Reset search
Camino Del Norte 2022Camino Del Norte 2022
SatelliteEdit route

Camino Del Norte 2022

July - September 2022
First time walking the Camino del Norte Read more
  • 57footprints
  • 1countries
  • 62days
  • 798photos
  • 49videos
  • 954kilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 12

    Larrabetzu to Bilbao

    July 30, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Lisa wakes me up and we get ready for breakfast at 7am, then it’s back to the room to finish packing up, this takes us awhile. Poor George is probably so sick of waiting for us. We seem to get into our accommodation pull everything out of our backpacks to find what we need, and before we know it, we have stuff everywhere, and our room looks like it’s been ransacked, we have become pretty used to this by now and we just know that if we are staying at a hotel to always put the ‘do not disturb’ sign out on the door handle, the cleaners don’t need to contend with our mess! We are finally ready to go and it’s now 9am, we need to head back down the steep hill we climbed up yesterday and make our way back onto the Camino path. It’s 3 kms and we do it with ease, we walk through the industrial area of Larrabetzu, then into a lovely little village called Lezama, there are open bars everywhere and they all look very inviting, but due to our big breakfast none of us want to stop this morning, I think we all just want to get to Bilbao where we can settle in for the next 4 days. We get to the outskirts of Lezama and we are walking through a beautiful park, it’s level, pretty and an easy walk, once the park ends, we turn onto a service road, and near the end of this road is where the two Camino paths merge together and we see other pilgrims, we pass each other with a “Hola, buen camino”, George is ahead of us by a good 30 metres and I notice these guys pointing to George’s tattoo, they have a little chat amongst themselves, then as they pass George, there is more conversation, I realise then, having walked behind George for three different caminos, this is a regular occurrence. It starts with the tattoo, moves to George’s age, then onto what a legend he is. I feel very honoured and lucky to have walked so many miles with this very dear friend of mine and to be honest, I can’t imagine walking a Camino without him. It’s funny though, sometimes we feel kinda like his security detail and want to put a hand out to keep all these people at bay and say ‘please, no paparazzi’. In our book George is an absolute legend and this year his Camino is going to be a very special one. George will leave Lisa and I on the 16th August and head to Lisbon, Portugal ready to meet up with his 3 children - Todd, Marsha and Tarsha. They will all be doing the Camino from Porto in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela and I know how much this will mean to him. We are looking forward to hearing all about their journey and wish them a Buen Camino! We get to the outskirts of Bilbao, we are a fair way above the city below and we start to head down, once we can make out the buildings, I indulge myself in a game of Where’s the Guggenheim? I have never been to Bilbao before, but I have seen the Guggenheim on the net and in posts from fellow pilgrims who have already visited, so I sort of know what to look for in this beautiful big city. I eventually find it and verify it with George. It is a very steep decent into Bilbao with hundreds of steps, that lead us directly to the old part of the city, as we are walking down the steps we can hear a blues band playing in the distance and as we get closer to our hotel the music is getting louder, when we have finally weaved our way through the narrow maze like streets of Bilbao’s old town we arrive at our hotel, we book in and are in room 202. We have a balcony that opens up and gives a perfect view of the blues festival. We could not have planned this better. Tonight we are dining at La Tagliatella, we have shared many meals with our Camino family in this chain of restaurants and it is not only yummy but holds many great memories. After dinner we meander back to our lovely hotel, enjoying the vibe, music and dancing, we hit the hay and let the music lull us off to sleep.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 13

    Bilbao

    July 31, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    There is no sleep in for us this morning as we have a tour booked and we need to be at the bus stop at 8:50am bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for a full day of checking out the filming locations from the Game of Thrones, along the Basque coastline. We arrange to have breakfast at 8am at our hotel, then off to the bus stop we go. Our tour guide is Ann and as we travel along she talks about the history of the areas we pass through and how the locals felt and dealt with the cast and crew of GOT. We arrive at Zumaia, pile out of the bus and all walk up to the Ruta de Flysch. We are shown pictures of the scenes that were shot here - beach scenes at Kings Landing, it's no wonder they used this location in the series, it's an absolutely perfect setting. We spend sometime photographing and wondering around this area. Then it's time to head back to the bus to move onto our next location. Next we are headed to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe this is the island fortress of ‘Dragonstone’ in season 7, and yes we did zigzag our way up all 241 steps to get to the little church at the top, which unfortunately was locked. We spent enough time up here for our heart rates to return to normal and take some pics, before descending back down the stairs. Once off the island the climb and countless steps back up to the parking lot to meet the bus was a beast none of us really wanted to defeat, but we had little choice, so with lots of breaks we finally made it to the top with enough time for a cold drink before departing this leg of our journey. Next up we visit a castle from the middle ages, this location is not in GOT, but it's included in this tour just to show us what a castle would have looked like back in that time. Last but not least was another beach location that was used in the series, in real life it's a nudist beach so I didn't take too many photos here. We head back to Bilbao after a full day out and about, tired but happy to have had such a good day seeing more of this amazing country.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 14

