June 11 - Cirauqui to Estella We left Cirauqui at 7am after eating nectarines, walnuts and figs Tanya had bought the night before - my feet are very blistered and it was becoming more and more painful to walk so we decided to only walk to Estella - about 14km. This was another beautiful walk through rolling farmland and vineyards - however the drawback was little shade again - few trees or shelter. Very hot again today. There were many steep climbs and descents on some eroded paths - we now realize there will be few flat stages. This heat takes a real toll. We ran into Anna from Austria and Paul (asked to be called Pablo on the walk as this was his true birth name) from Texas. Pablo had fallen backwards onto his back ... read more

June 9th -Pamplona to Ulterga The walk out of Pamplona on the crowded streets was long, noisy, busy but relatively flat. From Cizur Menor we climbed from 450m to 790m and then back down to Ulterga at 500m - this climbing is taking a toll on almost all our fellow pilgrims' feet and joints - Tanya and I are no exception - we are also in extreme heat / sun with little shade - we are melting all day long. At lease three of our starting group have opted for taxis / buses to skip a few stages to give their feet / joints a rest. The views: fauna, insects and birds are again stunning and never cease to amaze. There are huge amounts of bees collecting nectar from the almond blossoms and other flowering trees ... read more

June 7 Well - another night - no sleep. Tanya and I were in bunks 171 & 172 - the last two on the first floor and as it turns out the ones right beside the women's showers and toilettes. We were excited to see we were with a middle age Dutch couple - very quiet. We were even more excited to see Angus was on another floor and Damian was at the opposite end of the floor. We fell asleep right away - it was short lived. The sound of flip flops sclerching on the stoned floor started around 11pm - followed by the closing of the door and flushing of the toilettes - with 172 people -1/2 women -it was like a non stop toilette symphony. At about 4:30 am the keeners started to ... read more

We woke up at 7 am and took turns in our private washroom - did I mention to you how great this is... We repacked for the first stage treck - we both dumped a few more items attempting to keep our overall back pack weight under 10 per cent of our body weight - why did I lose that weight - Moore stuFf to throw out. Our gracious gite owner made us a great petit dejeuner - coffee, tea, oj, cereal, yogurt, toast and home made peach and apple confiture - we were the only two left at the gite - she gave us an encouraging send off and there you have it - we took our first step on our Camino. We were buoyed by a German woman leaning out her hotel window exclaiming ... read more

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