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June 17
Gernika We left the Markina Xemien Albergue early in the morning after we had breakfast of really bad coffee and pieces of packaged sweet bread. We wanted to do only about a stage and half because of the desire to see Picasso’s Gernika. Because we chose to ride on the Camino with all the pilgrims instead of the bicigrino path. We had a hard climb right from the beginning over uneven road.
We stopped for a better breakfast after riding for a while and after eating and sitting at the bar very relaxed watching so many other cyclist from the area go by I went to pay and had a big scare…..my money pouch was not on me as it had been everyday. I could not find it anywhere. Carmen and I went outside and took all the items out of the panniers and still could not find it. I was thinking about calling the Albergue or riding back to ask for it, hoping someone had found it. Carmen stood calmly by me and kept quiet. I then found the pouch in Carmen’s backpack…because last night when I showered in my shorts to clean them I did not take the money pouch out. I washed all of our money! I normally wear the pouch at night time, but because it was wet I put it with the damp clothes in the backpack. We kissed and said all is well then I went to pay for our breakfast. |
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There is a section of the Camino that is man made steps that cover over 200 yards that include a very steep area crossing a river. It was a very wooded area, and the steps were very narrow and did not have rails on one side which made it difficult to control the bike. For the last seven kilometers into Guernica we took the road after the stressful steps. We found Picasso's mural right away and then went to visit a couple of museums. We ate ice-cream prior to leaving Guernica, just as a refresher from the hot day.
We had hoped to ride for 2 more hours before stopping for the day at an Albergue. The two hours turned into four hours when the directions given by Google Map gave us a very hard climb into Lezama.
Now lost and out of water, thirsty we decided to ride into some people’s driveway in a very remote road and called out. They came out to help us and gave us water. In fact they got in their car and decided to drive ahead of us to show us which was the road to take. Even after I got to the road they took me back in their car to pick up Carmen because it was an uphill ride and she was pretty worn out already, now back on the road and about 4 kilometers from our destination and all downhill we peddled into town. Getting lost is always an adventure, but on the Camino you an always reach out for help or someone will reach out to you.
After getting cleaned up, drinking water and resting we went for a beer and pinxos after walking around a bit. There was a children’s show in town celebrating the end of the school year, many of the children gave a short speech in their native basque language that we listened to for a while. In the morning we plan to make it a short day to Bilbao which is only 15 kilometers away.
We had hoped to ride for 2 more hours before stopping for the day at an Albergue. The two hours turned into four hours when the directions given by Google Map gave us a very hard climb into Lezama.
Now lost and out of water, thirsty we decided to ride into some people’s driveway in a very remote road and called out. They came out to help us and gave us water. In fact they got in their car and decided to drive ahead of us to show us which was the road to take. Even after I got to the road they took me back in their car to pick up Carmen because it was an uphill ride and she was pretty worn out already, now back on the road and about 4 kilometers from our destination and all downhill we peddled into town. Getting lost is always an adventure, but on the Camino you an always reach out for help or someone will reach out to you.
After getting cleaned up, drinking water and resting we went for a beer and pinxos after walking around a bit. There was a children’s show in town celebrating the end of the school year, many of the children gave a short speech in their native basque language that we listened to for a while. In the morning we plan to make it a short day to Bilbao which is only 15 kilometers away.
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Carmen -