Irun to San Sebastian

Irun turned out to be wet and rainy. A trend that would continue all day. On the way to the trailhead we spotted a beaver pond and a huge beaver ad well as several marsh herons and a stork. 

The trail turned out to be incredibly steep and led up to a church at the mid-way point. Pausing to catch our breath we took a bunch of pics of the Atlantic ocean to our right - the camino del norte essentially follows the spine of the mountains ( Pyrenees near irun and then the cantabrian mtns) along the coast for almost 300 km. Beautiful.   

Starting the walk from Irun

so, we decided to take the night train from Portugal to the French border @ Hendaye and start the walk from Irun - which is just across the border in Spain.

The compartment (sleeper) was just like trains I was used to used to in India, only a LOT smaller, six bunks to a 10 x 12 area . When we got on the lower two (which were alloted to us) were already occupied by an older couple who looked like they'd have trouble clambering up into the upper ones, so we let them be and took the middle ones. Lights off seem to be at 7:00 PM and spent the rest of the night listening to music and / or texting some friends.
Turns out Coban was doinbg all right and eating well.

finally crashed at 2:00 and was woken up at 6:00 AM by the conductor who slid our tickets under the door and said the station was coming up.

Got off at Irun and tried to find the first Albergue (pilgrimage hostel) to get our credentials and stamps to start the journey - too bad, it was closed for winter - the first of many on the route that would be. Turns out the weather is so harsh and bad until April or so that noone walks at this time. Oh well....

Tom was the first to spot the first of a million yellow arrows that lead the way to Santiago - quite incredible really, a host of volunteers donate their time on weekends and holidays painting these yellow arrows all over the country to mark the route, sort of like a 'where in the world in Carmen Santiago' game :)

Anyway, introduced Tom to his first chocolat y Churros breakfast (syrupy hot choc with donuts to dip in it)

then we started the walk

Monday - we start walking the camino

Sat in Porto - onward to Spain and beyond !!

wake up on Sat, Tom (who has difficulty sleeping without a sleeping pill) is still knocked out and wont answer knocks on the door or the landlady´s phone calls to the room. so I go for a jog, shower and then go out to enjoy all the sunday morning markets - the book market, bird market which saddens me - beautiful birds in tiny cages, tons of birdseed and one poor skunk in a cage

after breakfast we go to take a tour of the famous port wine producers in the area (Port got its name from Oporto in the 1600´s) after the usual attempts at backdoor entry into Fonseca and Grahams we finally get admitted into Sandeman´s and take a tour and tasting.

Portugal and beyond

So, landed in Oporto on Saturday after a decent flight during which I slept well as usual. all the years of flying for work have given me the ability to fall asleep within minutes of the plane taking off. woke up and ta dah, in frankfurt. did the usual in and out there (bizzare immigration scheme and security there, to get to A gates you have to clear Schengen security !!)

got on a slightly delayed flight to Portugal and slept again. The fact that I dont even have a backpack to carry on made things easy.

landed and took the train into city center where after a glass of beer in the one spot I remembered from before and then asked a local lady for any inexpensive places to stay, she takes us through some alleyways to a place where we get clean rooms for very little. stored our stuff, took cameras and went out to hear cannon, gunshots and stuff.
turns out its the centenary of the revolucion of the new republic. So, we hang with a camera crew that is covering the reenactment (complete with people in costumes, soldiers, horses trying to trample the poor citizenry and all) and get the inside scoop.

wander around looking at stuff and find an immaculate chevy fireengine still in use - the female firechief is very attractive (until she starts smoking) and insists it is a ´chevrolet´ and not a chevy ¨,)

see picture attachedç

Also found free internet at a cafe ´(pizza celeste) where I finally convince Tom that all the stories of Europe being incredibly expensive are just that ´stories´ I can out fodor fodors´ when it comes to bargains. all you need is 2 or 3 phrases of immaculate local language, just 2, then the rest you can wing ..... and people start buyiong you drinks after that and pointing out others and making jokes

back to the hotel and a hot shower and bed after a couple of beers - following this recipe I have beaten jet lag with succcess

D-Day and I am still in the office designing new and boring stuff. Why ???

Oh wait, need to pay for trips like this.

Update : My friend Tom from Boulder is also joining me on this crazy walk, he was unsure but finally is committed.
We fly out tomorrow to Porto, Portugal. The dog sitter(my friend Hannah's brother) has not been eaten by dog yet so bodes well for the future. Coban actually likes him, amazing how a killer dog has morphed over a year into a nice reliable guardian.

Anyway, the plan is to land in Porto, scramble and get to the train station and hop over to Coimbra where we catch the Sud-Expresso (not the 2 shot kind ) - an overnight train to Irun on the French/Spanish border where we'll start our walk.


What better way to get over jetlag than sitting bolt upright in a 2nd class train compartment and drinking aguardiente !!!

Once we are in Irun, the plan is to start the trek to Bilbao (first stage) using this route that follows the Cantabrian Pyrenees and hugging the coastline