Pola de Siero September 12

This is the marker that the German pilgrim missed.


The pension last night was nice, but the disco music from the festival outside wasn't. Greg had more trouble sleeping than I. I think I was tired enough plus the non-caffeinated cold pill plus the Tylenol pm did the trick. Anyway, we were out of there at 8 and found a cafe at a hotel down the street that was opened for our morning tostada and café con leche. There were two British couples there trying to order a breakfast, not realizing that scrambled eggs are a sometimes dinner rather than breakfast item in Spain. They kept eyeing us and our backpacks, so I told them we off to Santiago as we left. There was also a German pilgrim who told Greg he was planning to take the coastal route to Gijón instead of the inland route to Oviedo as we were planning. We saw him about two hours later looking intently at his guide book. We had to inform him that he missed the markers at the split and had gone 3 km on the wrong route. "Zurück," he said and started walking back.

 We ate lunch in Vega de Sariego at12:30. No sardines or calamari today. Today it was cheese and sausage in our sandwiches.  Vega de Sariego was to be our original stopping point. But we decided to continue on 10 km  more to Pola de Siero, which seems to be a suburb of Oviedo. We both felt fine on the walk, perhaps a bit more slow than usual. This way we have only 16 km instead of 27 into Oviedo tomorrow. Still cold symptoms but we are over the worst part.  We got in about 3 pm and are staying in a very nice new albergue here that just opened last year. It's 4:30 and we are the only ones here so far. This place is not yet listed in most of the camino guides-is that why? 

Bonus!! 9 pm
While grocery shopping this afternoon, I happened to find my favorite tempranillo wine, Viña Pomal from Haro in La Rioja region. Of course I bought it and Greg and I finished it off in the shade behind the albergue along with some dried nuts and olives stuffed with anchovies. A young (31 years old) Polish pilgrim helped us drink it. After walking 16 miles today, it was heavenly. 

VIllaviciosa 11 September

Greg woke up this morning pretty achy and I was just a bit better. He was talking about getting a bus to Oviedo and waiting for me to walk there. But we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday morning, so nothing was running. Not much else to do but start walking and see what happened. We had a. 25 km stage today with relatively less steepness than other stages. We took it slowly and kept walking steadily to reach the albergue around 12:45. 

Unfotunately, there was a sign taped to the door "Cerrado-No agua" (Closed No water). Even though we were tired, we were still out in nowhereland so the only option was to hoof it to Villaviciosa, another 6 km down thr road. So we ended up walking 31 km or 19 miles today.

We both were fine on the walk, but are achy and tired tonight. I think most of the ache is from the colds, but some is the walking. On the plus side, my feet are doing well. No blisters at all. Big toenail is loose but secure for now, so I haven't lost any nails yet either. And my custom orthotics are a dream with next to no heel pain from my plantar fascitis. Thank you, Dr. Scarlett Kroenke, for a fitting job well done.

We are still on cold meds. In the farmacia yesterday, I looked carefully at the ingredient listings to make sure caffeine was not listed. Most of them had caffeine. Both of us took the new medications and both had a hard time falling asleep. I am certain caffeine was in it even though not listed. Why would they need to put caffeine in a cold med, anyway?

Villaviciosa has no albergue, so we are in a two bedroom shared bath pension tonight. I guess it is a bit easier with our colds, tomorrow hopefully back in an albergue. Tomorrow's stage will be about 16 km, but includes one ascent of 420 meters (1300 feet). Two more days to Oviedo. We are thinking of making a rest day there, but are afraid Big Puppy might catch up. We are still mad about catching his cold, even though he said he would pray for both of us. Like I said yesterday, I would rather find some Nyquil!

La Vega September 10

The view from our room in La Vega


It was another shorter day due to our colds. 20 km or 12 miles. Also, Greg preferred to stay in a pension another night, so we found one in the little beach village of Vega. We can hear the surf and see the sandy beach from the open window of our room, like maybe in Hawaii. But it is a tourist area. It does not feel like the camino.

We stopped at a farmacia today to find a different and hopefully better cold medication. It is difficult to find one without caffeine in it. Why can't they just have Nyquil and Dayquil! My cold is not as bad today, but Greg is still feeling lousy. Hopefully with the rest of today for resting, we will be moving at a normal pace again tomorrow.

Nueva de Llanes September 9

The festival in Llanes yesterday was the culmination of the two week festival of the Virgin. Quite spectacular with many people in folk costumes, parades, bands, marching, dancing and on and on. There were some fireworks, but at least the festivities didn't last until 5 in the morning like they did last year in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. Remember that, Marge?

