Blogs from Navarre, Spain, Europe - page 14

Route: Zariquiegui - Zirauki Another night of rain. Rain makes me feel nervous. I envision myself walking in the rain all day with everything getting wet. A miserable prospect. Fortunately when I woke up, the rain had stopped. Shortly after leaving the village where I spent the night we had to climb a small but relatively steep hill called "El Viento del Perdón". Under strong winds I went uphill to find that the going was very heavy. The rain had made the clay sticky. It stuck to your boots and getting it off was not easy. The sticking clay at some moments made me 1 to 2 inches taller. Heavy going. Up the hill there are a number of figures cut out of steel, personificating pilgrims. Unfortunately I did not take a photo of them. Further ... read more

Route: Roncesvalles - Aquerreta (or Akerreta in Basque) Starting the day, I am confronted with a sign that put in perspective what I am trying to accomplish: Santiago de Compostela 790 km..... Interesting is to observe how everything here in Basque country is in double language. The Basque language does not sound nor looks like spanish. Under way, fortunately everybody understands Spanish. A long day with very nice weather. I walked 29 km in about 7 hours and am now in the hotel en Akeretta where they filmed "The Way". I did not get the Martin Sheene room, but than again you can not have it all. We are staying here just 2 people: Paul Lynn (an american) and myself. A somewhat hilly territory we passed through today. Although we lowered from about 900 to 600, ... read more

From our apartment we can watch the sun set over the nearby mountains to the West of Pamplona. Wondering what lay beyond, we borrowed the car from work and set out to explore. What a day we had! Within minutes the road begins to meander up and through the mountains. We were soon in awe of our surroundings. The views were truly amazing and, if we needed any further proof that our move to Pamplona was the right one, here it was. Along the way we passed through several tiny villages. Each of them had houses with terracotta roofs and an ornate church. Some seemed to consist of just a handful of dwellings but sure enough, a church was never far away. Somewhere around the settlement of Salinas de Oro (Salty Gold!) we found a viewpoint ... read more

Pamplona looks like it's going to be a wonderful place to live and work. We are very happy and 110% sure that this has been the right decision! We have now moved to a lovely apartment on the Western edge of town. Nearby we have a riverside walk which is marvellous when the sun is shining. Not sure how much longer summer will hang on for but it's been amazing so far!! The riverside walk took us past various bridges, old and new. We saw people rowning and fishing and generally enjoying the fresh air. There wasn't a hint of "hello, where you from, where you go" like we had every time we went for a walk in Vietnam. It was so refreshing. Just the occasional "hola" from passing folk was really nice. We've been exploring ... read more

Sept 8 we travelled 22 kms.Left at 8:30 and arrived 3:30,last 4 kms killed us.The paths were good,through forests,over hills,and through a few little towns.The flowers growing on the side of the paths are amazing and from the looks of the rose hips we missed hundreds of rose bushes. Looking for our hotel we found another one,Hotel Yoldi.The room had everything but would only fit one person,so we had ajoining rooms,needless to say Aiden enjoyed spreading everything out.Interesting city,we had 2 days of watching how people spend their time.We sat at a cafe in this huge square and vans showed up and offloaded and entire orchestra.What an evening!Everyone sits facing the square,watching everyone else.They sip wine,cafe or a cocktail,but nobody eats.Finally about 8:30 food started,and worth the wait.No way we are losing weight. Sept 10,feeling well ... read more