4 JUNE 2025
Today’s walk was done in memory of Tasha with all our love and thoughts going out to Tasha’s family and all that loved her.
What an epic walk! Whilst Strava might say otherwise, our hiking app recorded over 1000m of climbing and we felt every one of those metres! The gradients in some places were close to 30% with the track in many places, just a muddy goats track from recent rains. The result was 4 very weary bodies that persevered in the knowledge that we had a rest day the next day.
Whilst we have walked from Biarritz, we have now picked up the official Camino del Norte trail today. This meant there were more pilgrims walking the trail. Whilst we did play leap frog with a group of Irish pilgrims walking the route by the halfway mark and after completing most of the climbing, we never saw them again. Hopefully they were sensible and caught taxis into San Sebastián!
The walk was spectacular and once we were out of the townships and into the rural countryside it really felt like the Camino Frances and brought back the fond memories of our first Camino some 12 years ago!
We stuck to the coastal route which was the toughest, but we were rewarded with stunning views most of the way.
With 8km remaining we descended into the very old town of Pasai Donibane where after a much needed break and refuelling we caught the 2€ ferry that lasted no more than 2 minutes to transport us across the river that doesn’t have a bridge!
With less than 3km to go and with legs like jelly, we finally caught sight of San Sebastián that gave us the last bit of encouragement to bring us all home.