    Bilbao

    August 1, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today we get to go to the Guggenheim Museum, we are up early keen for the walk down there, it is a beautiful morning, a bit overcast at the moment and a very pleasant walk along the river Nervión. We are there by 9am which allows us plenty of time to wonder around the outside and marvel at this amazing building. Most of Bilbao is still waking up, it still surprises me that minimal businesses are open before 10am over here, I love it, except when there are no bars open, so no morning coffee. The Guggenheim opens it's doors at 10am and we spend the next 4 hours going through the collection, I really like the layout and sparseness of this museum. I often feel overwhelmed in museums and don't know where to start because there is so much to see, read and take in, but not here. My absolute favorite exhibition though was ‘The matter of time’ by Richard Serra, I loved wandering through these massive weathered steel maze like sculptures. I have been able to get through the whole collection and spend a bit of time at each exhibit or piece. With sore legs Lisa and I walk back and meet George for lunch, we then spend more time walking around the old town of Bilbao, enjoying this beautiful Spanish city.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 15

    Bilbao to Portugalete

    August 2, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We wake up this morning, have breakfast then head back up to our room to sort through our gear, we are having another shake down, sending another box of gear home and also another box onto Santiago de Compostella. It takes us quite awhile to get this sorted, then we are off to the post office to send our boxes to their respective destinations, we know this will take a while and we have our fingers crossed that we get someone who speaks better English than we speak Spanish, this will aid in speeding up the process. It ends up taking longer than anticipated, so I call the hotel to let them know we will be a little late checking out, they are cool about it and tell us not to rush. We finally finish and head back to our hotel, check out and have just enough time to catch the 1:15pm ferry boat to Portugalete, it costs 8€ and takes roughly 60 minutes. To walk out of Bilbao, the Camino path follows along the industrial area of town all the way to Portugalete, a lot of pilgrims have said it is a very boring walk, so we decide to skip this stage. The ferry boat ride is a much better option. We dock and disembark at Portugalete, this seems like a lovely little outer suburb of Bilbao, this is also where the Vizcaya Suspension Ferry is located, of course we will go for a ride across the river on it. Our hotel is right near where we docked and at the far end of the plaza. It is a fabulous location and bonus it has a bar, so we settle in for the afternoon . We go to a lovely little Italian restaurant just a little ways down from our hotel and we all order garlic bread and pasta dishes for dinner, they are all delicious, oh and a lovely bottle of red. We then call it a night, go back to our rooms and drift of to sleep.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 16

    Portugalete to Pobeña

    August 3, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We don't want to leave our hotel today, we have had such a comfy nights sleep in an air-conditioned room, but reluctantly we get organised, and go down for breakfast before heading off for another day on the Camino path. This is my first walking day since the shake down, my backpack feels heavy but no doubt I will get used to it, I kinda have to because I have sent my smaller backpack on, so there is no option but to get used to it. As we leave our hotel we head up into the main shopping area of Portugalete, and because of the steep streets, they have installed moving side walks, we all enjoy this add extra and take advantage of each and every one of them. We finally leave the town behind us and today we have a lot of road walking ahead of us, we finally get into La Arena this is a lovely little beach town, we have lunch there then walk to our town for the night. It is off the Camino path because we were unable to get accommodation at Pobeña, so we are now headed 2.5km off the path to Muskiz, lucky for us there is a dedicated walking path a long the river that runs all the way to our accommodation then over a bridge, up a steep but short hill. We arrive, check in, carry out the usual routine then it's time for dinner, we catch the bus back to La Arena we have dinner at a funky bar that overlooks the beach, it's packed with a lot of younger people drinking cocktails, the music is banging and we are loving the whole vibe, we order dinner and wine and it's beautiful, we then try to catch the bus home, we end up on the wrong one and have to walk 2.5 km back to our accommodation but in a different direction to how we came in. Well at least we get to see more of Muskiz. We finally get home and crash and burn for the night.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 17

