Next morning we dropped Lu and Rory off at the airport to pick up their car. They were heading off to Zarautz, on the Basque coast, to set up a Surf Camp where they will be working for the next 4 months.
Susie, being a Catholic, and also having walked the Camino from the French side of the Pyrenees five years ago, has a strong connection to Santiago, and the Catedral in particular, so she carted me off to 1200 noon mass. We arrived at 1100 and the Catedral was already starting to fill up, but we found a spot on a pew not far from the front and waited. By the time 1200 rolled around there was standing room only in this giant cathedral, and what followed was quite moving even for a non church going non catholic like me, as much for the reverent looks on the faces of the many who had obviously trekked a long way to be there, as the service itself. Even though I couldn't understand most of what was said during the service, I surprised myself by really enjoying it!
We also fitted in a drive out to Cape Finisterre, the end of the earth, west of which most sailors before Columbus believed they would fall off the edge of the world, and to where some super keen walkers continue their Camino pilgrimage.
By now we were ready for some veg time, and what better place than the little fishing village of Corme, on the NW coast, also known as the Costa del Mort for the high numbers of sailing ships wrecked on it's rocky shores. Ever heard of Corme? No? Neither had we, so we thought it would fit the bill perfectly for our desired little "do nothing" time. We spent the next four nights in an almost new apartment overlooking the quiet village and mini fishing port, taking picnic lunches on walks north and south along the coast, sipping wine or coffee in one of the many tiny bars in town, or just sitting on our balcony in the sun reading and soaking up the slow pace of this beautiful little corner of the world. Having a decent kitchen meant we also ate in for three nights, and relished the opportunity after eating out so much. We made friends with Maria at the local, small, Supermercado where we bought most of our dinner ingredients.
But the fourth night.... well we had to eat out, 'cos we had found out about a restaurant about 20 mins up the coast which had been awarded a "Michelin Star" and was doing a degustation menu for not too many euros. So off we went, and were not disappointed. Seven courses of superb food, in a sensational location on a windswept rocky point, with friendly and knowledgeable staff, and a window table of course.
Okay, enough about food for a while. We had now recharged our batteries and headed off to our next stop, the Picos de Europa mountains. These mountains are not far inland from the coast, and are not super high at a max altitude of around 2200-2300 metres, but they are very rugged and spectacular. Our accommodation, an attic apartment in the tiny little village of Inguanzo, was also tiny, but comfortable, and was to be our home for a much anticipated week of walking in superb surroundings. The next day, our first full day in the Picos, was going to be my Birthday, so I was primed for a big one.
Alas, it was not to be. I awoke next morning with that Hit by a Mack Truck feeling - aches and pains, nausea, and some other nasties. I had a great day mostly in bed while Susie patiently waited for me to get better. The only real good bits were getting birthday texts from fam and friends.
By the following day I was feeling a lot better so we embarked on a "3 hour" walk out of a little village 10 mins from our apartment. The instructions for finding the start of the walk were rather vague, so in our usual style we went the right way, thought it must be wrong, then the wrong way until we came abruptly to the bottom of a shear cliff covered in rock climbing bolts, backtracked, asked directions, and finally made it back to our original start. By this time we had been walking for an hour, and the 3 hour walk then took us 4, but..... It was a beautiful, enjoyable walk up the side of a steep sided mountain overlooking the valley from which we started, with a picnic lunch at our high point watching chamois play on rock outcrops. Love to be that agile on rock!
One small problem arose from the day's exertions - I had a relapse of the nausea (thankfully not the other part), and Susie came down with the same thing, so we both spent the next day mostly in bed.
But all crook things pass, and the next day, feeling good again, we drove a stunning mountain road to a place called Fuente De. From here a cable car climbs 2500 feet through space to the top of this rock wall amphitheatre. Once at the top of this slightly scary ride, we were in cloud and could see buggar all! Pity, as the views would have been stunning from the top, but we nevertheless pressed on into the start of our planned 14km loop walk. As we walked the cloud around us gradually began to break up and started to give us glimpses of giant rock towers above us. The trail slowly lost height, we came out of the bottom of the cloud, and the beautiful mountain meadows surrounded by rocky crags opened out around us. After five hours our trail brought us back to the bottom of the cable car where we got stuck into a late lunch.
