Camino del Norte & Primitivo

Today’s KMs - 32kms
Total KMs - 89kms
Total blisters - 3

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the ... EVERYWHERE! By far our longest and toughest walk. We started at 5:50am this morning and headed off into the dark straight up the nearest hill out of Deba. It was nice escaping the albergue early but as soon as we left the rain came and continued pretty much for the entire 8 hours walking. We even walked through light hail and a couple of rounds of thunder and lightning. There is definitely a point where you cannot get any wetter so you slowly learn to just go with it. It feels like we can now say we’ve experienced the Camino.

It was a tough day of walking with many twists and turns up a number of valleys before a final steep descent into Markina where we had lunch. The first time we actually stopped for lunch and right on queue the beautiful sun came out. Although only 15 mins, it was the best reprieve after hours of walking with soggy wet feet and the last we saw of the sun for the rest of the day.

Finally we finished the last 7kms for the day and ended up at a 14th century monastery at the top of the hill where we are going to stay the night. The monks open up the place with 18 beds for people doing the Camino, as well as brew their own beer. We were lucky to get a bed which was the main reason for the early start plus the monks are apparently going to cook us a hot dinner!Read more