I did just that. There was a major road, next to it behind concrete barriers was a two way bike path, and a hiking path next to it. I started walking, looking at wonderful vegetable garden plots behind the houses, thinking about the wonderful weather, and how perfect this Camino was starting. After about twenty or thirty minutes I realized I hadn’t seen a yellow arrow since the roundabout. I took out my book with my map, and soon thought I had made a mistake somehow, but wasn’t sure.
About that time a bicyclist was coming by, and it was time for me to use that Duolingo Spanish practice from the last couple of years. I said, “Disculpe, creo que estoy perdido”. I didn’t understand every word, but he pointed back toward where I had come and said, “izquierda…puente …izquierda.” Then he pointed up the hill and said “iglecia”. The iglecia (church) was on the map, shown to be along the trail.
I went back the way I came, turned left (izquierda) went across the bridge (puente), then turned left (izquierda) again… then I was in great shape. When I was on the real trail I was blown away at how many yellow trail markers there were. Now I could see how people say it’s easy to not get lost on this trail.
There were trails up both sides of the canal at the roundabout. I had walked up the wrong side of the canal. Now that I was really off on this pilgrimage life was good:)
The church on the ridge line was gorgeous (see picture).
There are three options for portion of the trek from Irún to San Sebastián. The low route, the coastal variant, or the main route which is the high route. I had read to take the low or coastal route if it’s bad weather because you can’t see anything anyway. But, if it’s good weather, take the high route, even though it’s harder, because the views are so spectacular. (Does anybody else see the metaphor there with the high route being harder but better?).
It was perfect weather, the views were out of this world. Because this is right on the border with France, nearly all the local hikers greeted us with “bonjour”, and not “hola” or “buen camino.” There was a lot of talk about how far folks could see up the French coastline, and how pretty Irún and the adjacent towns are.
Most things were great, there was one minor glitch (in addition to the hike up the wrong side of the canal). In the morning the Albergue served breakfast. The definition of “breakfast” can differ wildly. A piece of bread, and jam, and maybe another piece of pastry and a cup of coffee is breakfast…according to some customs. Suffice it to say I didn’t eat adequate breakfast. I knew there was a place to eat somewhere along the trail.
I got to that place along the trail at about 2:00 p.m. Pasajes de San Juan and it is unimaginably beautiful. More importantly, it had two open restaurants. I ate a lot:). In addition to other food they had a great fish soup. Even though the fish soup was spectacular…Theresa’s is still the best I’ve ever had.
After eating and rejuvenating, I took the ferry across the water and continued on toward San Sebastián, my goal for the day. Immediately after the ferry crossing I met up with an experienced pilgrim from Germany named Peter. He’s 73. He had hiked other Caminos and was a wealth of information. The problem with Peter was, he walked faster than me. I wanted to keep up because he knew so much and was willing to share.
He kind of kicked my butt. A few miles outside of San Sebastián on a very rural stretch of mountain road was a panaderia (bakery) sign. Peter suggested we stop. I was all for it because I was tired. In addition to baked goods they had a hostel there. It wasn’t shown on his app or my book. I decided to stay, Peter went ahead and we hoped to meet in Zarautz, in the albergue, the next night. The old guy beat me, I couldn’t keep up with him.
They fed dinner at the hostel. There was an awkward moment at the table with the proprietor and one of the pilgrims. It seemed like a good time for me to introduce them to “Roses, Thorns, Daffodils, and Buds.” We went around the table with everyone telling their rose (good thing), thorn (bad thing), daffodil (surprise), and bud (the thing they’re looking forward to.
For a few of us the thorn was the hot water heater was broken, so we had to take very cold showers. I know my shower was very cold and very short. One of the pilgrims hadn’t taken a shower so had a different thorn.
About an hour after dinner she came bounding out shouting “I have a new rose, I have a new rose, I have a new rose!” They had been able to fix the hot water heater and she was going to have a hot shower.
There was good, meaningful discussion after dinner, in addition to the goofiness I shared:)
