Today was a short one, but I wanted to set myself up for a steep and long climb tomorrow. One guidebook warns to bring water and food since the ascent can take 3 hours at a normal pace. I think I will plan on 4.

Then from what I understand, it will be a race for beds in Atapuerca which is where I planned to stay tomorrow. I can’t find any rooms except for one that is €195 and this pilgrim is not paying that much for an overnight.

The lack of beds could be due to the historical significance of this area where the oldest human remains ever have been found. Visiting the site is difficult for pilgrims since you need to buy tickets in Burgos, a short drive, but a long walk. So, all I need is a place to sleep tomorrow night as sightseeing is not in the cards. It is looking like I will be back in a bunk for the last official night on my Camino (Part 1).

There were lots of great things that happened today! It started when I woke up with no pain! No pain in my knee. No pain in my hip. No pain in my toes. That made it an easy decision to carry my pack rather than sending it ahead for a second day on a row.

Since dinner was so wonderful at the Alburgue last night I decided to have breakfast there as well before heading out. Most Camino breakfasts consist of coffee, juice and toast. Not at Hostel B! In addition to fruit salad, I had eggs (with deep golden yolks), bacon, sausage, toast, coffee and fresh orange juice.

Here is the proprietor who does all of the cooking. Clearly he adds a healthy dose of love to everything he makes and you can taste it.

Breakfast was delicious and endeared me even more to my favorite hostel on the Camino.

As I was heading out around 8:30, the hospitalaro told me about the 9am mass at the convent on the way out of town. She said that the sisters sing and it is beautiful. My initial thought was, “I am in a hurry and don’t have time for that.” But then I corrected myself realizing that I had just a 3 hour walk ahead of me and nothing else on my schedule today. Oh the life of a pilgrim!

So I headed toward the convent, admiring the fabulous street art of Belorado.

It is a charming town with a cool vibe.

Before the convent I went past a pretty fancy house with what I thought was some type of cool flower sculpture in the back yard. But upon closer observation, I realized that they were actually real sunflowers with potato and onion bags over them (I assume to prevent birds from gobbling up the seeds).

The Convent has a long history dating back to 1358 (600 years before I was born!). A beautiful pilgrim statue greets you at the entrance.

I couldn’t find any obvious way to get in and was almost ready to leave when I saw a Spaniard walking toward the building. He told me exactly where to go and I entered the church, backpack, trekking poles and all. Luckily there were a couple of other pilgrims who had done the same. Out of respect, I didn’t take any photos during the service, but did afterwards.

The sisters were inside the gates. I am not sure of the significance of the gate, but I do remember seeing a similar gate in the convent in the sound of music.

Not being catholic and not understanding a word spoken during the mass performed in Spanish and no doubt some Latin, all I could do was follow everyone else’s lead except I didn’t take communion. The singing was really beautiful and the acoustics only made it that much better.

A priest (of course) did the mass and I will make some observations about that in today’s reflection.

After the mass, I started a leisurely walk to Villafranca. It was cold so I put on another layer and put on gloves for good measure since I hauled them all the way from Vermont. As I was doing that, Ye walked up. He has been taking it easy because of an Achilles problem and I promised to give him some of my KT tape when we took a break. I was In the mood for walking solo today so I told Ye I needed a break to get some distance between us.

• As I was walking through farmland into Tosantos an old woman came from the field with a hatchet, a crate and five long sticks she had obviously cut with the hatchet. I wasn’t sure of what to make of it, especially since there weren’t any pilgrims around. I said Buenos Dias and she said Buen Camino and then started walking with me after setting the hatchet, crate and sticks on the ground. I said adios and started moving quickly but somehow she was keeping up with me. I turned around and she started talking to me I Spanish. She didn’t speak a word of English. She kept pointing toward the mountain ahead and saying photo (maybe that is English after all!). Then, I saw, in the mountain what looked like cave dwellings and some type of church. She was trying to tell me that as I walk I will go up a mountain and I should take a photo of the monestary when I get up on the hill. How sweet I thought until I noticed a car and another old woman dressed similar to the first walking back and forth across the path.

Was this some type of setup with these two ladies? I wasn’t worried because I figured I could take them both if necessary. But, at the same time I was feeling badly about having those thoughts.

As I got closer to the second woman, I saw a ladder up in the tree near her car and noticed a man in it. He was picking pears and she was directing him to where they were on the tree. The first woman stopped to talk with her and I was no longer being followed. I said gracias and continued walking feeling perfectly safe and a bit silly.

When I reached the hill the woman told me to take the picture from I heard, “Hi Robin.” It was Kate from Australia who was a bunkmate back in Orisson. She is a fit 20 something so I was surprised to see her walking at my pace.

She had stopped for a snack. I asked if we could do a selfie.

Here is the monestary built into the mountain.

Just stunning!

The town of Tosantos was old and showing it’s age (no doubt many hundreds of years old). But it was charming just the same.

As I was walking to the next town I heard chattering behind me and guessed (correctly) that is was the group of five Spaniards that I had been seeing for the past several days.

If there was a movie of my Camino, whenever this crew walked up behind me, there would be some kind of spanish rap theme music playing. They walk five abreast, are always smiling and are chatting away. I had to get their picture.

And then off they went.

But in the next town there was a bar.

This group loves their beer so I had a chance to catch up with them. It turns out that they didn’t know each other until the Camino!

There I sat with Ye, Kate and the young Dutch girl who I also met in Orisson (darn, I wish I could remember her name). We were there for over an hour. A man from the Dutch Caribbean Island of Curicao joined us and we had some great conversation. I gave Ye the Rocktape (KT Tape) I had promised and told him how to find a YouTube video on how to use it. Kate attested that someone has taped her with rocktape the other day and her pains went away so that made Ye very hopeful. I gave Kate the rest of the strips I brought figuring I wouldn’t need it in the next two days if I didn’t need them in the first 14. I also gave her one of my Aquaclips that holds my water bottle because she was carrying her water by hand since the water bottle pocket in her pack was impossible to reach (as they ALL are).

