Still July, 20th 2011
I want to take it easy for the first few days and not overpace to prevent injurys or problems with my feet right from the beginning. Thus my first stop will be Portugalete after around 14 km (9 miles). After three kilometers I get lost for the first time. The author of my guide doesn’t like the route between Bilbao and Portugalete. Because of that, he sends us away from the official and well marked path to save some time. So i walk into the wrong direction for about 45 minutes before a dead end make me wonder what went wrong. What a great start, I am pissed right from the get go.
Luckily, the sun comes out shortly after my unplanned detour and since food makes me happy, I enter a bar to get a „café con leche“ and some „pinchos“, a coffee with milk and slices of baguett with cheese and ham. It really is easy to improve my mood. Life is good.
The scenery isn’t great at all and I am walking through an industrial area with a lot of shipbuilding companies. Right before I enter Getxo, I have to go through the alley of death. There is only about 20 cm of room on each side oft he road and every truck from the Bilbao area seems to be here today. I estimate my backpackt o be around 35-40 mm wide so it only takes one dirver lacking concentration and this could end bad. But it doesn’t look like I have much of an alternative so I take the risk and put my life in the hands of hundredth of spanish truck drivers.
Suprisingly I make it through but I need another break to calm down a bit. So I sit down on a bench right at the river with a good view over the Puente Colgante, some kind of bridge with a gondola that takes a few cars and lots of pedestrians on the other side.
I also have to take this unorthodox means of transportation and after that it is just one last hill I have to walk up. Well, technically I don’t have to walk. I could just take the escalators they apparently thought were necessary to climb this hell of a mountain. This is something I would expect to see in some places, but a small village in northern spain is definitely not one of them. I came here to walk anyway so I pass the opportunity and finish the day strong.
It is around 1 pm and the harborage doesn’t open until 3. I take the time to wander around in this sleepy town. Well I don’t really think it ist hat sleepy, but during the siesta, absolutely noone is around. Unfortunately all the stores are closed as well so it is almost 3 when I find a small shop whos owner let’s me buy some fruit and water although he is in his break. „Because we like the pilgrims so much.“ Well thank you sir. I find a small park and just put all my stuff on the grass and lay right beside that little pile which contains everything I will need on my journey. Nine kilogram of cloths, sleeping bag, sanitary products, a little food and water. Not much comparing it to what we have at hand in our daily lifes, but all you need if you are willing to let go of things.
The harborage looks decent, there are two rooms with 10 beds each and 4 bunk beds in the hallway. I am the first person to check in so I just choose one of the beds and put all my things I need on there. Afterwards I take a shower and wash the cloths I wore that day. A routine I would keep for most of the way. When I am done, there are a few other pilgrims. Three guys from Valencia who love the fact that I brought my Schalke jersey, and Maria and Regina from Berlin. Everyone is very friendly and the guys, Pepe, Nacho and Luis invite me to join them for dinner. We have a lot of fun in one of the bodegas with good food and very good house wine. A lot of the restaurants and bars have special menus for pilgrims. You can get a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine to chare with two people for as cheap as 5€. At the end of the day I am a little sad that I will not see the guys again since they are planning to walk 35 km the next day. That is way to much for me right now so I hope at least the girls will accompany for a little while along the way.
All of us are sitting in front of the building when a short, round and very drunk spaniard arrives. After he entered the room where I put all my stuff, Regina warns me to get out of that room. Earplugs can only safe you to some extend I guess. So I move to a bed besides the girls‘ and finish my first day as a pilgrim. I am tired but happy.