I got a great nights sleep 😴 in my private room at the Alburgue Pitis in Markina. I got up and was out the door at 7:30 AM and had a very pleasant walk out of town. This is an abandoned rock quarry on the outskirts of town.

As you can see from this picture it is a beautiful blue bird day. The rain in Northern Spain has apparently gone away for now.

Recumbent exercise bikes in a park on the outskirts of Markina.

I figured I needed some exercise so I put my pack down, sat on one of the recumbent bikes and started pedaling. As I was pedaling I looked down at the bottom of my pack and what did I see?

That green tab is the tab you pull to open the compartment where the backpack’s built in rain cover is stored. I walked Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the rain cursing my replacement backpack because it did not have a rain cover. I am such a moron! I didn’t even bother to look on the bottom of the backpack to see if it had a rain cover. I just assumed it did not. You know what they say about assumptions and the people that make assumptions. Well, at least I will be better prepared when we get our next stretch of rain.

I saw this graffiti spray painted on a wall in an underpass.

Encouraging message as I almost always walk alone.

In previous posts I have emphasized the importance of following the yellow arrows in order to stay on the Camino.

The CDN is so well marked that only a moron could miss a marker at a junction and start walking off the Camino. If you have been following this blog, and you should be following this blog, you know that on Saturday this moron missed a Camino marker at a junction and took the wrong trail. Quoting from the lyrics of an old Britney Spears song, “Oops, I did it again.”

I was walking along the Camino just outside Markina and I came to a junction on the trail. I could go left and walk alongside a beautiful little creek.

Or I could turn to the right where the trail went almost straight uphill. Last night I read in my guidebook that on the outskirts of Markina the Camino steeply ascends to the top of a ridge. The trail to the right looked like it steeply ascended to what I imagined would be the top of some sort of ridge. Based on this fact alone and ignoring the fact that I did not see a Camino marker or yellow arrow directing me to take the right hand path, I turned right and started to bushwhack up this goat trail. I kept climbing for 15 minutes. There were no Camino markers on this trail, and I use the term trail loosely, and no yellow arrows on the trees. The path was overgrown with grass and thorn bushes. I have no idea why it took me 15 minutes to figure out that I may be off the Camino, but I finally stopped and took out my phone and checked my GPS Camino App. Sure enough, the GPS Camino App clearly showed that I was not even close to the Camino.

As I turned around to walk back down to the trail junction I ran into an Eastern European guy and his son walking up the path. I stopped him and showed him my App and told him this path was not the Camino. He didn’t speak or understand English and I didn’t speak or understand whatever language he was speaking so it was a little difficult for us to communicate. I don’t think the father understood that I was telling him he was off the Camino, but his teenage son seemed to understand me. The father insisted that they continue to bushwhack along the goat path. The kid pitched a fit and pleaded with his father to turn back. I decided to continue my journey back down to the trail junction and give them some space to work out their father/son squabble.

As I walked down the trail I slipped and fell into a thorn bush. I now have a few souvenir scars on my legs to commemorate this Camino.

After I spent a minute or two sitting in the thorn bush cursing a blue streak, using language no true Pilgrim should ever use on the Camino, I got up and picked the thorns out of my legs, arms and hands. I then proceeded to CAREFULLY continue my walk down the hill to the trail junction.

After a few hundred yards I ran into a couple of Frenchwomen who were bushwhacking uphill. I showed them my App and they figured out right away that they were not on the Camino. They were so grateful and showered me with Mercis and Merci Beaucoups. We proceeded to elephant walk down the hill until we got to the bottom and the trail junction. I am embarrassed to admit that at the trail junction there was not one, but two Camino markers pointing to the left. I have no idea how I missed these two Camino markers. I need to stop walking HUA.

I am not the only one that gets lost. The Swiss Air Force has a demonstration flight team, the Patrouille Suisse, kinda like the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels. The Swiss say that this demonstration flight team showcases the performance, capacity, precision and operational readiness of the Swiss Air Force. A couple of weeks ago the Swiss demonstration flight team was scheduled to do a show over Langenbruck to honor a guy by the name of Bider who was the first Swiss aviator to fly both ways across the Alps. The planes that the Swiss demonstration team flies are so old that they are not equipped with GPS navigation systems. Apparently, the pilots got lost and instead of doing their aerobatic show over Langenbruck, they would up in the next valley over from Langenbruck and did their demonstration flight over a yodeling festival. True story.

