🌊 Camino del Norte Day 1 | Irún to San Sebastián – Beautiful, Brutal & Worth Every Step

🌊 Camino del Norte Day 1 | Irún to San Sebastián – Beautiful, Brutal & Worth Every Step

[Music] Now let’s ride. We go out to catch the waves. To catch the waves. [Music] Let it carry you. Carry you. Let it carry you. Carry you. A story we will remember forever. Coming with you, baby. Just keep walking though. Don’t look. Good morning. We are just getting started. We’ve already been to the sandwich shop to get our sandwiches and some food for the day. Never really know what’s going to be open and what’s not going to be open. We made sure that place was going to be open. One of the things that blows me away is how many young people are out um all dressed up having fun. Clearly been on the out all night. Those days are way way behind me. Let me show you how we ended up where we are. I have walked 500 miles. I won’t walk 500 miles. I’m Chad. And I’m Sam. And we’re the a nomads and this is the Camino del Norte. [Music] So the goal for today, the objective is San Sebastian, which is supposed to be one of the cutest little towns in all of Spain. So looking forward to seeing it. Hopefully we get in before sunset because we’re starting before sunrise. We’ve got a hell of a day ahead of us. 25k. So it’s not so much the distance that concerns me. It’s the elevation gains in addition to what you can see here on the map. We are actually going to go a different way which is going to take us up and over some some passes. Supposed to have great views. Supposed to be a sunny day. Got the sun coming up over my shoulder going over a bridge. Man, it’s hard to argue with commamino life, honestly. How you doing your first 45 minutes in? I’m doing okay. Sam’s not quite as adapting as quickly, but it’s a little bit easier for me because I’ve got the same pack as last year. Um where she’s still got to get hers dialed in. It usually takes a day or two to kind of get the packs Yeah. dialed in correctly. Anyway, enjoying the sunset and the sunrise. So, we just met our first pilgrims. A better way of putting it is we were just passed by our first pilgrims. Now, I think we should go past them. What do you think? Oh, go ahead. I’m staying here. See, I’m not big into passing people. Oh, go uphill. Yeah. Well, so we’ll pass him on the downhill. In all reality, we uh got held up by a fence and decided to take an alternative route. Little bit of an auspicious start to the first day. We’re going to try and make our own way up and around and see how that goes. But there are four yellow X’s, which usually means that’s not the right way. Hopefully, we don’t run into another fence. I’ll tell you what, I don’t know what the real Camino is, but that alternative route was incredible. kind of hilly up and down through some absolutely beautiful country. Had sweeping views of of the sunrise, not the sunset. Just a really nice way to start the morning so far. I’m thrilled. Sam’s getting there. I’m getting better. Getting better. Getting her pack worked out. Yeah, [Music] it’s been a nice breezy morning. We got some more pilgrims coming up behind Sam. As we keep going, realize that we are just by a cool little cattle house. Man, those cows have got a nice Look at that house they get to live in. Big old bulls. You want to go feed them? Yeah. I didn’t think so. That one’s already eyeballing me. I don’t think that one likes me. Boy, all the way. Huh? He just not going to let me go. Yikes. because we got more people behind us. But Sam has agreed that we are going to speed up and not let them pass us, right? No, I I like my speed. I am now sure that we will be seeing the sunset. This is the part that sucks. Have to take your shirt all the way out. All insulin up now. Yep. Just put some spinach in there and then you can really go. Okay, let’s go. Promise you this is a whole lot steeper than it looks on camera. Holy cow. This is just up and up and up. All right, let’s go up. It’s been a very long uphill hike, but moments like this truly make it all worthwhile. So, baby, what’d you think of that climb? I think I’m going to have grass stains on my butt. Lost more from the sitting. You didn’t fall or anything. That’s why I have to sit cuz of how hard the climb was. One of the things that I would take away from the last two commaminos um I really want to try and do this year is to slow down. I’ve got a real thing to push push push push push push and go. Always in a rush. Always. So to be taking a moment and just sitting here and enjoying this incredible view and being proud of that accomplishment that we just did. I mean that was that’s a climb. That was up there with the Pyrenees. It was definitely steeper than the Pyrenees. Not long. Not nearly as long. Super steep. Grabbing some water. Um maybe enjoying a Npalitano that we got. Maybe not. Who knows? But just enjoying the view and actually taking a minute. Got the ocean with the wild deer. Deer. Jesus Christ. Probably a horse. Horses. And just looking out at I don’t