Many months ago, a Good Friend of mine asked a girl he liked a Very Important Question and, happily for all concerned, she gave him The Right Answer.

As a result of that, many other things started to happen, including the issue of an invitation to gather together with Other Good Friends in a distant European location to celebrate the fact that the positive answer to the Very Important Question would now lead to a Very Lovely Day, or as some like to call it, a Wedding.

But before the Very Lovely Day, there would need to be a Very Messy Weekend, where ludicrous amounts of alcohol would need to be consumed in as short a period of time as possible, with the intention of inflicting as much damage on each other’s livers as could be achieved without actually dying in the process.

San Sebastián was the lucky destination for this rite of passage and so I found myself almost entirely reversing the efforts of the last few weeks by returning pretty much to the very beginning of my Camino in under 11 hours under the power of a very pleasant and inexpensive Spanish train.

45 Euros for 700kms in 11 hours.

Imagine that.

To see Spain unfold herself again in front of my eyes at great speed, passing through Ponferrada, León and Burgos and beyond was a very weird experience – like watching a flick book of my memory being played out in reverse at high speed.

San Sebastián rightly has a fine reputation as a jewel of the Basque Country, with a perfect semicircular beach, golden sands and gorgeous weather.

The Good Friends made sure of enjoying everything San Sebastián had to offer, particularly in relation to the Beer, the Cider, the Wine, the Gin and Tonics and the Jagermeisters…

Etiquette demands no further details of what followed are revealed.

As it had been at least 24 hours since I had last been in the proximity of a Spanish church, I engineered a small window of non-drinking time to pay a quick visit to the Cathedral of The Good Shepherd.

How lovely it was.

How a few of The Good Friends might have benefitted from a Shepherd to guide them home on Friday night too.

😎