Welcome to Cantabria on el Camino Del Norte

After a peaceful night's sleep up in the mountains it was time to pack up camp once again and head off along the Camino.

Today was my birthday and I was so delighted with all the spectacular birthday messages I received. I feel so loved!

A paved uphill awaited us, followed by a plunging downhill into the farmlands and small villages. 

Many miles of asphalt hiking ensued which took us to the gorgeous seaside town of Castro-Urdiales which was built on the ruins of a Roman Colony in the 1st century and rebuilt as a medieval town in the 12th century. 

Walking along the promenade we met Francisco from Italy, also hiking the Camino and he took a photo of us.

Seeing as it was my birthday we hung around for a bit in the historic quarter visiting the castle light house and massive grand gothic style church ( Santa Maria de la Asuncuin) which was also closed and appeared unused. 

A celebratory ice cream and Coke gave us the energy to continue on with our 23 mile hike for the day. 

It was our first really hot and sunny hiking day, and we felt the heat! It sapped the energy from us.

 Vistas of the Cantabrian Sea were spectacular as we ambled along the coastal paths and popped in at an Albergue along the way to get a stamp in our credential. There we saw the Austrian couple again who were delighted to see us and exclaimed " hola Hawaii".

A long, hot and horrible road hike followed which eventually took us up into a blue gum forest and at 8:00 pm we found a perfect flat spot with a spectacular mountain view in the pasturelands and set up camp. Both of us are absolutely exhausted from a 13 hour hiking day.

So grateful for all the birthday love.

Best thing in the backpack today: camp slippers/ croc flip flops for our mangled feet at the end of a long day of hiking.

Buenos noches from el Camino.

El Camino Del Norte in Basque Country: Bilbao to the end of Basque Country

We slept in at our cosy Pension and woke up to a very rainy day.

So happy we weren't sleeping outside in our tent!

Every time we've ordered orange juice in Basque Country, it's been freshly squeezed in front of our eyes... So delicious! Heading off on our long hike through the city to get back into the countryside.

The alternate route along the river started off with gorgeous scenery of Bilbao and the city including another angle of the Guggenheim Museum.

Then we spent hours and hours going past old industrial areas that looked abandoned, past naval dockyards and other industries until we got to Getxo and suddenly everything became pretty again. 

The big feature here is the crazy amazing suspension bridge that crossed the River Cadagua and we crossed it via a suspended commuter carriage to the picturesque town of Portugalete on the other side where we stopped off for a satisfying lunch at a quaint bar with wi-fi (wee-fee).

El Camino from Portulagete to the beach at La Arena  was like a speedway as it was along a paved bicycle and pedestrian path that extended for 10km/6 miles. 

Once we arrived there in spite of the cold and windy weather there were a handful of surfers enjoying the evening waves. 

One of our immediate motivations was to 

get a stamp in our Credential (Camino passport) and so we decided to try the hotel near the beach to see if they had a stamp. Once we entered the bar area, we felt like we had arrived in a mini Hawaii. 

Photos of Waikiki and Duke Kahanamoku adorned the walls, along with an ukulele on the wall and all kinds of Hawaiian decor. The owners were super friendly, especially when they found out we were from Hawaii. We wished them aloha after a refreshing drink and set of to get more miles done.

About 1.1 km away was Pobena and when we arrived there we met two girls from Alaska and Norway who told us that the Albergue was full, so we kept walking. The trail became a sea cliff hugging walkway to the next village of Kobaron, the last village in Basque Country. 

Soon we were in Onton in the neighboring Province of Cantabria and had still not come across any suitable campsites or other accommodation. In the next village of Baltezana we passed by a bar were we saw three guys hanging about outside. Upon asking them where the next Albergue or hotel was they told us it was miles away and it was already 9:00pm at night. Thanking them, we continued on out of the village and up a steep road outside of town. After a little while a young man in a car drove up from the village and pulled up next to us. We couldn't understand what he was saying but he was trying to offer us a ride somewhere. We declined politely and he turned around and went back to the village. It was obvious that he had driven that way specifically for us and he was either one of two things: a Good Samaritan trying to help out as he new we would be walking in the dark for hours or he was sent by the guys at the bar for an unknown reason, as we had not noticed him at all while we were walking in the village. Fear and adrenaline kicked in and we hiked as fast as we could continuing up the hill. All we wanted was a safe place to camp and be off the road. Soon a logging road appeared off to the side and we followed that awhile to the forest line where a suitable campground manifested itself. What a relief! After setting up camp we camouflaged the area a bit with twigs and leaves and settled down for the night after a dinner of snack bars. It had taken us 6 days to walk the length of Basque Country.

Welcome to Cantabria!

Markina to Bilbao on El Camino Del Norte

The hooting of an owl woke us up at 5:00am. My aumakua (animal spirit guardian) had been with us last night.

As we hiked it became evident that the cow bell was the sound of the pasturelands up here. All the farm animals including cows, horses, donkeys, goats and sheep have cowbells around their necks and whilst walking in a herd it sounds like a cowbell orchestra.

We made it into Markina town for breakfast and met "peregrines" from England who were fun to chat with and had previously hiked two other Caminos as well as Hannah from Germany, a young woman  hiking solo. It is a bit of a struggle being a vegetarian in Basque Country as almost every dish has meat in it except for "pan patata tortilla" which is a fried potatoe and corn slice stuffed between two slices of white bread. Nevertheless, It tastes delicious.

Making our way through the town we came across an unusual park with really weird exercise contraptions. Like a chair with pedals in front of it that had no resistance and a wheel that you turn to do arm circles with, once again without resistance.