know. Finland. Not that we can see it. H. We have not gone very far today. So I don’t want to look at my watch. I’m only at about 10,000 steps. We’ve probably gone four or five miles, so we still have at least twice that left. But this morning’s already been better than the majority of the Portuguese. Yeah. I mean, this has been one of the best few hours I’ve ever had on a canoe. So, hopefully it’s some indication of the way to go. And even happy little accidents with the uh the fence being closed and blocking our way. I don’t know what we missed, but I know what we saw. I don’t care what we missed. That was just beautiful. So, [Music] you know what this tower is? No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me. I am. Oh, if you don’t want to hear this segment of it, you can skip to this part. So this tower here is actually part of the Heisekabel network of towers. It was built by the Bass country during the Carlyus war. The idea wasn’t as a defensive structure. It was more to signal between towers to let them know that the uh incoming military was coming. Uh during the day they would use the flag system could see each other from tower to tower. But at night they would light flames or or even in rare occasions use cannon to signal to each other that the the military was moving. There’s actually six towers that are all lined up on the Heisekabel Ridge which is actually what we’re hiking right now isabel ridge which allows you to see down on either side. This is actually tower 5. You can also see some arches that were from the original fort that was up there. This was the Basque army. So Heisekabel is actually a Basque word, not a Spanish word. They were really put out of commission pretty quickly after built. They were around from 1872 to 1876 is when they were built. And by the late 19th century, they were pretty much gone. So does this section remind you of anything? Yes, this reminds me of the Pyrenees a little bit on the Frances Route, except you have the beautiful ocean there. Got the ocean. We’ve got really good weather. Like, it’s supposed to be 80s. There’s no way it’s in the 80s. Nice breeze. All day long there’s been a breeze. But Sam’s right. We got the the trail like the Pyrenees. Very, very similar. We got sheep up here to our right, but it gets even upgraded because we’re looking off the ocean the whole time to our right. But much like the Pyrenees, there are segments that are kicking our ass. So, and Sam’s got some shoes that she is not a fan of. We’ll talk about these later and why. But hey, I think got the backpack figured out. Yeah, finally. The day continues to be really, really nice so far. We’ve had overcast all day long. Does look like maybe some rain clouds, but we only have about 12 mi to go. So hopefully it won’t rain by then. But Sam did just look ahead and was not very happy about yet another climb. Everest. Everest. I guess we’re at base camp. I wasn’t aware. It has definitely been a very very hilly day, but god the the views and the scenery have made up for every inch of it in my opinion. I just wish we were a day or two in to have a little bit more of commamino legs, but more so Sam could have her gear worked out between her shoes. I think we’ve got the poles worked out. We got the backpack worked out. Got to get the shoes figured out. [Music] The walk up continues to be incredible. We’re up to the top of this next hill that Sam wasn’t happy about as she called Everest. She’s taking a little breather right now, rightfully so. You can actually see behind us here, as well as another little town. And then across this river, you can see France. I believe this bridge right here is the Ponte Santiago. Could be wrong, but that was the bridge that we were on yesterday that separated Spain from France. Finally get on a little bit of a downhill. Can get going. Get make up some time because of how slow we’ve been going. And poor Sam, her blood sugars crashed at a time that it’s just too dangerous to keep walking through all this. So, taking a little chill break, enjoying the hard rock that she gets to sit on. And at least we got some views and great weather. Every year on the Camino, Sam falls. It’s kind of a tradition she has. I don’t know why she enjoys it so much, but this year she already told me I should take the camera out now because this is kind of the area she falls in. So, let’s wait and watch. And we’ll give her like 30 seconds. And if she doesn’t fall, I’ll just push her. In all fairness, she usually falls the second I turn the camera off. Be really funny if I fell, right? Oh, my knee just popped. [Music] All right, we are finally here at our first stop. That was a full 16k. I don’t think we’ve ever done 16k with without a stop, without anything. Yeah, my watch says 27,300 steps. We’re not done yet. Well, first of our food here. We got bettes behari, a whole bunch of water. This is already like my already drink two of these glasses and a little itty bitty beer because he’s at the wall. Well, beer. So, we