Camino del Norte
11.7 km, 354 m up and 376 m down, through 3 places, 2 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Bolibar. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
At the roundabout at the start of town, follow the road sign to Urua (the only option which crosses the river). This is only to get you off of the main road, which you could just as easily follow to the end of town. The camino passes the Simon Bolivar Museum and arrives at the church where it crosses the main road, and shortly after another smaller road.From here it is back into the countryside. The camino next meets the road in the two building town of Ziortza, if you plan on staying there turn left at the road. The only buildings in town are visible from here.
Where the camino meets the road in Ziortza, it is 50m to your left to the bar or less than 300 to your right to get to the Monastery.
Beyond the monastery the camino turns right and into the forest again.
After crossing the main square in Munitibar, the camino turns left at the church to follow the main road out of town, though only for a short distance. Less than 50m beyond the river it turns left up a side road, climbing up to and beyond the Ermita de Santiago. From the ermita it descends towards Olabe.
There are several points along this stretch of the road where you may see an errant arrow or two pointing in a direction which doesn’t feel like the camino. This is because in years past the camino followed a different route into Gernika. Follow the freshest arrows and the wooden post signs. The official camino passes the Albergue in Olabe, through the forest to the Iglesia de Santo Tómas. Shortly beyond the church is where the old camino kept to the right and downhill to the nearby village. It now turns left and heads uphill to Marmiz. Note: If you turned the wrong way at the church, and ended up back on the road, there is no need to retrace your steps. There are arrows in the next town which will direct you along the old route to Gernika, a blend of countryside and pedestrian walkways.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 323 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 11.5 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.