I have had a steady diet of chocolate croissants since being on the Camino. What at home is a once in a blue moon treat, has become a staple in my diet as I burn through the calories with all this walking.

That pear in the picture?? The man on the ladder a few kilometers back gave Ye a bunch of them and he shared them with us. Delicious!

I breezed on through the town of Espinosa Del Camino

Continued on the path.

Admiring the cloud formations and coloring. I snapped several pictures to use as reference photos for painting when I get back home.

Next I came to an ancient building that at some point was a monastery. The relic (bones) of the founder of Burgos is interred there.

The town I am at tonight (Villafranca) isn’t ON the highway. The highway goes right through the middle of it!! I am staying at a Casa Rural. Stanley and Essa are here as well. The others are staying up the road in the Alburgue also right next to the highway.

I was hungry and of course, you can’t get anything to eat until 7:30 so I had a boccadillo (Ham sandwich), a couple of beers and a bag of chips around 4 and called it a night. I know I should be socializing but I am getting a real sense that my time on the Camino is coming to an end soon and I am wanting to do my own thing.

As I mentioned earlier, I was pain free today which I KNOW my mom will be happy to hear. I was so impressed with how the “voltarin cream” has been working for me, that I decided to check out the ingredients since I didn’t see the word voltarin on the tube. I wanted to stock up on several to bring home.

It turns out it is an antibiotic! So, if I use it tomorrow will it continue to work as well as it has?

Reflections

I had time while walking to think about the beautiful service I witnessed in the convent. The singing was angelic, the sisters voices were soft and soothing when they spoke and it was heavenly. If you are a devout catholic and happy with the male dominated hierarchy of the church, no need to read further, but I have to share my thoughts.

The sisters were singing at 8:45 when I entered the church. At about 8:55 some guy walked in wearing street clothes and opened a door off to the side next to where I was sitting. A minute later he emerged in full priest garb and stood in the back and waited for the sisters to read a few passages. Then they opened the gates (look at the picture above to see what I mean). He entered their inner sanctum and performed the mass, gave communion to the sisters and others attending the service. Then he exited back out through the gate, and two sisters closed and locked it. The priest then went back into the closet and re-emerged as Clark Kent once again. As I left the convent, he was in the parking lot talking to someone on his iPhone.

What I don’t understand is why those devoted nuns with the voices of angles couldn’t perform their own mass. What type of message does this send to the parishioners? Especially young men and women. Doesn’t it reinforce hierarchical roles between men and women? (Not to mention why did they lock the gate after he left???)

Of course, I know that a woman can’t perform a mass (at least I don’t think so in a Catholic Church) because only priests perform mass and women can’t be priests. Then you think of all of the crazy things going on with priests around the world these days. Something clearly isn’t right in the Catholic Church!!

I slept horribly last night in the posh Parador. Not because I was having guilt pangs. I was in serious pain due to a tripping incident in the lobby after I talked with Ray. On the floor there was a transition from wood to concrete and the two materials were flush on the left side but apparently some architect thought a sweeping curved rise that gradually went from level to a 3 inch difference would be a good idea. In the US this would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

I went to the right hand side, didn’t pick my foot up enough and tripped and went flying. I caught myself, but caused serious pain to my left hip which already had a little pain from the pack the day before.

I could barely walk back to the room. I did some extensive stretching hoping that would help. But, as I lay in bed, I couldn’t help but think how this would impact my walk to Belorado. With the pain I had just rolling over, I wouldn’t be going far today.

Luckily Angela was there to strategize with me in the morning and I decided to send my pack ahead to Belorado, my original planned destination for today, and if I found I couldn’t go on, I would catch a bus or call a cab (no, these options haven’t always been available to pilgrims since to beginning of the Camino in the early years (800 AD) but they are now and if need be, I would use them).

Interestingly, when we were in the coffee shop before our walk got underway, Angela and I met a father-daughter pair from South Dakota who were killing time waiting for a bus. Their heavy packs were causing problems for them and they just wanted to get to Belorado to purge them and send some stuff home.

The daughter admitted that early in the Camino she looked down her nose at pilgrims who shipped their bags ahead. Now, she was shipping herself and her bags and she had no remorse. They explained the bus they were going to take goes on to Burgos and stops at every town I would be passing through today. I felt better and knew there would be options should I find it tough to continue on.

The beauty of today’s stage is that it was 23k with 5 villages between my starting and ending points giving an opportunity to rest and hop on the bus if necessary; but I completed the full walk on my own two feet.

I will admit to going into the church in Granon (the first town) and having a 10 minute mini-breakdown.

Not being a regular church goer I didn’t feel it fair to pray for strength to finish today’s walk, but I channeled positive thoughts and continued on my way. Things got better after that.

It wasn’t a pretty day. The sky was overcast and most of the day we walked along the highway with huge trucks and speedy cars buzzing by.

The fields had mostly been plowed under other than a few random sunflower fields where the seed heads are taking their final bow. I assume they will be harvested for oil.

There were some very large fields of sunflowers so they weren’t just planted for aesthetics.

After leaving Santo Domingo Angela picked up her pace and I couldn’t keep up. That is fine. Everyone needs to goes at their own pace on the Camino.

It is always sad to see a friend walking off ahead of you because you know you may never see that person again.

Early today we crossed from the Rioja to Castilla y Leon which I think is the largest region in Spain.

I stopped in the second Village Redecilla Del Camino for a coffee, Aquarius and chocolate croissant.

I bumped into Ye who has been nursing some problems with his ankle.

