Sunday, July 28, 2019 Izarbide to Markina

I got up this morning and had breakfast at the Alburgue Izarbide. Everyone at the alburgue was going to walk to the Monasterio Zenarruza and stay there with the monks. This sounded like a great idea except for two things. First, it is a 26 kilometer hike over very difficult terrain and 20 kilometers seems to be my limit. Second, there are only 18 beds at the monastery. If you don’t get there at 2:00 PM and stand in line for the 4:00 PM opening, you won’t get a bed and you have to walk another 4 kilometers to the next town, Munitibar, where you better hope they have room at the alburgue.

I said Buen Camino to everyone as they ran out of the alburgue in a mad dash to get to the monastery by 2:00 PM. I, on the other hand, ambled out of the alburgue on the heels of the herd stampeding to the monastery and started my leisurely 16 kilometer hike to Markina.

This is as close to a sunrise picture as I could get on a cloudy morning.

This is the road to Olatz, about 3 kilometers from the Alburgue Izarbide.

What a beautiful trumpet vine.

A beautiful view from a ridge above Olatz.

This is a slug that was slowly crawling across the trail. At the end of a hard day on the CDN I feel like this slug. I also look like this slug.

They do a lot of logging in this area. I could smell the pine resin as I walked past these piles of newly cut logs.

This is a swimming pool. There is a farmhouse on the other side of the road.

At the bottom of the picture you can see water flowing out of a hose into the pool. At the top of the picture you can see a gate that leads to a set of stairs down into the water.

A beautiful view along the Way.

What do you think this guy is doing?

He is picking blackberries.

Almost the entire route today was lined with blackberry bushes. As I walked along the Way I grazed on ripe blackberries. What a delicious treat.

An abandoned farmhouse.

We had to share the Way with large groups of mountain bikers. This area seems to be the Moab of Spain for Spanish mountain bikers.

These beautiful flowers were growing in the rock crevices along the Way.

We are finally getting close to Markina. Another 4 kilometers to get to the end of a very grueling hike.

The last kilometer down to Markina is a road that seems like it is almost vertical. I hate these steep downhills at the end of the day.

This is Spanish corn on the outskirts of Markina.

Pretty ragged corn if you ask me. Nothing like an Illinois corn field.

This is an Illinois corn field.

This is my good buddy Buck Blake showing off the corn on his spread, the Rocking B Ranch, outside Greenview, Illinois. Now that’s corn 🌽.

I splurged and got a private room at the Alburgue Pitis in Markina.

It will be so nice to sleep in a room by myself with sheets and pillowcases.

As I was walking around Markina trying to find dinner I stumbled upon a church. I went inside where Abe and St. Christopher went nuts and lit five candles 🕯. The Three Amigos prayed five time harder than normal for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

This is dinner. First course, a tureen of fish soup so big you could swim in it.

Second course, stuffed peppers with French fries.

And flan for dessert.

Today I walked 21,000 steps which translates to 16 kilometers.

That’s it for today.

Tomorrow I am walking to the monastery and I will stay there tomorrow night. I don’t think the monastery has WiFi. As such, the blog post for tomorrow might be a day late.

Good evening from Markina, Spain.