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Published: September 15th 2009
I´m not really sure what day this is or how many days I´ve been on the Camino, but I´ll try to get it all in here since I started. It has been amazing in many ways!
Camino Day 1
Ken and I joined together in St. Jean Pied de Port and started out a little later than everyone else. We headed down to the post office to see if we could send stuff ahead as my pack was very heavy. Ken needed to send some post cards. It turned out that it would have been very expensive to send from there, so I carried everything.
After the post office, we headed out of town and started the journey. We walked along a country road and went up and up and up. It was a very steep climb but the view was spectacular! As we climbed, we saw beautiful fields, farms, cows, sheep and as you looked back you could see the towns we were leaving behind. I have to say Thank you to Suzie for the walking sticks! I have thanked you many times the past few days! They are life savers! Anyway, we walked along, all the while picking superb blackberries that grew along the side of the road, until at one point, we came across a small road that went off to the side. It was more of a grassy path, but you could see that maybe trucks took it once in a while. We took that road (followed an older man who took it) and things just got steeper, but it was nice and soft to walk on. We also had to avoid the sheep manure as we walked. At another point, we saw a path going straight up so Ken decided we should take it. It brought us thru brambles and I got my arm scratched up, but it led us to the initial paved road that we had started out on. We figured out later that by taking those 2 short cuts, we saved about an hour to get to the first stopping point.
Orissons was our first rest stop after an 8km, very steep, uphill climb. A nice country Auxberges that sleeps about 30 or so people. When we got in, there were already 2 women in my room which slept 6. They were both from Canada - Paulette from Victoria and Anne Marie from Kelowna. After I got settled in, luckily, I got a bottom bunk, took a shower and washed and hung my clothes out on the line, I went out front to the deck that was across the street. The view from there was incredible. Again, I wish I could post some pics from this pc, but can´t. We were above the clouds which kept moving, so we could see below as well. It was truly breathtaking. I got myself a cafe con letche and a piece of Basque cake, which was delicious, and sat down and talked with a few different people...a Korean couple, Agnetta from Sweden, Bria from Germany. After that, I went back to my room just as more people were arriving to stay in the room. These were 3 travel companions from Germany, Eberhardt, his wife and her friend. Only Eberhardt spoke English. He is quite a charachter as well. He talks quite a bit and when he talks he gets very excited and the more excited he gets, the closer to you he gets...the closer to you he gets, the more he hits your arm as he talks...and he stinks really badly! ha ha ha...Eberhardt is a very big man as well and he ended up in the bunk above me! I was a little concerned when I saw him trying to get up there so I offered mine but he refused.
Once it was time for supper, everyone gets the same at this place, we all went in and sat at 2 very long tables. I think there were about 50 people there! It turned out to be like a big party. Everyone was chatting. I ended up sitting across from 2 lovely sisters from Britain, Eve and Jo. They were with their other sister, Rose, who lives in Ireland. Agnetta and Bria were beside me and had a good chat with them as well. It´s quite interesting listening to all the different languages that were being spoken around the table. Dinner was good and at the end, everyone stood up by turn and told their name, where they were from, where they started the Camino and where they would finish. Some people start in France, Geneva, Rome...
Anyway, we drank a bit too much wine and went to bed to get up early to continue on in the morning.
Day 2...the way to Roncesvalles
This day was, I think, the most beautiful so far. We were still climbing the Pyrennes most of the day. As we walked along, we saw mists covering the valleys below. There were all kinds of sheep and horses grazing in the fields. As we walked, I was blissfully listening to the sounds of the bells that were on the sheep as well as on the horses...for some reason, it was very comforting to me.
At one point, this sheep farmer and his dog were herding a flock of sheep down the road. The farmer was at the front, leading and the dog was at the back trailing. As they past us, the farmer noticed some sheep that were not his grazing on the hillside right beside the road and yelled a couple of words to the dog. The dog quickly ran up to the other sheep, herded them out of the way so as not to get mixed up with his, and then quickly ran back down to the tail end of his sheep again. It was quite extraordinary to watch.