And the town even had a vending version of a pharmacy with an impressive array of items in it!

Here are some other sights from the town.

The tractor came flying through town. It is one of the trucks used to transport grapes from the vineyard to the winery.

While my knee felt worse as the day wore on, my hip felt better. And I could control the pain in my knee with stretching every 45 minutes or so.

Checkout the haybale stash coming into view. It is huge. I am just fascinated with them.

Yes, those are earbuds I have in. My ability to get through today was largely thanks to NPR’s podcast, “How I built this.” Today I learned about the inception of Cisco Systems, Method cleaning products, Instagram, and New Belgium Brewing Company. Thanks Nancy Turner for turning me onto it!

Another member of my motivation team today was Ray who sent regular motivational texts and tidbits about the towns I was walking into. I set him up with find friends on the iPhone so he has been able to track me real-time through my Camino.

It is very hard to see, but way way off in the distance you can see little specs of pilgrims. It is daunting when you see that and know you need to get there eventually!

Cookie Diplomacy

I had been ahead and behind a pair of Asian women for the past 2 days. We would say hi, but I hadn’t talked with them. This afternoon they had stopped briefly ahead of me and one of the started walking toward me with something in her hand. I thought it was a camera and she wanted me to take a picture of her and her friend.

In fact, she was bringing me a cookie. I can’t tell you how that touched me. Later as we were coming to our destination for the day We were walking side by side and I introduced myself. They were actually a mother daughter pair; Ju-hee the 29 year old daughter and her mother, Han. They are from South Korea and Ju-hee speaks excellent English. She owns an importing business and does importing from Japan and China.

Stanley and Essa from Singapore were nearby most of the day as well so as we came into town we snapped a selfie.

The place I reserved for tonight is great. I chose to have the pilgrim menu and it was the best meal yet. The wine was delicious (most the wine we have had has been quite young) and the dinner superb.

I was anti social today after arriving. It was around 4 and I don’t know anyone who has walked from 8 to 4 during the day who would want to go out on the town. Not me for sure.

Tomorrow is a short day so I can set myself up for a big climb on Wednesday morning. I have to figure out how I will do it; send my pack ahead or carry it. I will figure it out tomorrow.

Here are a few more pictures from today.

Reflections

What started out as a scary day turned out pretty well and I had a great sense of accomplishment. I just needed to consider all of my options and make the best choice. I had lots of options. Options are good. It is when you don’t have options that hopelessness sets in.

Today was short walking day because I had a date with the Parador in Santo Domingo. Paradors are run by the country of Spain and are an innovative way to preserve historical landmarks such as churches, castles and monasteries (which was the history of the one I had reserved a room).

Many pilgrim accounts I have read include a night at a parador and even Martin Sheen pampered himself and his Camino Family one night in the movie, The Way.

Along with the luxury comes a healthy dose of shame and questioning how true to pilgrim values a night in the Parador is. I am having slight twangs of guilt, but I washed that away with a hot shower with abundant water and luscious soaps and shampoo.

We arrived around 2 and checked in and then had to go to the area in town where pilgrims stay to wash our clothes since the Parador’s laundry service was too expensive. When I say we, I invited Angela to stay in my room as I had gotten a room with two twin beds.

Our walk today was quick and interesting. We started with a light breakfast and some coffee and we sat and talked with Peter who we had walked with most of the day before.

Then we were off.

The sky was dark and you could feel rain in the air. I was not particularly excited about giving my raingear a workout today. Even with the threat of rain, the sky and landscape was beautiful.

There was just one town between Azofra and Santo Domingo – Cirueña. It is not like any other town we have been though it could be a town in Florida. The first thing you see it a golf course! No kidding!

Then we walked right past the clubhouse that was inviting pilgrims to stop and eat so we took a rest.

It was strange, but got even more weird when we walked through the village and almost all of the houses were empty/abandoned. I had heard of this town and it lived up to it’s legend. Apparently is was a victim of the 2008 worldwide financial meltdown.

On the way out we got to talking with a very fit older Galician man who was doing the Camino for the first time.

And we then ducked into a bar for the bathroom and when we came out and started walking we realized we lost the arrows. A couple of cars drove by and honked at us. We were heading the wrong way and luckily were less than a half k off- course and corrected our route

Those who walk the Camino in Late May see huge fields of red poppies. While walking into Santo Domingo we went past a little patch of these flowers that didn’t seem to know what time of the year it was.

I was surprised that the outskirts of Santo Domingo were so industrial. We went past a huge potato factory and some kind of sports stadium before getting into the old part of town.

We combined doing laundry with drinks, some tapas and a visit to the famous church in town.

Still full from the tapas we called it a day and got back to the Parador to rest and recharge.

Reflections

I am on the fence about the stay at the Parador. It was quite nice and for €85 a bargain by US standards. While they don’t look down their noses at pilgrims, they don’t cater to us either so it was a little discouraging that we had to find a laundromat.

True confessions: I have been on a slippery slope concerning accommodations. I was not sleeping well in the bunks for several reasons including my concern for waking others with my snoring, having to get up multiple times a night to use the bathroom and general discomfort sleeping with a bunch of strangers.

So this pilgrim has been going soft staying in more private situations. That has double to tripled my nightly budget from €10 for a bunk in an Alburgue to a private room with a shared bath. But I sleep much better and with the lingering effects of my cold, I am not worried about keeping people awake all night with my constant hacking.

I am thinking that my penance for staying in the Parador tonight will be bunks tomorrow. But we will see.

I have 72k to go in the next 4 days to get to Burgos by Thursday with one very steep and long climb. It should be doable, but my knee and hip are bothering me and ibuprofen (aka Camino Candy) can only go so far to keep the pain down.

