Steven – Page 6 – Following your feet

Day 99: Vila Nova de Santo Andres to Brejos de Carregueira

The dreaded second day and on a Saturday, the day where many of my wettest, longest and least memorable walks have taken place. This Saturday was no exception. At breakfast I had a long chat with an American couple who wished they could move to Europe instead of flying home. I set off at 9.30…

Day 98: Porto Covo to Vila Nova de Santo Andres

Two years and three days since I was in Porto Covo on the Fisherman’s Trail, I’m back. Last time I left Porto Covo on a bus, with broken shoes and travelled to Lisbon to buy a new pair. In Lisbon I had planned to take a train the 50 or so kilometer’s to Azambuja, where…

Copenhagen to Porto Covo

The plane left on time at 6.15am, destination Lisbon. I was up early and my wife drove me to the nearest metro station to enable me to get to the airport by 5.15 am. Safely buckled up on the plane, that is when my traumatic relationship to my ear buds started. I dropped one of…

Day 97: Noja to Santander

My last day on the road as I return to Santander, where I started stage 4 in the spring. “Only” 29km and 600 elevation gain, so a fairly relaxing end to Stage 5 of my walk to Rome. Two ladies at dinner last night told me that their weather apps predicted rain all day. Mine…

Day 96: Castro-Urdiales to Noja

It was a long day. The planned route was 40+ km and an elevation of almost 1.000m. Setting off, I hoped to make it to Laredo, 25km away, by 13.00, from where a boat sails to a lighthouse and drops me off at the next town, saving 5km. It was a good plan, but didn’t…

Day 95: Getxo to Castro-Urdiales

What was supposed to be a 24km day turned out to be much more, partly thanks to lack of signs, missed signs and a closed path, which lead to longer detours. So instead of 24km, I ended up walking 30km. The day started sunny and bright, and lasted until early evening, As I write this,…

Day 95: Guernica to Lezama

A short walk, 21km with 630m elevation, but a busy day. Lene flew back to Copenhagen, so we walked to the airport bus, said our goodbye’s and I walked 500m further to the bus stop for Guernica, where I had ended up on Sunday (day 21) before meeting Lene. It was 10.30 by the time…

Day 94: Lezama to Getxo, via Bilbao

Yesterday I had a rest day, spent in Bilbao with my wife, Lene, visiting the Guggenheim Museum, walking around town and taking the Funicular up into the hills above Bilbao for great views of the city. This morning I took a bus to Lezama and walked 13km back into into Bilbao. The first kilometers were…

Day 93: Markina Xemien to Guernica

A quiet day on generally dry paths, only some mud, so a big improvement on the previous days. Pretty hilly, with a cold start (below 10 degrees), but it was sunny all day, so it soon warmed up. I met a lot of follow walkers including a Dane who now lives on Vancouver island in…

Day 92: Deba to Markina Xemien

“Make at least one path in your life a dirt path”, is a saying I have heard every now and then. The problem with dirt paths, is that sometimes they become muddy paths and over the past days I have seen many muddy paths and they are very tiring to walk on, progress is often…

Day 91: Getaria to Deba

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…

Day 90: San Sebastian to Getaria

When it rains, it pours. Over 30mm fell during 24 hours. And the result; mud, mud and more mud, plus parts where there wasn’t even mud, only water. 26km, mostly on road/pavement and 790m elevation. I waited to leave until 10.30 hoping that the worst of the rain was over. That’s when the heavy rain…

Day 89: Hondarribia to San Sebastian

Back in Spain and back on the Camino del Norte. The Camino del Norte runs along the northern coast of Spain, through the large towns of San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santander and Gijon, many smaller towns and villages and lots of beautiful coastline on its way from the French-Spanish border on the Atlantic coast to Santiago…

Day 88: Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle to Hondarribia

My last day in France, as I head towards the Atlantic and the French-Spanish border. A 31km day, with 3 initial climbs with a total elevation of 650m, and thereafter, it was pretty much flat all the way. Leaving after breakfast, the day started with a pleasant walk along the Nivelle river before starting the…

Day 87: Louhossoa to Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle

A shorter and relatively flat day, as the terrain become flatter as I near the coast. Only 22km and despite some fairly strenuous climbs, a total elevation of 650m. The climbs were steep but fairly short. It’s still fairly muddy, with the puddles the full width of the path in several places. The day started…

Day 86: Saint-Palais to Louhossoa

A day of many ups and downs, six climbs and descents, with a long descent into the pretty Basque village of Louhossoa with is characteristic red and white houses. All in all 36km and almost 1.000m in elevation. At Saint-Palais other walkers walk to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the Camino Frances, whilst I will follow a so…

Day 85: Navarrenx to Saint-Palais

Today I’m tired, both because of walking, but equally because I have spoken French all day. Another day primarily along roads, 28km and 600m elevation. My day of speaking French started at breakfast, with the owner of the hostel. We talked about many things, but what he stressed as being most important was that I…

Day 84: Oloron-Sainte-Marie to Navarrenx

Another rainy day and another day downhill towards the Atlantic coast. A 22km walk, 300m elevation and a 120m fall in elevation from Oloron to Navarrenx. It was raining and 13 degrees when I went for breakfast and never reached over 20 degrees the whole day. Not even comparable to back home in Copenhagen where…

Day 83: Arudy to Oloron-Sainte-Marie

It’s downhill from the Pyrenees foothills towards the Atlantic coast. Whilst today had an overall elevation of over 500m, I walked downhill pretty much all day, from 420m in Audry to 220m in Orolon. Over the past few days, the scenery has barely changed – lots of forest, farmland, corn fields and a few villages…

Day 82: Lestelle-Betharram to Arudy

It rained all night. It rained all morning. It rained most of the afternoon. 30mm in 24 hours and on a day where I walked 29km and an elevation of 850m. Luckily I didn’t have to check-out before 12 o’clock, but I hoped that the rain at least eased up before that, given the length…

Day 81: Lourdes to Lestelle-Betharram

After yesterdays marathon 12 hour effort, today was a short day, only 17km and 380m in elevation. I slept late, and the lady at breakfast took a pity on me, and gave me two of everything at the French breakfast (2 coffee, 2 croissant and 2 pieces of baguette). I spent the morning walking around…