We would stop every 2 hours to take off the back packs and our shoes, air out our feet and have a snack. We were constantly passing the same people or they would pass us as we rested. We got to know a few of them on the way as we would walk together and chat as we walked. A lot of good comeraderie. Of course all the same questions...where are you from? where did you start? where will you finish? How long do you have? And many, many different answers!
So we walked up and up and up along the road. The ¨Way¨ finally led off the road to a path, still going up. Ken kept telling me how high we were or how much we had climbed since the last time, but it really didn´t mean much to me. I just kept taking in the view, breathing the fresh air and feeling the pure bliss I was in! This was it! I was doing it!! On the Camino!! I kept feeling like I should be pinching myself. At one point, we stopped at a cropping of rocks that had a statue of the virgin Mary at the top. It was yet another beautiful view. Then at one point, we peaked the mountain we were climbing and started going down. It wasn´t very steep on the way down, but it was a constant as we passed by a very large birch tree grove on one side and the mountain on the other. We went over the border from France into Spain here...there really wasn´t anything spectacular to mark the border, just a stone that said Navarra on it.
Today was an 18 km day. Even tho it was uphill and down hill, it really didn´t seem that straining. Maybe the view and/or the air, I don´t know, but I was not out of breath at all or feeling strained in any way...until...We got to a point on the path where you could take a less steep route that went along the road or a very steep path that led thru the woods. Ken and I opted for the steep path thru the woods...omg! Going down is much harder on the body then going up! Plus the path was very rocky and gravel so very slippery. We had to take it slow and steady. It also started to get dusty. But it was still very nice.
As we were going thru a very medieval looking part of the forest, we came across a bunch of people with horses. They were all dressed up as in medieval time and they were sword fighting! They were actually filming some sort of medieval movie or documentary. We stopped and watched for a bit and took pictures of course. It was a cool, unexpected event in the forest. ha ha!
We kept going thru the forest and finally got to Roncesvalles...our next destination to stay. The Alburgue there only opens at 4 and we arrived at about 3ish so had to wait around in line with a lot of other pilgrims until they opened. While we waited, we found out that we could book a pilgrims dinner at the hotel next door, which we did. It was also the place that we had to pick up our bags that we had sent ahead from Orissons. 3 of us had pooled our heaviest stuff into one bag and sent it ahead for 8€. It made quite a difference to the day.
When the albergue let us in, we got into one huge room which had 120 beds in it!! They were all bunk beds. The place only had 2 showers and 4 toilets on the women´s side so needless to say, there were a lot of people waiting for showers at the beginning. You could also wash your clothes and hang them on a line outside or on the fence to the farmers yard. Luckily someone had told me to bring clothes pins with me!
We went for dinner and ended up sitting with the 3 English sisters, Rose, Eve and Jo. Had a nice dinner of pasta with tomato sauce, fish and chips - the fish was a whole fish that you had to take the bones out of. Then a tub of yogurt for desert. And of course, bread and wine are always served with the meals. After dinner, they went to mass and I went for a shower and bed. Fell asleep instantly but woke up at around 1am and stayed awake.
Day 3 - to Larasoanña ...28km
This day was a very long, hot day, going downhill all the way. Many parts of it were thru woods, towns and villages. When in the woods the paths were very rocky, gravelly and dangerous. I ended up getting a shin splint which just got worse and worse as we went along. But we would stop, air out our feet, have a bite to eat. I drank a lot of water all the time too. But we sweated so much, I hardly had to pee. Again, it was very hot, dry and dusty. All along tho, there were berry bushes that we would pick berries from. They were either black berries or black raspberries...not sure, but delicious!
At one point, after about 20 or so km, we got to a town called Zubiri. It would have been nice to stop there, but everything was full so we had to go on another 8km to Larasoanña. That was the hardes 8km ever! Soooo long and we kept thinking that we were close, but weren´t. A lot of the path was the same as before, rocky, up and down hills and a bit dangerous if you weren´t careful. By this time, I was so tired and hot and sore, I couldn´t wait until we arrived in the town, but it just seemed to get farther away! ha ha!
