A very short day today, only 18km and breakfast had to be taken before 9am, so I was on my way relatively early for such a short stage. Despite the short length, there were still quite a bit of climbing – 650m elevation.
One of the things that I find most difficult when walking, is when people ask me where I come from. I am never really sure what to answer. I am born in England and have an UK passport. But I haven’t lived there for almost 50 years. When I travelled to Toulouse to start day one, I travelled from Denmark. So is that where I come from? I mostly answer that “I live in Denmark”, as more often than not when I say l’m English they ask me where do you live in England! I considered whether my answer should be that I was born in England and live in Denmark, but it feels like too much detail in a passing conversation.
I met and walked with many people today, Irish, Spanish, Dutch, Korean, a Taiwanese lady who walked backwards downhill, French (including a lady who had fallen on day one and now had a black eye), German (including a lady who took a last minute decision to walk the Camiono, but now had blisters) and probably some I’ve forgotten. A lot of the talk was about all the mud on the stage from San Sebastian.
Rain and mud were also on the agenda today. A torrential downpour for 10 minutes and muddy tracks for about 5 of the 18kms. It was cloudy most of the time I walked, but the sun came later, and by the end of the day, there weren’t any clouds.
I left at 9.30 and walked to Zumaia on the Urola river, mostly through farmland and interrupted by a torrential downpour. I got wet as I thought it would drive over quickly, so by the time I actually managed to get my raincape out of my bag and on, it had almost stopped.
From Zumaia I continued past the Hermitage of Our Lady of Arritokkieta and looked inside. I walked for a couple of kilometers with two Spaniards who were wild camping and seeing how far they could get, and just as they took a break, I met two Dutch ladies, who I walked with until the coffee lorry a kilometer or so before Elorriaga. There is an extremely beautiful alternative route closer to the coast that starts at the coffee wagon, but by all accounts it isn’t a route to be tried in wet conditions, so whilst it was what I’d planned to walk.
I stuck to the official route towards the small village of Itziar, with beautiful landscapes inland – I barely saw the sea today.
From Itziar there is a very steep decline towards Deba, a small town on the coast and a popular stop-off point for Camino del Norte walkers. I arrived at 14.15, in time to get the Menu del Dia from a small bar. I got consisting of mixed salad, cod filled peppers and a wonderful lemon tart – I wish I’d bought a second serving of it – bread and wine, and all for 14€.
After a shower at the hotel, I walked around town. Apart from a beach, the town has two squares and the large Santa Maria church.
A feminist group (based on the banner they were showing) were holding a protest in one of the squares, although I didn’t find out about what.
There is supposed to be a change in the weather now, no rain in the foreseeable future, and even a chance of occasionally seeing the sun, which has been a rare sight recently.