    Pobeña to Castro-Urdiales

    August 4, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    I wake up tired this morning, I had a restless nights sleep, I was cold, and just tossed and turned all night. We get ready and go for breakfast, we then check out and head to the bus stop, we catch the bus back to La Arena and pick up the Camino path where we left off yesterday. It’s a beautiful day and we are walking on a lovely wide wooden path along side the beach that takes us all the way to Pobeña. We stop here for a quick coffee before tackling the 142 steps up to the headland. The coastal path along the headlands is beautiful, there is a nice breeze and lots of clouds in the sky, I had forgotten how magnificent the views are along the Cantabrian coastline, we have been walking inland for quite a few days, so I am really enjoying the walk today. We take some time and explore the ruins of an old iron ore mining operation, the iron ore was mined then transported via railway and aerial tramways to awaiting ships for exportation to other countries, operations ceased back in the 1960’s. There are a lot of locals out walking along this part of the coast too, and why not when there is a beautiful path 6 km in length running from Pobeña to Ontón. As we walk down into the village of Ontón we pass a soccer field that has prime position overlooking the sea. Also we come to the end of our walk through the Basque Region and take our first steps into Cantabria, Ontón is the first village on this Camino path in the Cantibrian Region.
    Fun Fact: We have walked 185.95 km in the Basque Region.
    We are hoping that there will be a open bar in Ontón, we all need a drink and the toilet. Fun Fact: Spain does not normally have public toilets at parks, rest areas or scattered along the Camino routes, so bars are really the only option.
    Unfortunately there is no bar in this town and we push on, Ontón is a small village that you have to walk down into and then, up out of, from here we walk on the side of fairly busy roads all the way into Castro Urdiales, it's a hard slog and a bit scary at times, but we finally make it into town. Tonight we have an apartment thanks to George, it takes us a while, a phone call and lots of laughs to locate our apartment. The first thing we do when we get in there is check out the kitchen, Lisa wants to cook us dinner, but before she can decide what to cook us, she needs to know what appliances this kitchen has, then it's off to the supermarket. Louie ends up cooking us roasted maryland chicken pieces, mashed potato, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrot and corn and of course red wine. Thank you so much Louie, it tastes absolutely amazing! We don't stay up much past dinner, we are all tired after our walk today, sleep comes easy.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 18

    Castro-Urdiales to Rioseco

    August 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We wake this morning and get ready to head off, we stop at a bar to get coffee and some breakfast then it's time to hit the road. It starts off pretty warm today and as we are nearing the outskirts of Castro Urdiales we pass the bullring, then it's a climb up and out of the town, we are now on a quite country road that runs along side a busy freeway, it's nice and quite and a few pilgrims pass us on this stretch today, we then wind down and under the freeway to get to the next town, this is a tiny little village, I stop and ask a man if there is a bar here and he informs me that there is not. Just out of this village we hit a very rocky, hilly path, there are locals running, not just jogging past us, they are obviously a lot fitter than we are and not at all worried about twisting or breaking an ankle. This path winds it's way along the headland and goats get to call this place home, it is truly beautiful, especially as the sky darkens and you can see the rain on the horizon, and hear the sound of the sea rolling and roaring as it hits land, we take some time just to savour this moment… We then continue on, we get to the next town and we stop here for a coffee, it's good to get the pack off and rest for a bit. Before we get back on trail, the rain starts, not heavy, just enough to wet everything, so on goes the backpack covers and our rain jackets. We head out of town and it looks like we will spend the rest of our day sharing the bitumen road with the cars, there is a barrier or at least a designated walking path though. We make it to our destination, we are wet, tired and hungry, we check in and Mar the lady that owns and operates this place looks after us. We have our showers go downstairs to the bar, have a drink, make our rolls, then we go for a walk around town, this doesn't take long, we then head back to the bar. Mar let's us know that we will have to go 2kms down the road for dinner tonight. When dinner time rolls round, Mar tries to ring us a taxi, but they are busy and won't be able to pick us up or drop us back later. In the end Mar closes her bar and runs us into the next town and tells us to ring her when we are ready to come home and she will come and pick us up, it doesn't get any better than that, Mar is an absolute trail angel and we are extremely grateful for everything she has done for us. Thanks Mar ♥️Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 19

