Day: April 12, 2024

Braille

IPA braille encodes the International Phonetic Alphabet so the braille for the same word is different in different languages, note the zones in Spanish, French and Basque. The surprised me when I saw it because I thought of braille as a language. I was also surprised that “/“ was rendered as a single dot. I would think that simplest of braille would be used for a more common symbol.

4/12 WynChar Diary

Hotel breakfasts days in a row: 3 (last one for a while)
Different surfaces walked on: at least 6
High temperature: 74 (It was hot, and tomorrow it will be 76)
The Camino aka Saint James will provide moments: 2 (a fountain with cool water just as we were running out and a lovely cool breeze for the last two miles)
Alcohol units: 2 (Charlie has a weakness for Asturias sidra so he had one in a bar and we bought a 75 cL bottle at the grocery store. Full disclosure: Wynette had some too. Only Charlie likes the sour kind but this one was sweet.)

We like to start out in the morning and walk for 2-4 miles and then stop at a bar and have fried eggs and toast. This requires a middle point with a bar. So far there have been no services for the whole walk so we had breakfast at the hotel. Starting tomorrow we’ll get into our pattern.

The strange meal hours in Spain actually work well for us. We have breakfast around 10 at a bar, lunch around 2-3 when after we get into the town we are staying in and something simple for dinner, like cereal in our room or a salad we buy at a grocery store.

Camino path changes a lot and the walk from San Sebastián to Orio was typical. We started on a road with a sidewalk for a while, then some small suburban streets walking by people’s houses. These were in a semi-rural setting with ocean views but still close to San Sebastián. Then into the woods on a rocky dirt path. The rocky part is good when there is mud but hard to walk on. You have to watch your feet every step. Then some gravel road. Then more rocky paths. Then a nice dirt path that would be terrible in or after a rain. On our last trip, in 2018, it was muddy and we were clinging to the barbed wire fence beside the path. That led to a bloody barbed wire incident recorded in the 2018 blog. The worst section was a mile or more near the end of a “Roman road” which was very steep and very hard to walk on, but again much better than mud after a rain. Finally asphalt into Orio.

”The Camino will provide” is a common saying among pilgrims. Nothing supernatural, just a consequence of keeping positive, being grateful when good things happen and accepting it with equanimity when bad things happen.

The fountain happened at the perfect time. We normally take only two pints of water and rarely use it up but today was hot. I drank a whole pint right at the fountain and we had plenty of water for the last three miles.

Few things are as satisfying as a cool breeze on a hot day. There is a Peanuts cartoon about that. Luckily, near the ocean cool breezes are common.

We had Bridget Jones blanked on the alcohol units until sidra came into the picture.

Signage

GR routes (Grande Randonnée) are a network of long-distance hiking trail mostly in France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Many Caminos follow GRs. GR-121 goes along Northern Spain and follows the Norte or provides alternative routes, usually closer to the ocean.

The standard Camino yellow arrow and the white over red GR blaze
This is how the yellow arrows and the GR blaze show turns in the route
GR blaze for “don’t go this way, not the GR” The Camino has a similar yellow cross
They fit them onto small surfaces
Sometimes they’re on the same sign

Caminos go in only one direction. It is hard to go backwards because you have to look back to see the signs. GRs go in both directions and are signed for both.

Camino sign showing different foot and bicycle paths

Camino Surfaces

One of the thing we like about walking the Camino is that is changes constantly. Here are some of the surfaces we walked on today.

Rocky trail

This one is nice to walk on dry but a mess after a rain. It is the site of Charlie’s 2018 barbed wire incident.

Gravel road changes to dirt path
Gravel road

This dirt but really mostly rocky trail was the surface for a few miles. Notice the rocks are placed so you can walk on them and avoid the dirt when the rain changes the dirt into mud. Unpleasant to walk on, dangerous too if you are not careful.

Roman road style but from the Middle Ages.
Description of the Roman style road we walked
On the rocky trail
Paved road walking

In the middle of the Spanish fun

Outside our window, people outside the bar downstairs.

We chose a hotel tonight right smack in the middle of the tiny town of Orio. (Yes, pronounced like the cookie, more or less.) Our hotel has a bar downstairs and there are dozens of people in the street in front talking and laughing. There’s another bar next door as well and more people socializing in front of it. It’s fairly cool out. But the Basque people don’t seem to mind the cold and do a lot of their socializing outdoors. I’m always struck by the wondrous community we find in nearly any Spanish town.

The bar next door (outside our side window)

It’s pinxo hour (tapas). They won’t actually have dinner till around 10:00. Here are examples of tapas — what we had for our late lunch. (We got in too late to have a proper comida.)