Camino Vasco - Day 1 - Astigarraga

Basic breakfast at the albergue and out the door around 7:40 am. Albergue is donativo. I had a similar picture with me on this blog at the same breakfast table four year ago walking the Camino del Norte. Unfortunate I did not have a photo of the hospitalero. He is really quite a character. Even yesterday when I register at the albergue, the moment he saw on the form that I am from Singapore, he uttered "puta madre Singapur!". No, he is not cussing my country. It is actually a very good compliment. After seeing how I was talking with the Korean ladies and German student at the albergue he even said that he hosted a Singapore pilgrim previously and that we are more Latin than Asians, especially me (probably my big mouth). Needless to say we hit it off extremely well talking and joking.

This time round walking inland among the hills is beautiful and friendly farm animals too. Sorry I don't have food for you my little pony.

After the mid point we can see Donastia (San Sebastian from the hill). The Basque terrain didn't go well with Michael who is clearly exhausted. I realized that the terrain is similiar (or a little worse) than the Basque sector of the Camino del Norte. Lots of 40-50 meters steep spikes which can be killer (almost 20 today). The albergue is 3.3 km on the last hill before Hernani. Michael thinks maybe it is better to just go down to Hernani and pay a little more for a hostal since there should be more facilities down there. A little further down the hill he suddenly broke down from exhaustion. Managed to flag down a nice lady in the car who brought us a few hundred meters to a pension outside Hernani. 4 pm when we arrive and a distance of only 23 km. The terrain is that bad compounded by Michael slower pace from the exhaustion. The guy at the pension is really nice and even gave us a bottle of apple cider gratis (free). We were deciding whether to drink it tonight or tomorrow (we have to carry it of course). In the end the decision is that I will carry it for tomorrow since Michael probably need to go to bed early to fight off his fatigue. We shall see tomorrow. A good chance he might again leave me again like last year to walk solo for the rest of the Camino if his condition do not improve.

Dinner is recommended by the guy at the bar a few hundred meters down the road in the industrial area. A big surprise to see a restaurant there. The Bacalao (cod) is really good.

Getting a bit tired myself. Signing off.

Camino Vasco - Day 0 - Irun

Early morning bus from Madrid to Irun. Not without churros for breakfast at the bus station. Love these savory ones as opposed to the sweet one as it taste more like our 油条.

The bus took much longer this time to get to Irun than 4 years ago where I walked the Camino del Norte (which also starts in Irun) as there are more stops along the way. Got there just in time for lunch around 2:30 pm. Typical menu del dia although the dessert was really nice, homemade yogurt with honey.

Finally outside the albergue after lunch. Nothing has really change since I was last here except that they have now included a basement and has double their capacity to 50 beds. Looks like the number of people walking the Camino del Norte has increased (doubled) these past few years. Glad I already done it and now walking the Vasco (tunnel route) instead.

After checking into the albergue we took a nice walk to Hendaye (France) via the St. James bridge. One side in Spanish and the other in French. In Hendaye, Michael couldn't resist the temptation to go inside the French pastry shop and ended up buying Basque custard cakes from the nice lady inside. Back to Spain and a stroll along a typical Basque river mouth that separates France and Spain with small boats and people canoeing.

On the way back I was surprised this time to find a metro here in Irun. The line starts in France (Hendaye) and ends a bit after Donastia (San Sebastian). That is a long 30km line? A good way for those walking the Camino del Norte for the first day would be to take the line to Donastia (kidding).

A light sandwich for supper after the heavy lunch and it is back to the albergue before the curfew at 10 pm.

Only 3 people out of the 36(?) in the albergue will be walking the Vasco tomorrow. So it should be a nice and quiet walk south west for us.

Blog coming back alive again next week.

A short Camino Vasco Interior (Tunnel Route) joining the Camino Frances at Sto Domingo de la Calzada starting next week. This is probably the proto-Camino Frances before the pilgrims started to use the path across the Pyrenees.

Again as in last year I will not be ending in Santiago de Compostela.

Camino Levante - Last post (for real)

Guess who pop up late in the evening in the albergue? Jon and his Maguy, the French couple from day 19 in Escalona. They finish walking today in Toro and decided to take the bus to Zamora. The other couple is still in Toro. Always nice to reunite with pilgrims

Camino Levante - Zamora - Final Post

Cloudy and cold morning perfect for a walk around the old city revisiting all the old pre-romanesque churches, including the statue of Virialtus, the great heroic leader of Lusitania (current day Portugal and western Spain) who causes hell for the Romans.

The hospitalero was kind enough to let me stay for more than a night. The albergue is donativo. After a visit to the train station, discovered that the trains does not go south to Andalucia but only via Madrid (will be too long and expensive). The buses however does go to Sevilla. Booked the red eye 0:30 bus down to Servilla first arriving in the early morning. No need to stay another night here at the albergue. Maybe just another shower and dinner. Already offers for a cooked dinner at the albergue from pilgrims arriving today. Probably will be going out to buy more Toro wine to contribute to tonight's dinner.

This would be the last entry in blog until the next Camino. Signing off. Back to Facebook for the remaining of the trip.

Camino Levante - Day 28 Zamora

Zamora was my personal favorite place when I walked the Camino via de la Plata in 2008. So happy to be back and it is still so beautiful for me. Surprised I still remember where the albergue was and walked straight there. The stone pillar sign is the same, the rooms still cramp, the elevator (yes, the only albergue with elevator) is broken.

Not tired at all after 34 km. With 8 people last night it feels like a crowd here. Found a depressed Italian from Rome in my room of four. His phone stop having a signal and he couldn't call his wife. Tried to help him but to no avail. Later he manage to go a phone shop and surprisingly they did manage to help (turn airplane mode on and off). Anyway he thank me for trying and together both he and another German pilgrim plus me were spending the evening like we were the closest of friends. And I have not even walked with them! Most of the pilgrims here walked the Camino de la Plata coming up from Sevilla. Today I am the only one coming in via the Camino Levante.

The hospitaleros Paul and Hetty in this albergue comes from Holland. They are part of the association and spends a few weeks a year volunteering as the hospitalero in the different albergues across the primary caminos. This year they got Zamora. They had been doing it for the past 5 years.

Anyway. My Camino Levante is done. I could still walk another 412 km to Santiago de Compstela but I have already done the route from here. So this is my end point.

My Camino Levante. 801 km (28 days)
327 km last year (12 days)
474 km this year (16 days)

As I sleep tonight .....
Pilgim mode off... tourist mode on!

Tomorrow I will be spending an extra day relaxing and revisiting the numerous pre-romanesque churches all around Zamora. Love those small churches.