Legorreta to SeguraDistance 20.7ka welcome shorter day, You are still mainly following The Valley of The Rio Oria but the industry gets less as you get further up the valley. Again there is a fair bit of road walking but mainly on minor roads or along purpose built paths alongside the main roads.Again you pass through Plenty of villages and have opportunities for a lunch break and coffees en-route.There is a good choice of accommodation available in the Beautiful old town of Segura
Day 8
by into-thin-air
Brinas to Santo Domingo de la Calzada Distance 23.25kVery Pleasant days walking to end this route, Unfortunately I was on my own at this point as my walking partner had been unable to keep going !!The first section is alongside the beautiful Rio Ebro, then through Haro which is a fairly big town but easily navigated through, Then along beautiful tracks to Santo Domingo de la Calzada where this route joins The Camino Frances and the end of this Camino for me, You might wish to keep going all the way to Santiago de Compostela !! Again you pass through Haro and plenty of villages and have opportunities for a lunch break and coffees en-route.Excellent choice of accommodation available in Santo Domingo de la Calzada including two Refugio’s de Perigrino
Day 7
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La Puebla de Arganzon to BrinasDistance 27.2kA pleasant if undulating day through beautiful countryside on well way marked tracks and paths.The last 6k of the day pass over a small mountain pass so it is adventagous to get a fairly early start to avoid doing the climb in the hottest part of the dayAgain you pass through Plenty of villages and have opportunities for a lunch break and coffees en-route.Excellent accommodation available in Brinas
Day 6
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Santuario de Ntra Senora de Estibaliz to La Puebla de ArganzonDistance 31.5kAnother long day, Starting off on nice paths and minor roads, then you have to navigate your way either through or around Vitoria, This is made complicated by the amount of building work going on around the outskirts of the city, But the workers on these building sites are helpful and what at first appears almost impossible is achievable with a bit of determination !!After Vitoria the route is well way marked and passes through beautiful countryside on pleasant paths and tracks.Again you pass through Plenty of villages as well as the city of Vitoria and have opportunities for a lunch break and coffees en-route.There is a accommodation available La Puebla de Arganzon
Day 5
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Salvatierra to Santuario de Ntra Senora de EstibalizDistance 18.9kThis is the shortest day of our Camino, deliberately planned that way to follow the rigours of the previous day.The terrain is fairly level and you are walking on a paths as well as on minor roads and again a section on an old disused railway track bedYou pass through quite a few small villages but there isn’t a lot in the way of refreshment stops en-route so best buy yourself some supplies before leaving SalvatierraThere is a accommodation available in a monastery at Santuario de Ntra Senora de Estibaliz
Day 4
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Segura to SalvatierraDistance 31.2kThis for me was the Best day of the entire route, The first 5k are on a quite road then you head off up into the mountains, you have a height gain of over 800 metres so you want to be setting off early so as not to still be climbing in the hottest part of the day.The highlight of the day, If not the entire trip is going through Saint Adrian’s Tunnel. Soon after that you reach the col and it is mainly downhill from there to Salvatierra, the last part of the day is back on minor roadsYou need to top up with liquid and supplies at Zegma because after that there is little before reaching Salvatierra.It is a long and hard day but the rewards are Awesome !!There is a accommodation available in the nice old town of Salvatierra
Day 2
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Hernani to LegorretaDistance 31ka slightly longer day on Day 2, You are mainly following The Valley of The Rio Oria which is quite heavily industrialised and there is a fair bit of road walking but mainly on minor roads or along purpose built paths alongside the main roads, There is also an interesting section along the track-bed of a disused railway line. Again you pass through Plenty of villages and have opportunities for a lunch break and coffees en-route.There is accommodation available in Legorreta
Day 1
by into-thin-air
Irun to HernaniDistance 24.6kA nice introduction to this Camino, the route is well way-marked and you follow a series of minor roads, tracks and paths through some beautiful countryside.You pass through Plenty of villages and have opportunities for a lunch break and coffees en-route.The route does undulate and the paths can be muddy after rainThere is a reasonable choice of accommodation in Hernani
Breaking the route into stages
by into-thin-air
In the following sports travel tips I have laid down how we chose to break up the 200k route, As I have mentioned in the introduction, we chose to break this Camino down into 8 stages of approximately 25k but this proved to be to much for my walking partner and she was unable to complete the route, so maybe we were a bit over ambitious.How you choose to break the route into stages will depend on your own level of fitness, how much time you have available and whether it is Important for you to walk the entire route or to take the occasional bus.For me it was Important to walk the entire Camino and eight days would have been sufficient but as long distance walking is one of my hobbies, this might not be the case for everyone !!So, take time, plan your stages carefully and enjoy this Beautiful Camino !!
Fronton
by timtregenza
Fronton, or pilota is the collective term for a range of sports played on a large court with three walls.The three main variations are with hand, paddle, or basket (jai alai, or cesta).The number of players may vary from 2 upwards.Most basque villages have a court, whether indoors or out.Try and see a game if you can, it is a hotbed of (probably illegal) betting activity at professional level, and games are shown on ETB 1. (The Basque channel).
Paddles, baskets strapped to your hands, or your hand alone is used (Frontennis uses a tennis raquet, but this is a bit "picoesque").
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