have two options ahead of us. Let me give you the two options. I guess we’re supposed to take a little ferry right across the water next. This town is adorable. We came in. There’s like a there’s a little boatyard that we saw when we were up on the hill. Kids jumping in the water and swimming around. Nice to see kids playing outside. My understanding is we take a ferry across the way. Okay, we get the ferry. and go right. And it’s about 7 km. And we got to hike up and around way up another one of these hills, cliffs, whatever to the lighthouse and then back down to our place. Or we can just take the road and nice direct route and save about an hour and a half. Which way do you want to go? Lighthouse for sure. All right. Nobody wants to walk on a road. That’s boring. All right. How was the meal? It was pretty good. Any portion of you wish we were just spending the night here? A little bit. But once you have a little bit of a beer and drink, you just sit and you’re just like done. But once we start getting going again, we’ll be fine. It’s a cool little spot, too. We’ve got a two Australian couples next to us who we spent a little time talking to. Uh really, really nice people. We got to watch a couple kids catch a fish. kind of funny with the fish flopping around up there and the kids clearly had no idea would do with it. I’m pretty sure first fish that kids ever caught. He was scared to touch it. Definitely scared to touch it. You change your mind about going to the lighthouse at all? Good answer. I’m glad to go see it. I know one of our regrets has always been skipping things because we were too tired and so we’re not going to do that today. So, like I said, two of the missions for this this season is see more, like to go off and visit things even if we’re tired. And then, ironically, at the same time, it’s to do things a little slower, like taking the rest on the hill today and enjoying those views and looking at some of these towers. Going to have to tell you about the lady we caught peeing behind the tower, too. That was that was a little bit funny. We’ll we’ll save that for later. Also, keep in mind, stay till the end of our videos. We’re going to give you a fully full daily budget of what we spend every single day at the end of every video. So, you’ll know how far we walked, how many steps you we were at, as well as what our total cost was broken down by accommodations, food, alcohol, and and other stuff to figure it out. We’re going to have to resupply and continue our journey and figure out where we catch this ferry that I guess we’re supposed to. I’m guessing it’s really close. It’s got to be close. We’re right on the water. [Music] Any [Music] of you guys that might have been questioning that boat ride that we just took, it is absolutely part of the commino. We met another couple that had already done the Frances and they agreed that this has been harder. But luckily, the only thing we need to do to get up there is to go up these stairs all the way up to the lighthouse. We have no idea how far it is. So Sam’s going to walk up there, send me a text of a picture, and then come back down and meet me. That’s not the lighthouse right there. Right. There’s a lighthouse right there. Sam’s got it. That’s correct. We’re good. [Music] Holy [Music] Made it up here without a heart attack. That’s a definite win, but all the water that I drink is completely gone. The views are good, but I haven’t seen Sam in a few minutes. I’m hoping that she’s not too far behind. Really don’t want to have to go back down there and get her, but I know Sam, she’s a trooper. She’ll get up here. Friend slipping you off. I know. Holy crap. Is that fun? Oh no. freaking sweating. Yeah, we’re both dripping pretty good, but boy, you killed that, sweetheart. Amazing. So, over here is the silver lighthouse. The walk up was worth it just because it was a really cool experience, even though I’m still sweating like crazy. Um, and that was much harder than the Masalon Lighthouse. Um, but that’s also a very cool walk as well. Yay. over there. I see step 330. They lied. There’s more. I was supposed to be done right at 3:30. [Music] The Via de Plat was built in No, no, Chad. No more history. Right. We just got our first view of San Sebastian. So happy to be getting there. Although it’s been a great day. We’re both absolutely exhausted. And Sam’s knee’s really bothering her on the downhills. And of course, it’s downhill all the way there at this point. Only 2K to go, so it won’t take very long. She did have a knee brace, so hopefully that’s a bit of a lifesaver. Can’t wait to get there. I’ve got an Aquarius calling me. So, we’re here in beautiful San Sebastian. We’re finally showered, clean, ready to go. Feeling nice, feeling way better than we have a lot of the day, but we are definitely exhausted. Uh, the walk into San Sebastian visually was great. We came in, came up over the bluff, was able to see the the town. We were to go by um a beach and they were playing volleyball and stuff