Funny how mistranslations can have big impacts. The owners manual at my Airbnb said something about Stores, which didn’t make sense to me so I passed it by. The only window in the place that didn’t seem to have a shade was next to the bed. Bright lights on and off all night combined with jet lag made for a very poor nights sleep. Imagine my surprise when I clicked a normal looking light switch this morning and electric blinds deployed on that window! Should sleep better tonight! Left a post it in the manual for future guests….

So, the plan was to spend a few days in San Sebastián using it as a home base while hiking the first two legs into San Sebastián and then continuing on to Bilbao. Woke up early this morning and took the bus to the town of Irun, which is the first town across to border from France. After a coffee, found the trail and immediate steep hike up the sanctuario de Guadalupe. From there the trail option that I took, called Purgatorio, followed the top of the ridge over a few steep mountains etc. Felt like a very solid first day and I was glad to have my base in San Sebastián to return for a hot shower!