A wonderful second day walking on the Camino del Norte, an easy distance under mostly blue skies. And no high route, 'alpiniste' high jinks!
We left our Pensione around 7.15, had a yummy desayuno of croissants and cafe, and were on our way soon after 7.30, though it took us a while to actually leave San Sebastián. As we made our way around the Bay of La Concha, we had the beachfront almost to ourselves - too early for locals or other travellers. The morning light was beautiful, so plenty of photo stops meant we didn't start the steep climb out of San Sebastián until around 8.15.
The path was peaceful and varied with the ocean never far from view. We saw more farm animals than we did pilgrims (we passed 6 on the path today, though there are sure to be more somewhere!). We stopped at Orio around 12 for a delicious pintxos lunch in the sun and by 1.30 we'd arrived in the coastal town of Zarautz - our stop for tonight. We're taking things easy on our 'bonus walk'. No big days planned.
We've had quite a few splurges in the last week along The Way, so decided to 'reconnect with our inner pilgrims' and stay in albergues where possible for the next 3 or 4 nights until Bilbao. Despite our best intentions, that wasn't the case tonight. The albergue was closed (opens only July and August). Then we walked a little way out of town to find the youth hostel (noted in our book) but turns out we weren't youthful enough. Actually they didn't say that - but we did need a YHA card, which we didn't have. Our pilgrims credenciales weren't going to cut it.
All of this ended very happily. We walked back down the hill into town. Domi had spied a bed symbol down a narrow laneway. Soon we were climbing the stairs of a charming building in a small plaza and in no time we were in our delightful sunny room in Musika Plaza Pensione. We have a small terrace on to the plaza and another from our bathroom on to the side street - for 35 euros.
After a quick shower and change, we headed straight to the beach. We couldn't wait to get our shoes and socks off. After 37 walking days and close to 1000 kms now, the feeling of soft cool sand between your toes and waves gently lapping around your feet is nothing short of ... bliss.
As The French says, 'nothing to add'.
J x
