Castro Urdiales June 01

 There was much e-mailing in bad English (his) and bad Spanish (mine) between el gerente (the manager) of the Apple concern about my refund for Apple Care.  Here is what I can do:  When I am in Santander en un par de días (in a couple of days) I can go to a branch store and get the refund.  The store is at some distance from my hotel. If it is not a nice walk, the taxi fare back and forth will be at least €50, so I have to decide if it is worth it or if I want to spend my time otherwise and just say screw it!  Anyone who wants to offer an opinion, please do so before June 04.

What is with all the road walking on this route!  I swear I do not remember it this way.  I guess I am already nostalgic for the mud and rocks. Back to the matters at hand.  Left the nice hotel in Portugalete at 6:30 and leaned into the uphill.  There is an escalator, but only one section was operating:

Near the end of the route, not the escalator, the highway walking gave way to this lovely boardwalk, whose length took about five minutes to complete:

There was a peek at the water before being turned back inland:

 I almost shrieked with joy at this lovely little passage:

You are walking along a long section of cement by some cliffs.  There are iron gates.  If there is a possibility that you might be hit on the head by falling rocks, you will be confronted by locked gates and this sign, for which you do not need to know Basque to understand:  

I swear, that looks like a pyramid in Egypt:

Note that the highway along which you are walking has no shoulder.  In addition to cars, many motorcycles whiz and roar by as only motorcycles can do.

After 18+ miles of walking, I was in sore need of provisions, and, this being Saturday, I had to be mindful of nothing-available-on-Sunday and lay in extras.  Some of the better shops closed at 2:00, and I was a bit late for that, so I headed off to a trusted Eroski.  My heart sank when I approached and saw that it was a 7/11 type of affair:

 

until I realized that across a large parking lot, the REAL superstore.

Inter alia I bought a pastry with what I thought was a slice of apple inside only it was a slice of ham!