Day 2 Rain and downpour

Thursday Sept 29, Pasajes de San Juan to San Sebastián, 10-11km (longer if taking the coastal option).

We had an excellent breakfast at Donibenea, where we stayed the night. Freshly squeezed orange juice, yogurt plus granola, baguette plus meats and cheese, fruits. We didn’t realize it but we needed it for the walk ahead.

We took a small ferry boat to cross the port to the other side, otherwise it’s several kilometers to go around. The costs had gone up from 70 cents to Euro 1.10. Our hotel was about a minute walk away from the ferry point.

The rain started in earnest as we disembarked. It started pouring as we walked along the promenade to the lighthouse and the coastal route. Climbing the steps was walking up river. Water gushed downs and my boys were soaked. I needed wellies to get through this.

There were yellow arrows as well as a red and white bars. Latter denotes GR routes where there are downloadable GPX files to use with trail apps.

About 30 minutes into our walk, we mis-communicated and got separated. Both of us were wondering where the other was.

I walked faster thinking she had gone in front of me as I had dallied behind her for several minutes. As I navigated difficult stretches, I began to doubt she was in front of me. I flip flopped between walking fast and waiting. Finally I waited at a spot and twin sisters came up. They had not seen my wife nor passed her. I rushed ahead, and a couple from the other direction approached me. They too had not seen her and they had been walking towards me for past 30 minutes. There was no way she could have been walking 30 mins faster than me. This couple promised to let her know as they continued.

I waited a couple of minutes and decided that it would be better to walk backwards. At least, I would be walking towards her if she was walking towards me.

I caught up with the couple and we walked together as I updated them on the full story. Shortly afterwards, we saw an old man and his dog approaching us. Her only spoke Spanish and the young man translated for us. It seems the old man had seen and spoken with my wife. He recognized her picture on my phone. He had confirmed with her the direction to San Sebastián on a more direct non-coastal route. She was on a different route than me. What a relief!

Here are the views along the coastal route.

When I was finally able to connect and talk to my wife, she was already in San Sebastián. She had spoken with a young man to confirm the route into San Sebastián. She never spoke with an old man and a dog!

Today is the feast day of the archangels. Gabriel is one of the three mentioned. Gabriel delivers messages. Did I meet Gabriel today?