7/4 Thursday Markina to Olabe 18km Although I lost the guys Albergue Andiketxe was comfortable, offered an evening meal and the hosts where so warm and welcoming. The best Albergue so far. I went out to buy lunch for the next day and found the gang at another Albergue in town so had a chat. In the evening I talked mostly to Andy and Heike from Germany. But also a very interesting guy originally from Columbia but now running a construction business in Miami. He...

6/4 Wednesday Ibiri Auzoa to Markina 19km Yesterday I learnt as saying about the Camino: The Way provides what you need not what you want. I wonder why I needed the extra 2km detour yesterday? Today, after a good night’s sleep I enjoyed muesli with banana and strawberries! Then, last to leave, it was a stiff 3km ascent to start the day. Grey, occasional light drizzle and interestingly now limestone under foot. It was mostly woodland with a few pastures all da...

5/4 Tuesday Zumaia to Ibiri Auzoa 15km Breakfast at Santa Klara was disappointing- it looked liked toast, olive oil and tomatoes but the latter proved to be tomato sauce! On the road in the sun but cold air again. After about 3km there was the usual route choice - Camino over the hills or GR121 which ran down and along the coast. My local guide, ok actually a lady walking her dog said the coastal route was a little harder but a lot more beautiful! So it was the...

4/4 Monday Orio to Zumaia 15km Last night a young couple from the Albergue, Veronika & Benedikt from Munich, were kind enough to invite me to eat in a restaurant with them. They have just finished university and like to run in the mountains so we had plenty to talk about. Back at the Albergue I found Johnny from Denmark in the bunk opposite me. He had walked all the way from Irún in one day! Today started sunny but with a cold wind and that is how it stayed ...

Last night was a youth hostel experience, very different from the dedicated albergues! Instead of lights out and doors closed at 10pm people were coming in and starting cooking and chatting at 11pm. Then around 3am two lots of people rang the bell and banged on the windows shouting they had lost their keys and wanted to come in. This morning I found breakfast from the help yourself shelves - coffee, cereal, apple jam supplemented with bread and milk I bought the...