11/4 Monday Portugalete to Ontón 21km
Today the Camino ran inland, fairly flat and often parallel to a main highway picking up the coast at La Arena. I was much more taken with the which climbed up over Serantes hill (451m) and then Punta Lucero-Arguzari (309m) so up I went.

No pilgrims in sight today but climbing out of Portugalete I met an old Spanish guy who told me he’d been to Santiago and that it was very special. He also told me to slow down! He knew more about the climb ahead than I did. A relentless and steep 3km up in a gale that proved to challenge my sense of balance.
One up, walking the ridge with a steep 1000ft drop to the left was exhilarating. Safe enough as it was quite wide, not a Striding Edge!

Zigzag down was less steep and the climb up Lucero was more gradual thankfully. I stopped up here for a snack with a great view down to the beach at La Arena.

Next it was down for a late lunch at a beach cafe - prawns and baby eel in garlic + chips and then, outside, I bought a strawberry ice cream to eat along the board walk.
Then it was nice to be back on a coastal path 6km to Ontón, the Albergue Tu Camino and the end of a tough but satisfying day. Great to arrive and find not only my friends from last night but also Heike with the Colombian family Carlos, Eliana and their daughter Manuela.