Following your Rainbow

We were out for over 12 hours today, door to door, albeit in that regular way here that felt chilled at the time although not necessarily so on reflection. E had the inspired idea to get the ferry around the southern coast from San Sebastian to Valle Gran Rey.

While she took the opportunity to take a swim, I relaxed with a cold beer in preparation for the exertion that lay ahead, soaking up the ambience and the delightful street music, charmed by the energy and the voice of Olena, from Ukraine. She met her friends, from Germany and the Netherlands, at a Rainbow Gathering. They were busking but it was obvious it was more about having a good time and putting smiles on people's faces. There's a whole community of aging hippies here, as well as some much younger ones!

Late in the afternoon, after a sandwich and some more hydration (it was hot and hazy again), I set off to climb La Merica, a huge tower of volcanic rock that rises straight up from the town. It was just over an hour of zig-zagging up endless steps, cut transparently (from a distance) into the mountain in what is some incredible feat of engineering. You look from the bottom and can't fathom how there can possibly be a route up. Once on the plateau there was good running (as opposed to walking) to bring me to the summit in just over an hour. From there an excellent track took me all the way to the mountain village of Arure, with the most spectacular views looking back down to the coast. I then had a bit of time to wait for the bus that E was catching from the bottom. There was a little jeopardy involved as it was the last one. The need to make it in time kept me pretty honest in my effort up the mountain!

I had many spectacular mountain shots today, but as is the way of my journal these days, it's the special people I meet that I want to record rather than the mountains I climb, each of us following our own Rainbows.