Villava to Cizur Menor, Spain (9/9)

Monday, September 9, 2014

Albergue: Trinidad Monastery

Distance: 12km

Time: 4 hours

We woke up early and headed out. We were on a mission today. Lee wanted to see the statue of Ernest Hemingway and have a beer at the bar he made famous when he would visit to enjoy the bullfights. This area was where he wrote his famous novel The Sun Also Rises. 

We also want to see where the bull fighting arena where they have the Running of the Bulls. 

Sounds like an easy task? The tricky part is finding someone that could speak English and Spanish and help with directions. While we were walking, there were two college students from Brooklyn walking the camino. They were going to school in Spain and their major was Spanish. Hmmm...

Pilgrims helping pilgrims. 

On our way to the arena, we got to see a German film company making a movie about the Camino. Seemed funny they were using fake pilgrims when they had a city of real pilgrims on hand. I volunteered, but did not make the cut. We stayed for a while. Then back on task. 

Bar Txoko, made famous by Hemingway. Still famous today. 

While we were walking around we met up with other pilgrims from Oregon and shared tapas. Then we needed to find a grocery store to grab food for dinner later at our albergue. Sometimes you just want a home cooked meal. Then lights out. Buen camino!

 

Pictures on the Way (9/13)

We finally uploaded some of Lee's pics from his GoPro. The scenery along the camino is amazing and varies from mountains, valleys, shaded paths, flowers, gardens, rocky terrain, bridges and someone even took the time to build steps.  Trust me, the camino is an obstacle course and you never know what awaits around the next curve. Enjoy!

Sunrise the second morning in Orrison

The Great Pyrenees on the way to Roncevalles

Headed to Zubiri

Our favorite bar along the way to Zubiri - El Horno de Irotz. Both the food and the chefs were amazing!

Guys having fun on the trail. Not sure what the purpose of this art?

Trinidad de Arre the monastery where we spent the night on our way to Pamplona.  Amazing! Two of our friends from Germany prepared a meal of salad, pasta, bread, Parmesan cheese complete with flan and chocolate. We set outside with other friends from Seattle and shared red wine.  We were starving for a home cooked meal. Then we walked to town and had more wine at the street bar. We slept so good with a full belly of pasta and wine.

Roncesvalles to Zubiri, Spain (9/7)

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Thank goodness! No storms! We packed up and headed to the restaurant for a quick breakfast before we hit the trail to Zubiri. I am not a coffee drinker, but the coffee latte is a must to get the body going. Lee enjoys the espresso. We also had fresh bread with jam and butter. 

When we first start walking, there is no rain, but then it starts drizzling. Time to try out the new ponchos. We look like blue twins. The drizzle does not last, so ponchos off. Yea!

The sun comes out and it is a beautiful and cooler day in the neighborhood. We are happy hikers. 

Roncevalles is small village, but the homes have plenty of beautiful flowers in pots and hanging baskets. 

We meet up with a husband and wife team and they are from Isreal. We had a great conversation about the conditions in their home town. They are concerned and worried, but it is there home now and for many generations before. They also have children. 

Finally, we parted ways and headed onward. We passed through many vegetable gardens, apple orchards and olive tree gardens. The vegetables we have had so far are so yummy!

We also, met two women from Colorado that were picnicking in the trail. We were getting hungry too. Then at the top of the hill there is a cool restaurat called Bar Juan.  There are many pilgrims with their packs off and their shoes too. They are drinking beer and having lunch. We had homemade tortilla postadas, olives from local farmers, sausage, bread and of course beer. Just what we needed to finish our hike for the day. Yes, there we were with people from all over the world and listening to American rock and roll music. Yes music is a universal language. Sorry Jean, no Beach Boys or Buddy Holley?

Bar Juan

There are many water spouts in very unpredictable places along the Camino to refill your bottles

We finish our hike. Not to hard, but for last 5 km it was all down hill and rocky. Love the downhill, but a little hard on Lee's knees. 

Yipppeeee. We arrive in Zubiri which is a small industrial town that mines magnesium. 

At the corner bar are some friends we meet on our first night in Orrison. They are from Germany and Seattle. The Getman girl was hiking from Stuttgart, Germany. We join them for our new favorite beer with lemonade known as Clara or Shandy beer. Very light and refreshing. 

Then we head for our albergue and settle in, take a shower and put on the last of our clothes. The lady at the desk takes in laundry, so we gladly gave her all of our dirty clothes. They smelled like a bunch of goats had been wearing them. Lee was tired of smelling like a goat, so he bought him some dove soap. Oh the little things we miss. 

We headed to town to round up some dinner. We decided to do dinner on our own. We had an amazing salad, pimento peppers with sauce, tortilla omelet and flan for dessert. It was delicious. Walked around town and then headed to our bed. Lights out and doors locked at 10:00pm. 

Our albergue in Zubiri

A Beautiful Hike To Top Of Pyrenees (9/6)

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Orrison to Roncesvalles, France

The hike was absolutely beautiful. Every peak and valley was unbelievable and each one more beautiful than the next. Breathtaking! Wanted to burst out in song... The hills are alive with the sound of music...

Then we get to the highest peak and surprise. there is a food truck with all kinds of wonderful goodies. Fruit, chocolates, sandwiches, and of course cokes. But no beer:-(

Lee enjoyed the chocolates. 

