Tuesday, July 23, 2019 Second Day On The CDN Pasajes To San Sebastián.

The volunteer hostitalero at the alburgue woke up everyone at 6:30 AM by playing very soft and soothing classical music at a slowly increasing volume. After everyone started to stir he slowly turned on the lights with a dimmer switch. What a great way to wake up an alburgue full of sleepy Pilgrims.

I washed my face and brushed my teeth and was out of Alburgue Santa Anna by 7:00 AM.

As I walked down the stairs to get to the boat that would take me to the other side of the harbor, I noticed that in the bottom level of the alburgue there was a small chapel. I stopped in to say a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list. As I was praying I noticed that there were 4 people sleeping on mattresses that had been thrown on the floor. The Alburgue Santa Anna only sleeps 18. Yesterday the alburgue opened at 2:00 PM and was full by 2:30. Apparently, a group of four German women came stumbling into the alburgue at about 9:00 PM begging for a place to stay. The hospitalero took pity on them and let them sleep on spare mattresses he was storing in a closet in the chapel. What a nice guy!

The four German women looked like they did not get a good nights sleep. I threw in another prayer for them. I think they are going to need it. After I finished my prayers I carefully walked down the long and very steep stairs from the alburgue to the boat pier and paid the boatman eighty cents to take me to the other side of the harbor.

Once across the harbor and out of the boat I had a red/yellow decision to make. Yellow is the color designation for the official Camino Del Norte route. Red is the color designation for the Grande Randonnee. That is French for Grand Road. To the right was the official Camino route, well marked with yellow arrows, easier and safer. To the left was the red route, the Grande Randonnee, which is an alternate route that is usually more scenic but oftentimes not as well marked, difficult bordering on damm hard, and probably not the safest place to be if you are walking solo. Leave it to the French to call a trail like this Grand. Dangerous and tough as nails yes, grand no.

Yesterday I ignored the sign that said you shouldn’t be on the Pugatorio trail unless you are physically fit and have some mountaineering experience. I ignored that warning even though I know that I am old, out of shape, and have no mountaineering experience. The Purgatorio trail started with a very steep one kilometer ascent. I mean pull yourself up the slope using tree root hand holds steep. After the trail reached the top of the ridge it meandered about six kilometers along the edge of the cliff face of the ridge and then through a “slip just once and you break your ankle” boulder field. Then another six kilometers almost straight down to Pasajes.

After I got to Pasajes yesterday, I swore I would make better and safer choices as I continue to walk the CDN. So, this morning when I got off the boat I made a yellow, not a cowardly yellow but a stay on the official Camino route yellow, decision and it turned out to be the right choice.

The first part of the trail out of Pasajes wound along the west side of the estuary leading out of the harbor and into the Bay of Biscay.

This is a view of the mouth of the estuary leading out to the Bay of Biscay.

This is a picture taken from the mouth of the estuary looking back at Pasajes.

After we got to the end of the estuary we took a hard left and climbed what seemed like an endless flight of stairs.

I found this plaque at a picnic area at the top of the stairs.

As we walked along the ridge line toward San Sebastián the views were stunning.

This area is called Green Spain because it gets a lot of rain. Good for the grass and the flowers.

This is an old stone bridge that the trail bypasses.

The trail is in the background of this picture. This is a popular place for people to go out onto the bridge and have someone take their picture. A German guy asked me if I wanted to crawl out on this bridge and then he would snap my picture. My response was basically thanks, but no thanks. Is this some sort of test? I made a stupid decision yesterday with that whole Purgatorio trail thing. I have admitted that it was a stupid decision. From this day forward I am going to try to avoid doing stupid stuff on the CDN. And crawling out on that crumbling go to hell bridge would have qualified as stupid.

At about 10:30 AM I walked around a corner and there was San Sebastián.

It is Tuesday morning and it looks like everyone in San Sebastián is at the beach.

It is 100 degrees Fahrenheit in San Sebastián so calling in sick and going to the beach is probably a good move.

I arranged to check into the Pension Regil at noon so I had some time to kill. I decided it was Radler time.

BTW, Radler is a shandy made of beer and lemonade. Nothing beats a Radler to quench a morning, noon or evening thirst on the Camino. Last year I said that the Camino Francés runs on cafe con leche. Since I don’t drink coffee, I fueled my Camino Francés with orange juice. So far I am fueling my Camino Del Norte with Radler.

After I finished my Radler it was time to find and check into the Pension Regil. After wandering around San Sebastián for about a half an hour Google Maps told me I had arrived. But the street where Google Maps told me the Pension Regil was located was cordoned off and in the middle of the street two huge pieces of construction equipment were maniacally hammering at the street surface, making a racket loud enough to wake the dead.

I cursed Google Maps and Booking.Com and trudged up three flights of stairs to check into what I was sure would be a house of horrors.

An older guy, Julio, met me at the check in counter and profusely apologized for the noise. Apparently the City of San Sebastián is working on their subway system. I can’t figure out why they have to tear up the street to work on the subway. The subway is a fair distance below the surface of the street. Go down below the street and work on the subway. Less mess and less noise.

This is my 10 by 10 foot room at the Pension Regil. It is small but it is clean as a pin and the air conditioner works. That is good enough for this Pilgrim.

I have a small balcony. This is the view from my balcony.

Julio assured me they will stop working at 7:00 PM and all will be quiet.

After I cleaned up I went out in search of pintxos. This is what I found.

I don’t know what exactly was in these pintxos but they were really delicious.

I think the pintxo at the bottom of the picture was a piece of bread topped with some kind of creamy cheese mixture and topped with a shrimp. The pintxo at the top of the picture was a piece of bread topped with Serrano ham and a grilled anchovy. So far, the food on the CDN has been delicious.

Today I took 13,000 steps and walked 10 kilometers. I will need to pick up the pace if I want to get to Santiago, the end of the CDN, before Winter.

One last thought before I sign off.

Travel

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly. You leave marks behind, however small. And in return life – and travel – leaves marks on you.”

Anthony Bourdain

I hope everyone had a great Tuesday.

Good evening from San Sebastian, Spain.