Day 8: Gernika to Lezama (suburban Bilbao)

We closed up our rather drab pension and picked up some espresso, fresh-squeezed orange juice and simple bread , butter and jam at the bar on the main plaza of Gernika. I felt bad for the bar owner who had to open up at 7 am after closing down at 11 pm and I engaged him in conversation. He has had this bar since 1972 and the long hours are really getting old. He said taking care of his business is harder than walking the Camino de Santiago, and I believe him.

We headed up through the public school square, past the peace museum and out the west end of Gernika. The city ended abruptly and we were in grazing lands for cattle and sheep. And a moment later we were climbing, climbing as we almost always do when leaving a town. We hope for a gentle path, but this started with rough rocks as it often does, and then smoothed out and tuned into a tree-lined path. The valleys were lined with morning fog. With successive hills we reached our maximum elevation of 356 meters. We decided to be more cautious about taking regular breaks and to eat and drink sufficiently to keep our strength. This was going to be a long slog with no cute towns or bars.

We passed through various little hamlets. They reminded me a bit of Amish territory where a jumble of homes was probably all of related people and no other services. Sometimes the animals and the people were under the same roof. The roofs are red tile, often held down by large rocks. The building style is usually accentualted by large beams or blocks of stone. As you get into the urban areas these beams and rocks become plasticky imitations such as you often see on American suburban homes.

We finally got to a real town after 16 km, Larrabetzu, and were very happy to get a second coffee and one pintxo each. It was enough to refresh us for the last 6 km. The last section was mercifully easy with mildly undulating secondary highway with a wide shoulder expressly for camino travelers Upon arrival we saw our old friends, Caroline, Jessica, and soon the Dutch fellow Harm showed up. It was a party! So we had a small glass of cider and chatted, knowing we could likely not chec into our accommodation until later. Jessica admitted that she had been sad traveling alone on the Camino. Harm admitted that he was considering going back to the Netherlands. It had been so exhausting and he could not sleep. We realized how important it had been to give ourselves rest days, eat enough, and not skimp too much on the lodging.

We headed up the last 400 m to our beautiful casa rural, a type of rural hotel or B and B and we were fortunate to have beautiful room waiting. The owner was thankful for my Spanish and seemed a little exhausted with the language barrier recently. We needed to concentrate on getting enough food now as there were no restaurants open on Monday evenings. We raided the supermarket and the bar, and after eating almost everything in the bar we returned to our place satisfied.

After 20+ km severa days in a row, we need a light day. We will walk 11 k into Bilbao tomorrow, then take public transportation through an industrial area out to Portaguelete. We biked that 11 km stretch 5 years ago and can say we already did it.