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Stage 4 · Camino del Norte
Deba → Markina-Xemein
Before you set off
No water, no food
Between Markina-Xemein and Markina-Xemein. — Leave with 1.7 litres of water.
Through the hills, Olatz to Markina
The stage people remember best from the Basque coast, and not because of the sea: 24.3 kilometres with 900 metres of ascent and 870 of descent, moderate difficulty, all of it inland. You leave Deba across the estuary and a long climb begins almost at once, on a track between farmsteads, with no let-up, up to the hamlet of Olatz, a handful of houses with a chapel in a closed valley.
From Olatz the path keeps climbing through woodland and pasture to the pass of Arnoate, already in Bizkaia, and then alternates concrete farm tracks, muddy paths through pine woods and the odd stretch of road with hardly a car on it. There are no villages all day: it is hill country, loose cattle and the occasional isolated farmhouse. In the rain the woodland sections turn to mud.
The descent to Markina-Xemein is long and gentle, on track, and comes into the town through the Xemein district, beside the hermitage of San Miguel de Arretxinaga with its altar between three enormous boulders. Markina-Xemein has services, a pelota court and is a good place to rest.
Tips
Leave Deba early and after breakfast: the climb starts in the first kilometre and lasts for hours.
Hill shoes rather than road trainers: there is mud, rock and wet concrete track.
In Markina-Xemein get your arrival stamp and buy supper in good time; the shops close at midday.
If a storm is on the way, check the forecast before heading into the hills, because there is nowhere to shelter.
There are no reliable services between Deba and Markina-Xemein all day: carry water for the whole day and food for the road.
Where am I?
Your phone says where you are; the guide tells you how far is left and where the next water is.
Create the free account It is free and forever. An account is needed for the guide to place you. I already have an account
Your position is used to answer you and is not stored anywhere.
Walk with me
It crosses where you are with the time, the daylight left, the water, the beds and the notice board. Three things at most: the ones that actually change your afternoon.
Create the free account It is free and forever. An account is needed for the guide to place you. I already have an account
It checks GPS every 6 min while you keep it open. GPS drains the battery: if yours is low, switch it off.
Your position is used to answer you and is not stored anywhere.
Profile and services
The elevation for this stage has not been loaded yet.
The weather
16°C
Cloudy
- Feels like
- 17 °C
- Wind
- 8 km/h
- Daylight
- 08:20 – 19:30
- Today ⛅ 21° 16°
- Wed ⛅ 25° 15°
- Thu 🌦️ 24° 19°
- Fri 🌧️ 19° 17° 24 %
- Sat 🌧️ 17° 14° 65 %
- Sun 🌦️ 14° 9° 38 %
- Mon 🌦️ 14° 7° 16 %
Data from Open-Meteo, refreshed every half hour.
What's there today
Nobody has reported anything on this stage.
Tips from people who walked it
The things that do not expire: where the fountain actually is, which bar opens at six, where not to go in the rain.
None here yet. If you have just walked this stage, you know something tomorrow’s pilgrim does not.
Emergencies
Call 112112 is the same number in Spain, in Portugal and across the European Union. It works with no credit, with no SIM, and over any operator's network, not just yours.
Say where you are I am walking the Camino del Norte, on the stage from Deba to Markina-Xemein.
- Amaia Zalduegi Etxaniz Pharmacy km 0,0 +34 943 191 055
- Hiart Burgoa Zuazo Pharmacy km 0,3 +34 943 191 812
- Miren Zamakola Alberdi Pharmacy km 23,6 +34 946 166 142
- Elena Arteche Aranzamendi Pharmacy km 23,8 +34 946 167 717
The map
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What to see on this stage 8
- Santa Maria Church km 0,0
- Kalbaixo ermita Church km 4,0
- San Isidro Eliza Church km 7,8
- San Joakim eta Santa Ana ermita Church km 22,9
- Arretxinagako San Migel ermita Church km 23,3
- Karmengo eliza eta komentua Church km 23,8
- Mertzedeko eliza eta komentua Church km 23,8
- Santa Kurutz ermita edo Elizatxiki Church km 23,8