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Wandering with Purpose Mindful journeys.. using adventure to find health, wellness and purpose in midlife and beyond

My friend is here! We had such a lovely walk and a good starter catch up. Arrived at our auberge which is an old school....
01/08/2025

My friend is here! We had such a lovely walk and a good starter catch up. Arrived at our auberge which is an old school.. there are 89 kids here (in a different section of the school) having a blast judging by the singing and hilarity coming from them. We had dinner in the only bar in town, a cuppa and then a sudoku challenge.. looking forward to some beaches tomo.. lots of enticing ocean views today.

I started my day watching one of the Pamplona bull runs.. utterly crazy.. I feel sorry for the bulls but they took down ...
30/07/2025

I started my day watching one of the Pamplona bull runs.. utterly crazy.. I feel sorry for the bulls but they took down quite a few foolish humans so yay bulls! Mostly today it rained.. heavily.. so the camera didn’t come out and I didn’t see much because it was head down and keep going.. luckily I was entertained by an Aussie (who was a quintessential Aussie 🤦‍♀️) and a New Yorker who now lives in Florida (and apologises for trump phew) and an English corporate lawyer. Finally the sun did come out so I walked further than I planned in an attempt to dry off a bit.. it worked mostly. And i celebrated with an ice cream of course.. dinners not til
8pm..
Tonight I’m in a beautiful old convent with only 2 to a room and my new roomie is a German lady same age as me who walked from Santander today.. 33km.. she’s exhausted.
Tomorrow my friend arrives ✨ so I’ll have a wander round this lovely old town and take some pics tomo..

Today has been one of those days that’s felt like several days all in one.. first a delightful sunrise and a beautiful w...
27/07/2025

Today has been one of those days that’s felt like several days all in one.. first a delightful sunrise and a beautiful walk along the coast practicing my French. Then a looooong beach walk, followed by elevenses and then a much longer than expected boat ride, a new hostel and a wander through the city with a lunch stop and then on to the beach. A leisurely shop on the way back for a shower and off for tapas in a bit.. I like Santander.. lovely buildings, great views and many beaches.. but jeez the water was cold!

Sad to leave my lovely French friend this morning but we managed an almond croissant together for breakfast before I lef...
27/07/2025

Sad to leave my lovely French friend this morning but we managed an almond croissant together for breakfast before I left for a very gentle day.. I wish I’d opted for the coastal route in some ways because the walk was very dull out of Santander.. but the coastal route was 37km so 🤷‍♀️
Once I got into the countryside it was much better and walking on tarmac through dull industrial estates gives you lots of time to think which is kind of a bonus mostly! Some quite funky graffiti and the biggest stag beetle I ever did see (tried to attack my walking stick after I took the photo!)
Some beautiful cows and a plate of meat for lunch. A Taiwanese lady, an American chap and a father daughter pair from Italy so far.. I expect that’s it for tonight. Luckily there’s a decent bar/restaurant next door (hence the plate of meat) and they do a pilgrim meal which I will be eating later

A super lovely gentle day walking and sitting on the beautiful beach at Laredo.. I may have sat on it a little too long ...
26/07/2025

A super lovely gentle day walking and sitting on the beautiful beach at Laredo.. I may have sat on it a little too long in the breeze but nothing too bad 😉
Then I caught a sweet little boat to the next town.. there was only me on it 🥰
Stocked up on far too much food in the supermarket (don’t go shopping when you’re hungry.. schoolgirl error!) wandered to my now hostel which is very modern and lovely but with a lot of beds tightly packed in.. we’re supposedly in an all girls room but there’s a fully clothed (including shoes) man sleeping in a bunk by the door.. I’d have pointed him out to reception but he doesn’t snore so he can stay!
Weather looks ok for tomo.. full sun but only 25 degrees.. and the heavens have just opened to clear the air again 👍
Found out my lovely friend Matt is jointing me for a week on Tuesday.. very excited ✨so spent the evening booking our accommodation 👍
Early start if I can.. I’m not a fan of early starts generally.. 21km tomo so nothing too dreadful

Omg it was wet today.. but it was warm too.. which was a bit of a double edged sword because when I put the poncho on to...
24/07/2025

Omg it was wet today.. but it was warm too.. which was a bit of a double edged sword because when I put the poncho on to stop getting drenched, I boiled! But I made it.. again!
3 bed room tonight but I’m sharing w 2 men 🙄 both pilgrims, one German (he walks 30+km a day 🤯), one Spanish (doesn’t speak any English so I know nothing about him).. there’s no other reality where I would be sharing a room with two strange men who are sleeping in a bunk bed at the end of my single bed 😂
Off to find some supper.. here some of my damp grey views!

