Friday, August 2, 2019 Pobeña To Castro Urdiales

I got a pretty good night’s sleep at the alburgue at Pobeña. People started getting up and packing at 6:00 AM. It is impossible to sleep while people are rustling around trying to find all their stuff with their headlamps shining in rhythmic arcs like searchlights at the premiere of a Hollywood blockbuster in a bygone era. I figured that if I can’t sleep I might as well join the herd and pack up and hit the road. Unfortunately, I had to pack two sets of wet clothes. The last couple of days have been hazy and humid and the clothes I washed in the afternoon haven’t dried. So I have two sets of wet hiking clothes in a plastic shopping bag fermenting like sauerkraut or kimchi in my backpack. As you can probably imagine the smell of these fermenting clothes is not pleasant.

I was out of the alburgue in Pobena at 6:45 AM and almost immediately had to climb up 10 flights of stairs to get to the top of the ridge where the hike west begins. These views of the sunrise were my reward for the early morning stair master workout.

As I walked along the seaside ridge I encountered this sign.

I did not know that the Camino Del Norte has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Based on the sunrise 🌄 I saw this morning I am not surprised by the designation.

As I continued to walk along the edge of the seaside cliff, the sunrise kept getting better and better and better.

I walked by this sign that says I have walked 187 kilometers, with about 15 of those kilometers being by bus 🚌 and train 🚊 in and around Bilbao, and have 627 kilometers to go to get to Santiago. That’s a lot of kilometers to get to Santiago! What was I thinking? This sign also marks the border between the Basque Country and Cantabria.

I have enjoyed my time in the Basque Country. The people were friendly, the food was delicious and the scenery was spectacular.

This is Ontan, about 6 kilometers west of Pobena.

At Otan you can take the regular trail up that hill in the background of the picture or you can walk on this slightly ascending road for a few kilometers and avoid the arduous hill climb.

You guessed it. I took the road. Ever since I started walking in Irun 12 days ago I have felt like poor Sisyphus. Zeus punished Sisyphus for his hubris by condemning him to push a boulder up a steep hill for eternity. Every time Sisyphus gets the boulder to the top of the hill it rolls down to the bottom. Sisyphus curses and then must trudge down to the bottom of the hill and push the boulder back up to the top of the hill, knowing that once he gets to the summit the boulder will say “screw you” and roll back down to the bottom of the hill.

Every time I haul my sad carcass up to the top of a hill I then face a steep downhill hike. At the bottom of the downhill hike I look up and realize that I now have another hill to climb. I am getting weary of this Sisyphean rollercoaster of uphills and downhills!

Usually the graffiti along the Way is of an inspiring nature. I would like to throttle the shit head 💩 who spray painted this bit of wisdom on a roadside wall along the Way.

I am not going nowhere, I am going to Santiago. And I certainly am not going fast. So screw you Mr. Graffiti Man.

When I hit Mioño it was 10:00 AM and time for second breakfast. I walked by this Simpsons themed bar and had to stop in and see if they had cold Radler on tap to slake my thirst and a warm tortilla to temporarily satisfy my ever present and insatiable hunger. I shared a few chuckles with the owner of the bar over the Simpsons theme while he poured me an ice cold Radler and cut me an extra large slice of warm tortilla.

The flowers along the CDN are in full bloom and continue to show off for me.

West of Mioño the trail goes straight up this hill.

As I was contemplating the hike up this hill and then the struggle to walk down the other side, I started bawling like a baby that has lost his pacifier.😭 An old gentleman walked by, told me to dry my tears, and then told me about a secret path that the locals take to get to a tunnel that goes through the hill. I dried my tears and, following this old gentleman’s directions, briskly sauntered up to the tunnel entrance.

Instead of an hour schlep up the hill and then down the hill to get to Castro Urdiales, I had a nice 10 minute amble through this tunnel.

After I emerged from the tunnel I was on the eastern outskirts of Castro Urdiales. As I was walking walking through Castro Urdiales a miracle happened.

I found a laundromat! I proceeded to don my poncho, strip down to my Adam and Eve suit and throw all my clothes in a washing machine at this laundromat. The washing machine on the front window of the laundromat appears to be very excited to have a real Pilgrim grace his establishment.

An old guy was in the laundromat doing his wash and he thought the poncho was funny. He kept chuckling and giving me one and then two thumbs up. Unfortunately, the matron who was in charge of the laundromat was less than enthusiastic about having me hang around in my poncho while I washed and dried all my clothes. She was more than a little relieved when I dressed in my clean clothes, doffed my poncho, packed my backpack and exited her establishment. Not everyone understands the life of a Pilgrim on the Way to Santiago.

This is my lunch in a little cafe in Old Town Castro Urdiales.

Mixed Salad.

Cod topped with Serrano ham and the ever present fries. It would have been nice it they would have removed the head from the fish before they put it on the plate and served it. What am I supposed to do with the head? Eat it?

And chocolate cake with a dollop of whipped cream.

This is my room at a flop house called the La Ronda that I reserved in Castro Urdiales to take a break from the alburgues.

After a quick nap I left the La Ronda to check out Castro Urdiales. As I was exploring Castro Urdiales I ran across this church and stepped inside to light a candle and say a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

This is the harbor at Castro Urdiales.

These kids can’t be much older than twelve and the top of the bridge is at least 50 feet above the water.

This is Old Town Castro Urdiales.

Dinner at a cider house.

I tried the cider and didn’t like it. Too dry for my taste.

Today I walked 30,000 steps, 19 kilometers.

That’s it for today.

Good evening from Castro Urdiales, Spain.