    Rioseco to Laredo

    August 6, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We leave Mar this morning, and wish we could take her with us, but we know her 98 year old mother needs her more than we do. Our first path today is along side the road on a designated walking track, once we get to our second town for the day this changes dramatically, we encounter the steepest climb thus far, along a dirt track that reminds me of the overgrown motorbike tracks leading down to Styx River. We can actually hear motorbikes in the background as we climb this beast but can’t pick if they are headed our way or not 🤷‍♀️. When we are 3/4 of the way up this hill, a guy with his two dogs comes casually walking up behind us, as he overtakes us he lets us know that we are nearly at the top and then it flattens out, this is music to my ears. Once at the top we sit for a few minutes and have a drink, that climb took it out of all of us. We take off again and meander down the next hill. The countryside we pass through today is absolutely beautiful with lots of cows, horses and the odd donkey. The towns are small, well kept and pretty. We get to the last town before our destination and we have options, we choose the blue (recommended) route, it takes us up behind some rural houses, on the fringe of a forested area with rural views overlooking the farmland, we have excellent shade which drops the temperature considerably and we enjoy our walk. We eventually come out of this though and then it is uphill with no shade, but the views are stunning, it’s a hard slog with the constant climbing. The next phase of our walk today sees us weaving our way along a goat track lined with brier bushes, dodging rocks, prickles and people, this track seems to go on forever, then out of no where, when we turn onto a road that just heads down at a steep decline, we drop into Laredo. We take a seat at the very first bar we find, it’s time for drinks, it’s hot, we are buggered and our hips, knees, ankles and toes are all aching. We eventually get back up, and hobble on, we find a supermarket to get some food to make a late lunch, we then locate our accomodation, shower, change, make our lunch and head to the garden area, we have a great barmen, who looks after us and we settle in here for the rest of the arvo.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 20

    Laredo to Santoña

    August 7, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We wake to the sun streaming into our room, it's a short walking day today so there is no need to get up early and get ready, so over I roll and go back to sleep for another half hour, I re-awake to people in the courtyard chatting and eating their breakfast and decide it's time to get up. George and Lisa have left to go to breakfast, I will follow shortly. It's a beautiful day in Laredo and I would have loved to have spent more time in this city, it's beautiful, friendly and has a party vibe at night and a relaxed vibe during the day. We finish breakfast, finish packing our backpacks, check out and head off. We walk to the esplanade, we can't see the sea over the high sand dunes, but you can hear it and smell the salt in the air, it's a lovely walk out to the point to catch the ferry to Santona. There are bike riders, walkers, runners, couples, dog walkers and pilgrims, we have a flat paved walk to the point then we hit the beach to walk to the ferry that docks right on the beach. It costs 2€ to take the ferry and takes about 10 minutes to get to Santoña. We then walk to our pension, we can't check in until 1:30pm, but we swing by in the hopes that we can drop our backpacks off, we arrived at our accommodation, but can't find anyone so we head into the plaza for a drink. We follow the sound of music and find a table in the shade facing the plaza and we sit back and enjoy the festivities going on, there is music, dancing, a foam machine and a presentation. The plaza is full of families and it's a very upbeat vibe. By the time we leave a lot of kids and parents have been foamed, but the presentation hasn't started. We head back to our pension, book in and catch up on some posts, journaling and sleep. I think we are all pretty exhausted and my feet are throbbing. We meet up with George at 8pm in search of dinner, we end up at an Italian restaurant where we order peppers, pizza and spaghetti bolognese, oh and wine of course, we then head back to our rooms for sleep.Read more

  • TravelerCamino Del Norte 2022
    Day 21

    Santoña

    August 8, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Yay, sleep in today! I wake at around 9:30am, it's been a noisy night in this Pension, so continuous sleep has evaded me, but that's what you get with shared accommodation, at least I can get up when I am ready. George and Lisa go to breakfast and I sleep on for another 10 minutes or so, then I hop up, shower and head for breakfast. I meet Lisa and George at the door to the Pension, I hand over the keys to our room and I head for breakfast, leaving Louie to do her washing. I have a yummy cafe con leche at breakfast, work on my journal and chat to Mum and Ann. Then it's time to head back to our room, I need to wash my smalls so they have time to dry before heading to lunch. Abby (the lovely lady that runs this pension) recommended a restaurant a few streets away called “La Tradicional”, so we decide to check it out for lunch today. Louie and I order prawns two ways with red sauce as well as chicken wing dings and patatas, George orders Paella Mixta and of course we all order wine, the meals and the wine are delicious, we leave with full bellies and I am in need of a nanny nap, all this wine (2 glasses) has gone straight to my head, I am such a light weight when it comes to drinking, sorry Louie, you have been trying to train me in the art of drinking for the past 27 years and I am still a complete disappointment. I sleep for a couple of hours while Lisa and George go exploring. I then wake up and continue working on my journal until it's time for dinner, on our way home from dinner, we pass a laundromat, we can't believe it, we tried to Google one in this town but it said the nearest one was in Laredo, google how could you, you lied to us, keep that up and we will have to find a different search engine!! Anyway the day is done, I have got a lot of journaling done over this rest day and that is what I wanted to achieve, oh and to rest these throbbing feet.Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English