Camino del Norte Day 5: Deba to Cenarruza Monastery (32 km)

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Today was our longest day so far, and our feet are definitely feeling tender. We decided to get a head start on our day and were out the door of our albergue at 6am. The sun doesn’t rise until about 7:20 here, so we walked in the cool dark for over an hour. The route left the coast and we had a long remote section far from towns. There was a fair amount of elevation gain at the beginning, then rolling hills and a steep descent to the town of Markina-Xemein, which has an interesting church built around three huge megalithic stones.

From Markina, the path is flat for a few miles and leads into the quaint village of Bolibar, famous for being the native home of Simón Bolívar. While he wasn’t actually born there, his family was originally from there. The last 1 km of the trail was very steep, following the ancient Roman road and paved in cobblestones.

We arrived at the Cenarruza Monastery at 2:30pm. We had read that there is an albergue in the monastery that houses 10 pilgrims, so one of the reasons we hurried a bit was to get there in time to have a bed. We need not have worried, as no one else arrived until about 3 hours later. The monastery was built in the 14th century, and legend has it this mountainous spot was selected because an eagle picked up a skull from a nearby ossiary and dropped it here. The building was restored in the 1980s and Cistercian monks from Navarra came to care for it.

We had to ask around a lot before we figured out exactly where the albergue was in the complex as there was no sign. It is one small room, with 8 bunk beds, and several mats to use on the floor. The bathroom is outside and down one level, and had a wonderful hot shower with amazing water pressure. The accommodations are by donation, and the monks also provide a simple dinner and breakfast. It’s really a special place. I’m looking forward to attending vespers at 7:30 before our communal dinner at 8:30.

Tomorrow we have a more relaxing 17 km day to Gernika. We hope to arrive in time to see the weekly Monday market which is said to be the largest and most colorful in Basque Country. The market closes at 1pm and our breakfast is at 7am here, so we will have to make good time. We plan to be in Bilbao in 3 days and are looking forward to exploring the big city.

Camino del Norte Day 4: Zumaia to Deba, 13 km

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Another short day, as the next town after Deba is 22 kilometers away and the weather report was calling for rain. The ran began right on schedule at 7am. We waited in the albergue for the rain to let up, and left in drizzles around 8:15. The walk was a combination of small country roads and dirt paths. There were only two intermediary villages. The views of the rocky coast in the foggy weather were beautiful. We didn’t see very many other hikers as we were kind of between the more popular stages.

The beach town of Deba hidden in a steep valley, so our last few kilometers were very steep downhill and a bit slippery from the rain. Luckily there are two public elevators down to the sea level main area of Deba. We had read that we should go to Tourist Info in order to register for the albergue here. We paid our fee and got a key to the building, but then realized we had to backtrack back up the steep road we had just come down to get back to our lodging!

The albergue is housed in an old school, costs €5 and has 28 beds. It’s a little musty but fairly spacious. No kitchen, so we went to the grocery store and made up a nice taco salad and ate down by the beach while watching the surfers.

Tomorrow we’re planning on a long day to Zenarruza, where there is a small albergue (9 beds) in a monastery. We’re hoping we get there in time to get a bed! We will also be walking through Bolibar, the hometown of Simón Bolívar. We are hoping to get to Gernika (Guernica) on Monday to see their weekly traditional outdoor market, the largest in this area.

It has been interesting to see a lot of Basque separatist graffiti, and signs asking that ETA members who are in prison be returned to Basque Country. Other signs say “Basque Country: Independent and Socialist” and still others “Spain is our ruin.” I remember walking the Camino Francés in 2009 there was graffiti saying, “Tourist, you are NOT in Spain!”

We are feeling pretty good, though our legs and joints are rather sore. The first 20 kilometers tomorrow are supposed to be challenging, with a lot of elevation gain and loss, so we hope our bodies are up to the task.

Camino del Norte Day 3, Zarautz to Zumaia, 10 km

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We decided to walk the next stage of our book over two short days in order to catch up with work and also because tomorrow they’re calling for foul weather. It was a real treat to arrive in Zumaia around 11:30am and have the entire afternoon and evening to catch up on the GPS data, route descriptions, photo management and many other tasks.