We finally arrived and got a room in the municipal pencione. Not very nice, but basic and clean. They had to open another part of the pencione for us but the shower didn´t work in that part, so had to go out the front door and in another front door to get to the showers, laundry and internet. We shared a room with a mother and daughter from some country that we coudn´t understand their language at all.
After we got cleaned up, we hobbled over to this place called Elita´s. It was a confectionary, with a long picnic table inside beside the store, where Elita fed us and about 10 others. At the beginning of the meal, she was very cross, but by the end, we had her laughing and hugging! It was a great crowd all around but the special thing was the couple who we sat across from. Christina and Nicolas from Greece. It turns out that they are Reiki Masters too. Their favourite yoga is Kundalini and they are into all the same stuff that I am. It was a fantastic conversation that night! It turns out that they want me to come to Greece to teach the Munay Ki to a bunch. Hopefully, it will work out! That night, I think I slept very well...after a lot of pain killer wine.
Day 4...To Pamplona...about 15km.
Again, downhill all the way!! By this time, my shin splint was getting worse and worse. I could hardly walk by the time we reached about 10 kms. We got to a suburb of Pamplona and I just couldn´t go any further! So we took a taxi the last 3 kms to an Albergue run by the Germans. A very nice place that had a little patio outside that had a grapevine ceiling. The rooms were impeccable, but NO internet...ugh! I was in a room with 4 bunk beds and a mattress on the floor. I ended up convellescing for the rest of the day, while Ken went and got us some food and wine to have for dinner. We had a very nice time chatting with other pilgrims (the 3 British sisters included). Had a good sleep that night too, although I was in quite a bit of pain.
Day 5....Pamplona...
I just could not go anywhere today, I was in so much pain. My leg was very red and has a large bump in my shin and it´s very hot. I got up and walked into the city center to try to find a doctor. I found a medical center but they were going to charge me 65€ to see the doctor. They couldn´t speak English at all and tried to explain to me that I had to go around the corner and pay at the bank before they would see me. So I left and texted Maureen and asked her to look on the internet to find out what the treatment was. In the mean time, I went and got a good support for my leg and some ibuprofin from the farmacia. Hobbled back to the alburgue and just stayed there the rest of the day. Poor Ken had to stay in town too because our bags that we had sent ahead hadn´t arrived from the day before. They allowed me to stay another nigth because I was injured but they wouldn´t keep Ken so he had to pack up his stuff and move to the Municpal Albergue.
There was another guy at the German Albergue that had the same problem as me, so we just hung out together outside in the gravevine covered patio and read, wrote and chatted. Ken ran around finding out all kinds of things, one of which was the location of the post office. He got us a couple of boxed to send stuff ahead all the way to Santiago finally!! This had been a real pain to keep sending stuff ahead as well as it was costing us 7 or 8€ a day...at least we would put our stuff together so we could split the cost. It was just the stuff we didn´t need and that was very heavy. We still had most of our back packs to carry every day. So by the end of the day, we had packed up some stuff, walked up to the Post office and sent it.
Then came back to the Albergue to find Eberhardt sitting having his dinner. We joined him and had a great time listening to him...lol. But I did find out that his son has an organic farm in NZ, which they hire people to work and they let them stay for free and feed them while they´re working! Something to look into while I´m there. It´s called Woofing.
Day 6...
Took a taxi thru Pamplona then walked very, very slowly about 5km to a place called Cizur Manor. This is where I am now. I will stay here today and then try to walk to the next albergue tomorrow which is 12 km. The Camino is telling me to slow down, so I am listening. Ken has gone ahead so I am on my own now. Meeting new people will be the recipe for the day...and healing of course!
There is so much more I want to say, but have 2 min left on my time and out of Euros!
Buen Camino...much love to everyone!! Please send healing energy! And email telling me your news...I miss you all!
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Christine
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Healing energy and BIG hugs...
Hi Dear Jackie, I love your updates and hope you're ok. I just wanted to let you know that I will be sending you healing energy every day on your journey! xoxo Love, Christine