Walker, there is no path, you make it as you walk – Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. 

Date: 19th October, 2021

Section: Pozueta to Bilbao

Region: The Basque Country

Staying:

Hotel in Bilbao

Instagram: Link to extra photos and daily caption.

Today:

From breakfast and about to begin our walk, we pose for a photo. A family portrait. Peter, Lydia, Jo, Ricky, Me, Fi, Ulises and Jenny. Oh and the little dog Jenny wants to take with her. This motley crew, this camino family of ours. A camino family is a part of the camino experience. In my experience you don’t seek your family it builds around you. I am grateful for this group of humans who found me on this path. My heart is fuller and I am richer for having known them. If I look at this photo I can think of something I’ve learnt from each of them. In 6 days, this happened. How magical.

Today Fi and I decide to walk our last day together. It feels important for us to walk into Bilbao, our last stop along this camino stage together. Starting and finishing together. Plus, I guess it will be nice to give Jo a win. Ha ha. 😉 We walk through the forests and take our time to walk, stopping for coffee and tapas in a small village along the way. At some point we leave the lush of the forest and begin the walk along the road. It feels looooong!

We have to earn our stay in the beautiful town of Bilbao. There is a cracking hill on the way in and the temp is averaging 29 degrees C. It is a pretty walk in, but also, it’s pretty steep! It is a hard slog. I prefer not to stop and start on the big climbs so I will meet Fi at the top. Up I go. From the top you can see the entire city of Bilbao. It is magnificent. I find Ricky asleep in some parklands at the top of the hill, he tends to catch up on sleep along the way. Jo is also here, doing his foot care routine. They make their way in to Bilbao as I take a break here to wait for Fi so we can begin our final decent of this walk into Bilbao.

What goes up, must come down! MAN, it feels like it takes forever to get down into Bilbao as we wind our way in through the laneways, city parklands and across the river towards our hotel. We are spent by this time. So spent that we decide to have an Aquarius (Spanish electrolyte drink) and a celebratory beer with some crisps a few doors before our hotel. We have booked a hotel in Bilbao as a treat. There’s a promise of a comfy bed, lux bathroom, no more washing clothes in sinks and we don’t need to wake early to walk. We stop even with the lure of this. We are just too tired, sweaty and gross to walk in yet. We struggle to drink the celebratory beer we’ve ordered, eventually we compose ourselves and make our way to check in.

After a nice warm shower, some time with our feet up and fresh hair, we wander into the old city of Bilbao to meet up with the crew for one last dinner together. I don’t have city clothes. Normally, this doesn’t worry me as I just get around in my hiking kit. This feels different though. We are finished, off the camino and we’re on a city break. When I walked the Camino Frances we didn’t really take city breaks. Fi has packed a scarf, it is perfect to dress up a hiking top. I’m adding this to my list of things I need to pack next time. Fi has taught me a lot about little essentials and camino tricks.

While in town I spot a cute summer skirt. Hmmm should I? I decide that YES I should! So I buy it, keep it on and put my leggings in my bag. I am now only half a pilgrim. Cute skirt with hiking top and hiking sandals. Maybe next time I will pack a light summer dress for such situations. I like these city finishes and Spanish town evenings along the Norte.

We arrive in the old town and meet everyone at the square for dinner. As we are eating I spot a colleague and his wife from work. Another small world within a BIG world moment. After some tapas and a glass of wine we bid farewell and good luck to everyone. Most are continuing on and some of us are heading home. Such is the way of the camino. Comings and goings. Will you meet again, you never know. Some you do and some you don’t. Like life! Fi and I promise to visit Jo and his family in Belgium. At time of writing, we have kept in touch but no visits. Fi is now back in Oz. Many have been to visit Ulises in the Canary Islands though!

A camino in sections! One down. One to ponder before beginning the next. One with experiences and lessons that need time to sink in before I begin to plan the next one. One to savour as a new way of walking a camino unfolds, a camino in stages. Tomorrow, I will visit the Guggenheim museum and wander as a tourist. A tourist who has just had one amazing adventure, whose soul is sparking even though her feet are tired.

Highlight:

To have finally written this series of posts from the first section of my Camino del Notre. It has taken me back to a special time with the added gift of hindsight. I don’t take this time for granted. I am grateful to have shared this section with Fi and Jo, who both in their sweet way have imprinted themselves in my heart and taught me I needed to be a little more open, less reserved and trusting of connection. xx

Ho hum:

After having walking the Camino Frances previously for 4 weeks I thought I knew how to do a camino. Ha! I’m still learning all the time. There is no one way and what suits you one day might be different the next. Ho hum though, it humbles me, to not know, to learn from those I meet and the experiences I gather.