A 30 km day, with some ups and downs, so an early start ...first out into the pre-dawn at 7.15 and a well marked route through town and soon climbing into the woods ... the coming light prompting a look back and spontaneous laughter at the sheer gorgeousness of the thin clouds dressed in pinks and reds ... then three hours along, up and down without sight of rest stops ... the odd house and hamlet ... until Larrabetzu ... 16.5 km and more than halfway according to the map in the lovely square ... which also shows an alarming mountain in the way, just before Bilbao ... hmm let's see if we are going over or round it ...
... having planted that thought, having neglected research showing just how much further it is going round than over, having neglected the familiar yellow arrows urging me up and over ... and seduced instead by bus and tram routes to Bilbao ...it's flat and further ... through extensive industrial estates, past the airport ... dropped into the very big and beautiful city, known for amazing cultural offerings, this urbophobic philistine, hopelessly lost, rather tired and failing to find police, tourist info, yellow arrows or pilgrim albergue ... drawn to a metro map showing a station for Portugalete, out towards the coast and recognised immediately as tomorrow's destination ... so, escaping city energy, a day is skipped, Pierre, last seen in San Sebastian, found ... plus an Italian couple and Korean mother and daughter ... evidence of others, out and about ... a pleasant albergue, well set for tomorrow ... now for some food in this very good looking town, 20 km from the city, with an impressive transporter bridge, like the one in Middlesbrough, though the similarities seem to end there ...
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