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Camino del Norte – Stage 2. Pasajes de San Juan to San Sebastian

Posted on April 12, 2025April 12, 2025 by mewalsh1

We woke up to the sound of a ships horn looked out the window to see a large barge from Portugal passing by. Breakfast was included in our stay and was delicious. We met a wonderful couple from Switzerland at breakfast and after talking with them for a while about our families, our travels and politics and tariffs that were still on at that point, we realized that when I was in Switzerland two years ago I actually walked by their house. We even found a picture of their house in my photos. While they disliked current American politics, they were quick to assure me that despite their displeasure with the US they didn’t hold the current situation against us. In fact they even invited us to visit them 😊

While this was supposed to be a shorter day, it still was intense with a lot of up’s and downs before our final descent into San Sebastián. We had some views of the city early on but then view was impaired by mountains we were walking over. It was so peaceful and quiet it was hard to believe a big city was just on the other side of the mountain

in order to start our walk today we needed to take a short pedestrian ferry across the harbor to San Pedro. From there we have another big elevation gain and another day of hiking up and down.

Looking at our pension from the other side

On our way down we ran into a couple (Jodi and Matt) from Massachusetts – Matt was grew up in Pittsfield, my home townon Adelaide Ave, and went to Pittsfield High School. He graduated 10 years after me but it was fun reminiscing about growing up there. They were out for a day hike and mini vacation on their way to visit their daughter who was studying in Barcelona. We finally made is down to sea level and it was a bit of a jolt to have the mountain trail we had been on turn into a sidewalk inn a busy city. We stopped for a bite to eat and a coffee and set off to find our pension.

After a shower and washing our clothes, we set out to explore San Sebastián. It is a really cool city with beautiful beaches and it so clean. The food was delicious as well. I definitely will return if I get the chance.

Stage 1 Camino del Norte – Irun to Pasajes de San Juan

Posted on April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 by mewalsh1

After breakfast, we headed up to Santuario de Guadeloupe where we met up with the Camino from Irun. It was a steep climb up to the church which was built in the 16th century and is home of the black virgin found on the hillside by two children.

From the Santuario we had two choices – the “official” Camino route or the Purgatorio Route which is much steeper and goes along the ridge line to a height of 645 meters at the peak of Mount Jaizkibel. I had read the views this way were spectacular so this was the route we chose – and very very glad we did. While it wasn’t much steeper than our hikes in the white mountains’ there were a lot of ups and downs and it was more difficult with our packs. The views were stunning every way we looked.

We met some nice young people from Germany at top

Finally arrived in Pasajes de San Juan – tired but feeling good

We were very happy to finally walk into Pasajes de San Juan after a few wrong terns. This part of the Camino has several variations and sometimes they aren’t as well marked with the traditional yellow arrows. John and I got into the spirit of the Camino with the earrings we chose to wear for our trip 😊

We did our nightly laundry, took showers, and then headed out to find the one bar (by bar I mean restaurant) 😊 that was open before 7:30 pm and had an early dinner. Tomorrow we head to San Sebastián!

Heading out for pintxos in Pasajes de San Juan

Hondarribia, Spain

Posted on April 10, 2025April 11, 2025 by mewalsh1

Today we arrived in Irun and the official start of the Camino del Norte. We were only in Irun a couple minutes when we were wished Buen Camino from a fur riding a bike pulling a trailer on his way back to Britteny, France and o other guy walking by from Irun. It made us feel good. We walked thru town to the town of Hondarribia where we booked a pension for the night. Hondarribia is a beautiful town where the old town is a walled city and the newer part is along the ocean. The main industry is fishing. We were happy our pension was in the center of the walled old city.

We heard that Day 1 of the Camino Norte is difficult so we decided to have one of our packs transported. We booked it online with Correos, the Spanish post office. They emailed us a luggage tag which we had to print and attach to outr pack. We went down and found the person who checked us in and tried to explain what we wanted. She didn’t understand. I used google translate from English to Spanish but still no luck. We later found out most of the people there speak French or basque even though we were in Spain and that was the case with the woman at the pension. We headed to the visitor center and they directed us to a print shop and luckily we were able to print for 10 cents. We looked around town and checked out the church at the docks. It was very cool all in a fishing theme with fishing vessels hanging from ceiling.

