Blistered Bilbao
Walking the official Camino is easy enough. Just follow the arrows. Larrabetzu in 7 km. They have at least a restaurant in the little town. Then about 10 km to Bilbao. Today I am taking it a bit easier. I try to walk the downhills without causing any more damage to my toes. The previous blisters are healing. If they don't get worse today, maybe I can get rid of them altogether. Could walk pain-free for a while.
What do we have here? It says, walkers to the little path and bikers to the pavement. I'll take the bike route, just because of my feet.
Had a meal in Larrabetzu. Octopus on a stick. Very greasy. Should have energy for a while now. Walking towards Lezama. Seems like Bilbao is 12 kilometers off. A lot of bikers on these roads.
Camino gossip
Just crossed the last mountain before Bilbao. On the top I met a Julian, who I knew from an earlier albergue. Olof and son appeared with their two dogs. One of their dogs had a fine backpack. They told me that camping is not allowed in Spain. Apparently the police tries to prevent forest fires by keeping the campers away. They also claimed that the police find people in the forest based on their mobile signal, but I don't know if that is even possible or legal. Sound like a legend to me... They also told there's an area where they have bears, and keep them off the Camino with an electric fence. I don't know, all this sound a little too much. Both Julian and Olof had tents.
Shopping
I walked from Bilbao down to Portugalete. The idea was to buy the tent, but it was Sunday and the shops were closed. After that I thought I would find the place where they sell them and take a bus back to it tomorrow. I did find a concentration of bigger stores: Ikea, Carrefour, Costco. I think I can find the tent here. In Portugalete the hostels were full. I decided to take the metro to the other coast, to Plenzia, and find a place with some caravans. But this time I had a sleeping bag and a pad, so it was almost like real camping. Wasn't cold.
I have a tent now, after a roadside adventure. There is no pedestrian path to the sport supermarket Decathlon. Some guy is practicing his bag pipe here next to the multi-lane road. A good place, no one will come complaining. I think I found a path out of here. Doesn't look very official, just a dirt path next to a stream. I couldn't get the smallest tent, since it was out of stock, but I got the smallest two person tent. 2 kilos more weight.
Industrial loop
I somehow managed to walk in a circle yesterday after the tent shop. I don't even know how I did it. The river has many streams coming into it and the water flow doesn't seem to follow logic. Maybe during the high tide. The signpost are meant for cars, so it's also no good just following them. I think there won't be another as confusing area as the industrial zone between Bilbao and Portugalete. Ended up walking quite a long day. I had looped back to Decathlon around five in the afternoon. At that point I could see where to go. I walked to Pobeña, where they have a surf beach, La Arena. I got into the albergue two minutes before closing time.