Today is day 16 of our camino. We are just past the halfway point to Santiago de Compostela, with just under 400 km or 250 miles to go. Nueva is between the cities of Llanes and Ribadesella.

Since both Greg and I now have full blown colds with sniffles and sneezes, we decided to take it easy for a few days. Today we only walked 20 km or 12 miles. Tomorrow we plan about a 16 km day, then we will ramp it up again. We are taking cold medication from the farmacia-not sure what's in it but it is helping. Also helping is that there were no really steep stages on today's walk. And a lot of it on dirt and gravel paths, too.

There is no albergue here, so we are treating ourselves to a room in a pension with private bath and shower. Luxury (compared to an albergue) for only 30€ a night. We both took naps this afternoon, so you nursies out there can stop worrying if we are taking care of ourselves.

Thankfully, Big Puppy decided to take a full day of rest in Llanes, so we were able to walk without having someone two steps behind all the
way. He was going to spend the day praying in the church there and was going to pray for Greg and I, too. He has 7 more weeks to find his
way to Santiago, so should be able to do it without us.

9 pm. I forgot to mention Greg's lunch of canned calamares ren su tinta (calamari in it's own ink). I tried some but continued with my usual sardines. For dinner tonight I had the fabadas asturianas, large white beans with blood sausage, chorizo, bacon, and ham.

Llanes September 8

Street dancers in folk costumes


Well, I guess we got our wish today for off roadway paths as at least 75% of our walk was on gravel and dirt. Some of it was along high ridges with great views of the ocean and the mountains. It reminds me much of Calfornia's north coast, but the colors are more vivid since it is not overcast and the vegetation is still green.

There was a festival going on as we walked into Llanes, a celebration of La Virgen de la Guía. Many school kids and adults in regional attire. The streets were packed for the parade. Now the restaurants are packed. It looks like stages are being set up for music this evening.

Greg and I went out this afternoon for my birthday to eat instead of this evening. I did have two glasses of a good Rioja wine and an ice cream cone to top it off. We also had calamari again.

We both seem to have caught Big Puppy's cold as we both have the sniffles. I am not happy about that.

Columbres September 7

Some of the spectacular scenrty we are enjoying.

After two long days of walking, we were hoping to keep it a bit shorter today. But the spacing of the albergues is such that we had to walk over 27 km (about 16 miles) today in order to have a shorter 22 km walk tomorrow. Today's walk was on some country tracks of dirt and gravel but still mostly on harder surfaces. Still, we were off the main highways for the most part, though we crossed the autopista (freeway) three times. The scenery was just as stunning with pastoral farm views (and, occaisionally, smells) plus vistas of the ocean and the mountains. 

We finally ate the green bananas that I bought two days ago. They were semi ripe. Greg says not to buy any more bananas unless they are ripe. For our roadside lunch today, we had canned albondigas, the first time for this camino.

We walked past the road leading to Potes at the base of the Picos de Europa. Kathy and I spent a delightful night and two days there in 2005, even though I was afraid to take the aerial tram to the top. I also remember the white bean stew with five different kinds of ham and sausage in it. Yummy!

Shortly before our walk ended today, we left Cantabria and entered Asturias.

Comillas 6 September

During the days walk


Calamari with our drinks


We walked 4 km into Santanilla del Mar, a nicely kept up city dating from medieval times. Then a 2 km walk to the Altamira museum, featuring cave art from 10,000-15000 years ago. Except it was not the real caves, just a replica inside the museum building. Disneyland eould have done a much better job. Afterwards, we tried to find a shortcut back to the camino, but I think we walked farther than if we had just gone back to Santillana. Oh well, I think we must have walked at least 27 km or over 16 miles today, arriving at the albergue in Comillas shortly before the 4 pm opening. We have walked about 340 km do far, with around 460 to go.

The weather today was good. The storm system passed and we had a nice sunny day. One thing I have found is that so much of the Camino del Norte is on asphalt. This is not only tedious but hard on the feet and legs. Even the parts off the main higway are mostly on asphalt or concrete roadways. We are seriously considering switching to thr Camino Primitivo at Oviedo, a difficult walk, but not as much roadway.

Big Puppy has a cold, hope we don't get it.

By the way, we got our first views of the Picos de Europa mountIn range today.

