Had time to pack, clean the AirBnb and then take the tram to the Bordeaux train station. Then onto a OUIGO train, kind of like the budget TGV carrier of France, but honestly not much different than a regular train. That got us to St. Pierre des Corps, just outside of Tours, then a local train for 30 minutes to Saumur. Of course it being Sunday, not taxis either at the station or on call. So dragged the roll aboard quite ways to my AirBnb. Nice little compact apartment on the second floor, 3rd floor American, with view of the Loire. Did a quick recon and then met Pam for an Apero, followed by a most excellent dinner she had booked at a local spot. She has been coming here for years and has the place pretty wired, stay tuned for more. Still feeling a little punky but much better than a few days ago, suspecting mold from AC at hotel in Bilbao.

Woke up to a lovely sunny day today. Headed out to the Bassins de Lumieres. This is a WWII Submarine base that was converted into an art space. Built by the Germans to service Italian submarines it somehow survived the war. The submarine pens are still there and full of water so you can see interesting reflections in the water. The current show was Vermeer to Van Gogh. Really nice and the scale of the place is really huge. After the show it was off to the Halles de Bacalan, a huge food court near the the wine museum. From there a coffee at Eriu and then some down time.

It was really chilly this morning, around 44degrees F. Luckily it warmed up fairly well. I took a bus out to Chateau Taillan in Medoc, took about an hour to get there. An excellent tour followed with just 3 people and a lovely guide. The harvest was actually being sorted as we watched. A small tasting followed with a rose, a white, unusual for Medoc, and two reds. Nice wines, but the economics don’t make sense for sending them home. Took a good long nap in the afternoon and then back for more oyster happy hour!

Took the tram over to the Bilbao bus station, which has to be the absolute nicest bus station ever. Clean, places to eat, places to sit and well organized. Bus left exactly on time and arrived in Bayonne about 20 minutes early. Had time to use Bounce to store luggage near the station and then have a good lunch at a bistro that I have been to before in Bayonne. Then back, pick up luggage and just under 2 hour train ride to Bordeaux. Amazing when it all goes smoothly!! Immediately bought a 3 day transit pass and took the tram to my AirBnB. Very large, creaky wood floored apartment, in a convenient location. Only downside is that it is up 5 flights of stairs! Got a load of wash done. European washing machines are always a battle and although this one had a 20 minute program it was reluctant to release the door at the end. Eventually I turned it on and off and it let go. Not sure why every washer I have dealt with in Europe does not want to let you open the door. The internet in the apartment is about the same speed as mine in Seattle, 500mbps, which is wonderful after weeks of patchy wifi. Did some google research and off to find some oysters in the Chartrons neighborhood. The place I found had an oyster happy hour so, 1 euro per oyster! Then stopped in to my favorite wine bar, used to be Le Bistrot des Frerots now called La Bande de RoRo. They are so friendly and lots of regulars and good charcuterie and cheese, so that was dinner.

A rainy day today, which made me glad I wasn’t walking on the camino. My right knee has been unhappy for the last week or so, so I decided to have a light day today. Took the tram to the Guggenheim, and did a walk around in the rain. On a previous visit I was disappointed with the collection so didn’t enter. I did go to the Fine arts museum, which ended up having free entry. Even though I was not trying to walk much I still logged 14,000+ steps. Did a tour of the iconic Tapas bars for lunch then back to hotel for some down time.

Sure felt longer than 10Km! Last night was in a funky guest house, but perfectly fine. The only restaurant anywhere near that was open was in the next town, so I took the Euskotren one stop over. Of course the kitchen didn’t open till 8:00pm even though the chef and the staff were all around. No matter, ended up with a very good Salad with Jamon, duck and goat cheese, then caught an Uber back with a couple from Canada that were staying in the same place. The walk today looked to be short, but the vertical profile showed an intense climb followed by an intense descent. Both proved to be true. Still managed to get into Bilbao by noon ish, after many stairs and elevators down into the old town area. Little bit of culture shock after being in the countryside to get back where things are moving quickly and there are lots of people. Headed nearby to the local market building which has a tapas food court area. Definitely sore from all the walking, but that was the last day for this trip of Camino walking. I have tomorrow in Bilbao, then bus and train combo to Bordeaux on Thursday.

