Biarritz May 5th-19th San Sebastian

New plan accommodation.

May 5-8 Al and Simon 

3 nights San Sebastian area 

May 8-10 Al Simon and Stu 1 night Bilbao

Now BOOKED 9TH-13TH May - 4 nights IRUN 

May 10-12 All 6

May 12-13 Al Jackie and Stu

May 13-19 Al & Jax Hondarribia 

Straight to San Sebastian on 5th.19:45 flix bus

Walk to Zarautz on 6th

Zarautz to Zumaia / getaria 7th.

Zumaia to Deba on 8th then train to Bilbao to meet Stu 7:45pm 

May 9th.Walk around San Sebastian, check out the Gizpouka football club that unai emery, arteta, and Bournemouth manager Areola, played for then continue scouting with walk to Pasaia. Lunch San seb /dinner Pasaia sleep well on the 9th. 

May. 10. Meet boys in San Sebastian and walk to Pasaia and walk/train back. Go to Real Sociedad v Real Betis if we get tickets.

May 11th tram to Irun and walk to San Sebastian or Pasaia.

May 12 tram to Hendaye and walk to Biarritz fall back bus from St Jean or Bidart around 2:45/3pm.

May 11th Irun to Bidart via st jean de Luz.

May 12 Bidart to the airport 

5th Biarritz arrival 6pm bus to Biarritz or st jean de luz or even hondarribia and book in for 3 nights.

6th st jean de luz walk to irun

7th Irun to Pasaia /San Sebastian 

8th walk from San Sebastian and bus to Bilbao after lunch

9th bus back to Zarautz/then Zamaia or deba

10th Jimmy and Paul coming out arrive 10:30am

11th markina to Guernica 

12th back to San Sebastian and travel to Biarritz for 18:00  flight. Jackie arrives for 7 days until 19th.

AND THE TRUTH....

So that's not what happened and it never is....

After Irun I booked us into hotel Onyarbi and we never left. Jackie and I were going to stay one night then we stayed another 2 nights💨🌧️while it rained a lot all over the country, then we booked Saturday and then Sunday night.

We discovered Gran Sol and this bar was just so good.

The town of Hondarribia is so easy on the eye and full of restaurants that put day to San Sebastian/Donostia or in the boat to Hendaye were side shows. The place to be was here.

Sunday was sunny and we walked about and now it's time to leave and head to st jean de luz on Monday and the Mosaik hotel.

Sunday was €82 while Friday and Saturday was nearer €250. 

We plan to come on Sunday in June and return Tuesday. A two nighter but as gran sol will be closed after lunch on Sunday we may need a fast bus. St Jean by 11, Irun by 11.45 and hondarribia by 12:20. It's a bit tight but if we have to queue so be it. If we get lucky we get here faster possibly a train to Hendaye but all bets are tricky on a Sunday.

Getting back after lunch on Tuesday is easier. Queue for lunch at 12. Get the bus to Irun at 1:40 get the Hendaye train at 2:08, get the bus to st jean or train to Biarritz by 3pm. No sweat.

Málaga strolls

This morning we start on the metro. Line 2 to Palacio de los Portes. 

We will walk back a gentle stroll through the gardens and down to the beach, going around the construction site on the way.

There are so many things to love about this wee walk. It's all downhill for starters. 

I know it can't be but it feels that way as you walk towards the rising sun.

The sky is an amazing array of beauty and anger. 

A bit like I feel. 

There's a rage that wants to spit rain at you and then the beauty of the blue sky and the heat of the sun.

You pass a cafe called Magna after 10 mins and then 5 mins later your at the beach. It was raining as I hit the beach with a warm sun coming off the Alboran Sea. It looked sunny in Morocco.

I stopped for coffee at Cafe Marcello. Wonderful it was.

The sun came out and it was toasty. It was like some generous Greek god had just wrapped a little fire all around me. It disappeared very quickly but the 25 seconds of heat had me reaching for the sun screen it was so strong.

