Going North: Day 4 Zumaia - Guernika
Ivan Blanco
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When a picture speaks a thousand words...
Zumaia's amazing Flysch
With this beautiful view Ingmar, Don, Robert and I ended our previous journey the best way possible, with some delicious Basque cuisine as its finishing touch (see day 3 here).
Cyclist's Coffee
However, what's probably the biggest constant on any Camino, is that it's an adventure that pushes you to go forward day by day. Waking up for once at a more decent hour, I took advantage of my earlier start and asked Robert to do one of my photo interviews together with an energizing breakfast. After this good treat we wished each other Buen Camino and since time was for once on my side, I went back to the nunnery albergue and did the photo interview with our lovely host Mari too. With all my things packed, I decided to check my brakes, one of them was not working properly... alas, my mechanic talents were lower than expected and fiddling with disk brakes is definitely not my thing. Therefore I had to resort to something anyone should do before starting any big cycling journey:
“4th Camino Cycling tip: if like me, the oil you come in touch with is rather olive oil for your salads, then better check your bicycle with a mechanic for a safer ride!”
One of the beauty elements of the Northern Camino: the sea!
Luckily enough, there was a bike shop in town and I just had to push my brakeless bicycle a few meters. If you're curious, disc brakes have a braking pad like rim brakes, but they have a kind of pusher and hydraulic liquid, that, when it has too much air or some sand blocks it, you basically end up with an all time braking bicycle... not the most ideal type of bicycle for a 900km journey. Thanks to Jose, the bike was fixed and ready in no time giving me the best bike check ever, it was one good cycling decision.
Ready to go again, most of my daily route was going to be on the road, but not before hitting some pathways where I suddenly came along a wild living horse family, I stopped to take a few pictures, which got them suddenly curious and nervously started to surround me... but I guess they were more interested in my dear Orbeiña...
Cycling love!
Prize to the happiest smiling pilgrims ever!
These kind of moments are the reason I prefer to take the most treacherous Camino paths, sometimes to such extremes that even walking pilgrims don't take my same pathways... you'll see in future posts. But on this occasion, it proved as the best decision since I crossed Don and Ingmar again, the happiest pilgrims I've ever met, as can be seen on this beautiful picture:
With this very happy start and two of my most beautiful Camino pictures, I ended up in Debia around lunch time, where I made a quick Tortilla and beer stop, with such coincidence that in there were some of the most friendly and talkative people. Curious about my journey and cameras, Marisa and Jose Alberto were the first ones with whom I chatted and it ended up being a very interesting cinematic conversation. They had visited Santiago some years ago for the shooting of Flor de Santidad, a story set in Galicia and based on a novel of Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, which is one of our most celebrated playwright writers, to make yourself an idea, he could be considered as our Spanish Shakespeare equivalent.
Lime Kiln
Urasandi's Lime Kiln (click on the photo for more information)
On this artistic turn around of my journey, soon after Marisa and Jose Alberto left, I made another great acquaintance with Juan Bosco who kindly described me the routes around Debia and which ones I should take. Without underestimating other places' friendliness, Debia became one of the friendliest ones of my entire Camino, to such an extent that even leaving it I made another great encounter, Josema. Stopping for a small snack and facing a very very very uphill side road... a car stopped and the driver started to talk with me. Josema used to cycle around Debia and he recommended me to follow the seaside, since the rest of the road would be too muddy and uphill. Chance made it, that I was in front of an historic construction which I wouldn't even have noticed if it wasn't for him. It was an ancient Lime Kiln or lime oven where actually his grand parent used to work with, even a sign was there explaining how it used to work and look like. The lesson to bring home from this is that there are friends and stories behind every corner, which makes travelling such a unique experience, as long as you're willing to keep your eyes open.
Open eyes is always a good thing, specially if you're in Northern Spain, because what I was spared on my first days finally came, the so common Northern rain surprised me in the heart of the Basque Country. Taking shelter at a nearby house from the now pouring rain, I took advantage of it to refuel a bit and hit the road as soon as the rain lingered.
Cloudy times on the Camino
Almost like anticipating my arrival to one very symbolic city in Spain's history and arts... this rainy finish could be seen as a form of mourning to the sad truth of this days' final destination: Guernika.
Guernika-Lumo
What today is known as Guernika-Lumo is only a mere reflection of what was brutally used by the Nazis and the Spanish Fascist group as a test bombing site during the II World War. It was one of the first air strikes on a defenceless population, the consequences were devastating, the outrage and shock of the international community were widespread. Artists as well were deeply touched by this atrocious attack, inspiring works as symbolic as Picasso's famous Guernica painting, exposed at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. A 3m by 7m canvas that expressed in the artist's words is:
“In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.”
So it was that history, symbolism and weather we're receiving me in Guernika. My attempt to find a spare bed in the local albergue unfortunately didn't work out due to a big group of French students. Thanks to some helping pilgrims who had guides and numbers, another pilgrim and I managed to call a local pension which still had some spare beds. This was how I met Camille from France who had been walking since Irun. She was tired and almost went straight to bed, me I was quite hungry from my 70km ride of this day:
That's what I call filling up your belly!
I didn't go far to fill up my belly, just bellow the pension was a bar and what a glorious moment that was... one very tasty Codillo was on my menu with some good Basque white wine. I treated myself to one delicious oven cooked ham hock, or also known as pork knuckle, with potatoes and amazing Pimientos de Padron (=green peppers from Padron; a town in Northern Spain and typical product from my region).
Camino friends of all sorts and origins, good old Northern rain, history, symbols, art and a great dinner to top it all, that's one typical Camino de Santiago day, an experience that step by step never seizes to surprise and amaze.