The next town I encountered on my journey today was Bolivar, named after the famous General Simon Bolivar. This is Simon Bolivar.

The town of Bolivar has a Bolivar Museum but it was closed.

The guidebook said that Bolivar has a supermarket and a restaurant. Unfortunately these were both closed. That is a shame because I had planned on eating an early lunch in Bolivar.

Beautiful countryside as I walked from Bolivar to the Monastery de Zenarruza.

I finally got to the Monastery de Zenarruza at about noon.

This is the cloister at the Monastery.

I was hungry and I was hoping the monks at the monastery would have something for a tired and hungry Pilgrim to eat. They had nothing to eat but they had a cooler full of ice cold monk brewed craft beer🍺.

I hoisted a few of these very potent brewskis and took a nap on a bench right outside the chapel. After an hour or so, the sound of a melodious Gregorian chant roused me from my slumber. I peeked inside the chapel where the monks were conducting afternoon vespers. Quiet as a mouse, I crept into the chapel and stayed for the entire 15 minute vesper service. It was in Spanish so I didn’t understand much of it, but I was moved by it nonetheless. While the monks were singing vespers I said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list. This is the altarpiece in the chapel at the Monastery.

Three thirty rolled around and we all checked into the alburgue at the Monastery. It was a strange check in. The head monk stamped our Pilgrim credentials and then showed us the two dorm rooms and left us to scramble for an open bunk bed. At about 5:00 he came back and told us vespers were at 7:30 and dinner was at 8:00. Usually they ask for a donation at these religious alburgues. Maybe the monks will do that at dinner.

This is our bunk room. Notice the three tiered bunk beds. Thank God I got a bed on the ground floor!

This was our group dinner tonight.

We had a pasta and vegetable soup. It was far from delicious but it was filling and I am not about to complain.

Today I walked 17,000 steps which is 11 kilometers.

That’s it for tonight. I hope everybody had a great Monday.

Good evening from the Monastery de Zenarruza.

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.

This is is Josh, the hospitalero at the alburgue in Zumaia.

Josh is the best. He lives in New England. He walked the Camino Del Norte and enjoyed it so much that for the last five years he has been a volunteer hospitalero at various alburgues in the Basque Country.

Either I am losing some weight or I am doing a darn good job sucking in my gut for these pictures.

It was misting as we left the alburgue in Zumaia this morning. This is a view of Zumaia as we are climbing up a ridge to get out of town.

This is a view of the countryside once we got to the top of the ridge.

This is a view of the road along the ridge that we are going to walk along for a few kilometers. The CDN involves a lot of road walking. My feet are very sore at the end of the day when I do a lot of road walking.

This is a scarecrow. I know that the yellow vests are popular with protesters in France but I did not know they were popular with scarecrows in Spain. Do you think it is some sort of scarecrow protest?

This is Oscar.

Oscar just finished his studies at the National University of Mexico in Mexico City. He majored in art history with a specialty in the muralists of Mexico. Oscar is also a poet and carries four heavy poetry books in his backpack. Keeping your pack lite is one of the keys to a successful Camino. I told Oscar he should leave his poetry books on the bookshelf at the next alburgue. He took great offense to this suggestion and said that he would rather cut out his heart and leave it at the next alburgue than leave his poetry books. All I can say is that there are all kinds of people on the Camino

The rooms at the alburgue in Zumaia have two single beds. I was standing in line behind Oscar as we were checking into the alburgue yesterday so the hospitalero put us in the same room. When we got up this morning we decided to walk together to Izarbide.

This is about halfway to Izarbide.

It isn’t raining but it is misting enough that I decided to wear my poncho. If I take it off and put it in my pack the rain will start bucketing down.

This is an honor system hard cider stand.

We were walking through an orchard and noticed that the enterprising orchard owner put out some bottles of hard cider in that white bucket and provided a corkscrew. You put your money in the collection box and pull out the cork on one of the cider bottles. You have to drink it there as the orchard owner wants you to put the empty bottle in the empty bottle box. Finally, the orchard owner apparently has bees to pollenate the apple trees. He has made various balms and lotions out of the honey from his bees and these are displayed for sale in the box that you see in the lower right hand corner of the picture. I have heard that the Basque hard cider has a very high alcohol content. I decided that it would be prudent for me to take a pass on hard cider this morning.

This is the Church of The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Itziar.

