Day 14 (del Norte): Morga to Lezama

The little cafe near our pension where we had breakfast yesterday is packed this morning. Maybe it is more crowded on Mondays, but compared to other places, they must be doing something right. There is an old man just reading a newspaper while occupying a whole table. It does not seem inappropriate as people standing at the counter are eager to make space for us and we feel well taken care of. 

Gernika: a little cramped but we find our little corner to have a decent breakfast. We are having burnt Basque cheesecake (the pintxo on left) two mornings in a row.

Before going back to the pension to check out, we have just a few moments to look around the market. It is only held on Mondays, we were told by the taxi driver yesterday. This pension has been a model of substance over style, almost the opposite of the hotel in Markina. Everything works so efficiently here and we even took advantage of the laundromat they operate across the street. 

Gernika: the weekly market, still held on Mondays after all these years. It was also a market day on Monday, April 26, 1937, when the Nazi saturation bombing leveled the city.

The same taxi driver picks us up at 10am, a leisurely start. We ask him about the Catalonia elections yesterday in which the pro-independence parties won. He does not seem to like the result. Obviously when it comes to the separation issue, people in the Basque region like elsewhere seem divided. We are let off at the same spot where we deviated from the Camino yesterday near Morga. Immediately we are joined by several peregrinos. I expected this, as we left late and most people would be starting from Gernika. Our cushion of a couple of hours is evaporating! The Camino is either paved or wide-tracked for the first hour or so. Then it becomes variously single track, muddy, rocky, and/or steep. 

This is where the wide track ends and the narrow uphill starts. We yield to a fast-walking French couple who seem older than we are.

A little obstacle course

A muddy challenge. There are construction people fixing the road who we exchange "Kaixo" and "Kon'nichiwa" with.

A sustained descent on good terrain follows. We are soon in the first of the small towns, Goikoelexalde, but not before a close encounter with a tiny ferocious dog during a stretch with no waymarking. Did this dog eat all the signs? All the dogs here have been gentle or chained, but this one is barking and following us very aggressively. For a moment the scene from a Moscow back alley years ago flashes before my eyes - I was chased by a pack of seemingly rabid dogs, one of which tore up my pants. Fortunately this dog here gives up (and maybe goes back to eating waymarks).  

Goikoelexalde: the hermitage dedicated to two Roman martyrs is closed. We follow the Camino which swings around it as if there is a gravitational pull.

Goikoelexalde: we soon find a nice stone picnic table and have tomatoes from the Gernika market. Concerned that there won't be any place to get food in the next few hours, we end up also consuming beef jerky and cookies we brought from home. 

Larrabetzu, which comes up only 1.3 km later, has more action than I had imagined. It has a compact central area with a few restaurants where pilgrims are gathered, reminiscent of Camino Frances. This would have been a good spot to rest and have lunch but we move on. While planning this trip, I originally considered an option to stay in this town, mainly because of its proximity to one of the world's best restaurants, Azurmendi. But I ultimately decided to save the visit for a weekday lunch when we are not walking and so I pull an Arnold as we pass by today - "I'll be back!" I actually look for the restaurant high on a hill south of the highway but can't seem to find it.  

Larrabetzu: an inviting square with restaurants, much like towns along Camino Frances. These pigrims are waving at us, but do we know these people? 

Passing by a school, not a prison

From Larabetzu to Lezama is straight along the highway and I now remember someone telling us earlier that this stretch (and maybe all the way to Bilbao) is uninteresting. But it's flat and straightforward and I will take it. Lezama is spread out and completely modern. Our hotel is off the Camino but with the googlemap on my phone, it is easy to find. At dinner (a simple plato combinado), we chat with a couple from Canada who is using the same tour company that we did during our first walk on Camino Frances. But their pace is almost twice as fast as ours, like most other people. We compare our notes including the gastronomic portion of our trips. They took a guided pintxos crawl tour in San Sebastian, and that makes me think, hmm, should we do that in Bilbao? Also they saved money by staying in a cheap hotel in San Sebastian to be able to have a meal at Arzak. I tell them we are on the same page.

A fancy chicken breed (Sussex?) take your mind off this monotonous section of the Camino.

Approaching Lezama: the French group is happy to get on the sidewalk finally appearing ahead.

Lezama:"free and open" - this bar also serves as a center for community activism. On the walls are announcements likening the local legal authorities to fascists of 1936 (the photo option of Google Translate works great). 

Lezama: a prominent sign directing the guests to our casa rural off the main road/Camino

Lezama: entering our casa rural after a relatively easy walk today. It is run by a hard-working couple with young children.