While the weather has been beautiful up to this point, rain is in the forecast for tomorrow adding another element of the unknown. I am considering shipping my pack ahead to ease the stress on my body, but that then pins me down to where I must get to for the night. I can’t be too ambitious or I will really be in a bad situation yet, if I am feeling good, I don’t want to guess in the morning that I can only do a short day.

Decisions. Decisions.

I will be hitting a milestone of over 200 kilometers walked at some point tomorrow. It is helpful to see this number because the daily increments seem pretty small when we are used to hoping into our car and driving somewhere. For example, the other day I made a mistake of looking up my day’s walk on google maps and this was discouraging.

What would be a 20 minute drive by car would take me from 8am to past 3pm. After that I didn’t make the mistake of looking at driving distances again!

But, my point is, that even though the distances don’t seem that long each day, they add up to walking 124 miles over a little more than 11 days.

Today I planned for a short day to Najera, just 16k from Navarrete. But, as I was walking out of town, Angela came up behind me. Angela is part of my adoptive Camino family from Lorca. In the past week or so since I first met her, this girl has been dealing with one foot issue after another. But nothing seems to stop her and she has been able to keep pace with the rest of her group.

Angela’s tenacity is impressive. She told me she was going to Azofra, another 7k beyond where I planned to walk. I was inspired and let that inspiration change my plans. I was going to go to Azofra if she was.

So off we went.

Angela is from Denver and is a nurse; not a bad person to walk with at all!

More harvesting was going on in the vineyards.

You could smell the start of the fermentation process as grapes were being harvested all around us.

We were surrounded by beauty and it was a perfect day for walking.

At one point, walking through a forest area we can across this man singing and playing a guitar. Just when you need something to lift your spirits, the Camino provides!

At one point we even took a little break and enjoyed a few grapes.

Najera is a fairly large city with a lot of industry on the outskirts of town.

Eventually, we came to the actual town of Najera and one of the first places we wanted to go to was a bar! We were hungry and thirsty.

We had a fairly hearty meal washed down with Acquarius followed by a cafe con leche.

Who was there but Henry and Ye. I hadn’t seen Ye for over a week! He was born in Burma, but now lives in England and recently retired. He worked in hospitals helping children with musical and theatrical therapy.

Food is always so much better when you are hungry! The gazpacho was delicious! It was served on a glass with a straw!

After refueling, we were ready to the final 7k that would get us to Azofra. On the way out of town, we walked right through the middle of a wedding.

And then started another uphill.we were heading the wrong way, but luckily an elderly Spanish woman came out on her second floor balcony and yelled to us, “Peregrinas! This way.” Of course, she said it in Spanish, but we knew what she meant.

Throughout all of the walking I have done, the French (in the Pyrenees) and Spanish people have been so helpful and encouraging. Everyday they see many many pilgrims. We are the fabric of their lives. Pilgrims have been making this walk for over 1200 years. Some of the smaller towns exist solely to support pilgrims. Without the Camino, they wouldn’t be. So, when someone along the way says “Buen Camino,” whether it is the bartender, someone passing you in the streets or day workers in the vineyards, they truly mean “have a good way,” More than once a kind person has redirected me to keep me on the right path.

Henry took an absolutely lovely picture of me. When I sat down I had taken off my hat and buff and didn’t give any thought to what my hair looked like.

It felt like the walk from Najera to Azofra was all up hill! But, of course it wasn’t. It was just our brains playing tricks on us. That always seems to happen toward the end of the day.

We ran into a group of friends at the first bar and had to celebrate with a beer!

Gina and Glenn were there. I had not seen her since Orrison and was very surprised to learn that she had been hiking in fashion sandals since then!

Check out the heel on those shoes!

The conversation quickly turned into foot conversations, a very important topic to all pilgrims! We swapped stories about our foot injuries and remedies.

Here are Gina and Glenn.

Angela and I decided to share a private room for 2. Very nice place!

Then it was time for dinner…

…and a nightcap.

I loved the eggs and ham and chorizo with French fries. It hit the spot along with a starter of pasta with a very sweet ketchup like sauce (not the best, but again, when you are hungry just about anything tastes good!

The place we ate was filled mostly with locals because very few pilgrims stay in this town. It was obviously a Saturday night out on the town and the men were all gathered around the TV watching soccer and the women were playing cards. It was a great local vibe. We were all eating from the same menu; there wasn’t a separate pilgrims menu. Dinner including dessert and wine was €10.

Reflections

When I woke up in Navarrete and went through my morning routine I was wondering what in the heck I was doing out here. I didn’t really want to start more walking. I had slept poorly the night before because I kept coughing from my cold. I thought about how nice it would be to take a day off. Or, maybe even quit and spend the rest of my time touring around Spain.

But, I got moving and ran into Angela and that changes everything. She was my Camino angel.

On the Camino we are always saying, “the Camino provides.” Before I came here I wondered if there was some miracle about the Camino that we don’t have in our everyday lives.

Now that I have been here for a while, I don’t think that is the case. I think that what happens here is that we, as pilgrims, are stripped down to the very basics. We aren’t distracted with a hectic daily life. So we are more attuned to the little simple things and with so little else, they become true gifts.

This is part of the Camino I definitely want to take home with me.

I should have mentioned in yesterday’s post that it was a day late because of the technical issue I was working on solving with Ray. And, maybe it had a little to do with the abundance of Tapas restaurants and the fact that we are now in Rioja!

But, yesterday, before I went Tapas hunting I tweaked my knee when I stepped on my shoe that was carelessly laying in the middle of the floor when I came back to the room after my shower. Stupid! This is not the story you want to tell people if you can’t continue on with the Camino!

Ray had wanted me to go to a foot care clinic to have my toes looked at (I will spare you the photo), but now in addition to the black toenails on both of my big toes, the skin tight next to my cuticles is deep red-blue and swollen. I thought they might be getting infected and that had me worried.

