Day 6 & 7 Mendata to Larrabetzu & then to Bilboa

 The pics

Day 6

Mostly this day went well got an

early start and followed along in my trend of walking slower and eating more. Had a great Pilgrim meal last night with a full table. It's always interesting to people around the table. Last night we were joined by a group of University students who are studying in Madrid and are doing a tour and they were from all over Poland Germany Israel France Spain and I think that's it.

The day went well until I got lost sort of. I actually have two apps on my phone that do a pretty good job of tracking the Camino and where I'm at and at one point while following yellow arrows I was on neither path. The day was a challenging day in the morning there was a really long Cline that seemed to go on for quite a while but I managed it but later in the afternoon I was really wanting to see a bar I was getting frustrated that I couldn't tell how far I was because none of the apps was working. I'm not sure what I was saying to myself but evidently it was out loud as I bumped into a couple of fellow Travelers one from Germany and one from France and the look they gave me was this is a crazy guy. LOL we laughed about it later at dinner.

I seem to have two Australian Angels looking out for me these are two older gentlemen that are friends from Austria and as I mentioned yesterday they alerted me that I should not go to the next town because the alberga was closed and it was a Catholic holiday and all the hotels were booked. They are at least 10 to 15 years older than me and yet I leave about an early before them and some time in the middle of the day they passed me at a high speed it's quite funny. Today when I got to the town with a bar finally they wouldn't let me sit down because they said the alburgue was getting full and they said go NOW and I actually got the last bed which kept me from walking another 4 to 6 miles.

Day 7

Today I left around 7:00 and was a relatively easy day as I'm just walking on the 8 Miles half of some of the days walk ending in Bilbao a large and beautiful city well known for its museums and culture. It's funny though I guess I was thinking it was going to be easier than it was but there was a huge climb before you get into bellbower and it's amazing to me how your head can just mess with you I obviously had plenty of energy I ate a huge meal last

night ridiculously huge with beef bacon eggs and something else I don't even remember trying to stuff it all down to keep my calories up. But when I hit the hill I just lost it for a bit like I had no energy at all which was total BS so I kind of had to sit down and do a little reboot.

I have a favorite reboot and it actually happened on a Camino from some graffiti someone had sprayed on the wall I am now here and the way they sprayed it you could read it as I just said or you could read it as I am nowhere. I've Loved this for a long time and it makes me think that when I'm getting a little bit crazy it's probably because I don't remember exactly where I am and so I try to reconnect to the place and the moment I'm in and that's what I did this morning I was thinking I'm getting frustrated cuz I want to be in Balboa but I am now here. 5 minutes and I'll reconnection and I got up the hill without a big problem. I guess the head has more power than we realize.

Last night in the Albergue we were to store our backpacks in lockers that they provided and when I went to get my locker out this morning I thought I was in a French stinky cheese shop and realized it was really it was time to do some laundry. So when I got to town around 11:00 I started looking for a laundry place and then I thought of looking for a hostel that had a washing

machine and came across this great private 3 br apartment for only a

little bit more expensive the hostels were $30 and this was a private room and bath for 50 and as luck would have it I'm here alone today and tonight.

I'm looking forward to some great food tonight and exploring the town. And some clean and less stinky clothing!