It begins - 26th July part 2
Arrive at Portugalete just before midday. I start my garmin to track our route and speed. Short walk to our first stop.
The town has a world heritage bridge more than 50m high to allow ship's under. It's unique for the ground level cable car it carries. Now for pedestrians commuters and tourists, but in past for horse and carts as well. You can also get an elevator to walk across the top.
It has pretty old town and we walk up through its centre to the towns church. We poke our heads in for a look and are spotted by someone who has run of the place. Hr smells like he's been enjoying the holy water. He ushers us into a back room and asks us about our barely started camino. When we tell him our planned destination of Santillàn, he is shocked... very far away. Our book shows it is about 24km.
He stamps our Camino passports and we are off.
It takes a while for us to get used to spotting the signs of "The Way". Sometimes a sign like the one above, others a tile on the road, or a knee high wooden post with a shell and arrow, but mostly a simple yellow painted arrow on a wall or gutter or post.
The first several kms are through the country side but not to far from a national highway. Then we break free of the road heading towards La Arena on the coast. 11 km down. We stop for an icecream. No time for real food.
La Arena is a surf town. There are some nice sized waves rolling through. I would have been happy to stay here and hire a board. But we have a booking so we press on. It's a beautiful surf spot so I commit it to memory as a place to return.
Infrastructure for walking is excellent. So much drinking water regularly along the route.
The walk from La Arena to Ontón is spectacular, along coastal cliffs.
When we arrive in Ontòn we realise we are pressed for time. Check-in at our Pilgrim hostel closes at 6.30pm and it is already after 4pm. There is a longer flatter route through a green valley going around the big hill ahead of us or a shorter way over the top on the hard shoulder of a road in beating heat. Given our time situation we reluctantly choose the shorter way.
4km to go, and our stamina was worn thin. Gettting snappy with each other. Our feet are throbbing. No patience for any more photos, we just want to get there.
We made it to our albergue just before 6:30pm, we couldn't have cut check-in much finer.
A few months back after reading our friends cycling blog (here) of their overly ambitious first day, we promised ourselves not to make the same mistake - big fail for us! So easy to say from the comfort of our couch!
Our albergue (pilgrim hostel) is nice and clean with great showers. It washes the last few frustrating km away. Bar across the road has beer and pizza, then bed at 9pm. We're in an 8 bed dorm, its been a long time since we stayed in one of those but we are so tired we don't care. Sleep comes quickly.
For those interested in a detail view our route and other stats here's what Garmin gives us...
What a day!! Glad you got there before closing time. Hills are killers and the summer heat must be an extra layer of difficulty. I bet the beer and pizza tasted extra good.
ReplyDelete