So I was going to hobble my way to the foot care clinic several blocks away when I saw an open farmacia. If you have been to Italy or Spain, you know what these places are like. They are small with very few products out for you to look at. Instead you talk to the pharmacist, describe your problem and he or she goes into the back room and hands you the recommended product. It reminds me of the state controlled liquor stores in Pennsylvania back when I was a kid growing up.

I showed the pharmacist my toes and she told me that I needed to soak my toes for 10 minutes in warm water and then put on the antibiotic cream that she gave me “two times day.” She also tried to sell me a pair of gel caps (toe condoms as us pilgrims fondly call them) which I already had and promised her I would wear (but I had my fingers crossed behind my back. There was no way those blue toe condoms were going back on inside of my shoe!)

I asked her if I needed to go to a foot care clinic and she looked at me like I was crazy. I was thrilled because that meant I didn’t need to make the long walk.

So, next I asked the pharmacist for a rub for my knee by pointing to my knee and acting out cries of pain. She gave me some kind of ointment and said “3 times day.”

She thought I was done but then I told her I had a cough, acting out like I was coughing and grabbing my chest. I pointed to some Ricola throat drops on the counter and she said, “No,” and gave me a box and said “4 times day.” I wasn’t going to argue with her.

I got the idea for acting out what I find difficult to communicate to someone who speaks a different language from Annette, the sweet German girl with the giant backpack who I shared a room with in Orisson. She felt she didn’t have good English (she did) and so she acted everything out. So, for example, when she was telling me that I rustled in my sleeping bag all night she acted like she was tossing and turning and made a crinkling sound. I got it (and felt badly but that wasn’t her intention). I think the acting out comes natural to Annette because both of her parents are deaf so this was one way she had to communicate with them in addition to sign language.

In any case, the acting out of all my ailments worked for me in the Farmacia so €18 later I was on my way back to the Alburgue to treat myself to my new medications.

I was most worried about my knee and started thinking seriously about shipping my bag ahead to my next destination the following day. There are services all along the Camino that will transport your bag from one Alburgue to the next. It is especially helpful if you are injured and shouldn’t be carrying a lot of weight. I was determine I would carry my pack for the entire Camino, but was concerned that if my knee didn’t get better, I could find myself taking a taxi from town to town and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

You do need to know where you are staying the next day if you choose to send your pack ahead, so I used booking.com to make a reservation at a casa rural (similar to a bed and breakfast always in a historic building) in Navarrete. The next morning I packed up the essentials for the day into my little day pack and attached an envelope to my bag with €5 to pay for the transport service and left Logroño feeling a little guilty, but like I had done the right thing.

On the way out, I ran into Gerrold and Natalia from New Zealand (who we had drinks with the night before) and we walked to a coffee shop. My knee was feeling ok, but I was happy I made the decision to ship my bag even though the day would be relatively short and relatively flat.

After a cafe americano and a delicious little sandwich of jamon and roasted pepper, we headed out of the city. The walk out was as long at the walk into the city the day before. But, today the walk was through an extensive park system and paved trail that was bustling with Spainiards of all ages out getting some exercise. Many took the time to say “buenos dias, Buen Camino!”

The significance of the Camino passing through the various towns cannot be underestimated. Even with a large city like Logroño the city caters to and honors pilgrims.

Partway through the park we came to a donativo stand where I bought a banana and met a famous (and industrious) pilgrim Marcelino Lobato Castrillo who has walked the Camino for many years and has accumulated thousands of sellos (stamps).

The park had a beautiful lake with swans.

And soon we were back on paths through vineyards and along the highway.

At one point we turned around and could see Logroño and the lake we just walked around in the distance.

The sky was cloudy and I was concerned it might rain; all my rain gear was in my pack which was now somewhere between Logroño and Navarrete.

After crossing the highway using the footbridge we came to the ruins of an ancient pilgrims hospital with Don Jacoby (a winery, bodega and banquet facility) in the background.

And, after a climb up some steep stairs we were in Navarrete, my home for the night.

I stopped at the bar right next to the church and sat down with Gerrold and Natalia and Ilanit, from the first night in Saint Jean Pied de Port was there also. She was staying the night in Navarette and Gerrold and Natalia were moving on to the next town.

I ordered a Paella and cerveza since my walking was done for the day.

As I was eating Kyle and a new guy I hadn’t met showed up and then along came Henry. The four of use chatted for a while and Kyle made the observation that it was the first time he was sitting around the table of four Americans since he had started the Camino. Kyle was pushing onto the next town, but Zrariff and Henry stuck around and we had a great conversation about what the Camino had meant to us. Zrariff told us that he is the creative director at a branding firm in NYC and he lives in the West Village. He had three weeks on the Camino, similar to me, but he planned to skip around a bit and then would walk from Saria to Santiago so he could get his Compostela before heading home.

He had a pack of cards that a friend had given him and he asked Henry and I to pick one and read it.

Henry and I both thought this was very sweet, but questioned why he would bot have scanned them to his phone and not carry the hard copy of the cards. He likes the tactile sense of the cards and we had to agree. I agree but the practical side of me, the person who splurged by bringing a third pair of underpants, would have scanned them. Different strokes…

I was reunited with my bag when I checked into my place for the night.

I took a shower and headed back up the hill to see the church, the most ornate I have ever seen.

I wanted to make it an early evening so I skipped the pilgrim mass and instead had a light tapas, a glass of wine and headed back to my Casa Rural.

Reflections

I had wonderful conversations with Gerrold and Natalia today. Natalia described the differences in The Russia she grew up in, the Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union and today. She said that life today in Russia is so much better. People have adequate food and goods and if they work hard can support themselves and their family comfortably. I got a sense that in general she felt Putin had been good for the Russians but pointed out that with that comfort has come more corruption.

