Day 20 - Orio to Bakio (111kms)

It was a little hard to pack up and leave the creature comforts of the Orio Kanpina today.  Staying put for a few nights was a pleasure I think we’ll be ill able to afford for the rest of the trip if we want to cover the ground we were planning to.  We said our goodbyes to Bob and Nancy - who became a welcoming sight at the campground each day.  They suggested that we drive the coastal route west, as it is very picturesque, and (as we had already decided from reading about it) give Bibao a miss unless you really what to take the time to look at the Guggenheim museum.  The other tip they gave us was to go and see a church high on an islet, connected to the mainland by a manmade rock arched bridge/walkway.  So with suggestions in hand, we ever so delicately manoeuvred the camper van out of our campsite and then down the extremely narrow street and out of the campground.

The coastal drive was really pretty and hugged the coast most of the way, making it slow going, but very pretty to look at.  There were many towns dotted all along the coast like Zarautz.  People seem to only live in medium to moderate high rise housing, not quaint little stand alone housing, like we came to expect in the rural areas of France.  That is, all except for the commercial buildings - restaurants and shops etc.  We had many a viewpoint, and Mendexa (photographed here) was typical of the coastal towns we passed through.

“Eventually” - and I say eventually because the coastal route was proving to be very very slow going in the camper van, we reached Lekeito where we stopped for lunch and a supermarket shop.  Yet again, having to park the camper van a long way from anywhere, we walked passed a park which housed a “zoo” on the way back to the supermarket.  When we went in, it was really only half a dozen bird cages with birds from around the world.  There was even a cage with Australia birds, which made us feel a little home sick for the first time.

With the camper van restocked with food, and baguettes in hand, we decided to leave the coast for a while as the day was getting away from us.  However it wasn’t long before Google Maps had us back on the coastal road and we didn’t get to the islet of Gaztelugatxeko Doniene or San Juan de Gaztelugatxe in Spanish, until about 5:30pm.   With the sun getting low in the sky and the fog that had been descending on us in the late afternoon, we still decided to do the walk out to the church.  At the top of the steps descending to the islet we passed the admission booth and (although free to enter), we were reminded that we should have booked to enter.  We thought this was a little odd, but maybe it gets extremely busy and we were just not seeing it.  Having said that though, it did take was about 15 minutes of looping around the roads above trying to find a parking spot big enough for the campervan.  We only lucked one in the end as another camper van was leaving.

We descended the path and steps from the entrance and it was very steep.  You can see from the first photos how high up we were on the mainland, and the path descends to just above water level, before it crosses the bridge to climb to the church.  This path/bridge has been made famous in recent times from featuring in the Game of Thrones tv series.  And I say path/bridge, as the church itself and just about everything else around it has been CGI’ed out in the scene where Danaerys arrives at Dragonstone - in series 7 for all you GoT fans.

The walk, while reasonably taxing was just gorgeous, and I feel was made more pretty by the time of day and moody weather.  It really felt medieval or even mythical (like GoT) to cross the water and climb the path of the church.  The church itself was locked up, but Madi discovering that you could see inside using a camera despite the darkness, and it looked fairly simple and understated.  Despite it being a church now, it was referred to in history as a castle and first mentioned in 1053.  

The walk was really the drawcard, but the church being locked up didn’t stop us all from tolling the church bell 3 times, as pilgrims in the day did to announce their arrival.  The following text is from a sign introducing Gaztelugatxe, and if you want to see a video click here.

Gaztelugatxe is a magical place.  It is a natural islet modelled by the fight between the sea and land, forming an arch and a cave carved out over the centuries.  Under the sea, there are colourful reefs that form part of a protected biotrope and an image of the Virgin Mary.

It is a castle on the rocks, the meaning of the name in the Basque language.  Over the years it has been used as a fortress in many battles such as resistance against the crown of Castile or to fight off pirate attacks.  In addition, since the middle ages, it has been a reference point for customs and religious beliefs.  In fact, it is the most popular place of pilgrimage along the Basque coast.  The most important pilgrimage takes place on the 24th of June.  Most people come for a day out, but some take part to keep a promise or to thank the saint for protection.  As a recent custom, people ring the bell three times when they reach the top.

Gaztelugatxe religious rites are tied to the sea.  The hermitage is full of devotional offerings: model boats, paintings and photographs.  They are made by sailors and fishermen to the saint as a sign of thanks for protecting their boats from the dangers of the sea.

When the tuna season begins, fishermen and “neskatilak” come to Gaztelugatxe to ask the saint for good weather, good health and good fishing.  The people of Bermeo bring their boats into these waters to meet their “obligations” to Gaztelugatxe: three turns to port side and three to starboard.  In some cases they toss St John’s wort from the deck, after burning it in a pan.  Even the most up-to-the-minute 21st century tuna fishermen, despite fitting the most innovative technology and passing the strictest checks, still come to Gaztelugatxe to perform the rite before heading to the tropics is search of fish.

There are 241 steps to the top.  Legend has it that the saint only needed three steps to reach the hermitage from Bermeo.  Have you seen the footprints in the rock? [Madi did and put her feet in them]  The first footprint is at St John’s gate, in Bermeo ’s city walls.  It is said that if you put your foot on them both of them, you’ll avoid getting calluses all year.

By the time we descended and then reascended to the camper van, it was almost sunset and time to make camp for the night.  We stayed in the nearby town of Bakio in free camper van parking - well sort of.  Camper vans were suppose to park (as always) at the back of the beach car park in an asphalt and gravel area, also home to the rubbish bins.  Yet when we arrived there were at least a dozen or so campers setup in the nicer beach car park which was a lattice of concrete and grass tiles, despite there being two very clear seperate signs saying no camper vans.  We asked some people and they said they were sleeping here, so we setup too.