Breathtaking! That sums up my experience today. And that word - breathtaking - can be used in 2 ways: 1- the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful; and 2- today's stretch was breathtakingly difficult!
The setting is the northeast coast of Spain, right at the border with France. After leaving the small town of Irún, I climbed up a mountain, offering wonderful views in all directions. To the east was Irún, and France behind it, to the south the Pyrenees (in the distance), to the west Pasai Donibane and way in the distance San Sebastián, my final destination point of today's walk, and to the north, the Atlantic Ocean.
The first 12 kms or so where up a mountain, then I walked along the top of the mountain ridge for about 3 kms, before descending through a forest to a small town of Pasai Donibane, where I, quite happy with myself, took the liberty to stop for some bocadillos and a beer.
But whereas the first 15 kms or so took me 2 hours, the next 10 kms took me about 4 hours, eclipsing any good feelings I'd developed to that point. In fact, at one point I wondered if I was up to the challenge of walking the Camino. In the end, however, I made it to the youth hostel in San Sebastián, where I currently sit and lick my wounds! Tomorrow I have to do this all over again???
The weather was cool and cloudy in the morning, and hot and sunny in the afternoon.
In the evening, around 8, I took a bus downtown where I ate dinner at a restaurant called Iturioz: I ate an ensalada mixta, spaghetti bolognese, and drank a nice rosé wine with it.
I also visited the cathedral, Buen Pastor (Good Shepherd).
The language they speak here in the Basque country is quite unique. Written, it doesn't look like Spanish, and the sound also certainly isn't Spanish.
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