What follows are my notes from the trip, with a few selected pictures.
Day 1 - Arrival, and Irun to Hondarribia:
Landed in Bilbao, the bus to Donegal was leaving at 13:45. But the ticket machines were only selling tickets for the next bus, at 14:45. Thus, I hoped to buy tickets on the bus as I did not want to wait an hour - same as some 10 other people.
Day 1 - Arrival, and Irun to Hondarribia:
Landed in Bilbao, the bus to Donegal was leaving at 13:45. But the ticket machines were only selling tickets for the next bus, at 14:45. Thus, I hoped to buy tickets on the bus as I did not want to wait an hour - same as some 10 other people.
However, there was some old Spanish man who kept telling everyone to buy tickets at the machine and that paying cash on the bus is not allowed. When the driver came he tried to convince the driver about that, but failed. Perhaps he worked for some payment processing company. Paid with cash on the bus, got to Donegal successfully.
Lots of construction at the Donegal train station, I walked back and forth between it and the bus station, deciding how to move onwards. Couldn't find a bus to Irun leaving any time soon and overall found the bus schedules not very clear, so I settled on a train in 1 hour.
Getting the camino Credential in Irun was a quest, the police station was not found / closed, the church was closed and the reports that if you knock on the door, they open the door and give the credential, quite false. I knocked on 3 random doors of the church, no response. Then I took the detour to go to the French border, and finally got the credential at the albergue, where I could have stayed, but I did not know that for sure, so I had already booked a hotel at Hondarribia for the first night.
Decent path from Irun to Hondarribia, which is a nice touristy town.
Got to Donostia / San Sebastian, walked up the local castle hill (Mount Urgull), and found some tasty fish ("hake") for lunch.
Went to La Concha beach for a swim, it was nice, amazing waves. Could have been warmer, but it was OK. Got a bit lost on the way back to the hostel because I only took the bare minimum, which did not include any devices / maps. But with some asking of directions from passers-by I got back alright.
The hostel has an espresso machine, free to use, so I don't have to invest time in finding caffeine in the morning! Eating most of my food so I have less to carry. Forecast - sun and some clouds, but up to 29C.
The day started nicely as we left early and it was not hot. Booked a room at an agriturismo near Itziar, as the hostel at Deba was allegedly at risk of being full. My co-walker dropped off at midpoint, and it got really hot. 31C in the shade, probably.
20.4km day turned into a 27.7km day.
Decided against a proper hike, and just did a walk in Bilbao. Quite hot.
Hondarribia
Day 2 - Hondarribia to Pasai Donibane:
Nice day, not too tough, though somewhat hot.
I buy a liter of gazpacho for breakfast at the supermarket, and it is great!
Lovely village of Pasai Donibane in the end, staying in albergue Santa Ana.
The person running the albergue has a "tough but fair" vibe, he instructs us in Spanish on all the things we should and should not do, including going to bed before 22:00, waking up before 07:00 and leaving the albergue before 08:00.
We do a walk to the supermarket and for dinner with some of the other pilgrims.
Pasai Donibane
Day 3 - Pasai Donibane to Donostia / San Sebastian:
Got to Donostia / San Sebastian, walked up the local castle hill (Mount Urgull), and found some tasty fish ("hake") for lunch.
Went to La Concha beach for a swim, it was nice, amazing waves. Could have been warmer, but it was OK. Got a bit lost on the way back to the hostel because I only took the bare minimum, which did not include any devices / maps. But with some asking of directions from passers-by I got back alright.
The San Sebastian film festival is happening here, and all the accommodations are full.
Stayed at Colo Colo Hostel which was really nice for a hostel, with very private "pods", except some guy listened to British TV quietly, but audibly at 1:00, so I embraced my inner "karen" and asked him "Don't you have headphones?". He was quite apologetic.
La Concha in Donostia / San Sebastian
Lunch
Day 4 - Donostia / San Sebastian to Zarautz:
The hostel has an espresso machine, free to use, so I don't have to invest time in finding caffeine in the morning! Eating most of my food so I have less to carry. Forecast - sun and some clouds, but up to 29C.
Have to go 22 km today, 540m+- altitude. Donostia/San Sebastian to Zarautz.