I walked on down passing an amazing sight as the sun bartered with the clouds to spray rain and sunshine over a boat in the sea. Some cruise that I speculated. "Would all passengers on the bow wishing for sunshine move to the stern and those with brollies move to the bow".

I love the weather.

6000 steps from house to La Isla metro and back again. A beautiful gentle stroll and one I could do in a wheelchair.

An interesting aside is the Málaga metro card. It's €1.35 for a single journey but I put €10 in the recharge purse. That bought 20 journeys at €0.50

Málaga 2026

Depart Edinburgh 08:40 January 23rd or 6am from Haymarket with many layers on

Friday Málaga 23rd

Saturday 24 beach walk nerja

Sunday 25 mountain walks/Almunecar 

Monday 26 mountain walks

Tuesday 27 beach walks torre

Wednesday 28 Málaga walks (3)

Thursday 29 Málaga walks (2)

Friday 30 

Saturday 31

Sunday 1 last night in central Málaga and off to Cordoba on the fast train. Metro to Maria Zambano in the morning.

Monday 2 what a quick train that was. We arrived at 9:30 so had to wait until 10:07 but as ever at our age it passes ridiculously quickly. Down a rabbit hole on the phone one minute and the next we are boarding.

Wednesday 3

Thursday 4

Friday

Saturday 

Sunday

Monday 

Tuesday 9th

My favourite 1000 Spanish Bars & Restaurants TBC

I finally decided to put my top 1000 bars to print. From Vigo to Irun, Santander to Seville, Santiago to Almeria, Barcelona to Caceres, I've wandered into cafes, bars and restaurants, for breakfast lunch dinner or drinks. I've a few favourites. 1000 in total. These are my current favourites and I've gone for cities and a rough alphabetical order, with codes like RnR bar. Almeria Almunecar - Rock n Roll bar Barcelona Estella RnR at Bar Pigor. Great atmosphere, food and drink. What more do you want. A Spanish version of The Only ONes' "Another Girl Another Planet" on the sound system and that was the cherry on the cake for me. Granada Leon Logrono Pamplona - Hardly original but I love a Cafe Iruna. Reminds me of Cafe Royal and all thoseon the camino places with great steam tunred wooden bars and mosaic tiles on the walls. Grand taps in the toilets and sinks you could wash a child in. The bar below Hotel Maissonave is a cracker for food. I absolutely love it. There are many of the tapas bars I could recommend. They change so often as well, or maybe I've been coming for 20 years and its me who doesn't frequent them often enough. Our favourite breakfast stop is down the hill on the way to the university. Ponferrade - I've got one in the city centre I love. I've been going since 2007. Puente La Reina San Sebastian - RnR Santander Viana RnR

Meeting Emily from Virginia in Ages and Atapuerca

Some Camino moments just happen and they disappear, dislodged by the latest Camino moment. 

You rarely capture them for long but they return when you're next in that location. 

Its a recurring theme for me and from 2007 when I first walked with Simon. In the Caminos that followed there's much confusion if I was on my own or with someone. 

Here we are in Leon, 2016, Stu, Paul even Roger was out for a bit, then Harry who of course was there in 2011. 

It usually starts with, "oh I remember when", like the Newry girls I met in Azcueta and climbing the hill to Villamayor de Monjardin, when we were stuck behind the donkey and auld french woman who clearly had restricted walking capacity and was in a chair, or chariot, as I liked to attempt on French.

I was chatting to the Virginian Emily in Atapuerca about how we rated the meals on our first Camino in 2007.

Now I'm home I've the time to revisit each and every day. This particular day I had a great laugh.

It was everything I hope for from a Camino day.

I stayed in Villambistia last Wednesday, I had my usual drouth. 

I always have a thirst, on October 1.

I finished September in Navarrete, wandered to Najera via Ventosa and bought a 15€ sack of vino from Alvia. It's been years in the coming.

Then I got the bus to Villambistia from Najera. I'd walked 18k so felt pretty chilled that I'd done a shift.

What surprised me was my determination to stay at Espinosa del Camino where Jimmy John and I stopped on the last leg before the boys came out for Paul's 50th. We always planned to come out and do that leg over to San Juan de Ortega. It's a long story from an earlier blog so we will leave it there.