Greg and I had fried calamari with wine and beer before we found the library computer this afternoon. Later on, we had menu del diá-he had asparagus and sardines and I had ensalada mixta and croquetas de jamón.

Quevada 5 September

After a nice breakfast with the other pilgrims, we started walking about 8 am under partly cloudy skies in a beautiful country setting. We intended to cover the 13 km to Somo along the beach. A light drizzle started, so out with the rain gear. We got to the next village and thought we found the path to the beach. Then it started pouring rain. Greg is the weatherman and he predicted clearing weather. He was wrong. I am the navigator,so when we came to an option point, I chose the wrong one. My excuse was the downpour, but instead of going to the beach, we were headed for the hills, then somehow ended up making a big circle to end up where we were 45 minutes earlier. I have no idea how it happened as I am rarely directionally challenged, but it happened this time. Anyway, once back on the highway, we decided to follow it all the way to Somo where there is a ferry acrross the bay to the largest city on the northern coast, Santander.

We walked up to the ferry just as it was leaving and were able to relax and enjoy the views on the way across. We arrived in the bustle of Santander at noon and stopped in the public market to have a quick llunch of ham tortilla. There was free wi fi so I was able to post yesterdays blog and one quick email.

Our plan now was to make our way to the bus or tain staion to see if we could find a way to the town of Mogro without having to walk there. There were three good reasons for doing this: 1) the walk out of Santander is many km of suburb and industrial tracts that are not scenic and not fun, 2) there is not an albergue that would be in convenient walking distance, and 3) to avoid a long 10 km detour, we would have to walk a dangerous and not recommended railroad bridge between Boo and Mogro. There was no local bus to Mogro, so we went to the train staion and saw the lineup of taxis. After checking the rates, we determined that splitting the cost of a taxi three ways would be a quick and cost effective means.

We had the driver drop us off in front of a supermarket so we could stock up on food for tomorrow (and a bottle of Campo Viejo for tonight). By 1:30, we were walking the camino again.

Now before any followers of this blog castigate us for taking a means of transport besides our feet, I want to point out that we walked another 17 km in the afternoon, arriving at Albergue Arco Iris just after 5 pm. We walked 30 km or about 18 miles today. So if we arrive in Santiago a little sooner than planned, we will just spent more time walking a different camino before heading home.

Arco Iris is another country albergue offering both dinner and breakfast. That was great, since we did not want to do any more walking. In fact, I think I wore out both Greg and Big Puppy today as they both went to bed before 9 pm and are snoring as I compose this posting. This is a 60 bed albergue, but there are only 4 of us here. By the way, the chicken noodle soup and patatas caseras were excellent.

Güemes 4 September

Not much fun to walk in the rain!

The day started overcast like many of the past few mornings did. The walk started out pretty level out of Santoña and past a few seaside villages of mostly vacation and retirement homes. Then we started our climb of the day, the Alto de El Brusco, which is a steep hill separating two sandy beaches. It is less than 2 km between the beaches, but involves a steep ascent of 120 m. then a descent just as steep. It was drizzling slightly so we put our backpack covers on. Halfway up it started raining steadily and heavily. In minutes, the steep trail went from picturesque and scenic to muddy, slippery, and treachorous. There was no way to switch over to rain parkas for more protection, either. So we slogged our way up, hoping we would not slip over the edge into the ocean. The way down on the other side was no easier as the storm became more intense. Once we reached the other beach, it was a difficult walk through soft and wet sand. Shoes were soaking wet by this time and it was about another two km before we were able to find shelter in an open bar/café that had a covered terrace.  I was able to change my socks and get some of the water out of my shoes, but my feet and shoes were wet for the rest of the walk. It kept raining for another two hours, but was not so bad after I was able to put on my rain parka and gaiters.

We found some cover in the courtyard of a church to eat lunch around 11 am. The overcast did not clear, but there was only a little drizzle the rest of the way. We continued on to the albergue near Güemes, completing the 25 km (18 miles) right at 2 pm.

What a welcome we received there! No sooner had we walked in, but they offered cool water, signed us in, and invited us to the most delicious meal we had yet. The first course was a beef and potato soup, delicately flavored with Spanish paprika. The second course was thin beef filets very flavorful, ensalada normal (lettuce, fresh onion, and tomatoes), and my favorite, fresh cooked peppers. The peppers were not Padrons, but more like the ones I grow in our garden. They were sauteed in olive oil and salt and done perfectly.