As I write this late in the evening, I can tell you that my knee is feeling much better and I plan to carry my pack tomorrow to my next destination which is about 20k away. I am happy I shipped the bag today. While I didn’t feel like a legitimate pilgrim today, I believe I saved my knee and that will hopefully enable me to achieve my goal of walking into Burgos six days from now.

Today was a day of reunions! I have not and probably will not catch up to the folks who powered ahead of me the day I had to call it a short day in Lorca, but there was another group of my original Camino family that was behind me because they took an extra day in Pamplona.

My cold seemed to be under control and thanks to whatever it is that the pharmacist gave me, I was feeling good. The day was split into two roughly equal segments of 10k each. The first would take me to Viana, and the second would get me to my ultimate destination of Logroño.

On the way out of town, was able to see the outside of an eight-aided church that is believed to be built by the Knights Templar, a military order of the Catholic Church that operated between then 12th and 14th centuries. Their primary role was to protect Christian pilgrims in both Jerusalem and Europe during the crusades. They amassed huge fortunes in their roles as protectors. Unfortunately the church wasn’t open so I didn’t get to see the inside.

The sun was just starting to rise as I left Torres Del Rio and I was excited to see a vineyard where grapes were being harvested!

I was feeling great and was thrilled when Stanley and Esme from Singapore came up behind me. I probably hadn’t seen them since Pamplona and have fond memories of walking up the foothills of the Pyrenees with them on our first day.

We caught up on who was where and soon were separated again.

Because pilgrims carry everything they need on their back, most have very few pieces of clothing thus you see people in the same thing every day and, honestly, it helps remember who people are.

I have been pretty amazed at how well I have been able to remember everyone’s names. It isn’t because I have a gift for that kind of memory because I don’t. I think it is because I not only remember the person’s name but also their story. They have gone from being just another face to a real human being.

I have come to depend on little stands set up by locals offering drinks and fruit. And, they always seem to appear just when you need a break.

This rest area was particularly interesting because of the huge number of cairns or small rock structures the proprietor had made.

Most of these stops are donativo meaning that you pay whatever you can or feel it is worth.

I was really intrigued with the patterns of this field with the interspersing of grape vines and olive trees.

The stacks of hay bales always make for a great pictures. I just cannot figure how they stack them so high??

Look closely to the right side and you will see Viana!

But of course, just because you see a town, doesn’t mean that you are going to be there soon. Often they are miles away as was the case with Viana. Sometimes you feel like you are just walking and walking and never make any progress!

But then, from behind be I heard a pilgrim coming up quickly and turned around and it was Henry from Florida!

He had stayed an extra night in Pamplona so I was ahead of him for a few days.

Then we ran into the group I hung out with in Lorca and got a picture of them all together.

This is Kira, Kyle, Damion, Angela, Urban and Hughs. They were excited because they had booked an Air B&B apartment for the whole group for that night in Logroño.

We walked into Viana before noon and found a cafe in the square in town and I had my first Spanish Tortilla because my mom kept insisting I had to try one. It is very similar to a frittata, but it has a lot of potatoes in it and, at least the one I had, was cooked very nicely so it wasn’t dry. It was delicious!

That square was amazing because as I sat there in walked many people I knew! Above is Stanley and Essa and Dion (who I also hadn’t seen since Pamplona).

After lunch we headed out the pilgrim gate on out way to Logroño and the Rioja region of Spain.

I found the snail behavior fascinating (hey it gets hot in the afternoon and you need something to take your mind off of walking).

Until you look closely you just assume the white puffs are some type of flower on the plant, but they are actually hundreds of snails!

Logroño is in site, but as a big city there is a lot to walk through to get to the old part of the city.

And then the fun started! With about 2k to go Ray texted me to say out mail server was being flooded by a Chinese hacker submitting hundreds of forms from our website every minute. Hmmm, I hadn’t planned for this problem.

I sat down in a park on my way into town and Ray shared his screen so I could see it on my phone and we managed to find a temporary solution until I could get to my Alburgue and come up with something permanent to stop the hackers.

Whew! Disaster averted!

Logroño is a fabulous city! The Alburgue I stayed at was right next to the Cathedral which is an amazing structure with an equally impressive interior.

It also has a little known secret! There is a painting by Michaelangelo behind the alter. For 50 cents you can light it up to see it.

I was hanging out with Henry and Dion when Gerrold and Natalia, also from our original group, showed up and joined us for a drink.

They are from New Zealand now but Gerrold is originally from England and Natalia was born and raised in Russia.

We hit a few taps bars and called it a night.

And, I just had to include this picture because this guy reminded me of my favorite Dalmatian – Nickel!

Reflections

The best laid plans…the server problem we had was serious and needed to be fixed. This is one of the few downsides of our business; we are tethered to our computers. Before I left, I had spent a lot of time documenting how to solve problems should they occur, but problems like we had with the Chinese hackers cannot be anticipated. They need to be dealt with when they occur. But we got through it and Ray did a great job “driving” as I guided him through the software to fix the problem. Thank goodness for technology like GoToMeeting!

Glorious! That was today in a word. If I had more words to describe it I would add that it was hot and quiet and beautiful and peaceful and HOT!

I started feeling like I was getting a cold last night and luckily I had brought a small supply of cold medication that would tide me over until I could get to a Farmacia. I slept well and felt better in the morning (although I am starting to fade again tonight). But the cold didn’t get in my way of walking and I was feeling really good; feet and all.

I just can’t get enough of these old buildings. I love examining how the stones fit together and how incredibly well built they are.