I stopped here to get a stamp in my Pilgrim credential and light a candle 🕯 and say a prayer 🙏 for Anna and all the other people on my prayer list.

We stopped for lunch in Deba. This is the main plaza in Deba where we had our lunch.

This is a picture of me as we are leaving Deba and walking west along the coast road.

This is a beautiful view of the entrance to the harbor at Mutrikuko.

That is not good as we are supposed to be up on the top of the hill at the Alburgue Izarbide not down at the bottom of the hill in Mutrikuko.

As we were leaving Deba for the final 4 kilometer hike up the hill to Alburgue Izarbide we started walking with these two guys, Jan from the Netherlands and Junior from the Philippines. As we were yakking away we missed our turn and wound up in Mutrikuko. Jan and Junior decided to start the 4 kilometer walk up the hill to the alburgue even though it was pouring rain. Oscar and I decided to duck into a bar and have a beer while we waited for the rain to stop. While we were in the bar the bartender told Oscar that the bus to Deba was coming by in a half hour and that we should take this bus to the top of the hill. I thought this was a great idea even though I am still traumatized by the Bilbao Bus Station Incident. We drank our beer 🍺 and went out to the bus stop and waited for the bus with three little old ladies.

This is me and Oscar at the bus stop.

Oscar started chatting up the three little old ladies and they told him that the bus doesn’t stop at the top of the hill, it is an express bus to Deba. I started to cry and the old ladies felt so sorry for us that when the bus pulled up to the bus stop the old ladies ganged up on the bus driver and browbeat him into agreeing to take us up to the top of the hill and drop us off. That 4 kilometer bus ride from downtown Mutrikuko up to the top of the hill was pure Camino Magic.

After we got off the bus at the top of the hill we walked for about half a kilometer to the Alburgue Izarbide.

Beautiful views from the alburgue.

They had pigs at the alburgue.

Some of you seemed to be upset with Abe’s unflattering description of Lake Springfield in yesterday’s blog post. I described Lake Springfield to these two porkers and they both said that Abe was right. No self respecting pig would wallow in Lake Springfield.

We had a wonderful group dinner tonight at the alburgue. Everything was served family style. I was charging my phone so no pictures. The first course was a mixed salad. The second course was roasted chicken, real chicken🐓, not pigeon masquerading as chicken, with new potatoes. And the third course was flan. It goes without saying that we had a couple of bottles of red wine with our meal.

That’s all for this evening.

Good night from the Alburgue Izardibe on the Camino Del Norte.

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.

Today is the feast day of St. James. St. James is the patron saint of Spain.

Legend has it that at the battle of Clavijo the Spaniards were fighting the Moors for control of northern Spain. The Moors were beating the stuffing out of the Spaniards. At the very moment when the Spaniards were getting ready to turn tail and run for the Pyrenees, St. James appeared on a white horse and absolutely kicked the crap out of the Moorish hordes. Thereafter, he was known as St. James the Moorslayer. A lot of research has been done on this story and it now looks like the Battle of Calvijo never took place and St. James the Moorslayer is nothing more than a load of Spanish BS. In this touchy-feely era of political correctness the Spaniards are trying to downplay the whole St. James the Moorslayer thing and now refer to him as St. James the Apostle or St. James the Pilgrim. In spite of this move toward political correctness, there are still a lot of altar pieces on the side altars in the churches on the Camino that feature St. James the Moorslayer trampling a bunch of mangled and terrified Moors under the hooves of his white horse.

Today is a holiday and everyone is off work. “Holiday” and “a day off work” are relative constructs in Spain as it appears that very few people work, and those who do work don’t appear to work much.

I got up at 6:00 AM and was out of Pension Regil at 6:30. After a half mile walk along the beach I had to climb the obligatory never ending staircase to get out of town. This is a view of San Sebastián from the top of the first ridge west of town.

I walked another kilometer along the ridge and took this photo of a hazy sunrise. On the top of the hill in this picture is a castle tower and halfway down the hill is a lighthouse.

This is a water station about 5 kilometers west of San Sebastián.

An old man, Señor Perez, lived in a nearby village and would come out to the Camino every day and set out water for thirsty Pilgrims. He died a couple of years ago. Since his death, the people of the village have worked together to take care of the water station and have turned it into a memorial to honor Señor Perez and his years of service to Pilgrims on the Camino.

This is another water stop along the Way. I sure hope this is potable water.

A little rock art along the Camino.

A little tree art along the Camino.

