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.