Portugalete to Ondarra Arena

We took the metro back to Portugalete, and had a delicious toasted croissant and jam recommended by a local lady, before setting off on a newly built cycle path winding over a motorway, where the rain became heavy. As the rain got heavier and heavier, we hid under an overhang in an industrial area before going on into a small town there we bought umbrellas in a small shop that sold everything imaginable. Buying umbrellas worked. because it didn't rain again all day and we soon dried out! From there it was cross country, coming acroos the occasional old village, where in one where we sheltered for lunch, Intxaurdi, we surprisingly came across a bar offering a pilgrim stamp. We reached our destination, the beach at Ondarra Arena, with the usual closed Tourist office, just in time to take the bus back to Bilbao and our AirBnB with a friendly young Spanish guy. On the way we tried to reserve our seats on a TGV for the return journey, as it was now clear when we would be travelling back, but after several discussions with the SNCF help desk, we were put on hold and in the end hung up. It was a bit surreal walking theough the Spanish countryside being on hold with the French railways, but luckily out Mobile phone contract includes unlimited free calls in the EU. We later discovered that we could use the Interrail web site to reserve the section in France, but not Germany where we were headed for a family reunion.