These boots were made for walking...

I knew the Camino scenery was going to be beautiful, yet I am frequently overwhelmed by its loveliness. Today's path consisted of a very steep uphill for about a kilometer or two, then several kilometers of fairly flat terrain through the woods with periodic sweeping views of the huge green valleys on both sides, and then a very long, rocky, somewhat treacherous descent to the town of Zubiri where we are spending the night. Often on the descent the path was scissored with striated rocks that hurt to walk on. Many of the pilgrims are hobbling around the Albergue tonight. I have a small blistere on my right ankle but otherwise feel good. My left foot with the plantar fascitis is getting better not worse.  Thanks for all of your prayers!

The Kindness of Strangers

We began our walk today in a wonderful mood.  The air was crisp and cool and the scenery lush and green. We walked on the path as it went through the countryside to the next town. I thought the yellow arrow was pointing left, so we made a sharp left, walked down the street to the highway and crossed it to continue on the path. We were surprised that there weren't any arrows there to direct us, but continued on regardless. We had probably gone a kilometer when we ran into a man on the path. He didn't speak English but managed to ask us where we were going. Obviously we were pilgrims, and we didn't know we were going the wrong way. He kindly walked with us for about 15 minutes back to the Camino. He pointed us up the very steep hill out of town. He had explained to us that we had been on the cattle road which was an 8 kilometer loop back to the town we had spent the night in. 

The second act of grace for us today occured when we arrived at the Albergue where we had reservations for the night. When we arrived there the owner said that we were supposed to call the day before to confirm the reservation. She had told me that when I had called earlier, but I had totally forgotten. My pack had been delivered there and she helped carry it as she walked us around the block to another Albergue. We got beds in there for the evening, beating most of the other pilgrims straggling in later because they had walked further than us. The whole town was booked for the evening and many pilgrims had to get back on the Camino to go to the next village. I feel like I am being covered by the prayers of so many friends and family. God's grace has been so abundant!

Sweet Songbird

As I was sitting outside at a cafe near our hotel, I heard a lovely voice singing passionately. At first we thought that we were listening to a CD only to realize that the music was coming from a local woman who was sitting in the park nearby. Her voice was joined by another as a Spanish pilgrim accompanied her. Julia went to sit near them and I followed soon after. The Spanish pilgrim translated for us as we conversed with them between songs. Later at dinner the Spanish pilgrim told us that she was from Valencia but had been living in London for 30 years and that she had not sung that entire time. She had such a lovely voice and seemed so joyful to join the local woman in song. We were all blessed in that park by the voice of the Basque woman.

On the Road!

Today began with a mad rush as I hurried to scramble out of bed, walk through the wet grass to the WC trailer to use the toilet and brush teeth, shove all my things willy nilly into my pack, get dressed and rush up the hill to the bar to drop off my pack by 8 am.  Since I hadn't been sleeping well and because I thought others were getting up early, I didn't set an alarm. I heard the guys on the top bunks packing their bags and realized it was 7:35 already. Kind of a stressful beginning!

Julia arrived about 15 minutes later and got coffee for us as I made sure the transport service for my pack was really picking up my pack. Our later start, around 9 am, allowed us to miss the mad rush of pilgrims. We had fun taking photos by the Santiago  790 km sign before starting on the trail. We were giddy and emotional to be finally walking the Camino!

The trail today was lovely the entire way as it wound up and down green hills, through woods and charming towns, and past huge white cows with cowbells. We had the path mostly to ourselves, only occasionaly passing or being passed by other pilgrims. We stopped about 2 miles in for breakfast of empenadas and coffee. The weather was cool and perfect the whole way. The air felt fresh after the rain from the night before. We got to our hotel around 1 pm.  It felt great to shower and then get a bite to eat. I'm relaxing now outside at a local cafe while writing my blog.

I would walk 500 miles...

Yesterday was all about getting to Roncesvalles so that we could finally start our 500 mile walk to Santiago. We took a 3 hour train ride to Pamplona and then met some pilgrims who wanted to share a taxi ride to Roncesvalles instead of waiting 3 hours for a bus. It was a good plan  because we made some new friends and got there in time to get beds. 

We made our way from the road to the enormous old Albergue building which had the pilgrim office and around 400 beds. Unfortunately, there were about 150 pilgrims in line to check in ahead of us. After an hour wait we were assigned to beds in the overflow area down the road. It resembled a cargo container and held 4 tightly packed bunk beds for the 8 of us. Quite cozy! After dropping off my pack, I hurried up for the Pilgrims mass and then dinner at the local bar. Dinner was done around 10 and then we made our way in the dark back down the road and over the stream to our bunks. I slept great after only about 3 hours of sleep since I left home. There was a huge rainstorm with thunder and lightning that pounded   on our tin roof and made us feel blessed to be inside and dry.

All Night Long

Despite managing to stay awake until 8:30 pm, I wasn't able to ward off the jet lag. At 11:30 I was wide awake and finally got up around 1 am. It was a warm evening and we had the door open to our tiny balcony. I squeezed a chair in besides the ac unit and enjoy the view of the lively square below. I had heard that people in Spain keep very late hours and now I can verify that is true.

It was a very entertaining all night vigil. Mothers with toddlers in strollers were still out socializing at 1:30 am. I watched one dynamic unfold in a little park section right below my window. I thought a couple was breaking up but it turns out that she was just really drunk while 3 guy friends tried to comfort and console her. The drama lasted for about 2 hours. Groups of young people crisscrosssed the square as they left one bar or restaurant for the next. Rollerbladers, mopeds, delivery trucks, police, and lots of young folks enjoyed a typical Tuesday night in Madrid. As luck would have it, everything was finally shut by the time we ventured out to find coffee at 6 am. We have now found coffee and are catching up on our journals and blogs before we take the tain to Pamplona. We will finally be on the Camino tonight in Roncesvalles!

Getting there

Seeing the incredibly packed airport terminal made me dread our completely full flight from SFO to Madrid. When I finally made it to my row, I was pleased to see a very nice looking guy sitting in the middle seat between Julia and me. He just looked mildly amused and not put out as I struggled ungainly to stuff my bag under my seat (unsuccessfully since there was a bar blocking all but 6 inches of it) and pull on my knee high length travel compression socks- not an easy feat in the few inches between my seat and the old guy reclined in front of me. After I finally settled down we started to chat. I found out he was from Slovakia and had been here working as a specialty welder for Tesla. Good conversation, bad food and a random selection of movies on the ceiling drop monitors made the 10 and a half hours go quickly.

Frankfurt Airport is massive and industrial feeling. We wandered around for a long time through the gray concrete and eventually made it to customs and then to our new terminal and gate. We had a delightful conversation with a colorfully dressed senior backpacker from Austria and some other passengers from the plane. I guess I'm in a social mood because I can't remember when I have chatted up so many fellow passengers.

The next leg to Madrid began by a long bus ride around the tarmac at Frankfurt to a remote landing strip where our Lufthansa plane awaited us. I was seated next to two delightful young guys from Madrid returning from a few weeks in Canada.  The plane kind of swerved a bit back and forth on the runway before taking flight and then a few minutes later we had severe turbulence. People were shreiking, laughing, squealing and hanging on tight. Once the plane stabilizied, it sounded like a cocktail party was going on.  Everyone was was totally awake and giddy to be alive. I chatted most of the way with my new friends in my row and they gave me all kinds of good tips and info about Madrid and their contact info if I have any questions. Such a wonderful way to start my journey!