El Pais Vasco

a jacket, some boots, a backpack
and lots and lost of cestas-mushrooms...

Vitoria- known for their street art and murals on ancient architecture

mon copain

notice... all the balconies are enclosed....rain much?

after a quick visit to Donastia (San Sebastian) and Vitoria, the packs were on and it was to the mountains.
picking mushrooms is actually recognized as a rural sport of Basque Country: Pais Vasco
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deporte_rural_vasco

The first day we set out late afternoon. we were intended to arrive at a small hut on top of a mountain next to the village of araia, but we got lost. in the dark. with only one headlamp. my trust was tested to the brink.
(I am so not adventurous enough, i might have panicked a little)

we couldn't find the the shepherd cooperative's hut. we were soaked from the rain, and it had to be closing in to midnight. but we did tramp across some shepherd's hut that left the side door open that only led to a room with a table, a fireplace, and dry firewood. 

stone wall and floors make a much better bedroom than a slanting and wet tent on the side of the mountain. heavenly

3 days of hiking, on and off of the pilgrimage of san santiago

 the second day we hiked down the mountain, silent and frustrated we hadn't gotten over the crest the night before, and with little hope that we would be able to do the intended route in the 2 days we had left. we hiked back down the mountian, bought snacks, went to go have a small picknick lunch in the village of serrano ham, fresh chestnuts, pine nuts, and fruit. but, we never made it to that picknick lunch in the village. the sun came out...

lu "do you think we could make it up to the top if we leave now"

mikel "yes"

lu "shall we"

as we hiked up it kept becoming, "we will stop and have lunch around the next corner"

then upon reaching that one "no, not flat enough, let's keep going" or "no, not a good enough view for lunch, let's keep going"

after about 15 km and almost reaching san adrian and the old roman tunel we lunched, mostly out of necesity.

the choice: 

back down to araia and catch a train back to a san sebasian hotel to sleep 

or

continue on the original route to arantzazu, pray we get in before nightfall this time, and pitch a tent

we obviously didn't learn our lesson from the night before... who wants to sleep in hotels?

be a sheep and horse pastor?? yes please!

we didn't have enough food for another night if we didn't find something, but there were plenty of water sources anywhere.
little did we know the huge amount of mushroom harvesters and sheep/horse shepherds we would find.

we were in the beautiful arantzazu with enough time for a beer before nightfall at the empty 5-star-hotel's restaurant.
35ish km day (20 some miles)