I walked through some beautiful country today.

787 kilometers to Santiago! Hip hip hooray. 😃

There are a lot of vineyards in this part of the Basque Country. I have been told that they make a great white wine. In the Basque language this white wine is called something that sounds like chocolate. I have not yet tried it.

A roadside cross a few kilometers outside Orio. I stopped and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

This is the Alburgue de Peregrinos in Orio. I am staying here tonight.

This is the view from the backyard of the alburgue.

I dropped my bag off at the alburgue at 11:30 AM. They don’t open until 2:00 PM but they let me store my bag in the alburgue while I explored Orio.

As I was walking by the Church of Jesus the Nazarene in Orio, St. Christopher started screaming that we had to go into this church. I try not to argue with St. Christopher when it comes to churches. So I opened the door and quickly realized that a mass to celebrate the feast day of St. James had just commenced. St. Christopher insisted that we stay and attend the mass. I was so moved by the singing and the incense and the completely fortuitous opportunity to attend mass and celebrate the feast day of St. James on the Camino De Santiago that I had a good cry right there in the church. Another Camino Magic Moment.

After Mass was over St. Christopher lit a candle and led us in a very heartfelt prayer for Anna and everyone else on our prayer list.

This is the altar piece from the church.

Orio is on the sea so the church has a ship hanging from the ceiling.

After mass I decided to have a pintxo lunch on the plaza in Orio.

On the left side of the picture is a chorizo sausage sandwich and on the right side is a Serrano ham, asparagus and anchovy pintxo. What a great lunch. Much better than a ham and cheese bocadillo.

Today I walked 28,000 steps, about 21 kilometers. I am tired and I am looking forward to a good nights sleep.

At about 7:45 PM a big thunderstorm ⛈ came down the valley and hit the alburgue so hard the thunder shook my bunk bed.

The forecast is for rain the next three days. Rain and muddy trails will make for an interesting walk.

That’s it for today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thursday

Good evening from Orio, Spain.

All the guide books recommend that I spend an extra day in San Sebastián. I know I have only walked two days and you are saying that after walking only two days I don’t need or deserve a rest day. But the guide books call San Sebastián a “must see” city on the CDN. Anthony Bourdain once said that he would like to eat his last meal in San Sebastián. So why not stay an extra day? Tomorrow the Camino will be there to welcome me like a prodigal son after I have feasted on delicious pintxos and enjoyed the air conditioning of San Sebastián.

Don’t laugh about the air conditioning! When was the last time you slept in a small bunk room with seven other people when it was 100, hotter than hell, degrees? We have all become so accustomed to air conditioning. How did people live in places like Atlanta, Miami or Houston without air conditioning? Yesterday my father wondered why the men in Picket’s division would charge up that hill at Gettysburg knowing that it meant almost certain death. I imagine they charged up that hill because they feared death less than another summer in Atlanta without air conditioning.

This morning I got up and went down to the local coffee shop for the breakfast provided by the Pension Regil. I handed my breakfast voucher to the woman behind the counter at the coffee shop. She handed me a piece of toast and a small, and I mean shot glass small, glass of orange juice. I basically said WTF, and she politely told me I could also have butter and jam with my toast. Oh goody, I get butter and jam with my toast. How about a couple of eggs over easy, hash browns, and a rasher of bacon 🥓, crisp but not burnt, to go with that toast? I can hear you saying that if I wanted that kind of breakfast I should have stayed in America. I wonder if I can find a Denny’s in San Sebastián.

After breakfast I walked over to Old Town where I signed up with Go Local for an electric bike tour of San Sebastián.

The electric bikes.

You still need to pedal an electric bike but there is an electric motor to give you an assist when you need it.

This is our group.

From left to right, Mike and Terry from Chicago, and me and Allin, one of the owners of Go Local. Allin had a very self deprecating sense of humor and insisted that everyone call him Big Al. Big Al was an amazing tour guide. He is Basque and very proud of his ethnicity. He spent about ten minutes at the beginning of the tour describing the current political situation in Spain and what it means to be Basque in Spain, in the past and now. Then we got on our bikes and rode up to one of the hills overlooking San Sebastián. It was hazy over San Sebastián this morning but the views were spectacular.

This is a view down the coast to the west of San Sebastián. This is the direction I will be walking tomorrow.

This is a mile and a half bike tunnel they built for bicyclists 🚴‍♀️ to ride through the hill that separates east San Sebastián from west San Sebastián. It was nice and cool in the tunnel. Outside the tunnel it was very hot 🥵.

