Day 78 – Zarautz to Deba (31 km) – Saturday 16.09.2023
Today our tour started with a descent from the campsite to Zarautz. We had a great view of the city straight away. We walked along the beach through the city. During our breakfast we watched people surfing and enjoyed our cup of coffee.
We then walked along a promenade for several kilometers until we reached Getaria after just under an hour.
There we looked back at the sea one last time before we left the city and continued along the path to Zumaia.
In a small bar we bought sandwiches and drank some iced tea. We then continued through hilly areas to Deba.
A final steep descent, which was not particularly pleasant on the knees, led us down into the city. We bought food for the evening in a supermarket and replenished our water reserves. Afterwards we walked out of town again to look for somewhere to sleep outside.
Since we couldn’t find a suitable place for the first few kilometers, we kept walking up the mountain. When we reached the top we found a meadow, which we chose as our place to sleep today. After an initial small cold drink, we cooked ourselves some food and then set up the tents.
A large thunderstorm could be seen in the distance, which created an impressive display of light over the ocean. After watching the lightning for a while and the sun finally setting, we lay down in our tents and went to sleep.
Day 79 – Deba to Ziortza-Bolibar (28,9 km) – Sunday 17.09.2023
After a pleasant night in the tent, we made breakfast in the morning while the sun continued to rise in front of us. With a full stomach, we descended from the summit to the actual path and met the first pilgrims there who had spent the night in the city.
Most of the route today led through mountainous landscapes with long ascents and descents. Since there were hardly any places or other larger places for breaks in addition to the beautiful natural landscape, we made quick progress and soon had the first 20 km behind us.
In the first larger city on our tour today we bought a pilgrim menu for €14. After we had eaten all the courses, we left the city again and continued on to our current accommodation.
Soon it started to rain heavily and we were pretty wet after just a few minutes. We took shelter at a bar for a moment until the rain calmed down at least a little. We then continued uphill to a small monastery, which was to serve as our accommodation. In the donation-based overnight accommodation, we were given a place in a large dormitory with many other pilgrims. Since there were a lot of younger pilgrims out and about today, we quickly got into conversation with them and soon we were sitting together in the monastery garden and drinking beer. Today it was again interesting to meet pilgrims from different countries and to exchange ideas with them about their experiences so far.
Later there was a concert in the monastery church. We sat in the back row of the church and listened to the impressive music and singing of the musicians. While most of the visitors were better dressed, the pilgrims seemed a little out of place with their shirts, shorts and flip-flops.
After listening to the singing for half an hour, we left the concert and soon headed to dinner. We sat at a large table with all the other pilgrims, ate fried noodles and talked about the journey so far and other things.
When it was dark, we put our things away and went to sleep in our bunk beds.
Day 80 – Ziortzia-Bolibar to Germika-Lumo (29 km)- Monday 18.09.2023
Thanks to earplugs, I slept well even in the large dormitory. Around 8 a.m. everyone slowly got up and had breakfast. After we had enough jam bread and coffee, it was almost the last thing we did to set off from the accommodation.
At the beginning of the day today we went on flat and easy-to-walk paths. Most of the time we went through the forest and apart from a short break to drink, we also walked most of the time.
When we passed a restaurant just before Gerniko-Lumo after 15 km, we ordered a pilgrim’s menu with rice and minced meat. Since we were still hungry after eating, we ordered two more dishes and ate them too. Then we walked the remaining two kilometers down to the city. There we bought breakfast again for the next day and made our way to accommodation where we hoped we could camp.
We walked further and further up the mountain and soon passed our first accommodation. But since it was very crowded there and we wanted to do a few more kilometers, we just kept walking. After almost 29 km we reached another accommodation and we decided to stop there.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, we couldn’t camp there and there was no dinner. Since we had only bought muesli at the supermarket for the next morning, we had to live on sandwiches this evening. Fortunately, we were still somewhat full from our two portions at lunch, so the one sandwich was enough for dinner.
Later we sat and chatted with two other pilgrims for a while before we all went to bed at 9 a.m. to sleep.
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