The sounds of hardcore rain woke me up 10 minutes before my 6:30 alarm. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the sound and it was lovely and warm and dry in the tent but I knew that, in about 15 minutes, I would be out in it wrestling my tent away. Fortunately I also had a Jenny to help and, for those of you keeping up with Jenny news, her arms work fine! 

The Albergue had put on a dinner and breakfast for us so I knew I had my morning coffee and ciggy to look forward too. Every cloud and all that.

Once we were ready we set off into the sideways rain and howling wind. The first 5km were along a main road which added an element of danger to the whole thing. This walk would be boring without cars flying past you 4 feet away at 100kph in the rain!

Jenny is at about 80% now so she was taking the cambered corners like a boss. 

After about an hour of walking and putting my waterproofs through vigorous testing we stumbled across a little taverna on the side of the road. It was coffee time again and the warm and dry bolt hole was well appreciated. After I had paid and got my stamp I geared up and made my way out into the gloom and doom. 

Once off the road the walk actually became quite nice. There were some cool tunnels to walk through (don’t worry, I did the obligatory evil laugh! MWAHAHAHAHAHA)

I could tell that the cocktail of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs had kicked in, there was no stopping Jenny!! 

After the off road walk it was time to settle back in to civilisation with a town called Castro Urdiales. Not a bad little place actually. It had an awesome church which was open so we had a little mooch round there and the beach was pretty epic too. 

A small amount of sightseeing later we made our way to the Albergue, 3 hours early. Not so much a bad thing due to there only being 16 beds so it was a good idea to get here a bit earlier. 

While we were sitting there I decided that I had a few km left in me and there was a campsite by the sea with showers, food and (most importantly) beer. 

I said goodbye to Jenny which felt weird cause we had been walking together for a good few days and, as much as I like to take the piss, she is genuinely a really great girl and I will miss her. Saying that I’ll probably bump into her tomorrow so if that happens forget the last paragraph. 

After about an hour Micheal caught me up and we walked for a bit chewing the fat and then naturally seperated because he walks like a normal human and not someone with 30 bricks on their back. 

There was some more road walking and then the path dived off towards the coast and immediately turned beautiful.

As I rounded a corner the sea opened up in front of me and I spent an hour just sitting there watching and listening to it. It was very peaceful and it felt strange to actually switch my mind off for a bit and focus on the moment. Serene would be the word I suppose but it doesn’t seem to do the time I had there justice. 

I got up after my “one with nature” moment and carried on along the path to go and get some nature to eat. The campsite promised some luxuries and I planned on taking full advantage. When I arrived I put the tent up, blew up my mattress, blew up my pillow and laid out my sleeping bag. It was then shower time and go get something to eat and drink time. 

After a diet of tinned fish, nuts, bread and houmous I was craving some cow. I decided on a nice big hamburger, chips and a beer.

Lovely.

I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. There are 2 250m hills to climb and the rain looks pony so I may give it a swerve and have a day in my tent reading. 

Expect tomorrow’s blog to be either super exillerating or as boring as paint drying.

There’s a hook!!

BUEN CAMINO