We’re staying at the municipal albergue of Zumaia, which is located in a 400-year-old convent! It is huge with many rooms, so we were able to get a room with two beds all to ourselves. It’s a fun, huge, quirky building with great showers and a big eating space. Sadly, no kitchen, as seems to be the norm around here, but there is a microwave so we may try to make a microwave meal tonight as our appetite for ham and cheese sandwiches is growing thin. We do have a camping stove but have not been able to find the right kind of fuel canisters yet, hopefully in Bilbao. I’m missing our cheap-and-filling pasta Camino dinners.

Many of the albergues in Basque country are only open in July and August so we are lucky to be here just in time to enjoy them. Otherwise, often the only option is a youth hostel, which are rather pricy at €20+ per person, and can be loud and crowded.

The route today follows a sidewalk along the sea wall from Zarautz to Getaria (about 4.5 km), then climbs up through rolling hills through vineyards with stunning views of the cliffs down to the sea. Zumaia is a cute little town with two beaches and some historic buildings and a marina. This evening we walked out to an amazing beach with towering cliffs above them, which were beautifully striated. There was a perfect path out onto a rock fin with a view back to the beach and cliffs. Really a surprising gem of spot.

Back in the albergue this evening, we had a microwaved dinner of “Tres Delicias” (a rice and seafood dish), pumpkin soup, and chocolate pudding, plus a healthy dose of the Spanish equivalent of Gatorade (called “Aquarius.”)

Tomorrow we will probably walk only 12 km to Deba. Or if the weather proves nice, we may press on an additional 20km to Markina-Xemein for a 32 km day.

Camino del Norte Day 2, San Sebastián to Zarautz, 22 km

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Today was a great day, after a very tiring day yesterday. The first few hours of the day, we explored San Sebastián, visiting the cathedral and the Old City. We left on the trail around 10am. There was a lot of walking through rural areas, with beautiful small farms and views of the ocean, along with traditional Basque architecture. There were some ups and downs, but nothing very intense. We are sore, but feeling stronger as we go. The sun came out to join us and it was fun to finally have some blue skies.

We had a picnic feast for lunch in Orio, a sweet little town along the water which was famous for whale hunting back in the 19th century. We continued along the shore and up and over a green hill for a beautiful descent into the town of Zarautz, known as the “Hawaii of Spain” for its great surfing. The long stretch of beach was ideal, and surfers of all levels were enjoying the water.

The albergue here is donation-based, and housed in a school during July and August (many albergues are only open in summer on the Norte route). It is very clean with very hot showers and a nice big yard for relaxing and hanging laundry. We walked along the sea promenade and visited the historic buildings and ate dinner downtown. Now we are ready to get a good night’s sleep. We are excited to see that his albergue has plenty of windows for ventilation. The albergue last night did not have windows and became very hot and stuffy with over 50 bodies in it!

Tomorrow we plan to walk 23 kilometers to Deba.

Camino del Norte Day 1: Irún to San Sebastian, 26 km

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Tiring but beautiful first day. Lots of sea views and charming seaside towns. We stayed in the San Sebastian albergue, which is a schoolhouse which has bunks in summer. Beautiful beach town. We are exploring the sites before continuing to Orio or Zarautz. We are surprised at how many other pilgrims are on the trail. The 60 beds at San Sebastian were all full by the end of the evening. we do have camping supplies but hope to still get a bed tonight!

Camino del Norte, Trip Log Day 0 (Irún)

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We arrived safely in Hendaye, France last night after a tight train connection from Paris Beauvais airport. Other than a bit of running in the train station, all the connections went very smoothly. We enjoyed our 5.5 hours on the high-speed train which gave us a chance to rest, read and prepare ourselves.

Our arrival at 11pm in Hendaye left us with a bit of a dilemma. The pilgrim albergue in neighboring Irún closed at 10pm, so there was no option to sleep there. Usually in this situation we would seek out an inexpensive pensión (simple guesthouse), often we can get a double room for around €25. However, since this area is a tourist beach destination and August is the height of high season, all the hotels and guesthouses in the area were about double their normal prices, with the cheapest hotels starting at €60. Even the French gite, a dormitory similar to an albergue, was over €20 each (so about $50 for the two of us to sleep in dorms).

We decided to take a chance and save some money by stealth camping. We consulted Google Maps satellite view and determined that there were a lot of green areas within 2km of the city. We also noted a cemetery on the outskirts of towns near what looked like forests and fields. We decided to walk to this area and see if we could find a suitable place to sleep in “el aire libre” (the outdoors).