We stopped at a gymnasium and Big Al taught us to play Basque handball.

According to Big Al they have a professional Basque handball league. The place where we were playing has seating for about five hundred people. The spectators gamble on these professional handball games. When you buy your ticket to get into the game you also get a tennis ball 🎾 with a little hole drilled in it and you get little slips of paper. When you want to place a bet you write it on one of the slips of paper, roll it into a tube with your money and stick it in the hole in the tennis ball. Then you turn around and throw the tennis ball with your bet and your money to one of the bookies sitting in the back row of the seating area. The bookie fills out a receipt, rolls it up and sticks it in the hole in the tennis ball, and throws the tennis ball back to you. This sounds like a strange way to place a bet, but Big Al said that this system is a Basque handball tradition and if anyone tried to change it there would be a riot in Basque country.

This is the beach where they are going to have a free concert tonight.

Behind the stage is Monte Urgell and on the top of Monte Urgell is Castillo de la Mota. Big Al suggested that I climb to the top of Monte Urgell this evening and watch the sunset 🌅. I told him this is supposed to be a rest day for me and it makes no sense for me to climb a mountain on my rest day. Besides, the sun doesn’t set here until almost 10:00 PM and I want to be out walking at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning. I plan on getting to bed early tonight.

After we finished our three and a half hour electric bike tour I made a stop at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. What a beautiful cathedral. This is a stained glass window in the cathedral.

While I was at the cathedral I got a stamp for my Pilgrim Credential. I also lit a candle and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

After the cathedral it was time for a late lunch.

At the top of the plate we have olives and green beans wrapped in anchovies. In the middle of the plate we have a goat cheese and lobster 🦞 pintxo and on the bottom of the plate we have a guacamole and tomato and shrimp 🍤 pintxo. The pintxos were delicious. And nothing complements pintxos better than a grande Radler.

That’s it for today. I hope everyone had a great Wednesday. Tomorrow I plan to start walking at 6:00 AM. I am planning to stop at Orio, about a 17 kilometer hike. If I feel good when I get to Orio I may continue walking to Getaria, which would be an additional 10 kilometers. We will see how hot it is and how I am feeling when I get to Orio.

Good evening from San Sebastián, Spain.

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.

I am finally off on the Camino Del Norte.

The Way seems to be well marked so far. I don’t think I really needed to do the scouting hike yesterday. But I know I slept better last night, not good but better, knowing I could get out of town without getting lost.

This Camino is really a coastal Camino. For long stretches I will be within sight of the ocean. I could smell the ocean as I walked past this tidal river.

A chicken coop with chickens. This is a good sign that on the Camino Del Norte the chickens will be chickens, not pigeons.

Horses and foals relaxing in their pasture.

This is a picture of the Way as we climb up to Santuario Guadalupe.

This is the beach just east of Irun.

The flowers on this part of the walk are in full bloom and are beautiful.

This is a guard dog at one of the farms. I had a hard time waking up this pup so I could take his picture.

This is Santuario Guadalupe.

It was a hard uphill hike to get here and now I have a big decision.

Purgatorio is a very difficult uphill climb to a ridge that gives you great panoramic views of the coastline. You walk along this ridge for about eight kilometers and then there is a steep descent into Pasajes. The guidebook says that this is one of the most scenic parts of the whole Camino and one of the most difficult.

Or I can take the very pleasant low road and it would be a nice easy hike into Pasajes.

I decided to take the high road and it was beautiful, but the climb up to the ridge and the walk down from the ridge to Pasajes really kicked my ass. I hope I learned a lesson from this. I don’t always have to take the most difficult path.

Situated along the ridge line are five ancient watch towers.

Views from the Purgatorio ridge line.

A cow with a cowbell.

This is some sort of altar.

This is a trailside cross. I stopped here and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

This is the steep trail coming down off the ridge line.

Beautiful flowers and a house with a swimming pool.

I reached Pasajes De San Juan at about 12:30. This is the entrance from the sea to the harbor at Pasajes.

This was the fish of the day at the harborside restaurant where I had lunch. The owner assured me that this fish was swimming in the ocean early this morning.

This is the Alburgue Santa Anna in Pasajes where I will be spending the night.

This is the view from the back deck of the alburgue.

Flowers lining the walk up to the alburgue.

