We’re no longer on the Camino France. Clifford, Marie Carmen, the Brazilian chap, the Dean, the London priest etc who we’ve chatted to along the way are currently walking towards Navarette and out of our lives. Meanwhile Dorothy and I have decamped, joining Alistair and Rachel on the 7:30 bus to Bilbao.

After some breakfast in a bar close to the bus station we’ve parted company 😢. They’ve caught the bus to the airport and home while we’ve strolled along the riverside path towards the Guggenheim.

We’ve left our bags at the Illunion hotel above the bus station where we’re sleeping tonight and are going to relax here for a day before continuing our journey to Santiago, this time along the Camino Norte.

With temperatures on the Frances so high Dorothy was extremely worried about walking in such conditions and almost as bad, staying in extremely hot stuffy rooms for long afternoons and evenings. The meseta, some 180 km of flat, shade less dirt tracks was a particular concern. Temperatures on the meseta are high at the best of times but this month looks like a record breaker. We’re hoping that the sea breezes will keep the Norte much more manageable.

The motion exhibition at the Guggenheim was extremely interesting ranging from Porsche’s first attempt at the age of 24

an electric motor on each front wheel powering the car and

to futuristic designs from young designers.

It’s nearly 3 o’clock and the temperature is currently 34 degrees, peaking at 36 in a couple of hours. Thankfully the hotel has full air conditioning.

We’re just finishing lunch at a pleasant bijou restaurant whose one side opens into a hostel into which we’ve seen quite a number of pilgrims making their weary way. It looks like there’ll be plenty of fellow travellers on the Norte which is always nice. Gronze, the font of all Camino knowledge suggests that 38 days at least are set aside to complete the Norte from Bayonne, a distance of 899.1 km from Santiago. It’s 701 km from Bilbao to Santiago which, if we follow Gronze will take us an additional 29 days. We’ll have an option in 320 km of dropping down to Oviedo and picking up the Camino Primitivo, a ‘hard core’ Camino over the mountains, but with correspondingly beautiful scenery. Alternatively, if this heat continues or further heat waves are imminent, we’ll bail and either try to grab a ferry from Santander or make our way back to Bilbao and (perish the thought), fly home. We’ll see how things go.