Today has been a walk through the suburbs of Bilbao. Not always pleasant – I’ll leave the pictures to tell their own story.

We noticed as we walked that Basque precedes Spanish on road signs, street and shop names. Although ETA may have renounced terrorism, there is still a very strong move towards independence here.

Translated from an article in a Spanish labour magazine, this non violent activist has been celebrated on this bridge. There is far greater richness of political expression in countries like Spain than there is in the uk.

“Today, June 24, 2019, marks 4 years since the death of Basque activist Periko Solabarria. After the last fascist sabotage of his mural located on the Rontegi Bridge (Barakadlo), the association that bears his name has restored it this past weekend and has carried out a tribute and reopening of it, accompanied by dozens of people.

This mural in memory of Periko, a tireless abertzale militant for Ezkerraldea’s labour struggle and social rights, has suffered several fascist attacks, with swast crosses and stains of red paint on his image. To avoid this, the Periko Solabarria Association has restored it by repainting the mural in the same place, but at 25 metres high.

Periko, who worked precisely as a labourer on the same bridge on which he now houses his memory, was well known on the left bank because he lived in Lutxana and Barakaldo, where he was parish priest of the church of Santa Teresa. In addition to actively supporting the mobilisations carried out by the Platform Against Social Exclusion “Berri Otxoak” and the Assembly of the Unemployed of Barakaldo.

He was also detained in prison due to his political activity during the Franco regime.

Without a doubt, their passage through our lives has been an example of struggle against those who try again and again without success to stain their mural but never their memory because “If they do not let us dream, we will not let them sleep.””

We’ve made use of the local launderette since our hotel has no washing facilities, we’ve eaten and are settling down for the night. The temperature reached an impressive 40 degrees an hour or so ago, but we’re basking in air conditioned comfort. We’ll aim to head out early tomorrow morning to ensure that we get to our next hostal before the heat really kicks in around 3 o’clock.

We were approached by a chap who was obviously not Spanish in the restaurant earlier. He was Dutch, is walking from Bilbao to Santander to ‘clear his head’ having just resigned from his job in risk and compliance at an international bank. He wants to do something more meaningful with his life but will have to learn to accept a significant drop in income. He’s trying to find a sensible but worthwhile balance between needs and wants. As do we all 😊

Buen camino