We were in luck, as there was a small green hill across from the cemetery which afforded us a sheltered spot to sleep. The cemetery also had a water spigot which we were able to use to fill our water bottles and rinse off our faces, and even had a small sheltered area with bathrooms!

Stealth camping can be a fun adventure and is a nice option when albergues are full or accommodations expensive. It’s important to find a good place that is unobtrusive. If you arrive after dark and leave before sun-up in a hidden place, most likely no one will ever know you were there. It can be helpful to ask locals for advice for a good place to camp. When we have done this, we have sometimes been invited to camp in someone’s yard or sleep in their house! When stealth camping is very important to leave no trace, and definitely not to leave any trash, toilet paper, etc. We have found that people are generally positive toward stealth campers if the campers are considerate. Be sure to respect any posted signs that say “no camping” and avoid any delicate environments that can be damaged by camping impact.

So this morning we woke up in our stealth campsite outside of Hendaye. We walked back to the train station for an eye-opening coffee (which we were shocked to find cost €3 each! About twice the usual price). Then we made our way to Irún to explore the points of interest and find our way around town. We decided to spend this whole day in Irún in order to fully explore the city and its neighboring city of Hondarribia. The pilgrim albergue in Irún doesn’t open until 4pm, but we stopped by to see it and there was a cleaning lady working who allowed us to drop off our heavy packs for easier exploration.

We really enjoyed visiting the sites of Irún and the beautiful Old City of Hondarribia. We had a picnic lunch in the grass outside of the fancy Parador of Hodarribia. Anna took the bus out to the sports shop Decathlon to get some fuel for our camp stove while Dave caught up on some emails at a cafe. At 4pm we checked into the Irún albergue, which is quite a sweet place. The hospitalero checking us in was very kind and helpful. He told us to pick any bed in any room (there are 30 beds in 6 rooms). We felt very excited to find one small room with only 2 beds in it! It is almost like having a private room except that there is no door, so we will likely still hear any snoring going on in the neighboring rooms. Did I mention that this lovely, clean albergue with its great showers does not charge any fee? They just request a donation of whatever you are able to give. We normally give €5 a person (the average cost of a simple albergue) and more for albergues that we really enjoy, that treat us very kindly or offer extra services like meals (this albergue does provide breakfast).

After checking in, we took showers. The showers at the Irún albergue are GREAT! Good water pressure, super hot water, and good privacy. After showers, we washed our sweaty hiking clothes and walked across the street to the grocery store (Super BM is the actual name of the store!!) We prepared a simple, filling meal of pasta with lentils, mushrooms, red pepper and tomato sauce. We were also excited to be reacquainted with the delicious and dirt cheap wines of Spain. We had a tasty Navarran tempranillo for all of €1.49.

It feels great to be getting back into the pilgrim rhythm. We are still working out the kinks of our packing and learning how to keep the most important items handy in our packs. We generally like to pack light, but we do need more equipment when we are doing research for guidebooks, such as our Macbook Air, two SLR cameras, some backup hard drives, two GPSes, and a slew of chargers, batteries, etc. We are also packed to be able to camp, so have our lightweight Tarptent and sleeping pads in addition to our usual sleeping bags. We acquire weight along the way as we collect city maps, brochures and other info that helps us with our research. Occasionally we stop at a post office and mail these items ahead to ourselves so we don’t have to carry them the whole way.

Our plan for tomorrow is to walk to San Sebastián (about 30km, with two alternate routes which we will walk separately). There is an intermediate accommodation at Pasaia San Juan which we may stop at if we need more time. We will keep you posted as we get started walking!

What is the Camino de Santiago?

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So what is this Camino de Santiago we are going to be walking? Perhaps it is more apt to ask, what are the Caminos of Santiago?

  • Camino is a Spanish word, meaning “path,” “trail,” or, more generally “way.”
  • Santiago is the Spanish term for Saint James, the disciple of Jesus.

The name of the trail is often translated in English as “The Way of Saint James.” The modern day Camino(s) de Santiago follow various ancient tracks across Spain and end at the cathedral in the city of Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of St. James, recreating the ancient pilgrimage walked by millions throughout the past thousand years.

