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
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