5/17/17 – 16.4km/10.2mi from Bilbao to Portugalete with fairly even walking until a ~75m/250′ climb at the very end.
Many before us rested on the 7th day, so we followed suit. Today we slept in, explored Bilbao and the Guggenheim museum, and lazily made our way to Portugalete, a town just about 6-7 miles north (the extra distance on my pedometer was from walking around Bilbao). Not much top photography, as we basically walked through a port area and some suburbs, and it was cloudy with mild rain all day.
At the very lovely Albergue Bide Ona in Portugalete, we were pleasantly surprised to run into our friends from Las Vegas, Lithuania, and Korea! After an OUTSTANDING meal at Cuchus – a highly recommended burger joint – we had a fun evening telling stories and playing “never have I ever” over a possibly excessive amount of wine. While we’re here for the challenge and the hiking, in many ways these are the best days and moments on this or any Camino. It will be another relatively short day tomorrow, but a heavy rain forecast promises to make it a challenge.