The Hotel Gernika was very nice, had a good breakfast and was generally comfortable. A solid walk out of Gernika, and then the hills and the mud started. Then lots of road walking and then more mud and more hills. Eventually landed in a small town about an hour from my destination at around 2:00pm and was directed to a place a little out of the way with an open kitchen. There ensued a nice simple lunch of Ensalad Mixta, Chicken filets and rice pudding. Lovely young bartender with good English and good people skills. Local gave me a history of the town which dates from the 1300s. Dragging myself on, the walking was a sidewalk along the highway, luckily after about a half hour I checked the QR code at a bus stop and a bus doing what I needed was due in 6 minutes, so problem solved! My lodging tonight is a Casa Rural nice room although low ceilings. Tomorrow only 10km to Bilbao and this stage is done!! 31,667 steps.

The monastery turned out to be more than a little disorganized, but my Swedish friend and I decided to to walk down road to the town of Bolivar and managed some pinchos and wine. Good thing too, since dinner turned out to be one large pot of corkscrew pasta and nothing else. Oh well… The room was fine. Breakfast was only going to be bread and jam, so we set off at 8:00am during a gorgeous sunrise and about an hour on found an open cafe where I managed to have coffee and a large plate of Jamon. After that it was a solid day of muddy up and down but eventually arrived in Gernika (note this is the Basque spelling) and immediately found a lovely shaded plaza for lunch. After checking into the hotel and washing clothes and boots I did a walking tour. A lovely town with a replica of the famous Picasso painting, then to the Basque parliament building and various other places. Ended up at the same plaza and ensued a nice afternoon chatting with a German who used to sell BMW motorcycles and is now retired and driving around in a camper van. Quite the character. 31,777 steps.

The hotel last night was interesting, big center atrium. Turned out it used to be a foundry and was rebuilt beautifully as a hotel. A little off the camino, but very workable. Hotel Antsotegi. Pictures here: http://www.antsotegi.com/. Breakfast didn’t start till 8:00am this morning, but that worked out ok as it was raining hard all through breakfast, and that shower had passed by the time it was time to walk out the door. A short day to day, but plenty to uphill and plenty of mud. Now staying in a fairly large monastery that has both communal Alberque rooms and private rooms. Sort of comical on arriving, found a monk, who had my reservation in his phone, told my luggage had arrived. We then retrieved that walked back to the front of the monastery, back through the cloister and ended up exactly back where we started. Still not sure what that was about. Although they don’t “open” till 3:30pm, he gave me my room, which was great. Was able to de mud and have a shower etc., but now about 3:30pm and dinner is not till 8:00pm. Way up a hill or I would walk back to the nearest town. Lovely train that followed along a river for the most part, before hitting the uphill, which was muddy and rocky. Tomorrow to Gernika, population 17,000!

I was a little concerned that today was not going to go well, as my right knee had been complaining yesterday and I was set up for a 22km day today, with lots of hills. In the end, I developed a couple of contingency plans, but the Pensione was able to get a taxi for me and I had him drop me down the road at the town of Olatz, this meant a solid 16km. It was raining good and hard as we left town in the taxi but by time I was dropped off, it had abated somewhat and eventually turned into a partly cloudy and chilly day, good for walking. As the taxi dropped me off a Swedish lady came up to see if she could get hit to driver her to the destination for the day, he wasn’t really having it, so we ended up walking together, which was good for both of us. She was feeling a little discouraged and I was grateful for the company. She is married to an orthopedic surgeon and has 3 kids the youngest at 18yrs old. We climbed a number of hills and eventually came down in a town near to the large stone hotel in which both of us were staying. As we stopped for a coffee the sole restaurant in the nearby town had a daily lunch menu which translated into an excellent lunch. Vegetable soup, paella, roast chicken and dessert and wine for 15 euros! Really tasty! Hopefully the weather will hold as walking all day in the rain is just not fun. Tomorrow is scheduled for a short day but depending on the hill climbing could still be challenging.