Where there’s a will

Our opticians in Bridge of Allan said that they wanted to support our ride and asked for photos of us in our Strathcarron cycling jerseys with our Blink sunglasses on. Our kind neighbour, Sheena, offered to help and we wanted her to become our official Camino photographer! Apparently we’ve now entered the world of Facebook and, as a result, have received extra donations to our site! Today we present a less relaxed image……but more of that anon.

We arrived in Santander yesterday (Saturday) morning after two nights in a Bay of Biscay of transcendent loveliness. Where were the tempests and metres high waves? They had been replaced with glassy seas and endless pods of dolphins seemingly performing simply for our pleasure.

Our journey to our hotel in San Sebastián was truly glorious and inspired today’s blog post title. The dream came to an abrupt end when we tried to offload our luggage at our hotel. There was nowhere to pull over and we thought we were at risk of a non-linguistic encounter with the Guardia Civil. So, we bottled the attempt and headed for Irun. That proved to be an inspired decision.

The staff at Hotel Atalaia were exceptionally welcoming. The gardener, with a leaf blower, insisted on sorting out the charging for our electric car, and then guided me to a hidden spot beyond the staff car park where they would sequester our car for more than three weeks.

It turned out that our ‘gardener’ was the owner of the hotel and the special ‘secret’ spot was the parking place for his casa! We booked the Hotel’s restaurant for lunch before heading back to San Sebastián, and the same gardener cum owner appeared from the kitchen, and took us behind the scenes for a tour. The food, all Basque specialties, was truly outstanding. Before we left for San Sebastián we were then treated to huge hugs from the owner’s wife. The whole experience was truly humbling and testified, once again, to the warmth and kindness we’ve experienced on other Caminos.

And so to today (Sunday). We had a complicated start because, due to hotel booking difficulties, we spent Saturday night in San Sebastián but our bikes were in Irun ready for the start of this Camino. An early breakfast and a short and very fast taxi ride delivered us to our secreted car and two very wet bicycles. Yesterday evening we were treated to frequent thunderstorms.

With suitable kit, just like Scottish training kit, we departed for our first challenge: climbing Jaizkibel, the mountain which dominates Irun.

The route rises from sea level to 455 metres without respite but we were heartened, despite the steady drizzle, to reach the Santuario de Guadalupe without pausing. This wonderful 16th-century church is reported to offer sweeping views of the Bidasoa valley and out to the Bay of Biscay, but not today! The view was better inside.

We were intrigued that the seafaring prowess of the Basques was captured by the model of a sailing vessel suspended in the chapel.

As we embarked on the climb we were perplexed by the huge police presence on our route. Every road junction was patrolled and we were passed frequently by police motorcycles. All was revealed when we were summarily, and somewhat officiously, ordered by a police patrol car to stop cycling and remove ourselves from the road. Trust us to start our Camino on the same day and on the same route as a Basque vuelta for women cyclists.

It was a good job we had stopped climbing. Unfortunately, the enforced pause of nearly an hour not only cost us time but also meant we were seriously chilled when we recommenced our ascent. Despite our stiffening legs we managed the summit in saturating drizzle quite straightforwardly, and Linda was well pleased to have completed the climb with no assistance from her Swytch gear!

Notice her specs. It was wet!

The descent to Pasajes de San Juan was a little more thrilling than we had hoped as the gentle and steady rain had coated the road with a slick film of moisture. Ideal for sliding off the hairpin bends. Fortunately, we arrived without further incident into the narrows of the Pasajes. We were expecting an impossibly pretty stack of ancient fishing and whaling cottages leading to our first pedestrian ferry crossing. And so it was except that there was a major maritime festival celebrating all things Basque. As we tried to navigate the tight and narrow cobbled streets we were forced to wait for minutes at a time whilst Basque choirs captivated the visitors! Eventually, we worked our way down to the ferry ‘terminal’: a ramp of planks leading to a very small boat into which we had to load our bikes by hauling them over the gunwales!

It was even harder getting the bikes out of the small boat but other kind-hearted passengers hauled them out and so we could embark on the final section back into San Sebastián.

Finally, before returning to our hotel we took a detour to the Iglesia de Santa Maria for the last stamp of the day in our ‘Credencials’, our Pilgrim Passports. These have to be produced at the end of the Camino in the Office in Santiago de Compostela to verify that we have undertaken the journey.

As you will note the orientation of the stamps leaves a little to be desired!

Tomorrow we head for Deba; a more challenging day with more climbing and distance. However, we are already ahead of our planned schedule as we thought our first day would be tomorrow, and we’re hoping to get ahead of the bad weather on Tuesday. We’ll see how it goes but, for now, it’s time for bed. Hasta luego!