The building I stayed in last night was over 400 years old; they don’t know the exact age. I commented that it must be a nightmare to maintain, but then rethought my comment. 400 years ago it was simply a structure that was constructed out of stone. A box with a roof and some stairs and holes for windows. It has stood for over 400 years. The maintenance that takes a lot of work is all of the stuff associated with modern day conveniences – plumbing, heating, electricity.

Above is a picture of where I stayed last night.

One of the first things I walked past today was an ancient olive tree. Look at that trunk! I would love to know how old it is. And look at the way that new growth is bringing this granddaddy of a tree back to life.

Then as I walked down the hill out of town I noticed…

Elderberries to the left of me….

…grapes to the right…

…and there I was, stuck in the middle with me!

I have to keep reminding myself to turn around every now and then. Often the scenery behind me is as beautiful as what is in front of me. Here is the village I stayed in last night with that abandoned castle all the way up at the top. How in the world did they built it??

Then I saw my first almond tree!

I was so tempted to pull off an almond, crack it and see what it tasted like. The tree seemed to be growing wild. But, even so, if every pilgrim who walked the Camino took an almond from the tree there would be none; so I passed it by.

Next I passed a garden, out in the middle of no where. I had been seeing a lot of these artichoke looking plants as I have been walking past gardens, but I think that they are cardoon. I will need to do some research when I get home. Notice how dry and brown the ground is yet how lush and green the vegetables are. It is quite a striking contrast.

And, here is another mystery. What do you think is in the small screened box?

I think that it is Swiss chard, but what it needs that protection for, I have no idea.

I am surprised at the number of pilgrims who just walk by all of these amazing examples of agriculture without the slightest amount of interest. I am so happy that I have gained an appreciation for growing food over the past several years.

Here is one that really stumped me. If anyone knows what it is, please chime in.

Initially I thought that this was dill, but I rubbed some of the fronds between my fingers and there was no smell (unless my cold is so bad, I can’t smell it) and it’s growing habit isn’t the same as dill. Then I noticed a few red berries. I am stumped.

The Way was very quiet this morning with very few pilgrims. Part of the reason is being “off-stage” as I described yesterday. Part of it is because some people have Camino-ending injuries and rather than wait until they are better, they go home (a good argument for the importance of travel insurance!).

Today I would only be going through 2 towns on the way to my final destination of Torres del Rio. The first town was Los Arcos, but it was 12k away from where I started in the morning. On the Camino I have been walking about 3k an hour so that is 4 hours; a long time to go without a rest. And then this appeared.

So I stopped and had a cafe Americano, a fresh orange juice and a Jamon Boccadilo (cured Serrano ham on a delicious baguette).

I ate half the sandwich and saved the rest for later and headed on down the trail.

Soon I came across this! Does it look familiar?

It is what I used for the banner for this blog! But I hadn’t been on the Camino so I purchased it from iStockPhoto. And here it was!

I find these huge bales of hay that are stacked so high to be fascinating. I would love to see what equipment the use to get them stacked.

At last I was in Los Arcos and had a slice of vegetarian pizza for lunch.

While I was there Hugh and Urban who I wrote about a couple of days ago came along.

Urban had climbed up to that castle on the hill before starting his walk today. He showed me his pictures which were pretty amazing.

I quickly stepped into the church on the way out of town.

The next town would Sansol and my final destination, Torres Del Rio was less than a kilometer from there. The sun started getting pretty hot and I was disappointed I hadn’t dressed for a warmer day because I felt like I was baking.

There was very little shade.

But, there is nothing you can do but continue on. Ultreia is an ancient word that pilgrims use to mean forward or onward. So ultreia I did!

This was one of those days where you see the town in the distance and it never seems to get closer!

But eventually I found myself walking into Sansol and my town was literally just behind this town.

Sansol is up on the hill and I am taking the photo from the window of my room in Torres Del Rio.

The Alburgue I and many other pilgrims were staying at had a pool!!! I turned my sleeping clothes into a bathing suit and went for a dip. I wasn’t at all conscious of my “bathing suit” since some men were out there in their underwear. Who would want to carry the extra weight of a bathing suit?

Here are Steve and Kyle hanging out by the pool.

Reflections

This was the 8th day of my Camino and I have seen so many people soldier on with blisters, sore knees, and after bouts of food poisoning. You simply don’t have an option. You are out in the middle of a field or climbing up a mountain and you just have to will yourself forward to the next stopping point. So, yes, I am bummed that I have this cold, but it can’t really stop me since I have to check out of the Alburgue by 8 am tomorrow. Either I can sit around until 2 and check into another Alburgue and lose a day of my Camino or I can move on. I just need to be careful not to spread my germs to others. Ultreia!

I started out today with the plan to walk just 8k to Estella, but decided when I arrived in the town that I would go farther to Villa Mayor de Monjardin. Because I had shortened my walk yesterday, I was now “off stage.” In other words, I wasn’t traveling with the masses of pilgrims who were all starting and stopping where the guidebooks suggest.

I think that being off stage works well for me. I started around 8, but there were no other pilgrims around. I ended up walking most of the day by myself which was lovely.

I fueled up with a cafe con leche and fresh orange juice at the bar across from my Alburgue. After that, I left the town by myself and exited Lorca which will forever be special to me for being there when I really needed to stop.

A little out of town I found myself walking with a Korean couple who have lived in the US (Silicon Valley) for 50 years. Huan and Gene are in their early 70’s and leisurely walkers, but I enjoyed talking with Huan while Gene followed behind singing something I hadn’t heard before.

We passed a fairly large vineyard and winery. The modern building was striking and unexpected.

I passes a chestnut tree, or as I remember calling them as a kid, a monkey ball tree.

Because I seem to stop every 5 seconds to take a picture, Huan and Gene got ahead of me a little. But I love watching others walk the Camino and seeing how they are taking everything in.