which was really really cool to see. You had some issues with your knee. What was going on there? Oh, it was just a lot of downhill. I think I took it a little too fast at first. Um but just out of nowhere I was like, “Ooh, that hurt and it just hurt the rest of the time.” Um going up is fine. Flat is pretty much fine, but going downhill is killing me. So luckily I brought a brace this time and I just put that on and it helped. But when it came to stairs, I had to walk down sideways one at a time. But I made it. It’s okay. Where would today rank on your commamino days? Taking away your knee pain. Just the actual walk itself. Definitely up there, minus that pain. It was awesome. It was beautiful. I mean, perfect weather, like you said, and challenging. Yeah, I would argue that this walk-wise, beautywise was probably the prettiest day. Full complete day. We had portions last year of the enchanted. Oh, that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The spiritual route. Thank you. So, we had one day on the spiritual route. That was really, really incredible. I’ll always remember that. Um I’ll always remember the first day on the Frances, the first two days of the Frances. I’ll always remember those as top days. But today, I will say, was probably my favorite visually full day. And I would say this is the hardest day we’ve ever had in this community. It’s the hardest. But thank God the weather was nice. I know it’s going to sound weird. Our steps aren’t crazy. We’ve had a lot higher days. I’m at a little over 41,000 steps. Sam’s at almost 43. Yeah. Thousand steps. So, we definitely got our our mileage in, but we’ve done 40k days and we were only at 25k today. So, it’s not like it was a huge day that way, but it was I don’t know if we ever got a mile of plat. No, it was up, down, up, down, down, a lot of up. And it’s We started at sea level, we ended at sea level, but Sam, it seemed like there was more uphill. Yes, definitely. Which makes absolutely no sense. I understand. But we would The Delort, the first day of it’s been incredible. Now, we’re going to have a few days of rain. and we’ll see what that’s like. Uh, never really had to deal with that much. We’re going to give you a quick recap of the walk here, kind of the length and what we did. At the end of that, we’ll give you a full breakdown on all of our expenses for the day. I will say today is a way more expensive day than normal. Basically, cuz the towns we were in, these are very, very touristy towns. Accommodations were expensive. Um, and of course, the restaurants were expensive. So, just something to keep in mind. This is going to be well above our our average rice. This better be well above our average. [Music] We’re talking about just how beautiful it was and we never we did not expect it to be that pretty, that gorgeous. Watching videos from other people and and seeing photographs and stuff, we’re like, “Wow, that’s really pretty. Wow, it’s really amazing.” But once you’re there, it’s like, “Holy moly.” Like, you can’t you we can’t explain it or show it the beauty itself. like in person, you have to really it be in person to appreciate it really. And even the ups and downs, like we show you videos, pictures, things like that, and you really don’t quite see how elevated it can be. There’s no way to see how steep these things are both up and down, what we’re climbing over. Even if we make a 20, 30 minute video, it was a 10 and 1 half hour day today. Like a 30-minute video just gives you. So, if you’re thinking about it, come do it. If you think it’s going to be great, it’s going to be better than you think. If you think it’s going to be terrible, it’s going to be way worse than you think, most likely. So, we we enjoyed the town today. Yeah. We wish wish the commamino on anybody that wants to do it out there. Wayne Camino [Music] [Music]

🌊 Camino del Norte Day 1 – On September 7, we began our third Camino de Santiago adventure in Irún, walking along Spain’s rugged Basque coastline toward San Sebastián (Donostia). After more than 1,500 km across the Francés and Portuguese routes, this first stage of the Camino del Norte was as beautiful as it was brutal — steep climbs, wild ocean views, and that incredible feeling of being back on the Camino. 💛

👣 Join us as we tackle our first challenge on the Camino del Norte, following the yellow arrows once again, meeting fellow pilgrims, and soaking in every moment of this unforgettable journey through northern Spain.

📍 Route: Irún → San Sebastián
📅 Date: September 7, 2025
🥾 Distance: ~25 km
🏔️ Highlights: Hard climbs, epic coastal views, Basque villages, and that first glass of wine at the finish 🍷

💬 Tell us in the comments: have you walked the Camino de Santiago? Which route did you take — Francés, Portugués, Primitivo, or del Norte?

🎥 Watch our full Camino del Norte series here 👉 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5l4kbz-sReNDrCq240Pi9WMkOOgYnqTV&si=oZM40HMG2bR5aSBM

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