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…