Hotel breakfasts days in a row: 3 (last one for a while)Different surfaces walked on: at least 6High 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
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. Caminos go in only one direction. It is hard to go backwards because you
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. 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. This dirt but really mostly rocky
For years we have gotten Spanish SIMs from Vodafone. They are kind of the t-mobile of Spain, that is, they usually have the best deals but not always the best coverage. They also have the slow and generally incompetent employees. They did not disappoint today. Wynette got her SIM but it turns out that they
After getting off the bus we wanted to check our backpacks. Perplexity (google it) led us to a hotel which led us to the tourist office which led us to a phone store which, among other things, checked luggage. So we climbed the little mountain without packs.
The first part of the Norte is Basque country. You may have noticed the oddly spelled names that don’t seem remotely Spanish. Basque is a language isolate and is the last remaining pre-Indo-European language in Europe. Here is a notice from our room so you can compare it to some other languages. It is the
Mountains climbed: 1 out of 2Stair steps missed not climbing the mountain: 312Stair steps up to Monte Urgull: < 312?(although we walked down also)Phone SIMs purchased: 1Phone eSIMs purchased: 0Backpacks checked: 2 Remember how the first Norte stage was the hardest? After climbing Jaizibel from Irun to Passajes, the camino climbs Mount Ulia on the
The road not taken.
There are two routes. The upper one is harder but prettier. Reader, we took it.