We start the Camino by conquering Jaizkibel mountain

September 12, 2022

We were up before sunrise hoping to beat the 95 degree heat predicted for today, and the afternoon thunderstorms. After a good breakfast at the Alcazar Hotel in Irun, we headed out, guided by GPS and the Norte app. As we walked through Irun, it was waking up, with bakeries already opening and offering a variety of breads and pastries, children getting to school by bus, scooter or bike, and runners and dog walkers. It was already warm, 75 degrees and we walked out of town and took the first left onto a river coming out mountain. Soon we were on a rural path that I imagine for walking Camino de Santiago. Farms, goats, horses, typical Basque farmhouses, and very narrow roads. Soon we arrived at the only settlement we would enounter on this mountain, the Santuario de Guadalupe. We stopped into the small chapel for a minute and took a rest.

This is were the tough part starts. The die-hards who want to see the spectacular views head off to the left, and the ” standard” route goes to the right. Climbing up large rocks into the oak and chestnut forest we had to start to work hard. We passed a herd of goats. We ran into two British women going about our pace and walked with them on and off. the path continued on upward requiring us to take frequent stops. But the views were spectacular and Alice knew she was right to push us to take this route variant. Eventually we made it to the very top, 647 meters in elevation, with a wicked wind.

Coming down off the mountain turned out to be more difficult, with somewhat technical climbing along large boulders, a path that was hard to find at times. the inherent weakness of anterior leg muscles not as used to constant downhills. By 2pm we got down to the water where we took the ferry at Pasajes de San Juan with about 10 other pilgrims.

By this time we had started to run into a delightful young couple over and over, and we started to become travel companions. He is a documentary filmmaker from Colorado and she is from Germany and they live in Berlin and just were married. Leaving the ferry there was an unexpected set of very steep steps going up another little mountain. Alice ran out of water and the Coloradan offered her extra water

We continued on with declining energy. The hills and heat were relentless. finally about 3 km from San Sebastian we came upon a religous community that offered food and drinks by donation only and we all stopped there to chat and share drinks and salad. It was a life saver.

Finally, after 25 km, we were descending out of the mountain revealing the famous shell shaped beach – La concha – of San Sebastian. We found our humble pension and with some finagling were able to contact the young man in charge of the place to get in and find our simple but adequate room . After showers and fresh clothes we headed out into the old town to graze tapas — pintxos here— and small glasses of the local drinks here, beer, white wine and cider. We sat on a beautiful plaza and delighted in being back in this beautiful city.