Check these out...

We arrived in Roncesvalles, took off our shoes and basked in the sun while drinking wine and beer with a mother and daughter pilgrim team from London. 

We booked a room in the Roncevales Albergue (along with 108 other pilgrims), which is part of an original medieval monastery. Great facility with very nice volunteers. Next, we attended a Catholic mass in the cathedral. Afterwards we had a pilgrim's dinner in the restaurant. Great meal with unlimited wine. Yum!

Then we headed to our bunk to get ready for tomorrow. All of a sudden, a big storm blew in with an abundance of loud thunder and lightening. 

This had us worried about our hike tomorrow. We have rain gear, but hiking in those conditions would be pretty scary for us beginner pilgrims. Albergues/hostels have strict rules and no matter what the conditions outside, everyone must be out the door by 8:00am. No exceptions!

Lights out. Prayers for better weather in the morning!

One More Train Ride and a Bus Ride to Walking Day One (9/5)

Friday, September 5, 2014

Madrid to Pamplona, Spain to St, Jean Pied De Port, France

Hiked: St. Jean to Orisson!, France

Miles: 5 miles

Hours: 3 1/2

We arrived in St. Jean which is part of Basque Country. It lies at the foot hills of the Pyrnesses Mountains. For us, the is where we will start our camino tomorrow. 

Once a pilgrim arrives in town, the first order of business is to find an albergue for the night. It is important because space is limited and all of the pilgrims will be looking for a room too.  The rates for the albergues are inexpensive for the pilgrims. Sleeping areas are large and coed. They have many beds/bunk beds/cots in each room. Everyone shares the bathrooms, showers and kitchen facilities. Also, lights out time is 10:00pm and check out time is 8:00am. 

We had a long day of travel, so we chose a private room with private bath. A real luxury at a good rate. We finally removed our backpacks. Then found a restaurant and sat outside by the river. The food and wine was wonderful. Need our nourishment, because tomorrow will be our first day to hike. 

Before we could start our hike, we had a few things we needed to do. First of all packs to heavy. Had to lightened our packs. Went through them one more time and we were able to remove some clothing and miscellaneous items. We then packed these items and mailed to Santiago. Can pick up when we finish the camino.

Next we registered at the Camino Office and received our official passports. These passports will be stamped at every albergue and every restaurant This is a coveted item. The more stamps the better. 

Since our first day is so hard, we decided to ship my backpack to the next town. We took care of this and finally we were ready to walk. One problem. It was almost 3:00pm and it was the hottest part of the day. 

Oh well, up we go. I did not think I was going to make it... Really! Hot and hard! Lee did Ok, but I was not prepared for the heat or altitude. Instead of holding him back, I hitch-hiked a couple of times with two nice ladies. It was less than a mile, but it helped.

After we arrived in Orrison, we had our first pilgrim dinner. The food was amazing and we were starved. The wine was endless and much needed. 

After dinner every one stood up and shared their name, where they were from and why they were doing the camino. 

We Arrive In Spain... Our Camino Is Just Around the Corner! (9/4)

Thursday, September 4, 2014

St. Louis to Madrid, Spain

Our flight to Madrid was a long, but great. We took the scenic route from St. Louis to Washington to Frankfurt, Germany to Madrid, Spain. After we arrived, we checked into our hotel, did a little sightseeing, had dinner and then crashed. We definitely needed sleep. Must get up early to catch a 7:20am train to Pamplona, Spain. 

Lights out!

Tick... Tick... Tick... The clock is counting down... (9/1/14)

Monday, September 1, 2014

One day: 23 hours: 44 minutes: 18 seconds...

The last minute jitters have hit us pretty hard. This is what happens when you have too much time to prepare. This trip has been on my agenda for almost a year and Lee has been thinking about this trip for two years. 

So, today we are doing pretty much the same thing we have been doing for the last couple of weeks. Packing and unpacking and then packing and unpacking again! Backpack weight is the biggest issue when preparing for the camino. You and your backpack become one for the entire 500 miles of mountains, warm temperatures, up and down hills, valleys, rain and cold winds. It is recommended that you do not exceed 10% of your body weight. The only time we will part with our backpacks is when we are eating, showering or sleeping.  Even then our backpack will be close by.

Lee's backpack will finally weigh in at almost 22 pounds. Glad he is strong like bull. My backpack is now 10 pounds and that is without adding a few feminine touches like lip gloss, moisture creme and one hair product.  My hair is sooooo short, but as it gets longer assistance will definitely be needed. Hmmmm... Wonder how much a haircut will cost in Paris? 

To lighten the load, we thought about a rolling suitcase/duffel bag for the trip. We also thought about a rolling golf cart. Why not? The "wheel" has made travel so easy with rolling suitcases. We have seen a camino video where a family pushed their child in a stroller. Also, one man is pushing his friend in a wheelchair. Amazing! A friend in my neighborhood has walked the camino and he thought the rolling idea would not be a "cool look" for a real camino pilgrim. Thanks Stan for sparing us on our "uncool" idea. We definitely Lee's backpack will finally weigh in at almost 22 pounds. We definitely want to look like real pilgrims. 

Well got to run for now. Back to listing last minute details and the pack and unpack game before we fall asleep!

Our motto for today: Lighten up! :-)

One day: 23 hours: 23 minutes: 23 seconds...