What happened was St Jacques's at jack's best. Espinosa and it 24 beds was far from empty by the time I walked up, it was now full.

Split decision go forward or back. I walked back. Shortest distance and a bus stop. I had 48 mins to the next bus. The rest is history so back to my Thursday story and Emily.

the afternoon before.

Fat Al Scottish Camino

It's over so soon. I arrived in Burgos on Friday October 3rd and left it in the sunshine on the 13:45 bus to torrelevega.

This bus went to San Vicente de barquera, the place Simon and I stopped at on the Norte in June. 

How apt.

I loved the town and then I got the train along to Santander.

I stayed in a place so far out of the centre on the way to the north west coast and the football stadium.

As always a great laugh full of serendipity. Plenty tears of reflection to clear any dusty eyes.

It was quite a mess the actual Camino. My fitness and relationship with food was an abstract concept that I couldn't work out. I kept forgetting to eat and thinking coffee and sugar would work. Then I tried protein shakes for breakfast. 

The result was lots of walking, stopping and buses. So much serendipitous bus getting or missing.

Whether it was leaving Biarritz for San Sebastian, Pamplona, or booking Estella for the wrong night. Brilliant fun.

In Azcueta after I strolled out from Estella my plan was to make it to Los Arcos and stay in the lovely new albergue. The temperature got up and I said I better get the bus. As I walked down the 11:10 bus arrived in time for me to see it, 20 metres before I got to the bus stop. 

The result a wonderful evening in Villamayor de Monjardin.

Ana the host was superb and I met the Danish lads, aka The Vikings.

It was like that all the time and when I got a bus from Najera to Villambistia I thought I'd walk up to Espinosa and finally stay in the reopened albergue.

After a quick beer I wandered up in the afternoon heat. There were a few ahead of me but I was relaxed as I'd checked booking and there were still loads of beds.

As I went to ask if there was a lower bunk available the answer came back saying no albergue is sold out. I laughed at St Jacques's messing with my head.

I walked back down the hill to Villambistia and took the lower bunk just ahead of the two Vikings walking back in. So funny.

Cardenuela Rio Pico to follow, before I finally arrive in Burgos for the end of the El Cid.

70 years now.

Walking the Rio pico to Burgos

After the one hour up and down hill from Atapuerca you arrive in the valley of the Rio Pico. A tiny dribble of water that has clearly sustained a number of towns over the years. 

As it's all about survival water was clearly important not just in the days of Atapuerca but right up to today so first things first. Water stops.

I'm a big fan of Cardenuela Rio Pico and it's big tap is in the centre of the town.

The next tap is 2km down the road in orbaneja. The cafe / albergue opens at 8am until October then it's 11am. Today is October 3rd and so I had some water.

Finally before we hit the taps of the town in Castanes we hit the airport taps.

All good taps and hopefully you'll have drunk a litre between each and not made the sad mistake of just carrying water.

The times are roughly 2km 25 mins, 1km 12 mins and then 3km around the airport. Thus we arrive at the scrap metal, then traffic lights, cross to the left for the cafe with the bus stop and the fountain. 

So easy to jump a number 4 bus to the centre if you haven't the legs to walk along the river. If you have got the legs you'll be rewarded and all the need to do is walk along the side street, past the play park and second fountain, over a wee bridge then turn right. Go past the allotment ceer left over a bridge into a woody area next to the motorway. Follow the path to veer a bit diagonal right and then under the motorway and you'll be on your way.

I love this walk as my appetite grows with every step. I've taken to visiting a cafe near Burgos CF. I cross the river by the outdoor gym and more taps. Part of a new build complex has been given over to a cafe or two and very simple understated and delicious.

Today I took the bus as the El Cid festival was in town and it'sy last day.

Had a coffee as the bus turns off vitoria and then walked around being a tourist.

The cathedral gets closer so quickly

I love the city.

So many angles of the cathedral, I could be here all day.

I had to go so over the bridge I went.

I waved Burgos bye bye and see you soon.