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Friday
13th.... If I was superstitious, this would probably be a bad day to
start... - but I don't believe in that. The sun is out and it looks like a
beautiful day... a new adventure is waiting ahead... new challenges... and
maybe new friends?
"To camino" or
"not to camino" - to camino of course... I'm trying really hard to "forget"
last year, and make this journey stand on its own... so I won’t compare...
but after today it is hard not to have the first day of last year’s camino in
mind.
I left Irún
with Carluccia, we had decided to walk this first day together in spite of the
language barriers... She speaks very little English and it will be hard to
have a conversation. But that's ok... I came here to find peace and talking
all day will not give me peace. We quickly found the flechas (the yellow
arrows) out of the city, and soon we were walking on a small track with trees
on both sides.. I am happy to be back walking all day... I have been
waiting for this since March when I decided to walk another camino - I just
didn't know it would be this one until 6-7 weeks ago... still don't remember
why I chose this camino... I'm sure I will find out along the way.
At one point it
felt strange walking towards the sun instead of walking west... and keep the
sun in the back... (this I remember from last year... when I saw the most
beautiful sunrise when turning round...) - but walking west with the morning
sun in the back will not happen until tomorrow morning - first we need to get
to San Sebastian. But following the flechas we could not go wrong.... or
could we?? After having followed our "guides" for a few kilometres there were
no arrows to be found... Which way to go ?? - We had to ask for direction
... - it didn't help much as they didn't know of the camino - we were
directed to Roncevalles... - tried to explain that we were walking the Camino
del Norte along the coast and next stop would be San Sebastian, and we would
have to pass the church of Guadalupe... now we had directions... for
Guadalupe.
A small break
in Guadalupe... where we had a wonderful view, a snack and more water... is
my camel bag leaking ??? 10 km and 2 litres of water..... ??? (just like an
old car that needs more gas per mile... ) - well fortunately we found a
fountain.... so I had a refill. The climb was steep. Very steep. A walk
through a wonderful eucalyptus forest. Then downhill... to San Juan where we
had to cross the canal by boat... € 0.50 and 30 meters... but it was the only
way to get to the other side to San Pedro. The arrow led us up to the old
cemetery - up the stairs... and to a narrow, badly overgrown dirt track....
absolutely no arrows - we agreed to continue to the top or until we found an
arrow. It is a bit frustrating when the signs suddenly stop.... my guidebook
had suggested another way... and Carluccia's guidebook a third way... After
a looooong walk we could finally see San Sebastian - a huge crowded beach...
I would love to go for a swim, but first we needed to get to the albergue....
Time would show
that San Sebastian was completely full - nowhere to stay... not even in the
park or on the beach. It is fiesta time... and everybody is here to party. We
asked the police... if we could sleep on the beach - the answer was normally:
No... but as this is fiesta time they would probably ignore it... but it
would be too dangerous... as a lot of people who sleep on the beach have
their belongings stolen... and there would be no insurance to cover... - A
risk we were not willing to take. I was too exhausted to move... another
inch... the heat and the steep climbs had taken everything I had in me
today... - and it seemed we would still have to move another 15 km to the
next albergue.... with a steep climb to pass. We decided to have a looong
break first with something to eat...
-
At 9 p.m. we
arrived very tired at the pilgrim’s albergue in Orio, the first one
after Irún (I find it strange that San Sebastian doesn't have a pilgrim’s
albergue). The hospitalero was very kind. We had our second stamp... a hot
shower, washed our stinking socks... - A short talk with a German guy,
Gerhard, who has walked from Rome... - I found his way of opening the
conversation very strange... "So you are tired ?? - Well... were did you
walk from... - I walked from Rome” he said... Hmmm... but not today... I
guess... ? Why is it so important for other pilgrims to know where I walked
from... - I did not know there was a contest of "who can do the longest
walk...". Hmmm... I’d better go to bed before I become too sarcastic. Good
night.
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