“As you get older, never pass up a bathroom, never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart.” – Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), The Bucket List
On the Camino, never pass up a bar/café, never waste a shady place to stop and rest, and never trust the “shortcut”.
Well, today was a wild ride. It started with the normal routine of the Camino and ended up on a random adventure that involved a car, a guest house and a freezing cold dip in the Bay of Biscay.
The day started off great. A nice breakfast, including churros con chocolate and a café con leche.
There is something to be said for flat terrain. We knocked out 31.9km (19.8 miles) today versus 12-14 miles in the mountains. About 92% of the walk was on concrete/pavement (painful on the knee and feet – they were screaming at me ). We walked through an industrial area for at least an hour or two, maybe three, so the air quality was garbage. There is always a trade off, am I right?
Technically, we actually walked a little more than 34km/21 miles. Someone in this duo, who shall remain nameless, knew of a “shortcut”. …. So anyhoo, Stephen has an app on his phone that shows the main route and some alternative routes. I will say, he’s been fairly accurate until today. There was a “shorter” alternative route somewhere along the path that “we” decided to take. By the time the third person (all men I should point out) pulled over their car to tells us “we” were going the wrong way, (the third guy was very concerned about “our” miscalculation) “we” decided to turn around and go back. If I’ve learned anything, it’s never get in between a dude and his directions.
Anyway, we walked a long ass way today in the hot sun and mostly on pavement so when we got to the donotivo near the beach that we’d been longing for all day, we were exhausted, probably dehydrated and sunburnt. I could see from a distance there was a little bit of commotion outside the facility. Not good when you are arriving at a place that doesn’t accept reservations and it’s the only joint in town. As we approached, the lady running the place looked at me and said “full, complete”.
Ugh. I’m pretty sure I hung my head in defeat at this point. The next town is pretty far away.
This stinks. We just walked 19-21 miles (nobody really knows) and now we have to walk more…..but then! You know the Camino always provides. She said, “we have a friend who has a guest house for four persons. You can stay there with these two people.” Me, on the spot: “great, we’ll take it.” I didn’t care what it was, where it was, all I knew was, I was not walking anymore. I would have paid 1,000€ to sleep on public ground in a drainage ditch at that moment. Luckily, the accommodations turned out to be better than that alternative.
So the short of the long of it, some random guy named Alex (who speaks zero English, only Spanish – rightfully so in his native country) shows up 30 minutes later with a painter’s van and his son Lucas in a tiny little hatchback car. Alex grabs all of our bags and throws them in the van. Lucas takes us to his car. We are separated from our luggage. Travel rule #1, never part with your luggage unless it’s at the airport or given to the bellhop at the hotel…but it’s the Camino so I don’t let this minor detail stress me out too much. Gotta have a little faith, am I right? Alex takes off with our luggage in the van. Lucas (who is about 17) tells us to all pile in the car and speeds off like a 17 year old does, winding through the hills basically on two wheels. We are in the car maybe 10 minutes when we arrive at some random house. Everyone falls out of the hatchback, walks past the main house to this adorable little guest house on the top of the hill. It has a cute little kitchen, bathroom, bedroom that the German couple, Toby & Ani, who we are now roomies with, are staying in, a couch that Stephen is sleeping on, and some pillows (basically like lounge chair pillows) that I’m sleeping on. Hey, I’m just happy to be here, folks. I’ll take the floor over the drainage ditch.
We are right next to a little beach, so I put on my swimsuit, ran down the hill, jumped in the water and had a freezing cold but refreshing swim. It felt like an ice bath so I’m sure it reduced some of the inflammation I have in my leg.
The other random thing that happened on this adventure was, some other guy, (they literally just popped up out of nowhere) who was at the hostel when we were told it was full, worked at a restaurant nearby. He gave us a menu and said he would deliver food to our little guest house. So after our swim, we ordered food, the guy showed up with said food and 8€ per person later, we had an amazing vegetarian meal delivered to our kitchen table. I mean, you cannot make this stuff up. Oh! And the place has a washer. No dryer so we are still dealing with damp clothes but they don’t smell. Hallelujah!
Sometimes it pays to be fashionably late.
Now for tomorrow, Alex (the guy with the painter’s van) has to work early and can’t take us back to the hostel (where we technically stopped walking the Camino) but the path is at the end of the driveway of this house. We’ve lost 4k but I figured we will make it up on our next “shortcut.”
Quote of the day: Stephen is always saying “I don’t understand why…” and my response is “It’s Spain Stephen, don’t try to make sense of it, just go with it.”
My favorite and most useful item (besides the obvious backpack and trekking poles): the bandana. This thing has so many uses. It’s like the utility player in baseball. Sweat rag, Kleenex, wash cloth, towel to dry your hands when there are no paper towels, wrap up a chocolate croissant to go, tie up your hair, wear it as a sleep mask, a head covering when the sun is burning your scalp, wrap up some ice for an ice pack, a pillow on a hard bench during break time, soak it with cold water and use it as a cooling rag on your neck, or as a tourniquet if (God forbid) an emergency should happen. The list goes on and on. I’ve never seen another pilgrim with one but it’s always the item someone asks me for in Santiago when we swap “gifts”. Stephen will probably get it this time if one of us doesn’t bail before then. I think I could start a business and design some bandanas with Camino art and sell them along the way. I’ve always wanted to be a trendsetter.
Highlight: I’d been begging for some clouds during the really hot sunny parts of the walk…you know when the road is cooking your feet from the bottom up and the sun is roasting you from the top down. It took about 10-15 minutes but then the clouds showed up and a cool breeze kicked it. Ahhh, heaven on earth for just a few moments. #grateful
Bilbao – Pobena – 31.9km (about 34km including the “shortcut”)
Goodnight and much love from Spain.