I hsve to say that this albergue is in the country over a kilometer from the village and there is not much in the village. So this is the reason meals are offered along with the lodging. There is an association of 70 volunteers who rins this albergue and there is no set chage for staying hete; it is all up to each personstayong here to donate an amount they want. 

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was devoted to individual activity- clothes washing, showers, reading, visiting. At 7:30, we had a meeting where they explained how the alberguecwas started by it's founder, then an explanation of the various route options for the next two days. Afterwards was a dinner with fish or garlic/egg soup and pasta.

This is the first night it has been cool and the dampness means our clothes and shoes are not dry yet. 

Santoña 3 September

Walking on the beach at Laredo. Hard packed sand is the best!


We walked farther than I thought we would today. Originaly we were going to walk 20 km to Laredo. Since most of the walk was on the N-634 highway, the walking went quickly even though it was tedious and hard on the feet, not to mention a bit dangerous from passing cars. Finally after about two and a half hours, we found a restaurant that had just opened in Liendo. That café con leche was good but even better were the egg and sausage sandwiches and the fresh hot tortilla that seemed to melt in your mouth. We had the regular potato tortilla, but they also had fresh fig tortilla. I kind of wish now that we had tried that!

We did reach Laredo, a resort city. It is located on a finger of land 5.5 km long with beach on both sides. Seems like many retirees and tourists staying here. We walked several km. on packed beach sand, which was nice after the hard pavement. After we got to the tip, we took  a boat crossing to Santoña. There is some kind of a festival going on, lots if food and other booths. We walked through that and most of the town to the youth hostel for 8.8€, breakfast included, plus 5€ more for dinner. Not bad. Total walk for the day was 26 km or close to 16 miles.

Anyway, we are doing fine, including Big Puppy who keeps following us. He came over with a rosary instead of a guidebook. Now he is never more than two steps behind either Greg or I. I suppose he is afraid of getting lost. It's starting to creep me out. 

Islares 2 September

25 km today or about 16 miles. Some highway and some rustic country tracks with magnificent vistas of the sea. Also steep climbs and declines. The mountains here are right up to the sea in mant places.

We also went through the largish resort town of Castro Urdiales, which I thought was more picturesque than San Sebastian. Still there were rows of frying bodies lined up on the beach getting ever more brown, but that is my litle rant for today- getting a sunburn is not my idea of fun. I suppose we looked out of place with our packs, hiking boots, and floppy sun hats.

Shortly into our hike today we left the Basque state and are now walking in Cantabria. As I sit here writing this in late afternoon, it is partly sunny with the fog just starting to cover the tops of the mountain. Our weather has been good, usually around 80-85 degrees for a high. Sometimes a little humid in mid afternoon until a breeze starts blowing in off the sea. 

Muskiz 1 September

We walked about 17 miles today from the outskirts of Bilbao to Muskiz, a small seaside village between Bilbao and Castro Urdiales. It was a long walk but the albergue In Portugalete is closed for the year. Also this stage was not as steep as earlier stages. The Guggenheim was good, but we did not do much else in Bilbao as the albergue was nearly out of town. 

We seem to have a mostly new group of walkers since some stopped and others just started. Greg got a cell phone today, but I think I will stick with the iTouch and take my chances with wi-fi. 

I have a blood blister under my big toenail and the nail is loosening up, so it will come off in a week or two-at least it is not painful. Enough of the gory details.

Last night, there were only some small bars in the neighborhood, so we asked a local about the food. She marched us over to her favorite, saying "muy barato, muy barato" as she must have had us sized up as the cheap pilgrims that we are. Anyway, she stayed there with her friends and we had the best toasted ham and cheese sandwiches with fresh bread and a bottle of wine. We spent the afternoon here socializing with our new acquantances over a bottle of Viura wine and olives stuffed with anchovies. It is almost 8 pm, so we will soon go around the corner to sample the peregrino menu in this little town. We already made reservations at an albergue 26 km down the road for tomorrow night- Greg's new phone is proving to be quite useful.

Bilbao. 31 August

Today is our day of rest. It was only an eight mile walk into Bilbao, still it was a 1000 foot elevation gain and dscent. Once we reached the river, we followed it around to the museum. We probably put in another few miles inside the museum, then about two miles walk out of the city center to the albergue.

This is our seventh walking day. We have covered about 160 km or 100 miles. Our goal is at least 100 miles per week, so we are right on track.