Lots of paved walking today interspersed with trail hiking. Loads of ups and downs, usually ups as the Camino takes you past huge churches and monasteries many of which are strangely abandoned and locked up and most of which are on top of steep hills.

It was quite a social hiking day as we met  couples from England and Sweden.

Late in the afternoon we arrived in Gernika, a town that was almost obliterated by bombing in 1940. Apparently Franco, ruler of Spain allowed Hitler to use Gernika as a bombing target practice. Most of the buildings were destroyed and many residents were killed. After this terrible sequence of events, the city was eventually rebuilt and 76 years later I am standing here marveling at how humans bounce back. Hearing this history gave me my message for the day: whatever appears to be destroyed can always be rebuilt because of the incredible strength of the human spirit.

Onwards and upwards out of Gernika we hiked in the early evening trying to make it to a monastery located about 6-7 km away. 

Our legs felt weak and our feet ached but the thought of sanctuary for the night kept us going. When we arrived there we found yet another abandoned and boarded up church with an overgrown yard. 

Exhaustion and hunger helped make the decision to camp in the grounds of the abandoned church. After a tasty meal of Backpackers Pantry Pad Thai and some fresh bread and cheese we settled down to another night of camping the Camino, which I might add is not for the faint of heart. There are very few suitable camping spots and we have been very lucky so far! Most of the land is privately owned.

Discussions about "best gear in our pack today" have led to differing items depending on what we experienced on each day. These items have included a tent on day 2; the sawyer water filter on day 3 which allowed us to collect and drink water from a pipe spring and thereby camp, or else we would have had to make it into a town and electronic recharging packs on day 4 which has kept our phones charged without having to sit in a town and waste time waiting for our phones to be recharged from a wall plug. The knife Josh bought at the Decathlon store in Paris enroute has proved invaluable.

The camp was struck at 07:30 am after a restless night for me. I woke up at 03:00am and was a bit spooked by our surroundings but fortunately eventually went back to sleep for another hour and a half. We're planning on sleeping at an albergue or pension 

tonight so that we can shower and do laundry. We've kept remarkable clean by doing sponge baths in the tent with wet wipes, but I would like to wash my hair.

After a breakfast of bread and cheese, we're out of here in the crisp, moist morning air after Josh is done with threading the blisters on his feet to collapse them. Fortunately we have a first aid kit with needle, thread, alcohol wipes and iodine which will hopefully prevent infection from these nasty little nuisances.

 We hiked with a pair of Austrians all the way into the big bustling city of Bilbao. In the Oldtown section of the city called Casco Viejo we found a lovely room in a Pension in an old art deco building. 

I could not leave Bilbao without going to the Guggenheim Museum and to our good fortune it was a free entrance today, so after dropping off our backpacks we hot hoofed it across this exquisite grand Basque city and did a walkabout through the exhibits.

 There was a disappointing Andy Warhol exhibition and an extremely dark psychological exhibit called "The Universe of Eloise Bourgeois".

 It was a treat to see the sculpture "Puppy" in person and wonderful to stroll back along the river to get to our favorite European store, the mega sports "Decathlon" to buy a few sports bars and resupplies. 

I'm sitting at a laundromat typing out this story on my phone. 

Tomorrow we leave Bilbao towards Portugalete. It looks like a long city street walk but that could be fun too. 

My lesson today was political and historical and the Basque people's liberation and self determination movement is very strong:

Adios for now and see you later along the Camino.

Elorriaga to Markina (el Camino del Norte)

After a blissful night's sleep at Behatokia Point, we said a message of thanks for our sanctuary and set off again at 08:00 am in the chilly morning air.

Presently we were accompanied by another Gabriel from Italy and enjoyed exchanging stories with him for a couple of miles until we parted ways. 

Today's hike was not easy. We climbed so many steep mountains and had so much elevation gain and descent over 20 miles/32km that my legs and feet feel hammered. 

Josh has about four blisters developing in his toes and we're hoping that they don't get much worse.

Unfortunately we missed a trail marker just after the seaside town of Deba and hiked an extra 3 miles along and up an extremely dangerous highway that felt suicidal as there was no shoulder and huge trucks were hurtling past us at high speed. It just didn't feel right and after about a mile and a half we realized that we hadn't seen any trail markers for awhile. I checked my Camino app and discovered we were way off course. 

Josh had even asked a bus driver who was parked along the way whether we were going in the right direction or not and he answered "Si. Si." Yeah right! The lesson learned was how easy it is to miss a marker and we're going to be more vigilant from now on.

Lunch was at an extremely nice Albergue with very friendly people working there. Our use of the Spanish language is improving daily due to necessity.

At some point we said to each other that if at an intersection and one wondered which path to take to be on the Camino, the correct choice would be the steep one going up!  I would not recommend this trail for anyone wishing to walk along an undulating path. This is a strenuous hike.

Our message today spray painted  on a large pipe was "Free your mind"

As we neared the town of Markina we walked past an extremely creepy abandoned house which made us speed up our pace. It gave us the willies and exuded a very awful energy. We didn't even want to look back at the windows once we had passed it, for fear of what we might see.

At about 8pm, as we reached the outskirts of a town we found an awesome spot to "wild camp", sheltered from the wind, in a pine forested area.

Josh couldn't wait for his Mountain House pasta again and we settled down to sleep at about 10 pm, just as it started getting dark, grateful for another day of a great experience on the Camino, keeping up our mileage goal and another wonderful campsite. 

Buen Camino!

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