Blogs from Navarre, Spain, Europe - page 22

The first day of the Camino was the most difficult - walking across the Pyrenees from St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles. It was drizzling rain, when Ben, a pilgrim from Los Angeles, and I set out from St. Jean. The initial trek was steep and long and Ben was not acclimated to the altitiude and had trouble catching a breath. My lungs felt fine but I was dreading the downhill into Roncesvalles which has always been hell on my knees. The scenery was amazing! There was a mist that lifted from the valley floor and hung in the air before dematerializing like a ghost. The sounds of cow bells were everywhere. As we gained altitude the rain turned into sleet and soon we were trekking through matted leaves and mud. When we got to ... read more

Leaving Puenta la Reina It must have been a sign of being a peligrino that I had carefully packed up all the stuff that I didn´t want to carry, either because it had served its purpose or because there wasn´t going to be a purpose, and expected the post office to be open - on Easter Sunday. I had deliberately left the albergue later than Wal and Martin, and wandered down to the panaderia to have desayuno, when it suddenly dawned on me that I was going to be carrying that parcel not just to Estella, but also on to Los Arcos. The journey My thoughts over the past few days have been more on the practical side than contemplative, but today the road was good, and I was able to think about more that where ... read more

Early Start Given that I was now about five or so kilometres behind schedule, I decided I would get an early start for Pamplona from Zubiri. That wasn´t as much of a mistake as not stopping at Larrasoana for desayuno. There seemed to be plenty of places along the way that would have something open. Not so. It wasn´t until Arre de Trinidad at nearly 1:30pm that I actually got to have something to eat! Was just a bit peckish. Travelling Companions I will fill in some of the details later, but given the nature of the Camino, I thought that I might tell you about who I met along the way. This might need some revision of previous entries, but I am sure you will cope with that. Today was more interesting because I walked ... read more

Disorientation I know I do it - I think the sun is in the north. Its the natural place for it to be, isn´t it? So I had a rough start to what was going to be a long day and added between four and five kilometres by going north, back into France, instead of South, on to Spain. The climb Route Valcarlos may not appear to have the climb that you get from Route Napoleon, but by the time one has crossed the river and climbed up and down ridges, it must be going close. Soon I began to regret every downward slope, knowing that whatever small elevation change there was would have to be recovered. The route map I had been given the previous evening carefully avoided too much of the detail. The route ... read more

...and I´m singin´my hobblin´song....I´m just hobblin´along... Helllloooo! First I´d like to thank everyone for the healing energy! I felt it all! So, after I wrote the last time, I went for a little walk around the Albergue and found a couple of nice Irish girls, Betty and Linda. Both from Dublin. They were cousins. Betty has done the Camino many times and knows the author of the book that most people carry to do the Camino. She talks non-stop with that famous Irsh accent (eighteen and tirty four). They were a lot of fun. We were joined by a Canadian couple from Thunder Bay, Iris and Rob. Nice too...everyone is on the Camino, it seems. Anyway, we sat around a table outside all night drinking wine and chatting. At one point, this lovely girl from Sweden ... read more