After breakfast at my favorite coffee place in San Sebastián, Simona Coffee Club, it was back to the Pension, then bus to Euskotren station and then about 30 minute ride to Hendaye just over the border in France. A quick lunch at the cafe there and then train to Montparnasse, about 4.5 hours. Had an upper deck first class seat and for most of the ride it was not crowded. Arrived Montparnasse only about 4 minutes late, which considering the turmoil of yesterday was great. Bus 96 to apartment, and then some settling in before heading over to St. Germain for dinner. Apartment has some painting and repairs in process and I did some drain clearing. Avant Comptoirs were too noisy and too crowded so some not great duck at les Editeurs across the street.

After a quick tram ride to the Bilbao bus station, one of the nicest bus stations ever, it was an hour and twenty minute ride on the ALSA Supra bus to San Sebastián. My usual hotels were way overpriced, so staying in a pension in the old town area that I like. Nice room, clean, small balcony, good location. Pension Iturriza in case you want to book it. Went out to get some Tapas and Pinxtos for lunch and do some walking around. As evening came, so did rain, off and on, which gave way to very strong winds. Umbrellas had to be retracted! Tomorrow it is back to Paris, with Euskotren and SNCF. Hopefully the block everything strike of today will be over!

After a lovely evening last night, took bus to Bilbao. For those planning trips to Spain, make sure you download the ALSA app, they are the primary bus company in Spain. It is worth trying for the SUPRA service which gives you wider seats and more direct service. In this case about 4.5 hours, but went by quickly and comfortably. I have been to Bilbao a number of times and have stayed at this hotel, AXEL, a number of times, so easy to get around from here. My first visit to Bilbao I was not enamored of it, but on subsequent visits I have grown to like it. Today, 1.5 hour bus ride to San Sebastián. I have done the Euskotren for this, but it stops something like 40 times and takes 2.5 hours for the same trip.

Did a little exploring of Gijon today. Went to the Aquarium which was quite good but obsessed with toxic animals of different sorts. After an excellent piece of Sea Bass at El Globo, back for a nap and then dinner with my NH friend Micheal’s in laws. This was very fun, his 80 yr old mother in law is a lot of fun and various other teenagers and Sister and brother in laws showed up for a total of many people all relaxed and raucous, felt right at home! So fun to be invited to someone’s home when traveling!

Quite the bus ride from Villaviciosa. All turns and switchbacks for the better part of an hour straight. I am not particularly prone to motion sickness, but I was feeling distinctly uncomfortable by the end of the ride. The Parador in Gijon is a lovely historic building but unfortunately a mile plus from the historic center. Dropped my stuff and walked into the center along lovely beach promenade. Found some lunch and then headed for the railway museum. Also took in the Roman bath ruins along the way. After getting my room and some down time, met up with friends of my NH neighbor and we has a fabulous evening out. Lots of celebrations for local saints going on, so the whole town is in party mode. We went to a local place for dinner and had seafood, octopus, calamari and Tuna. Delicious. Great evening, off and on rain.

Wow, quite the evening at the hotel in Colunga. Not much Gluten Free, but had a salad and some Gazpacho on top of the ham happy hour and that did the job. Solid duo playing American Blues classics, all outside. Very nice. Took the bus today as it turned out to be really hot and there was a lot of distance and hills involved. Small 8 room hotel and Villvicisio was having their annual Cider festival. Lots of people, many still going now after 10:00pm. By eating lunch shockingly early by Spanish standards, at 1:00pm I was able to get something, Many were still finishing lunch around 5;00PM.

I realized that between chafing and blisters I was not wanting to walk 20km today, so grabbed a bus to the 10km mark and walked from there. Seemed like a really long 10km! Some beautiful scenery but a lot more of “whose bright idea was this anyway?” Eventually got to my hotel feeling barely coherent, but rallied after a shower. So, slight change of plan going forward, tomorrow is Villaviciosa which looks like a decent size town, so will bus there. Then canceled the following night as it was the middle of nowhere and booked an extra night in the Paradore in Gijon. A neighbor in NH is married to a lady from Gijon so I am very much looking forward to meeting them.

Today was a relatively short day with some highway walking and some nice countryside walking. Arrived in Ribadesella shortly after 1:00pm, hotel unfortunately located far from restaurants of the old town. Room not ready so, hoofed it back and found some lunch. Somehow, even though it was a short day I got a solid blister bubble on the outside of my left heal, oh well, moleskin tomorrow. Always comes as a surprise, in my thousands of miles of walking I’ve only ever had one blister. Not sure why now! 23,000+ steps today.

I can highly recommend the Hotel Don Paco in Llanes is you are ever that way. Lovely breakfast this morning in what was an old chapel at one point. Off walking out of town shortly after 9:00am and caught up to by American couple. They, of course, turned out to be from Seattle, Queen Anne. So we walked together all day and stopped for a terrific lunch at a Sidreria that was on the way. Even though it was a mere 17km, it was about 4:00pm when I got to the hotel in Nueva. They took the bus to the next big town where I am headed tomorrow. Nice scenery today, lots of good surf. Nueva typical small town, but nice hotel with limited dining options around.

Urquena was a very small town, but by some miracle the pizzeria had GF pizza. I was so happy I ate a whole one! Walked around a bit and caught a spectacular sunset picture. Slept well and didn’t wake up until 6:00am, first time on the trip I wasn’t wide awake at 4:00am. After breakfast, decided to catch a bus to the halfway point of my scheduled day, that meant a 16km day instead of about 28km. That worked well and the scenery today was fabulous and included blowholes! Even though it was only 16km there was a lot of up and down and it was hot, so it felt like a very solid day. Llanes is a slightly bigger town with multiple restaurants.