Cam Del Norte Day 2 - Hilly stroll along the beach

 San Sebastian  to Zarautz 13.25 miles

Todays pics.

Today was a bit shorter than yesterday with just over 13 miles. It started out tough with an additional 20 lb on my back and a steep climb out of San Sebastian. Nothing like a good morning workout to wake you up.

Much of the day we kept in sight of the ocean walking through forests and on trails a couple steep climbs a couple steep descents which left my left knee really screaming even after just one day of walking. 

 It's at this point that I realized I left one of the most important things I've carried on every Camino since the first one and that is knee and Ankle supports. These are just like pantyhose thin socks but they're made of copper and they are amazing and have helped me through every other Camino withfew Problems.

It's weird that I left these because I normally keep everything in my pack after I've washed it when I get home so it's ready for the next adventure. But this time I chose to buy a smaller pack reducing my load by about 1/2 and somehow in the multiple packing stages I went through I never once thought of these knee supports. On the first Camino I made many mistakes of going too fast or too far and had a few injuries that these really help avoid.

I guess again that's just like life sometimes we know we should do and forget sometimes we know what we need to do and don't do it anyway.

Another interesting thing was that the majority of property that we saw that was Oceanfront was actually farmland with a lot of livestock and not especially spectacular houses. It's funny in America this would be prime land and worth millions, it's kind of nice to see land that's probably been the same for hundreds of years not get turned into houses for rich people.

Today I'm at a German couple from cologne, and a couple from Australia from Perth and a lady from Ukraine.

I've been stalking other pilgrims seeing how small their packs are, im shocked that mine is still one of the largest even though I reduced it by one half it's giving me a goal for the next one especially as yesterday was so lovely with just a lunch pack and made it a lot easier even as it was challenging. But I feel good Ebbe though tired and with my feet are sore but I know I'm getting stronger and then three or four more days will be super Pellegrino.

I spent a week in Germany before I came here and I find myself thinking and speaking in German (zu viel Schlamm) even in my self talk which is annoying since I want to do this in Spanish if anything just to practice. Even when I go into a bar or store I start speaking German even before I start speaking English which is really effing annoying. No Buenos. Debideras penso y Hablo espanol!!!