Ochandiano to Durango

 9/25/25

Last nights accommodation was pretty rustic to say the least, but seems everyone slept well. Got up early and made breakfast from eggs we bought last night, and left over shredded chicken and beef from last night, all with a healthy dollop of Bravas sauce.

Started walking in a lite rain, till we found a bar open for coffee. The rain subsided somewhat and now we had 1000 ft climb into the mountains, the nights rain had turned the path into a bit of a mess, but with the right boots etc,,,,

As we neared the top, we walked into a low ceiling of fog, which made for an ethereal vibe in all the early morning silence. Loved just walking and clearing my mind.

Over the top and partially down into the small hamlet of Urkiola, a tiny mountain village that’s been there for centuries. The dominant building is the church of Santa Maria,

which is the third church to be erected on this ground, and this was started in the late 1800s, and finished just after World War One.

Leaving this town, we had to walk through the Park of Crosses, and at the end of the main boulevard was a sight to behold

In front of us appeared mountain AXTXIKI, at 800 meters tall ( about 2400 ft). And with the other parts of the mountain range bracketing it, made the climb up to this point so worth it. The mountain is one of the highest peaks of the Biscay Basque Region, and its name means SMALL ROCK.

From here things changed a bit, the climb took 2.5 hours, and the decent showed rather gradual, once agin, don’t be fooled , the path went downhill at a very steep rate, challenging me to the point that after 3 hours of descending, I decided not to risk my knees and take a bus from the next town, from here it was only another 3 miles to end the day in Durango, but I didn’t care

As we continued down the mountain, trying not to slip and fall, we could hear the consistent rhythm of the cow bells in the pastures below, and that was about all that broke the silence, no bird songs as I think they too, didn’t want to be up this high

This was a very old tree.

I finally reached the base of the decent, turned right on the road and found Bill and Patty waiting for us at an outside bar, I flopped down and a had a RADLER, which is a mix of beer and lemon.

This was one of my hardest days of any trail, and everyone did great, I was tail end Charlie by quite a bit, but I wasn’t going to do any damage to my knees.

The views today were worth all the effort by far, now for that bus to Durango.