Travel update and first day before camino starts.

Arrived in Macclesfield at 23:20 on thursday evening. It wasn’t a good idea to have my nails done at 18:00 as the m6 was a nightmare, but a girl has to have some luxury on the camino.

Easyjet flight to Bilbao was a little delayed but a smooth flight indeed and even got in 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Landed to a sunny 32° and caught the shuttle bus for €3 to Bilbao town and then walked 500 yards to the hotel. What we didnt know upon arriving at the hotel, was that there was a bull festival taking place so everything was closed for 2-3 days with only a few bars and cafes open.

Up early doors saturday morning and the plan was to catch the 8:30 bus to oviedo (the starting point) and to have a lovely relaxing day figuring things out. But when we arrived at the bus station we soon found out the likelihood of getting a bus ticket would be rare, as the youngsters looked like they had partied all night and were queuing for buses home. Finally we got a bus ticket for 18:00hrs this evening but the latest our hotel would allow us to check in oviedo was 19:30, so booking.com became our friend as we then rearranged hotels whilst having a coffee and a pastry.

I must say that public transport in Spain so far I am very impressed with. €19.32 it cost for a ticket to oviedo travelling approx 150 miles. I can imagine this type of ticket in the UK costing double!

So with 8 hours to kill, we put the ruck sacks on a walked to the old part of Bilbao. A beautiful city I must say, a very relaxed atmosphere and a mixture or architecture. Temperature today was a toasty 30°.

We also found out where the festival was held and the Spanish certainly looked like they knew how to party and the council for sure knew how to clean up after a party too. I was very impressed with the disinfectant they were spraying and brushing over the floor, but it did make the floor slippy.

As I write this blog we are currently on the bus to oviedo. The temperature as we head west is soon starting to cool to 22° which is nice. Hopefully we wont arrive too late tonight and get a good night sleep in. Apprehensive about starting the camino tomorrow, just not sure what to expect and this is now where the fun starts and me stepping out of my comfort zone. I will update the blog tomorrow and let you know how I am and what I’ve been us too.

Xx