Zumaia to Deba

We sleep in and are late meeting George this morning, he is already enjoying his buffet breakfast at our hotel. The options are endless this morning, it’s hard to pick, but I end up with a big thick piece of toast with butter, ham and cheese, freshly squeezed orange juice and a coffee. We then head back to our room to finish packing and get ready to hit the road. We start off today on the GR121 which will take us along the Ruta de Flysch - this is a
Geological phenomenon where the sea erodes stratified rocks and forms interesting rock formations. We will rejoin the Camino in around 3.5 km. We follow a narrow path along the coastline, it is a beautiful clear day with little wind. There are a lot of people walking on this path in both directions. The cliff sides and rock formations are so amazing, I understand why scenes from GOT were shot here. This has to be my favourite day so far as the scenery is just so beautiful, it is picture perfect and I just can’t help but stop, look up and smile every few minutes, I am just so happy to be here. We wind up and down hills all day, we eventually get to the outskirts of Deba and the down hill is super steep, we take it very slow and our joints are letting us know that they are not happy! We arrive at the first street in Deba and the downhill has not ceased, there is stairs as far as the eye can see and George is on a mission to get to the end of them and to our Albergue. We on the other hand keep taking photos, putting off the inevitable, I turn to my left to snap a photo and low and behold I see a lift - stairs or lift 🤔, this is a no brainer, lift all the way! We take the first one down just to see there is a pedestrian crossing and it leads directly to another lift, we are on it! We meet up with George at the Albergue, there is only 1 bed left out of 59 so we collect our other backpacks and go to a bar to workout a new plan. There is absolutely no accommodation of any form left in Deba, so we look further afield. We discuss booking at our next destination and boomeranging back here tomorrow, but we are unable to source any accommodation there either. We jump on booking.com and check out what we can find - all we can find is one place up in the mountains via Eibar. We book it and then I ring to check that they have a restaurant and that they will feed us, l have turned into a labrador this trip and this lab can’t go without a meal! Robert (The owner of the establishment) assures me that we will be feed, so we finish our wine then go to catch the train to Eibar. It takes about 40 minutes before our train arrives. We hop on and George gets a seat facing the entry and exit. Lisa and I are standing in this area. The train takes off and we are rolling along nicely, then all of a sudden a lady who is also standing in the entry and exit area starts screaming MEDICO, MEDICO! Everyone starts looking around and this lady is now running through the train shouting MEDICO! Next minute she is running back with a younger women in front of her, who must be a nurse or doctor and she is onto it. A man sitting behind George is having a seizure and she quickly but calmly gets him on the floor and lays him on his side and clears his airways, this works a treat and soon he seems to be recovering. We get to the first stop and on jumps a train attendant who b-lines for the man. People are strongly discussing if the man should have been taken off the train as there is a hospital near by or if he should stay on the train. He stays, the medical woman returns to her seat and the train attendant stays with the man, he ends up getting off at the next station with the girl he was travelling with. We get off the train after another 2 stops, only to be told to hop back on as there are 3 stops in Eibar and we need the 2nd one so we can catch a taxi to our destination for the night. So back on we hop and 3 minutes later we are lugging our selves and our backpacks off the train in search of a taxi. George is all over it and we have one before we know it, all our packs just fit in the boot and we jump in, next minute we are being whisked up a mountain with Lionel Richie blasting out of the stereo, of course Lisa and I assume we need to sing along, so we start singing - off key of course! Well old buddy the taxi driver starts driving like a rally driver, I lean, well half fall over to Lisa and tell her that I don’t think he likes our singing, cause he’s now driving like he stole the cab - I think he just wants us to shut up! It works we stop singing, but start laughing instead. Thank god we arrive in one piece, we thank the man for not killing us and head in to our hotel for the night. Robert meets us at the reception desk, we book in, he chats to George for a while, George lives in Florida and Robert lived there for 10 years, so they have lots to discuss. He books us a table for dinner at 8:30pm, which gives us time to shower, change and feel human again. We meet George in the restaurant. We are feeling very spoilt - lovely accommodation, spectacular views, beautiful wine, delicious food and fabulous service from all the staff here. I don’t think we are going to want to leave tomorrow. Our day is done, our belly’s are full and it’s well and truly time for some shut eye.Read more