Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while (ok, since at least 2016!) will know that I have walked the Camino de Santiago from St Jean Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, over the course of 5 summers (but 7 years thanks to C*vid) and those who know me in real life will know that I have nothing but AMAZING things to say about this experience. So much so that, when a group of us finished the final leg in the summer of 2022, we all immediately started looking at different routes to walk. This is Day 6 of our journey from San Sebastián to Bilbo – our final day walking this stage – on the Camino del Norte that we completed in July 2024.
Allright – so after our day off the previous day, we were raring to go (ok, we were ready!) for our final day’s walking on this stage – a *mere* 11km according to our plans! Less than HALF what we had walked previously and after a day of rest it felt SO do-able!
Luckily, we were not walking far, because this breakfast wasn’t setting us up for anything! It was a beautiful day to get walking though!
The road out of Lezama is pretty flat for about 5km and then there’s a 300m ascent (followed by a lot of downhill). Knowing that there was just this one ascent to manage, it felt much more achievable…(as opposed to the other days when there were 2-3 (or more) massive ascents to deal with).
Sneak peeks of the outskirts of Bilbao and then back into the forest…
Even though it wasn’t a long day and we probably didn’t need a cold drink at that point, we appreciated this entrepreneurial spirit!
We had to stop…
And yeah, we bought a few cold drinks…
On we went…
Wait… could it be…
(this was definitely not where we thought the “5km to go” sign should have been! But we’ll take it!). And then…
The waymarkers in this section were not the best – some of the least prominent of all the other stages I’ve walked… And sometimes they were way off too! There was a “temporary diversion” which we are always a bit leery about…
But it turned out ok…
(literally 20m to the right of where the path was…)
And then we were very confused – had we gone the wrong way? Nope, the signs were just off a bit…
Finally we were at the top of the hill – the Monte Avril – just outside Bilbao…
Where there was a shower in the middle of the park!
And a view of Bilbao (which to be honest, still looked VERY far away at this point!)
But the good news is that what does up must come down and it really was all downhill from there!
With actual legit waymarkers!
Through very easy terrain – parks, streets…
And finally…
Yes! Actual Bilbao! (we just missed this bus but that would have been fun to arrive in the centre of town on that!)
Waymarkers a go-go at this point! Spotted the Basilica de Begoña… and passed by there on our way to the centre of town.
And finally…
We made it!
First thing’s first…
And that’s a wrap on walking from San Sebastián to Bilbao on the Camino del Norte! SO MUCH HARDER than any other stage of the Camino that I have walked, none of us were really prepared for the long days and the terrain when it was mixed in with mud and rain. In a dryer time of year, it might have been different but this was HARD (last week in June after unseasonably heavy rains the week before). Did we enjoy it? Yes, the experience. Was it hard? So very challenging, yes. Do we feel accomplished? Absolutely! Scenery and food on this leg get an honourable mention!
I will do a couple more posts on where we ate in both San Sebastián and Bilbao in the future because we found some gems – stay tuned!
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Disclosure: I researched Camino tour operators independently and chose the Camino Travel Center based on a number of features such as flexibility to accommodate a couple of “splits” in some of the longer days, price, and customer service. They were, in fact, the first company I came across in my very first Google search and the one I ended up booking with. From the initial inquiry to the actual trips, they have been a pleasure to deal with and we have been very impressed with the service provided (bag transportation) and the accommodation choices. I was not compensated to write about this trip in any way but I love sharing companies and products I believe in with my readers. I couldn’t recommend the Camino Travel Center more. Stay tuned to see what summer 2025 brings!
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Always an interesting read and the pics are great … but, I get fatigued just thinking about the long walk. Well done.
SUCH a long walk!