Norte – Day 9 – Bilbao to Getxo

With a rest day behind us, we shouldered our packs and set out again on the Camino. At departure we were greeted with a light rain… We spent the better part of of the day passing through industrial areas as we headed towards Portugalete. Portugalete is the city which has a unique bridge/ferry. Its an interesting acheivement of steel, cables and engineering. A ferry section is hung from a overhead steel structure. Cars and pedestrians board the ferry and it is moved from one side to the other. Certianly unique.

I prefer to skip the industrial areas as its particularly boring and nosiy. A signficant contrast to trails and nature. But, Lori insisted on walking out today, so I reluctantly complied.

Our destination today is Getxo which is on the eastern side of the river from Portugalete. When booking our accomidations, I found a beach front hotel that seemed much nicer than the Portugalete options. It was a wise choice. After spending the first half of the day walking rain soaked pavement through industrial areas we arrived in Getxo to a much more attractive scene; a wonderful promanade along a marina and beach. The promanade is lined with expensive and unigue mansions. As we arrived in Getxo, the sun broke through and gave us a taste of warm weather. Its a nice relaxing end to our boring industrial day. I am writing this from the hotel patio overlooking the beach. Its a nice exerience that appears peaseful… that is until each hour when the life gaurds get on the load speakers and fire off somehing uniteligable in rapid fire spanish. I think it has something to do with staying out of the water… perhaps due to polution. The river that passes through Bilbao was brown… perhaps the extensive rains have overrun the sewers.

In any case, we are staying clear of the waters as it does not look pleasant. Nor is it warm enough to want to get near it. However, we do hear some peaseful lapping ways from the bay, and are looking forward to it serindaing us to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow is a longer day – ~ 25-27KM. Plus the ~ 3 KM we went east to our hotel. The weather forcast for tomorrow appears to be good. A nice change of pace from rain.

Buen Camino!