The Albergue was full last night but the owners were kind enough to squeeze a mattress into the dorm room for me. It was very kind and, even though the top bunk owners belt felt off his bed in the night and I took a belt buckle to the eye socket, I slept quite well.

We had a late start (in pilgrim time) because I’m still unorganised. At 8:30 we set off for our walk to Getaria with a planned stop in Zarautz. There was more road walking than I would have liked but when we peeled of to continue the off road path we stopped at a pretty little church and took five for water and some snaps.

We continued along the Camino and rounded a corner to be confronted with a hill that made my legs hurt even before I started climbing it. Fortunately I had my AWESOME walking poles and I tackled it with the strength of someone 3 times my age.

At the top was a water point and we sat and planned the next few kilometers. While we were there we met a crazy Swiss dude that had just walked from Paris and spent the last night in an abandoned building with a roof that leaked. Absolutely fantastic bloke. We chatted for a while before he continued on his way clutching his Gandalf sized walked stick and whistling to himself.

We decided to treat ourselves to a couple of hours on the beach soaking up the Spainish rays. It will be difficult but see if you can spot the Englishman below.

We continued following the coastal route. About a kilometer out the city was a huge section of multilayered platforms complete with a diving board. All the Spainish kids were launching themselves of into the water. Backflips, sideflips, dives and the occasional flounder. They looked like they were having the time of their lives.

After another few kilometers walk we were getting close to the hostel. One final lovely little suprise awaited us. A nice big flight of stairs. We finally made it to the albergue and I had possibly one of the nicest showers I have ever had in my life.

We ended the day with some good conversation, a thunderstorm in the distance over the sea and some local wine and beer. Bloody fantastic it was.

BUEN CAMINO