Today the most developed and popular route is the Camino Francés, or “French route,” traditionally beginning at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the French Pyrenees. When most people today talk about the Camino de Santiago, they are referring to this route, made popular in the 2011 Martin Sheen film “The Way“.

The Camino Francés stretched about 800 km (500) miles. There is an amazing system of albergues (pilgrim hostels) every 5-10 km which cost as little as $6/€5 per night. These are dormitory-style accommodations with beds, showers and facilities to wash clothing, some also have a kitchen for preparing meals and other amenities. Many churches feature a special pilgrim Mass of blessing for those on the route.

The Camino is not just for Catholics and not just for Christians, and even in the Middle Ages there was a diverse crew of pilgrims. A 12th-c. song about the Roncesvalles pilgrim hospice said:

“The doors are open to the sick and well
to Catholics as well as to pagans,
Jews, heretics, beggars and the indigent,
and it embraces all like brothers.”

This is the spirit of the Camino which continues to draw pilgrims from all walks of life!

 

 

 

Introducing “Hiking the Camino” (and ourselves)

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Sunrise on Mount Sinai April 2012 (David Landis & Anna Dintaman)

Hello! Welcome to Hiking the Camino! We are David Landis and Anna Dintaman, an American married couple who have been exploring and creating resources for pilgrimage hiking routes in the Middle East and Mediterranean for the last five years.

We have both always loved hiking and the great outdoors, from working at summer camps as teenagers to many hiking, biking and camping trips. We were first introduced to the Middle East as university students, we each participated in one of Eastern Mennonite University’s study abroad programs which included Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Greece and Italy. As part of that program, David hiked a section of the Israel National Trail and became interested in hiking opportunities in the area. He has also lead university groups on the Saint Paul Trail in Turkey.

In 2007, he returned to the region and partnered with an Israeli friend to develop the Jesus Trail, a 60-kilometer pilgrimage hiking route in the Galilee which connects sites from the life of the Jesus. That trail has grown immensely in popularity, and has been featured in Backpacker Magazine, the New York Times, Christianity Today, the Washington Post, the Today Show and dozens of other magazines and newspapers.

In 2009, we felt that the Jesus Trail needed a guidebook to provide the necessary practical and historical information for pilgrims. After exploring different options, we decided the best course of action would be to write the guidebook ourselves! Anna has a lot of writing and research experience and David is a whiz at photography and graphic design. Though the learning curve was steep, we managed to produce what we feel is a very functional and beautiful book, which was published in 2010: Hiking the Jesus Trail and Other Biblical Walks.

Since publishing that book, we have had the opportunity to work with other organizations and authors. In 2011, we edited and provided photos for a guide to hiking the Ramallah Highlands Trail, and edited and published Go to Galilee: A Travel Guide for Christian Pilgrims, by Jacob Firsel. We also managed a small tour company that operated tours on the Jesus Trail. David has also worked as a consultant, producing practical resources for sections of trail on Abraham’s Path in Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Turkey.

David Landis (Cabo Finisterre)

In 2009, we both walked the Camino de Santiago (Francés route) as personal pilgrimages. We were taken by the simplicity of daily life on the trail, the friendships we were able to build with pilgrims from around the world, and the powerful experience of joining a walking community. In 2011, we decided to return to the Camino in order to complete research for a guidebook. The book, Hiking the Camino de Santiago: Camino Francés, will be published in January 2013. Sign up to be notified when the book is for sale! While there are other guidebooks available in English for the Camino Francés, we felt drawn to create the guidebook we ourselves would want to use, with very accurate and complete practical information, helpful maps with topography, and concise overviews of local history and customs.

Now, in 2012, the Camino is calling us back again! August 20-September 12 we will be walking the Camino del Norte, from Irún to Santiago, to do research for a new guidebook that we hope to publish in March 2013. Currently there are no guidebooks for the Camino del Norte in English* so we look forward to setting the standard and hopefully attracting more people to this rugged and wild coastal route.

Our travel style is low-budget, though we do make every effort to support local businesses and convey utmost respect and appreciation for local peoples! We love to learn about history, architecture, local customs, and we love to stumble our way through new languages, and certainly enjoy a good glass of Rioja wine.

We hope to blog here several times per week as we walk the Camino del Norte. Follow us on our journey!

*The CSJ does have two booklets for the Camino del Norte, but without maps, we would consider them more as “walking notes” than full-blown guidebooks, though they are a helpful resource.