Good day, most of the morning was overcast with a breeze, so very comfortable. Later on after Orio, it was too hot, but only about an hour of hiking left.
Hiked all day with Felix from Germany and Cristoph from Luxemburg. Now at a decent hostel (Blai Blai), but many of the other people are not "pilgrims" so they are too loud even though it is late. Had fish for lunch and great traditional fish soup for dinner (Telesforo restaurant).
Zarautz beach
Day 5 - Zarautz to Itziar:
The day started nicely as we left early and it was not hot. Booked a room at an agriturismo near Itziar, as the hostel at Deba was allegedly at risk of being full. My co-walker dropped off at midpoint, and it got really hot. 31C in the shade, probably.
Longish slog, though through places of geological interest, called Flysch.
Got routed wrong by Komoot to a muddy cow track, then got lost trying to take a shortcut, ran into barbed wire, had to backtrack through some rough steep forest.
It was slightly frustrating, but I had plenty of time, so I was not very worried.
Got to the agroturismo (Txerturi Goikoa) and it's really nice, and the owner is very helpful and welcoming.
Hiked a 3km (round trip) to a restaurant, but made mistakes in ordering (well, I could blame the restaurant too, somewhat) and got too little food, but c'est la vie. Hiked back to the agroturismo in the dark, which wasn't that comfortable as I thought the cars on the road cannot see me, so I had to step completely aside whenever any approached. There weren't that many cars though.
20.4km day turned into a 27.7km day.
Zarautz beach
Flysch
Day 6: Itziar to Ondarroa
Sunny and hot again.
I did not want to go to Markina-Xemein and instead chose to stay on the coast, ending up at Ondarroa, Arrigorri Ostatu Jatetxea hotel.
The sound of waves was very calming and it's a nice location to stay at.
At this point, I've grown to love having "tortilla de patatas" (omelette with potatoes) for breakfast and lunch. I am not sold on other types of pintxos though, as they are too carb-heavy.
Tortilla de patatas as breakfast
.
Day 7: Getting back to Bilbao
Decided against a proper hike, and just did a walk in Bilbao. Quite hot.
It might be the heat, but from the larger cities I saw this trip, I strongly preferred Donostia / San Sebastian to Bilbao.
Went to the Maritime museum which was alright.
Walked to the hotel I had booked (Micampus Bilbao), and it was overbooked. Completely unorganised, even getting them to answer the phone to booking.com so that they could confirm the overbooking took a long time.
Then I had to call Booking many times until they confirmed the relocation to an airport hotel for 4x more cost (Booking.com later returned the difference).
I am not even that stressed about it, as it is not that late yet, I had no real plans for the evening, and I actually wanted an airport hotel as I'm departing tomorrow morning, just didn't like the cost.
However, some of the other people who also got turned away were quite distraught and for me it also meant that the trip didn't end on a high note.
However, some of the other people who also got turned away were quite distraught and for me it also meant that the trip didn't end on a high note.
Guggenheim Museum
Parting thoughts
It was a nice trip, but a week was enough for me, I was getting homesick and I did not feel disappointed that I did not have time to walk all the way to Santiago de Compostela.
The scenery on Camino del Norte was nice, and the waymarking excellent.
The trail surface was alright - while the official Camino del Norte route was often paved or concrete, you could take the alternative GR routes which were proper hiking footpaths.
Packing-wise, I had made a lot of great decisions in not taking unnecessary things, and my bag was really light compared to most others that I saw, but I should have taken some slippers for the hostels.
Options for accommodation were not as diverse as I had hoped for, some of the hostels were full and a lot of the hotels that were available were quite expensive. Booking ahead may have alleviated that, but there are advantages to not booking too far ahead as you don't know how much you will want to walk and what the weather will be. I met some pilgrims who had a fully pre-booked route (from a tour company) and the distances booked seemed higher than they should be, and they themselves - distraught by it.
Studying Spanish for a few months before going was a good idea. While I never felt fully comfortable, I could handle a few basic conversations such as booking hostels over the phone or ordering food, and it really made the whole trip more enjoyable.
Overall, I could see myself returning to Camino del Norte another year, or trying another section of Camino de Santiago.
