I woke up at 6:30 AM and was on the road at 7:00.
I started out the day walking in the rain and it rained ALL freaking day long. I might look chipper in this beginning of the day picture, but I was anything but chipper at the end of the day.
This is a picture of the fog and the rain that is rolling into the area.
This is trail side art just outside Orio.
Notice the first aid box in the lower right hand side of the picture.
Someone in the community stocks this box with supplies to take care of blistered Pilgrim feet. Another example of Camino Magic.
This is Zarautz. It is a resort town. Great surfing and you can see a golf course in the foreground of the picture. It is pouring down rain. In spite of the Noah’s Ark deluge there are people out surfing. Nobody’s golfing. That proves that golfers 🏌️♀️ are smarter than surfers🏄♀️.
I stopped in Zarautz and had a second breakfast at a beachside cafe. This is a picture of the beach and the surf taken from the beachside cafe.
I decided to try a Basque specially for breakfast.
Churros with chocolate and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Churros are deep fried dough coated with sugar. The cup is full of melted chocolate. You dip the warm churro in the melted chocolate and try to get it into your mouth before you drip melted chocolate all over your already stained shirt and shorts.
When walking the Camino you follow the yellow arrows.
I saw this set of yellow arrows as I was walking through Zarautz.
Conflicting signals? This was a “go forward or go back where you came from” moment for me on the Camino Del Norte. I decided to keep walking towards Santiago.
After my delicious and sugar filled breakfast I bade farewell to Zarautz. This would be a great picture on a sunny day.
As I was on the Way between Zarautz and Getaria I saw this sign in a vineyard.
I think I understand what this sign is telling me not to do in the vineyard. Hey Mr. Vineyard Owner, it might be more effective to install a Porta Potty rather than put up this stupid sign. It is 5 kilometers to the next town. If someone really needs to go, this sign isn’t even going to slow them down.
I got to Zumaia at about 12:30 and I was done for the day. This is lunch in Zumaia, a foot long grilled chorizo sausage in a bun. And boy did it hit the spot!
I am staying at the Alburgue de Zumaia which is housed in the 400 year old Convent of San Jose. This is my room for the night.
The Carmelite Convent of San Jose was a cloistered convent. This means that once a nun walked through the front door of the convent she would never leave. All the nuns are buried in an ossuary in the basement of the convent, now alburgue. I hope I don’t have nightmares tonight featuring skeleton nuns chasing after me swinging yardsticks at my head.
As I was trying to find a place for dinner I took a wrong turn and stumbled upon a church that was having a service. I sat down in the back of the church and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.
This is the altarpiece in the 15th century Gothic church of San Pedro in Zumaia.
This altarpiece was sculpted by Juan de Antxieta and assembled by Martin de Arbizu in the 16th century. These two names mean nothing to me and they probably mean nothing to you but in the Basque Country these two guys are rockstars when it comes to sculpting and assembling altarpieces.
This was dinner.
At high noon on the plate there is a goat cheese and smoked salmon pintxo, at three o’clock there is a mini Serrano ham bocadillo, at six o’clock there is an anchovy pintxo and at nine o’clock there is an olive and sardine pintxo. All washed down with a large Radler.
Today I walked 25,000 steps, which adds up to 19 kilometers.
Before I sign off Abe has a bone to pick with his hometown, Springfield, Illinois.
This Saturday Springfield is hosting the Abe’s Olympic Triathlon. The swim is going to be in Lake Springfield. Good luck with that. The last time Springfield put on a triathlon and did the swim part of the triathlon in Lake Springfield, most of the participants caught a particularly nasty stomach bug from the mud puddle that you all refer to as Lake Springfield, and wound up in the hospital. Hey Springfield, wake up and smell the coffee. Nobody should be swimming in that cesspool you call Lake Springfield. If you really want it to be the Abe Lincoln Olympic Triathlon you should have the swim at the Nelson Center pool in Lincoln Park. And then ride your bikes out to New Berlin and back a bunch of times. Finally, you can run around Lincoln Park until you have covered the marathon part of the triathlon. Sounds like a better plan than having people swim in water that no self respecting hog would wallow in.
And another thing, did anyone bother to contact my agent, that would be Mark, to discuss the fee for licensing my name for this shindig? Somebody better get in touch with Mark immediately to discuss this issue. I am upset because all you people in Springfield have been so cavalier with the use of my name and image. Finally, why are you having a triathlon in Springfield at the end of July? It is going to be 90 freaking degrees with 80% humidity on Saturday. People in Springfield don’t cut their grass when it gets that hot and humid 🥵. Who was the genius that scheduled a triathlon for the hottest part of the summer? I hope you don’t have too many participants keel over from heat prostration.
That’s all for today. I hope everyone had a great Friday.
Goodnight from Zumaia, Spain.
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 