What can I say about the Guggenheim? One goes to it as much to see the building as to see the art. It is all curves and angles, nothing straight or perpendicular. To get an idea of it, google "Guggenheim Bilbao". I asked one of our fellow pilgrims, who happens to be an architect, how one even starts to design such a non-linear space. She said the joke among architects is that Gehry crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it on the table for his inspiration. It is indeed s marvel to look in any direction and wonder how they did it.

The art is very modern, mostly changing exhibits. Some pieces quite large and taking up entire rooms. I guess I don't understand how a pile of twisted metal studs or a plastic bucket half full of dried mortar is art- I can find that out in my junk pile. I suppose it is in the sales pitch and how you can convince someone else that a pile of old paint cans is "art".

Still, many of the works are quite stunning and thought provoking. And required much skill and imagination to make. If it makes you start thinking, is it art? Greg H?

Since it is our rest day, we are doing that right now (4 pm). It is too far to walk back into the city center so we will explore this neighborhood later, hopefully to find s grocery, a place to eat, and, if lucky, wi-fi to post this.

Lezama August 30

14 miles today that was mostly on wooded trails and farm lanes, except for the last 2 miles of highway walking. I swear that this camino is 49% uphill, 49% downhill, and 2% level. It is very much harder than the Camino Frances or Portugues. Still, I think Greg and I are doing quite well. We plan to walk only 7 miles tomorrow to Bilbao. We want to have enough time at the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum where the building itself is as much a work of art as the art displayed there.

We had an interesting experience the other day in Deba. While waiting for the albergue to open, the two British brothers asked a policeman some questions in Spanish. After a perfunctory reply and their response of "Muchas gracias", he proceed to let them know that we were not in Spain, but in Basque country and taught them how to say thank you in Euskadi, the Basque language. Greg and I happenned to see him again 45 minutes later and wanted to ask him when the tourist office opened. I told Greg that he should try English, that at worst he would not understand. Greg did so and his reply was in perfect English and very courteously delivered. So one must be careful in this region. There is still much resentment against the Franco regime and even with the present government. All signs are in Euskadi, only sometimes are there dual signs with Spanish.

Gernika 29 August

We just walked into Gernika about 3 pm. 17 miles today, seemed like lots more hills than the map profile showed. Hmmm. It seemed harder than yesterday, but maybe because I did not take any ibuprofen. We went to the youth hostel since there is no albergue here. They took us old guys, just charged more.

Greg and I walked around the city, saw the peace monument and the replica of the Picasso Guernica mural, a sporting goods store, and the grocery store. It is such a beautiful city. It is hard to imagine the shock of the people as the German bombers flew over the green hills in 1937.

Markina. 28 August

Today's walk was steeper and longer than yesterday's, about 14 miles.  But we both feel less sore. Maybe we are finally starting to get into better shape. The elevation change was about 1600 feet from our sea level start to the highest point. But the ascents and descents are so steep. Today's descent was muddy, too, to make it harder.

We ran across a church which had a few large boulders stacked  on each other with an open place underneath fir the altar. No way could they have been moved there when the church was built hundrerds of years ago. The church was built around and over them. Probably was a pagan ceremonial site long before Christian times.

We are at the point in our journey that we are seeing many of the same fellow pilgrims during the walk and in the albergues and restaurants. Most people walk about the same distance each day, so you get into a group of people, some of which you may be with all the way to Santiago. Interesting group dynamics.

Found free wi fi outside the local library, so will take advantage and post this now.

Deba 27 August

13 miles today but several steep ascents with descents just as steep. Elevation changes from sea level to 600 to 800 feet in a matter of a mile or so. The Spanish coast in this area is mountainous with a river coming through those mountains every few miles. As a result, the camino path is constantly a series of river crossings with mountain climbs between.

Our leg muscles, calves especially, are sore as we try to get ourselves fully into shape. Plus the downhill causes a lot of banging of the toes against the front of the shoe. My fourth toe on the right is getting sore and the nail is starting to discolor so I imagine that the nail will eventually fall off. Today's walk is rated medium difficult. Tomorrow's is about the same distance but with a high elevation of 1500 feet is rated highly difficult. Ugh!

After two days of sardine and cheese sanwiches for our lunches, we changed to fabadas asturianas (white beans with sausage and ham, Asturian style). They were good out of the can, but I suppose they would have been better if there was a way we could have heated  them. Our dinners out have been menus del diá and fairly decent. I had fish both nights and an ensalada mixta with various seafoods including tuna and shrimp one night and a seafood paella the other.

