Making new friends 😊

After yet another disturbed night's sleep (too hot, noisy fan) I had a pretty relaxed start to my day. I had to be at Bilbao Airport by 1130 to meet the Explore! rep and my other walking buddies, and reckoned it'd take me about 30 minutes to walk to the Intermodal (the big bus station) where I'd get the airport bus. It should've taken me that yesterday, but with my 180° mistakes... 'nuff sed!😂 Bilbao was just waking up, it being the weekend, and it was interesting dodging the street cleaners!
Anyway, after a leisurely start and a sort of second breakfast at the Intermodal (tortilla of course!) I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Juan was already there, big Explore! sign displayed so I couldn't miss him, as were Becky and ... I've forgotten her name already - here we go🙄🤔😂. Could be Linda, but then it could be Sandra...
Anyway, there are 13 of us and at the mo (I still haven't spoken to everyone) over half of us are from the education sector 😫😆 - what would you expect, though? It's already resulted in some very interesting conversations!
We had a 3 hour minibus journey ahead of us, about 2 of which skirted the same route Julie and I had walked on the Norte last year - I much preferred this method of travel. Then, after a quick snack stop, it was another hour winding up and up into the Picos de Europa. There were some fantastic views over the edges of the roads 😱 and some pretty sharp hairpin bends with cows in the way!!!
This is serious mountain climbing country (not that we'll be doing any of that) and there are lots of paths leading through the three massifs that make up the Picos, some of which we'll be tackling over the next week.
Sotres is the highest town (village?) in the Picos and even has its own albergue! Camino, anyone?
Everyone seems to be really lovely. We're a mixed bunch, but I've found 2 fellow scousers, so there should be a few laughs, too.
First walk tomorrow is 19km, I think, but we don't start til 0930 so I think it's going to be just fine 😊😊😊. We have mist right now, but a good walking temperature of 22° is forecast. That'll do!Read more