This is a picture of the alburgue, at the top of the hill, taken from the waterfront.

Three big ships like this have left the Port of Pasajes within the last couple of hours.

I hope everyone had a good Monday

Good night from the Santa Anna Alburgue in Pasajes De San Juan, Spain.

I got up this morning and decided to do a practice hike to make sure I could get out of town tomorrow morning without getting lost. I wanted to hike about 8 kilometers up to Santuario Guadalupe. This is a picture of Santuario Guadalupe as I was starting to walk up the hill to reach it.

This is a picture of Santuario Guadalupe after I got to the top of the hill.

It is a church and there was a mass going on when I got there. I had been to an earlier mass in Irun and I didn’t want to overdue the mass thing.

This is the main altar piece in the church in Irun where I went to mass this morning.

What a beautiful church. The Mass and the sermon were in Spanish so I didn’t get a lot out of it. But it gave me some time to pray for Anna. She is having a really tough time just now and if anybody has a spare prayer please send it her way. After Mass I lit a candle 🕯 and said a prayer for everyone on my prayer list. I was surprised that the 9:00 AM mass on Sunday morning was so sparsely attended. I have heard that Catholics in Spain, especially younger Catholics, have abandoned the Church in droves. When I attend mass in Spain I am usually the youngest person in the church. And I am no spring chicken.

After I got up to Santuario Guadalupe I took a break and then hiked back down the hill to Irun. This is counterintuitive, but it is much easier and safer going up a hill then it is going down a hill.

As I was walking through Irun to get back to my hotel I spotted this sign.

I think I mentioned in a blog post last year that this is the sign for a dentist’s office. How strange. It looks like the snake in a martini glass 🍸. A snake in a martini glass sounds more like an attorney than a dentist. But this is Spain, so who knows.

Beautiful flowering bushes in Irun.

I kept walking and ran across this guy.

Everyone in Irun seems to like him, so he couldn’t be an attorney. Then I remembered seeing this banner when I was at church this morning.

The statute is Brother Alberto Larzabal Michelena, Irun’s favorite son. He died in 1936 and the people of Irun are pushing the Pope hard to beatify Alberto. It seems odd that it took the good people of Irun over 80 years to push for his beatification. But this is Spain and I don’t think people in Spain are in a big hurry to get anything done, including beatifications.

It is my understanding that if you lead a very good life and someone with friends in high places at the Vatican lobbies for you, the Pope will beatify you. Once you are beatified people can pray to you and ask you to help them. Beatification is the first step on the road to sainthood. You can move from beatification to sainthood if a miracle or two is attributed to you. A miracle would be something like the 1986 Mets winning the World Series, which means that Tom Seaver is a saint.

Between the hike and trying to figure out what’s up with Alberto, I had worked up quite an appetite. I stopped by a very nice place called Hemingway’s. I was dressed in my hiking clothes and had worked up quite a sweat 😓 and just a little bit of an odor. So I decided that a small table in the corner of the patio would be the perfect place for me to eat dinner. A young waiter quickly approached me and told me I could not sit on the patio. I completely understood why he did not want to serve me and I apologized profusely and tried to scuttle away. He stopped me and told me to wait while he talked to his manager. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail he was back and leading me to a lovely table in the middle of the patio. The waiter, Alessandro, introduced himself and asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from Denver, Colorado he was amazed that someone who lives in a beautiful place like Colorado would travel to Spain. He said I must have a very compelling reason to leave Colorado and travel to Spain. When I told him I was going to start the Camino Del Norte tomorrow he laughed and said I must be crazy. This kid has only known me for five minutes and he has already pegged me as crazy. Usually it takes people a lot longer than five minutes to reach that conclusion. This is one perceptive waiter.

I ordered a large Radler and asked to see a menu in English. Alessandro said there was no need for a menu, he would order my meal. He asked if I liked meat or fish, and when I told him fish he said he would take care of everything, and he did.

A little fish hush puppy before the first course.

Second course was a tomato and smoked monkfish salad.

Third course was a pan friend cod topped with pimentos and green peppers with a delicious tomato purée sauce.

Third course was cheesecake.

What a wonderful meal. Alessandro made it more than a meal, it was an experience.

Tomorrow I will get up early and start this Camino. I plan to walk about 18 kilometer to Pasajes de San Juan.

I hope everyone had a restful Sunday.

Good night from Irun, Spain.

Last night, after arriving in Irun, I walked about a mile to the Alcazar Irun Centro Ciudad.

