hipsuites who assured us that they would be at reception the next morning so Correos could pick up our luggage.

It was about this time that we realised the whole problem with the pac mochila was not just the manned / unmanned reception, but primarily the fact that the booking.com reservations were in my name, and the pac mochila reservations were in Russell’s! So we changed all the booking.com reservations to his name and double checked every hotel had a staffed reception during pac mochila pick up and drop off hours.

Luggage obtained, we had a brief relax and then set out to explore the town. We enjoyed a lovely swim at the beach - the longest beach in this province. I managed to get the GoPro out too. I was quite surprised just how many people were at the beach at that time of day! They had these cute little blue and white tents too for people to change into. It was really interesting.

We came back and got changed, and set off for the main square to try to organise some dinner. Well again, that was a bit fraught. By the time we got there, the bar we went to only had a bit of dodgy tapas and that was about it. So we sat there in the main square and enjoyed a glass of rioja and some very small (but tasty) tapas.

We headed back to the hotel, and I was editing my travel video and doing my facebook post when the strangest message appeared on my phone, via WhatsApp (a service I rarely use!). “We found your wallet. It is in the Local Police in Zarautz. Hope you recover it. Greetings from Miranda Zarautz.”  The message was accompanied by a photo of 5 people holding up my wallet and my card holder. What?!!

I felt sick to the stomach. Is this a scam? But they have a photo of them holding my wallet? How can that be?

I immediately messaged them back “Hello where did you find this? Is the police office open now? Thank you so much”. They then said they were there still, and sent the address, so we quickly set off, quite trepidatious, and uncertain as to whether we were going to be scammed, mugged, or who knows what.

It turns out these were some very nice people who had been at the same bar as us, and as they were leaving, they spotted my wallet on the ground next to where I had been seated. They went into the bar and tried to find out who owned it, and the bar man said we were foreigners, and we had left. So they asked at the hotels surrounding the square, but of course, we weren’t staying there. Then they d

ug a little deeper, and found my receipt from the Ibis in Irun, which they phoned - and that’s how they got my number.

What kind people. They then took my purse to the local police station and waited for us. They wouldn’t accept any money (and there had been some in that wallet, that’s for sure!). It turns out they had been to one of the guy’s mother’s funeral that day, and were at a kind of wake at the bar before heading off to dinner (at 11.30 at night!) So grateful for the kindness of strangers - and I will be sure to zip my bag up better next time!

Meantime here is my travel video for today…https://youtu.be/VbY6GjHR3fA

Camino del Norte Day 1 Irun - San Sebastián

Day 1 Irun - San Sebastián 27km

Well today was our first day of the Camino and boy was it good! 

We set off about 8am - probably a little too late but hey, we have all day because we have our accomodation booked. We wandered down to the first known point to join the Camino where strangely there were a bunch of police doing police things. But soon we were out of the the city and on our way up to the first big challenge - Jaizkibel. En route we came across the gorgeous church at Guadalupe (the Mirador de Guadalupe), which has a bearded Jesus, which is apparently unusual. We had magnificent views there over the bay to France. There’s quite a few people on this route and I felt for one woman I saw who had blisters already… going to be a long Camino for her.  I wanted to use the toilet here but sadly they were portaloos that were full to overflowing, so it was a pretty gross experience! After this we climbed steeply 100m in the space of 300m, and then to the summit of 532m (and we started at sea level). It was 26 degrees but the humidity was high so it felt a lot hotter.

Got some magnificent views at the summit of Jaizkibel. Then we had a steep descent which is where we met an Englishman who walked with us for a while. He started to annoy me a bit - he was going on about how he has done several caminos and he was basically dissing us because we are staying in pre-booked accomodation and getting our gear shipped on. Frankly I would rather stay in pre-booked accomodation than a hostel, and for only 4 euros it’s very helpful to have our gear shipped. Anyway, we must’ve missed a turn because we ended up having to walk on the road for a bit, which was quite scary with the traffic. It was funny because the English guy was convinced to go one way, and the Canadian girls we met were convinced to go the road, and it was a great opportunity to get rid of him so we took the road. Eventually got down (steeply) to Pasaia. We had wanted to have a coffee or a cool drink there (it was sooo hot!) so we sat down in one of the restaurants in the main square, however the waiter came over and basically told us that unless we were eating, we couldn’t order a drink! How bizarre?! Ended up getting a bottle of water in one of the small shops and then we got the ferry across the harbour. On the other side we saw these strange mens urinals - very odd - basically open for everyone to see. Very odd! 

We sat down by the side of the harbour and had our sandwiches before making our way up another massive up hill. On the way up this we met a man who told us that there was water on the way, just before the big church - it was a beautiful spring just before the cute aqueduct which I, of course, had to walk across. Not going to lie, it was actually quite scary!

We continued along the forest, more up and downs, until eventually, about an hour later, we got our first views of the beach at San Sebastián, and the rest of the city. I was pretty excited by this point - it had been a mammoth day, with some 27kms under our belts, and boy I was feeling it!