We heard that Day 1 of the Camino Norte is difficult so we decided to have one of our packs transported. We booked it online with Correos, the Spanish post office. They emailed us a luggage tag which we had to print and attach to outr pack. We went down and found the person who checked us in and tried to explain what we wanted. She didn’t understand. I used google translate from English to Spanish but still no luck. We later found out most of the people there speak French or basque even though we were in Spain and that was the case with the woman at the pension. We headed to the visitor center and they directed us to a print shop and luckily we were able to print for 10 cents. We looked around town and checked out the church at the docks. It was very cool all in a fishing theme with fishing vessels hanging from ceiling.

Inglesia De Santa Maria – in fishing quarter

After dinner of tapas we headed back to Pensión and decided to sit outside and have a beer. I noticed a guy with a backpack and asked if he was doing the Camino. He was not but we started talking and we invited him to join us. We found out his name was Allen and that he was a retired bus driver from Montreal who spends the winters in Laos driving around on a motor cycle. He just came back from Laos and was stopping in France and Spain for several weeks to visit friends. He told us how Laos is a great place to winter away from cold Montreal winters and very cheap. His motto is no wife …no kids…no house…no problems. He also traveled around US in a camper during Covid and found most Americans are actually nice. This was good to hear as he was not happy with current state of politics between our countries. He said he always had the idea that most Americans were rough and not very nice. His camping trip changed his v

Paris (Day 2)

Posted on April 9, 2025April 10, 2025 by mewalsh1

I woke up Saturday morning and headed to Jardin du Luxembourg for a quick morning walk. The gardens were only a block from our hotel. They were created in 1612 by Marie de Medici, the widow of King Henry IV who also had the Luxembourg Palace built as her residence. The palace is now the home of the French Senate. The gardens have over 100 statues and fountains. It was fun to walk thru I left the gardens and headed up to see the Pantheon a monument built between 1758 and 1790. From there i headed down to buy some croissants from La Maison d’Isabelle. I had read they were the best croissants in all of Paris the they did not disappoint. They were delicious, really flaky and buttery. I headed back to the room and we ate the pastry and then headed out for coffee.

We had the whole day in Paris before us and we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower to help us get in shape for our walk that was starting tomorrow. We walked along the Seine, and bought a sandwich for lunch along the river, strolled past the Louve, the palace and the National Gallery. Unfortunately I tripped on one of the cobblestones and twisted my ankle but was still able to walk.

We decided to take the train back but after only one stop there was an issue with the train so we got off and walked back. We walked a total of 33,000 steps and were exhausted. But, we had tickets that evening for The Paradis Latin, a burlesque style show, so we took a nap before heading out to dinner and the show. We didn’t know how we would stay awake for a show that started at 9:30 pm (way past our bedtime) but it was a great show and very entertaining as well as a bit risqué. If you are looking for something unique in Paris I would recommend it.

Dressed up for a night in Paris “Camino style”

On our way to walk the Camino del Norte

Posted on April 3, 2025July 29, 2025 by mewalsh1

April 3, 2025

John and I will be walking the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primativo after a brief weekend in Paris. We would love to have you to follow our adventures as we blog our way across the northern coast of Spain. We will take the train from Paris to Bayonne on in southern France and walk for 40 days. We plan to walk a total of 830 kilometers. We will average about 23 kilometers a day with several rest days built into our schedule. We will be staying in a combination of albergues (hostels), pensions (bed and breakfasts) and inexpensive hotels. We are looking forward to seeing beautiful scenery, checking out the historic and cultural sites on route, eating delicious food and most of all meeting and talking to fellow pilgrims from all over the world! We invite you to check back for updates as we trek across northern Spain.