Camino del Norte 2 – Prices

Zarautz to just after Deba was 25km.

The great thing about the Camino is that the path is a join-the-dots between churches. And where there are churches, there are towns. And where there are towns, there is coffee.

Today was full of stunning vistas of calm blue sea, azure sky, and deep green countryside. Photos can’t capture the full glory complete with backing track of birds singing and smells of wildflowers.

The walk was a classic Camino with a village every five kilometres or so to stop for refreshments. But that came at a price. The villages were all at sea-level and the spaces in between were all significantly above sea level. So moving from coffee to vista and back took a serious toll on our legs. But the places were lovely.

Deba was our last significant stop and it involved losing about 300m of hard-won height on an insanely vertical path. Entering Deba to add insult to injury the locals had obviously decided the path was a joke and installed a public lift beside it – something we both realized too late and debated the ethics of using.

Deba is the natural stopping point for this leg of the Camino – but our day was not done. After recovering for a while in Deba’s plaza we had to set out once more because our accommodation tonight is in a Casa Rural another 5km up the road. And that, you guessed it, meant going up another hill to regain all that lost height.

Our Casa Rural is lovely and comes complete with restaurant. We really feel we’ve earned a good meal tonight.