Woke to the mass exodus at 5am but thankfully went back to sleep til 7.. looked out the window to a grey sky and slight ...
23/07/2025

Woke to the mass exodus at 5am but thankfully went back to sleep til 7.. looked out the window to a grey sky and slight chill in the air.. had a lazy morning waiting for my lovely friend to stop by for a coffee with me.. he was catching the ferry home from Bilbao but made a little detour for me which was fab ❤️✨ then we set off, him on his motorbike and me on my feet! Luckily it was a short day for me to Islares so I fully enjoyed my meander in the grey and cool of the day. So great to see the sea again! Arrived at a rather dull hostel but made my way to the local restaurant for a much better than expected dinner! Came home to everyone desperately trying to dry their clothes indoors so it smells of wet sweaty socks and soap! Much longer day tomorrow but it’s cool and probably a bit damp tomo so I’m hoping it’ll be easier than walking in the heat!

Posted some stuff home this morning to further lighten the backpack yay! So it was a late start with a lightweight pack....
22/07/2025

Posted some stuff home this morning to further lighten the backpack yay! So it was a late start with a lightweight pack.. I flew along! So great to be back on the coast in the sunshine.. cool wind in the scorching heat and lots of water to cool off along the way.. then the Camino turned inland for a bit and there was a choice.. walk along the coast for 7.9km or walk inland for 12.2km.. I took the coat route, not because it was less of course, but because I love being by the sea!!! It wasn’t a great choice though.. it was along a busy road with only fleeting glimpses of the sea and so much road noise 🙄 servies me right I guess.. though Gorko (basque for George) wasn’t particularly impressed with the inland route either.. I guess the moral of this story is that whichever way you go, there are positives and negatives!! Reasonably nice hostel but Gotgo announced at 3.20pm that if I wanted to eat in the town today I had until 3.30 so off we went for the pilgrim menu. Then I had a lovely conversation with a Spanish lady in French.. turns out English is her third language and she’s better at French so we had a long chat in our best French! Early night as they were all leaving at 5am to avoid the heat…

Bilbao to Portugalete.. along the river to the epic river crossing, then a walk up the hill to the wrong hostel and a wa...
21/07/2025

Bilbao to Portugalete.. along the river to the epic river crossing, then a walk up the hill to the wrong hostel and a walk back down the hill to the right hostel which didn’t open for several hours.. so two ice creams to make up for it and a lovely chat on the phone with some of my special people.. then a weird supper and early night

Bilbao.. I’ve loved being here, didn’t think I would but I’ve really enjoyed the energy of it. There was a band playing ...
20/07/2025

Bilbao.. I’ve loved being here, didn’t think I would but I’ve really enjoyed the energy of it. There was a band playing on a stage in the middle of the river tonight so everyone was out, it was fun. But The Guggenheim blew my sock off.. I LOVED it. Ended up being in there for 4 hours when I thought I’d be done in an hour! Said goodbye to some of the lovely people I’ve been walking on and off with and hanging out with in the evenings as they finish here 😔. Looking forward to moving on tomo and seeing what the next stage brings.. looks like a load of lovely beaches which will be epic if the weather does what it says it’s going to 🥵

I’m gonna stop telling you how hot it is.. every days a scorcher at the mo so assume I’m sweaty and niffy all day every ...
19/07/2025

I’m gonna stop telling you how hot it is.. every days a scorcher at the mo so assume I’m sweaty and niffy all day every day and the hills are often without shade.. it’s hot 🥵 glorious start to the day with the cloud in the valley and then a long meander through the forest, and then a loooong walk along a long road through town. I really wanted to take a bus but Anna the lovely mad Spanish lady has got into my ear and says Trampas, trampas (cheat, cheat) every time I mention a bus 😂 so I kept walking through a horrid industrial estate, over a motorway, past the airport to the top of a tough hill and there was a lovely shady bench to rest on.. i sit down and look up and there’s a working vending machine with cold drinks.. yay! Maybe there is a god?!? Or maybe the Camino provides.. who knows but I was very happy! Bilbao is in a valley so it was a long walk down of course! Hostel found and having only done 24km today, I gamely set off to find the man in the shoe shop who had the new walking shoes I’d ordered.. another 3km 🙄! He was bloody marvellous, took acres of time with me and seemed oblivious to the stench from my shoes and socks bless him! He suggested I wear them around the hostel tonight to be sure they fit ok.. I explained that once I’m in the hostel I will be mostly lying on my bed! New shoes and new socks and the parting of several lots of euros and off to the bar I went! Dinner with the motley group of Camino walkers we seem to have collected and then I kid you not.. 1km of steps to walk back up to the hostel.. not tired at all 🥱 day off tomorrow.. planning to go to the Guggenheim.. will break my 1000km tomorrow 😱

Yesterday I met 2 young northern lads and wondered what had brought them to the Camino.. they were very witty in their a...
18/07/2025

Yesterday I met 2 young northern lads and wondered what had brought them to the Camino.. they were very witty in their answers and then divulged that they had thought it was going to be easy and were finding it anything but 😂 to be fair to them their packs were insanely heavy but still.. this morning I bumped into them again.. on their way to the station to catch a train to Bilbao to drink beer.. they laughed as they told me they’d been defeated by the Camino after only 3 days! One of them said maybe he’d try it again when he was older… most of us on the Camino are reasonably old.. there’s very few under 30’s, I’m guessing most of them are drinking beer in cool cities instead.. 🍻

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