This is a slightly longer blog post because 19th turned out to be a very long walk which was followed by more than one glass of wine and compulsory lights out at 10:00 PM in the dormitory of the Albergue – none which really lent itself to writing a blog post!  

Wednesday 19th began with another steep climb through beautiful woodland which occasionally gave delightful views of the sea. Walking again with the three women from La Gomera was lots of fun,  including a stop at a small bar in the middle of nowhere at lunchtime which somehow transformed into a little fiesta as we danced to Gracias a La Vida, which indeed made me think about how fortunate I am to be able to be taking this walk, as well as  for the many other things that make my life so rich, in particular Caiti and Ciaran.

Setting off again after lunch we got caught in the rain, but fortunately the beer at lunchtime made that seem quite inconsequential,  and walking through a eucalyptus forest immediately after rain smelt simply wonderful. After the forest we went through a few farms, and at one got an entourage of two goats joined us and walked with us for nearly 2 KM before heading home again – ever hopeful that we might have something to eat for them.

The walk however was very long, turning out to be 32 KM. We were very tired by the time we got to Markina, so before heading off to the Albergue we had a ‘pilgrim’s menu’ in a local café which was both welcome and good. 

The Albergue was a little way out of town in a beautifully converted barn with a communal dining area and an 18 bed dorm above it – again I discovered that being tired from a long walk makes sleeping even in a dorm like that remarkably easy.

The next morning, 20th of July began with breakfast in the Albergue where I met Kyran and Sasha from Australia,  a music producer and videography couple in their 20s who impressed me very much with their passion and enthusiasm for their work. During the day I also met a French walker who had begun his walk in Lille in June and was planning to walk all the way to Santiago and back over six months.The morning was punctuated with a visit to the Simon Bolivar museum in a little  village called Bolivar after its famous son,  which gave a very rosy picture of his many exploits. That was followed a little later with a visit to the Ziortz monastery,  where we had a rather long lunch break tasting the beer and cheese for which it is famous. The result of the long lunch was that we walked only as far as Montibar, about 18 KM, before taking the bus to Guernika, where I checked into a hotel relishing the idea of a night in a room on my own. In Guernika I saw a very moving photo exhibition of the shocking devastation that occurred here in 1937 – the town still bears many scars.

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