by Tamar Grace

LIVE ON TRAIL Camino del norte : Irun to San Sebastian

Distance : 26km

Elevation gained : 823 meters

Elevation list : 820 meters

Difficulty : moderate

So what a lovely day; scenery, weather and San Sebastian was the perfect treat at the end of the day! I love this city!

Hiking wise it’s been pretty hard but nothing more than your average day of Basque walking. I left the albergue at 7.30 and was at pasaje de san juan at 11.30. I fully thrashed that first elevation gain, I even suprised myself because I thought my rucksack was over weight but looks like the kitchen sink can come with me after all! No I don’t want to down play it too much because it was a steep climb. I took the high alpinista route (of course, its all about the views 😍)

So San juan is an epic little place with Basque flags hanging down from these traditional Basque houses overlooking this slightly industrious but beautuful port. It was nice catching the boat- I’m at home on a boat and really happy when I’m on/in/by the sea.

Then the steps came and my stamina was all down hill from there and the hill step climb nearly broke me! Think I was flagging a bit cos I had not eaten enough and I barely slept last night due to lots of snorers. I took a break and ate a couple of oranges and some cashew nuts and that gave me turbo power to follow the coastal route to San Sebastian!

What a lovely walk too – makes me proud to be part of such a beautiful country.

I think I lost the camino on the way into the city but I just headed debajo, debajo, down and more down untill I came to a bar for a (massive) caña and to charge my phone to arrange accomodation.

My GPRS ran out of battery and I really need to suss out how I manage a better set up as my phone battery only lasts a few hours which is nowhere near enough! I need to sort that out for my next adventure but for now I am going to bed in a hostel for surfers and is an absolute bargain 19€ for a luxury hostel. It worked out well not having GPRS else I would have ended up at another albergue with more snorers and noisy sleepers. Instead I am in a nice room with lots of young girls and I’m not being sexist or age-ist but they really don’t look like snorers!

Photos are all on my other phone which does not have wi fi so I will update a better and more comprehensive blog post once I have got home with much more visual interest. The LIVE ON TRAIL posts are short and sweet.

17 thoughts on “LIVE ON TRAIL Camino del norte : Irun to San Sebastian”

  8. hi Tamar ,was so pleased someone read my blog(am getting back into blogging) that i went onto yours ,only to discover you are on the Norte which i am thinking of doing in September ,so will follow you now .I liked your account of the beginning and look forward to reading more .Buen camino

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Aaah fantastic! Keep on blogging – its always a pleasure to have a read. I may even bump in to you on the Norte as I am doing it in stages. Thanks for swinging by and wish you a buen camino 😁

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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