After breakfast at the Albergue we hit the road, as usual it was up hill. Olabe is just short of the stage end, as Gernika didn’t have an Albergue. The 8km to the town I spent walking with a German pilgrim Nico.
We had great conversations and laughter that made the distances fly by. Mostly forest tracks led us to Gernika, with a small hill to contend with.
We called into a cafe for second breakfast before making our way through the town with difficulty spotting the arrows. Just like the Camino Frances, towns are hard to navigate.
With the help of Gronce maps we got back on track, heading back up into the hills, the first of the two between Gernika and Larrabetzu.
We caught up with Astrid, a German peregrino I first met in Irún. She had the dreaded bed bug encounter at the municipal albergue in Markina. She took a rest day to cleanse her gear.
The route continues on through an eucalyptus forest before descending shortly and then hitting the biggest hill for the day. A very long drawn out incline over 8km or so. All in woodlands which kept the Sun off me – again luck on my side as the afternoon was forecasted rain.
There was a constant strong breeze, synonymous of a change in weather, kept the walking comfortable.
It was a peaceful stage, nothing but the wind in the trees and birdsong filled the air, the occasional lizard would scurry across the path and I spotted two colourful slow worms.
The way leaves the forest to join a single track country road into a small village, where at the church 6 walkers in their 70s stepped off the bus. One lady was splashing her companions with water, as I passed she pretended to splash me, I said “¡Sí!“, so she did, we all had a laugh.
It was pavement walking into Larrabetzu, straight to the Donitivo Albergue with only 11 bed – no bunks!
Neill was there! He had walked from Gernika. Eventually John, Nico, Di, Lina and Markus arrived. We all had a few drinks and food at a local bar to end the day.
Stu's Camino 