Canals and Cable Cars

The Way out of Bilbao is thought to be one of the most uninteresting stages of the Camino del Norte. For this reason many of my fellow pilgrims chose to take the train through this stage and I was even encouraged to do the same. I was reminded of a movie where the main character who’s bored by the demands of his life is offered a magic remote control that allows him to fast forward the bits he doesn’t like. In time the consequences of the fast forwarding are revealed to be dire. The moral of the story, the boring bits are those where you learn and grow and you’ll look back on them fondly.

While I doubt there’d have been dire consequences if I had chosen to fast forward, I’m happy I continued with the walk. Out of Bilbao I walked along a canal through an industrial area. I went past the bus depot and the garbage truck depot, furniture stores and petrol stages. The parts of life that are often kept out of sight. But I also found a great coffee. And when Bilbao was behind me there were rowers on the canal and the lead up to Portugalete was spectacular.

I then got to enjoy the best bit of the day. a cable car that’s used to ferry passengers, cars and pilgrims across the river! It was quite a ride. There was then another surprise, a Hong Kong style escalator through the town to take you up the hill. The hill wasn’t that steep and the escalator was rather slow, but after walking for so long I was rather happy with the ride.

For much of the rest of the day I walked along purpose built pedestrian/cycle paths that went over large highways. Not spectacular, but there were more Buen Caminos from the cyclists than I’ve had over my entire time in Spain. Eventually I arrived back at the coast and my final kilometre was on a boardwalk along the beach. I’m now resting in Pobena, next to the beach and rather pleased to have completed todays stage.