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'Don't walk into the light...' The phrase   ' Bitten off more than we can chew' is constantly echoing through my head, for some reason. Especially, as we have no luggage and the weather is shit. Low cloud - can't see the tops of the hills that we are supposed to climb. No map. no compass. No boots. No water-proofs. No nothing #Eurowingsluggagecockup. Luckily, well I mean after about twenty minutes of mutual confusion at the tourist information office (very nice people), we discovered that there was an old railway track from Irun to Bera and that it shouldn't rain. So off we set, excited, in our travelling gear on our first, real, section of our Coast to Coast epic (our GR 11 ish epic). No back packs, no maps, no waterproofs - no not very much really. But we have a will . Luckily there was only light at the end of the tunnel We have lots of  will .      We  will  get our luggage.           (hopefully)    ...

Sunny Spain The weather in Spain is not always as advertised. Apparently Spain is not just sun, sand and sea. They (whoever They are) are lying to us. And these clouds were obviously very far away from their natural home on the plain. But it is very pretty. Even these little hills. The warm up before the mountains are beautiful. The old villages are, well, old. But they are well kept and definitely worth a visit if you are around. Rucksack guard We reached Elizondo (a song by Madonna?) - and went shopping. Our calorific intake has gone through the roof. We have no cooking ability so are only eating cold stuff. And visiting restaurants, to better experience local culture. So far it has been sort of easy. I mean we have walked up and down but nothing too serious. Look at him - does he look tired? Sunburned yes, but tired no. Not yet. We set off, after lunch, a  delicious meal of succulent Spanish sausage and fantastic Spanish bread, with renewed enthusiasm. Everything was new and exc...

Rucksacks - Hurrah In true German fashion, we got up late, went shopping, checked out and caught the 12:05 bus to Bera. After all we had a long walk to do and by now rucksacks to carry. So an early start was essential. There was a plan however. Our first camp in the wilds of Spain.  (Well the wildishes of Spain.) Flora But we regards to camping in the 'wild': 1. It's illegal  (really) 2. It was our first time (virgins) 3. We didn't know where (organised) So the plan was to set off late and we'd get to 'some-undefined-where' around 8pm so we could camp discretely and hopefully not get arrested. Our rucksacks were, much to our surprise, heavy. They were uncomfortable, again much to our surprise. And ' shockingly ' we walked slowly. We were walking in Spain so immediately we went to France - just a couple of steps over the border but still France. The border restaurant and expensive shop much lauded by the guidebook was not just closed. But looked to b...

Hunter's cabin gate  We awoke to fog and or mist - it was pretty thick so probably a mixture of the two. But in the woods next to the cabin it made it quite - what is the word that I am looking for - thesaurus - no that's not it. Cold. (To cold for pictures apparently). Damp England That's it. Bloody cold and wet, just like England. So we packed up and left or had breakfast and left - or both together. It was cold we needed to get going to warm up, proper food could wait. Our companion had left - places to go, things to see we guessed. So, eventually, off we set, quickly. At least as quickly as our packs and the terrain (up of course) would allow. They were about 10 -12kg each (our packs - just in case you are confused) - we like to travel light and for serious walks this is as light as we can get way with. . But as we reached the ridge the sun came out, the fog was below us and we discovered that in fact we had died. And much to everyone's surprise had become angels. A...

Wild life We got up, had breakfast a delicious meal of succulent Spanish sausage and fantastic Spanish bread. The world was still empty. And beautiful. We set off. we were soon greeted by the local wildlife (we have got used to the vultures.) Some very very very pretty horses. Lots of them. They were a bit stand offish - but maybe it's because we were a bit smelly. We were in limestone country. So no water. But more limestone bloody pavement. Seems its everywhere in the world. But this was old pavement - more refined that the young stuff we saw in Yorkshire . In need of refurbishment. Ancient limestone pavement The original plan for today was a quick: 21km up and down jaunt. But as we had done the up last night - it was just a pleasant stroll down. We have found that the world is general mostly up. Regardless of what it says on maps. Just different quality ups. if the guide book is to be believed the ups become disastrous as we go on. We came across an old Shrine in the middle of t...

Burgete Burgete is a beautiful village with little streams running quickly down each side of the main street. It's on one of the villages that are on one of the pilgrimage roots to Santiago. There were others walkers, some with donkies, and cyclists. But best of all a super market where we could buy some delicious meal of succulent Spanish sausage and fantastic Spanish bread. Look at that bread After a late breakfast, and some time watching the donkey that wouldn't, we finally made it back to the task at hand. After a while we stopped in the forest to have a snack and dry our tents. A dewy morning. The donkey wouldn't. Wouldn't anything really. But in this instance it wouldn't cross the, above mentioned, little stream into the hostal. It just wouldn't. They pushed. They pulled. They pushed and pulled. They stopped the traffic, they blocked the road. They gave up and wondered back down the road. Donkey 1: Family 0 Coming out of the forest we got our first view of...