Day 2 San Sebastián to Zarautz

After a decent night’s sleep I woke to torrential rain, wind and very little light, at 8am it felt like the middle of the night. San Sebastián was deserted apart from several runners, one swimmer and bizarrely a group of people practising karate in the surf, several of the latter waved cheerily as I walked past them.

I made good progress on my ascent towards Igeldo after which the path turned into a stream. My feet were soaked which made it easier to follow the shortest route right through the middle of the torrent, occasionally the water was at calf height. At around 10k I came across a roofed shack with astonishingly good hot coffee in a flask, extra.

I had my breakfast sandwich a few kilometres later in thick woodland which gave some shelter from the wind, the rain still persisted.
After another hour or so I reached Orio and stopped outside the Church San Nicolás; a service was happening with wafts of incense making their way into the cloisters. That, and the chanting stirred my latent episcopalianism.

I found more coffee and an excellent selection of small pastries in a café close by and my shorts dried out a bit. A few more miles following the river and then I was in Zarautz my destination for today, and the rain finally stopped. My boots are stuffed with a copy of the Metro I’d brought from home and are sitting out on a small drying area. The rest my kit is dry, I hadn’t expected Robert’s reproofed and repaired Lowe Alpine rain jacket, circa 1999, to be 100% waterproof.

An easier day than yesterday at 24k and 790m ascent, a total of 5 pilgrims. Perhaps they caught a bus.