It was a steep descent down into San Sebastián, and at this point, the knees were starting to complain. Sadly we couldn’t appreciate the beautiful beach because it was so hot, and we had been walking for so long, and the beach just seemed endless! Eventually we made it to the start of the old town, where there was a little bridge across the inlet, and we found our accommodation - Pension San Telmo / San Juan. 

It was a pretty dingy place. The photos in booking.com make it look fantastic, but it was quite dark and squished. We had a room overlooking the street with the smallest of balconies, and the lane way below was quite noisy late into the night (more on that later). When we arrived we were disappointed to find that our luggage hadn’t actually arrived (we’re doing pac mochila which is a service provided by Correos - they will transport your 15kg bag from hotel to hotel each day for around €4 each time. I was confused though - because on “Find My” it showed the airtags as being in the vicinity. So we showed it to the guy and he said that he thought it was the bar next door. Then Russell checked his email and WhatsApp and saw a message there from Correos that they had delivered next door. So, tired, hungry, hot, we headed back down the stairs and into the noisy bar and sure enough, there were our bags. But now there is an issue about the pick up tomorrow, because Correos can’t specify an exact time for pickup and the reception area has to be manned. Long story short, the guy gave us his mobile number and said for us to give that Correos, and have them text or call when they were coming. So phew, that was going to work out.

By this point all we wanted to do was get cleaned up and get some food. However this accomodation is shared bathroom only, with 2 bathrooms - the first one (and the one that Russell ended up at) having been recently refurbished (but it had 2 showers in it); and the second one, that I ended up at, being definitely not recently refurbished. So it was a bit hit and miss.

After showering, and doing some hand washing, we decided to head out and explore the town a bit, looking for some dinner. The architecture of this town is very interesting, with a great variety, from a 16th century Gothic style church; and 18th century Baroque basilica; Belle Epoque buildings; palaces; Rationalist buildings… it has it all. Additionally, today was one of the days of the oldest and most famous rowing regattas, Flag La Concha. It happens on the first two Sundays of September in San Sebastian. From 1879 competitions are held between teams from towns and villages throughout the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Traditional rowing boats carrying a crew of thirteen rowers and a helmsman start in La Concha Bay from where they go out into the open sea. Overcoming waves, they speed around the buoys that mark the track and return to their original position. Energetic fans dressed in the traditional colorus of each team's village cheer on the shore along the rowers' route. An unusual atmosphere of rivalry and excitement reigns on the beach, in the port and on La Concha promenade. The regatta is accompanied by a week-long Basque festival with traditional food, local beer and music and dances. So all of this made for manic, crazy, festive and noisy crowds of people partying til all hours - right outside our window!

We decided to try to find some food - quite a feat, we later learned - because no one in Spain eats before practically midnight! Well, that’s a little exaggeration, but certainly we found it challenging to find food before 7.30, and all we could get was pinxos, a small bar snack popular in Basque, Asturias, Cantabria - basically the majority of the Camino del Norte regions. It consists essentially of something ‘skewered’ on to a bit of bread - hence the term ‘pinxos’ meaning ‘spiked’. On this first night we didn’t mind so much, but by the end of the trip, we had well and truly had enough of this ‘delicacy’.

We made our way back to the hotel, stopping for ice cream, (because why not?) and then collapsed into bed after a very long, but rewarding day. Tomorrow… Zarautz awaits…

Irun and Hendaye

 Day 0 “Rest day” in Irun 20kms

So today was our first full day in Spain. Our plan for the day was to go get our credentials for our pilgrimage, have a little “warm up” walk, and explore the town of Irun. 

We headed into town. I was surprised to see people at like 10am in cafes having beer! Spain hey. We weren’t sure where we could get the credential booklet, so we asked at the tourist office and were told we could get it at the Town Hall. We headed off there and there was a wedding taking place outside! We went inside and it wasn’t really very clear where we should go - a tiny little counter off to the side of a major staircase - and the young bloke there gave us our credentials for free.

After this we explored a little more and ended up wandering past a little market, mostly clothes, where I ended up buying some coolmax socks for €5! They were pretty good too, as it turned out.

We then decided we would have a look at the start of the Camino, which technically starts halfway across the bridge over the river Bidasoa - the border between France and Spain. Then on a whim we decided to walk across it and go to France for lunch. It was funny literally the second we got to the French border, my esim for Spain stopped working, and I had no connection at all! 

It was just surreal to have wandered into another country, seeing all the signs in French (and having a better chance of understanding them!). Russell also enjoyed the opportunity for some birding along the river. We ended up at the beach in Hendaye, enjoying a panini and cafe au lait whilst looking out at the Bay of Figuier. Beautiful. Sitting next to us was a French couple who clearly were doing the Camino - they were dressed in trekking clothes and had backpacks and poles. I wonder how far they’d already come, their boots looked quite worn already…

Our little “warm up” walk before we knew it, turned in to 20kms!! Not a bad hit out to start.

We then made our way back to Spain, trying to avoid being taken out by cars on the various roundabouts and roads on our way back to the Ibis Irun. Had dinner at the Ibis because it was just easier, so we could enjoy a relax before tomorrow’s walk.

I’m attempting a little travel vlog for as long as I can, so here it is… https://youtu.be/2_-gC048H20