This is an older property with lots of wood floors and wood paneling. I will be honest with you, I spent last night tossing and turning, beating myself up about giving the thieves at the bus station in Bilbao the opportunity to rob me. When morning finally arrived, I realized that yesterday is past and I have been granted a new day. I should let yesterday stay in the past, learn my lesson from yesterday and be grateful for the new day.

They do a little breakfast buffet at the hotel, which is a nice way to start the day. I had two slices of potato and cheese tortilla. This is a quiche that is the standard breakfast fare in Spain. I also had orange juice, fruit and a couple of croissants.

After I cleaned up, I set aside the clothes and gear I am going to take with me on the Way and packed everything else in my suitcase to mail to Ivar Rinke. Ivar runs the Camino Forum and has a business storing bags in Santiago. I brought clothes for touring around Ireland and I brought clothes for the Camino. The Camino clothes are all very light and made out of quick drying synthetic fabrics.

This is what I am packing for the Way.

From the top left, the black tube is an auxiliary power source for my phone. Next is a multiple port charging box. Next is a Tupperware container to hold all my electronic gear. On top of the lid of this Tupperware container is the St. Christopher prayer card that my sister California Karen sent me. In the second row, starting on the left is two spare batteries, a charging cord for my phone and a separate charging cord for my Fitbit. In the third row, starting on the left is a set of earbuds and a little bit of duct tape. You never know when you will need duct tape.

A micro fiber towel, a wash scrungie, a guide book and a pair of shoes to wear at the end of the day.

Five pairs of socks, probably too many socks, two pairs of underwear, bicycle gloves, bicycle sleeves and clothes pins my Mother gave me last year.

Gym shorts which I use as pajamas, hiking shorts and hiking pants.

Two short sleeve shirts.

One long sleeve shirt.

Energy bars and a spork.

A headlamp, spare batteries for the headlamp and spare rubber tips for my hiking poles.

These items are in my toiletry kit, vitamins, deodorant, bandaids and neosporin, chapstick, liquid soap, foot cream, sunscreen, nail clippers, a razor, a comb and a callous remover.

A sleep sack and a poncho.

I will also be carrying food and water as the bars and restaurants are few and far between on the Camino Del Norte.

I hope I have pared my clothes and gear down to the bare essentials and that my pack is not too heavy. We’ll see.

After breakfast I walked to the post office to mail my suitcase. The woman behind the counter did not speak a word of English and she did not understand a word of my Spanglish. She was upset that my suitcase was not in a box. Where was I supposed to get a box? Then she suggested I get a roll of Saran Wrap and wrap the suitcase in Saran Wrap. I tried to tell her that it was a suitcase, not half a cantaloupe I am going to put in the fridge. I spent fifteen minutes trying to convince her to fill out an address tag and mail the suitcase to Ivar, for goodness sake. Finally she relented and mailed the suitcase, although I got a long email from the post office in Spanish that I will need someone to translate.

After the post office situation was straightened out, I hope, I walked out to a shopping center on the edge of town to buy a poncho at the Decathlon sporting goods store. The rain jacket and pants I bought yesterday are too small and too flimsy.

This is a view of the hills surrounding Irun.

After I finished my shopping expedition, I had tapas for lunch, washed down with a grande Radler.

I don’t know what was in these tapas but they were good.

As I was walking back from the shopping center to my hotel a car with two middle aged French couples stopped me and asked me, in French, for directions to the shopping center. At first I thought this was a scam and they were planning to distract me and then steal my poncho. But they seemed very nice and I showed them on Google Maps how to get to the shopping center. The guy who was driving the car got out, hugged me, air kissed me on both cheeks and thanked me with a veritable torrent of merci beaucoups. You gotta love the French, except maybe in Paris.

These are Camino markers in Irun.

I had to buy food for Monday as all the stores will be closed on Sunday.

This is the grocery store. BM, what an unfortunate name for a grocery store.

This is dinner, a doner kebab plate.

The kid who was running the restaurant, Hassan, was so nice. He translated the email from the post office and said that I was OK and that it was just a bureaucratic BS email acknowledging that I had mailed a package.

Did you know that Irun is in the Basque region of Spain. The Basque speak a separate language that is not derived from any other known language. The Basque want to separate from Spain and form their own country. Good luck with that.

That’s it for today. I hope everyone had a great Saturday.

Good evening from Irun, Spain.