For next day's encore, this time accompanied by Susie's great sailing mate Jane who had popped over from Scotland for a week with us, we embarked on the most popular walk in the Picos - the scenically awesome Ruta del Cares, along the sometimes vertical sided Rio Cares gorge. The trail was cut by engineers in the '40s to provide maintenance capability to the hydro aqueduct which is also cut through the rock and along the side of the gorge. Not for the vertigo impaired, the trail at times is cut into the side of vertical cliffs with 1000ft of space between walkers and the river below. After 15kms, 6.5 hrs, and an almost overheated camera, we flopped into chairs back in the village of Poncebos for a celebration drink.
Feeling the need for a rest day, we then drove up to the beautiful Llagos de Covadonga, a couple of glacial lakes high up on a rocky range. The drive up from the village of Covadonga was 2500 vertical feet of narrow, twisting, unrelenting climbing, and obviously a testpiece for local bike riders as there were heaps of them slogging their way to the top. In Australia, on a narrow road like that, and with our aggressive drivers, this ride would have been very dangerous, but here drivers are very accomodating and just patiently wait for a safe place to pass. Would that it were so in Oz!
We walked around the lakeside trails, had a picnic lunch, checked out the Covadonga Basilica on the way down, and finished our time in the Picos with a nice dinner in the village of Arenas de Cabrales, 10 minutes from our apartment.
From the mountains to the coast. Late next morning we drove to our next abode - the lovely little boutique Hotel Arbe, overlooking the ocean between the fishing villages of Mutriku and Deba. It was a great week at the Arbe, combining some good walks with some lazing by the pool, reading, and eating and drinking. We alternated evening meals between eating in at the hotel and going out to eateries in the local villages. Always great food.
Jane is not really into walking, but we talked her into a 14km coastal walk on our second day. Susie's opening gambit was, "Well, let's just do a few kays and see how we're going." Then it was, "Why don't we just go to that next headland and we'll reassess there." And then, "Well, we're halfway now, so we may as well just keep going!" So, by the time we reached the village of Zumaia, 14 up hill and down dale kays from our start point of Deba, Jane was barely talking to us, and Susie and I were rather weary as well. It was a beautiful walk, though, and we were able to catch the train back to our starting point. That night we jumped in the car and drove east a few villages to the town of Zarautz, where Lu and Rory are running a surf camp for Stoke Travel. Lu cooked us up a nice meal and we all watched the sunset from high on the hill just east of the town and beach, where the camping area is located.
During this week we also fitted in a visit to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, to San Sebastian, and to the fabled surf spot of Mundaka. It wasn't at it's best, with a crosswind blowing along the wave, but at low tide and solid 6 foot sets grinding along the river mouth bar, there were still some good rides being had.
On our checkout morning, our lovely host Itzi presented us with a nice bottle of red for our travels, and we headed off for Vitoria, about 90 mins south, to visit our Spanish friends Jose and Marie-Carmen. Jose and MC are both great cooks, so once again we were treated to the best of Basque cuisine! Vitoria is a beautiful city with wide tree filled pedestrian walkways, and we were shown around on daily walking tours by our lovely hosts, but the highlight for me was on our second day when, while the girls did a bit of retail therapy, Jose took me to his men only cooking club, Casino Artiste Vitoria, and taught me how to cook Pil-Pil Bacalao. This cod dish is quite simple but needs to be done just right to bring out the flavour. Right on time the girls arrived, were ushered into the inner sanctum (women are allowed to visit the club, but only to eat, not to cook!), and we served up our creation to critical acclaim. Jose later told me there are around 80 of these men's cooking clubs in Vitoria alone, and that's with a population of around 220,000!
After lunch Jose and MC took us on a tour of the old town, finishing with a guided tour of the Basilica Santa Maria which has been undergoing a major renovation project since 2004, mainly because a large chunk of stone fell out of the ceiling and they realised it was in danger of falling down! They've made a tourist attraction out of the reno, which is due for completion in 2015, with the first service to be held at Easter next year. It was this church and it's history which Ken Follett used as the basis for the sequel to his medievil epic Pillars of the Earth.
Next day, beautiful and sunny, we drove out to a large lake which is the water supply for both Vitoria and Bilbao, walked and swam, then lunched at the local "must go to" restaurant. I had squid in ink - yum! - and Susie and Esti (Jose's daughter) had chuleta, which is a giant ox chop for two, served seared on the outside and practically raw inside but soooo tender, a special meat dish of the area. Oops, sorry, I'm talking about food again!
The following morning, after a look at the local Art Museum, we said our goodbyes to Jose, Marie-Carmen and Esti and headed back to the coast for our next little adventure - surfing in the Bay of Biscay at Zarautz!