We are resting up in the albergue now and plan to take the elevator down to the grocery store later. This town is so steep that there is a series of two outside elevators to take us from the albergue about 300 feet higher than and overlooking the city center and harbor. The views are fantastic. 

It looked like it would rain midday and we felt a few drops. It is clear now without a cloud in the sky. I hope I can find someplace with wi-fi to post this today.

Zarautz 26 August

First off, birthday congrats to Greg, who just turned 69 today. Happy birthday!

Our hospitelero turned lights on at 7 am and opened the windows to reveal strong winds and pouring rain. By the time we started walking half an hour later, the wind died down, but the rain continued another two hours before finally letting up. It was a bit of an irritation, but no real problem, as both of us have have good rain gear. It keeps our packs dry, but under that gear, we still get damp from the sweat generated by walking. 

The first seven or eight km. got us into and through San Sebastian. By then the rain was over and we were on a nice country track paralleling the sea. Still a little muddy, but mainly lots of steep inclines up and down. We walked on this path most of the day, seeing only a few hikers and other pilgrims and some local farmers. Around 2 pm we reached the town of Orio and made a mid afternoon stop for cafe con leche with a retired German couple that we met during the day. From there it was another 7 km to Zarautz and into the albergue just after it opened at 4 pm.

After the usual shower and clothes washing, we walked down to the beach. It was oacked with people. That's where everyone in town was, sunbathing, youth basketball tournament, drinking in the beachside bars, even gathered around the dead whale that the storm washed in. They were measuring the thing and attaching a cable to pull it back out to sea. We checked out some restaurants for later and had a beer, but of course, none of them serve dinner until after 8, so we will be back later.

We walked a bit further today, about 18 or 19 miles, but by getting to Zarautz, we are back on my original schedule. Yes we are a bit sore and tired and keeping the ibuprofen manufacturer's busy, but nothing to complain about and loving the spectacular scenery.

Pasajes de San Juan

The international bridge between Hendaye (France) and Irun (Spain), This was the start of our camino.

The view of Hendaye and Irun from the hills on the way back to San Sebastian.

One day of walking done and only 825 km to go.

The plan was to go to Irun today then walk back to San Sebastian, a distance of about 19 miles. Didn't quite make but I think we still did pretty good for a couple of old guys.

We did get a good 8 hours of sleep, so I think we are pretty much on Spanish time now. We had a two mile walk back to the bus station, only to find there were no buses to Irun until afternoon. So half a mile back to the train station and there was a train leaving in 20 minutes. We missed the Irun stop and ended up at the last station just over the border in France. So we started walking from there, back over the International Bridge, maybe an extra kilometer or so. After two or three km of Irun, it was out in the country and a very steep climb on Mount Jazkibel, actually the highest point of the trail along the Camino Norte, so that's good, I guess. The path was a stony dirt track with a few other hikers but no other pilgrims in sight. By the time we reached Pasajes, we had walked a total of 17 1/2 miles of lots of ups and downs. It was 4:30.  We decided to stop at the albergue here, part of an old church high on the hill overlooking the inlet and harbor- a miilion dollar view from a donativo albergue. We were both getting a bit sore and tired and decided not to overdo it the first day. 

The scenery and the views are fantastic. I am posting from my iTouch ad we are enjoying our first Spanish wine in a bar with wi-fi. Taking lots of photos and will post some when I can. We will walk back through San Sebastian tomorrow and on beyond. It looks like like Greg just fell asleep in his bar chair, so I better post and wake him up so we can find some dinner.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian

Made it to Madrid a few hours late. Sat on the airplane in Philadelphia for three hours while they fixed the cabin pressurization.  It was a long ten hours on the plane. But It worked okay since Greg arrived on his flight half an hour after mine. We took the subway downtown to the bus station.  Now, we are on the way to San Sebastian on the northern coast. 

This bus is cool with free wi-fi and it also included a ham and cheese sandwich and a drink. Passing through the meseta around Burgos is bringing bac memories of our Camino Frances pilgrimage in 2009. A lot of walkers would skip the high plains of the meseta, but I loved the wide open snd hilly, rocky farmland-the wheat has been harvested and the sunflowers are still a little green, along with the occaisional vineyard or cattle or hog operation.

After a 6 1/2 hour bus ride, we made it to San Sebastian on the northern coast. The bus had wi fi and lunch included. Tomorow we take another bus to the French border, then start walking west. Some of the terrain loks steep!