At one point Huan bent down to look at a hairy black caterpillar. She even took a picture of it. She went on to tell me that when she was a young girl there was an invasive and aggressive species of caterpillar that was eating all of the foliage on the mountains.

The government decided that the most number of people in any category was elementary school children so they turned eradication of these pests into a school project. Huan said they would collect the empty c-ration cans left behind by the US soldiers and their “schoolwork” was to fill the cans with the caterpillars. At the end of the day they would turn the can into the teacher and the one with the most would get extra credit points. It worked! Today the hills in South Korea are lush and green thanks to this effort by some of the country’s youngest citizens.

Here is Huan and Gene crossing a medieval bridge in Villateurta.

After that I am not sure what happened to Huan and Gene, but it is typical. Pilgrims come and go as you walk. So, I thought that I was all alone and then I heard bells. I looked up to where they were coming from and surprise!

Here are some other beautiful sites before we even reached Estella.

I wish there was time to stop and learn about every church we pass, but in many cases, they are not open and if they were, it would make for a much longer Camino. I hope to do some research on the churches when I get home so it is nice to have these reference photos.

I thought this was an interesting water system. Something else to research when I get home.

Estella is a fairly large and modern town, but still has a charming historic area.

While I had contemplated a short day with a stay in Estella, I was there well before noon and you can’t check into alburgues until 2. I didn’t want to wait around when I could be gaining more ground rather than just killing time. Since I was feeling pretty good, I continued on to Villamayor de Monjardin. That turned out to be a great decision.

Henry, who was part of my original Camino family, told me about a metal worker right before Irache. I was thrilled when I came across his shop/studio.

He hand makes small jewelry and mementos so I bought a few things that seemed small and light and I moved onto the famous monestary with the wine fountain

This is another of those major milestones along the Camino. The wine flows freely for pilgrims. I didn’t have a cup, but the Camino worked it’s magic and out of no where a woman from the Czech Republic rode up on her bike (yes, you can do the Camino by bike) and poured herself some wine and offered her cup to me first. Little acts of kindness go so far on the Camino and in life.

While we were there a small tour bus pulled up and the guide said loudly, “Look! There are some pilgrims now.” I felt like I was an animal in the wild who was being hunted for photographs. Yes, they did sneak picture of us, because, after all, we are real live pilgrims.

Past Irache I got a little disoriented and ended up on a alternate to the main route that would take me past my planned destination and would have resulted in four hours more of walking than I wanted for today. Luckily I figured this out in the first 1/2k and I was able to correct my course.

No sooner did I get back onto the right path and Damion and Kyle showed up. These are some of the people who adopted me into their Camino family last night!

Kyle from East Stroudsburg, PA is an interesting guy with well thought out opinions on the drug epidemic, gun control, minimum wage, affordable healthcare and a whole host of other issues currently facing the US. He is a student and world traveler. Damion is a school teacher from Perth Australia who is on a one year sabbatical. I really like walking with these guys and they were very sweet in encouraging me during the last few tough kilometers.

Luckily our destination was not that castle on the top of that hill. Actually, tonight I learned that the hike up there isn’t that bad and it affords a 360 degree view where you can see 28 ancient towns and villages.

The place where Kyle and Damion were staying didn’t have any private rooms which I what I felt I needed tonight so I continued to the next Alburgue and was welcomed with open arms and a foot bath!

While they didn’t have any private rooms, Jan, the owner said he would give me a room that he would try to keep private for me. This is the first time I have really felt like a pilgrim. I was taken in, given a room and fed a delicious meal. This is a special place

Jan welcomes everyone and explained that the alburgue is part of a community of people living their lives as devout followers of Jesus Christ. He wasn’t preachy; but he shared his moving story of what brought him here and how he has put his life and those of his wife and children into God’s hands. He is a wonderful man and, while I don’t share his deep religious convictions, I respect them.

Dinner was delicious and filling. There were lots of fresh vegetables in the stew and the meal started with a salad. You can tell when food is made with love, as George Schenk of American Flatbread has taught me.

Reflections

I do believe that everything happens for a reason and that was proven today when I got lost for a short time and once I was reoriented I bumped into Kyle and Damion. They were important in helping me get through that last few kilometers today. Had I not made that unintended detour I would have stayed less than a kilometer ahead of them, not having any idea they were right behind me. As frustrating as it was that I walked all of those extra useless steps, it turned out to be a good thing.

Today was humbling, but wonderful, all at the same time.

I was up and would have been out on the Camino by 7, but the girls I was sharing a room with were getting a good nights sleep so I laid there writing part 2 of my entry about the Pamplona to Puenta la Reina segment. Once we were up and moving, Ayna suggested that we stop for pastry and cappuccino on our way out of town.

The bakery was really sweet and the food and drink delicious.

With the bakery on the camino’s exit Ayna and I were like the goodbye committee. We saw so many people we knew.

I was especially excited to see Lianate from Brazil who I hadn’t seen since Roncevalles. I had lent her my super lightweight daypack (it is a good to always have a daypack in the event you need to ship your main bag ahead for any reason) in Orisson because her knees were really bad and she was shipping her bag ahead and didn’t have a daypack. She was feeling much better when I saw her today but because I had already replaced the pack when I was in Pamplona, I suggested she keep the one I let her borrow and she was grateful.

I just adore Ayna. For those of you from the Valley, I think you will know what I mean when I tell you I am quite sure she is Serena Fox’s soul sister. She even looks like her.

With a late start, I felt like it was in a deficit before I even started. But I soon forgot that when I saw the beautiful 6 arch bridge that was built in the 11th century.

This bridge was built in the Middle Ages when over a million people a year passed this way on their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The bridge gave pilgrims a free and safe way to cross the River Arga. Prior to the bridge pilgrims had to rely on barges that were operated by people of dubious character who would often require large sums of money to cross or would rob pilgrims once they were on the barge.

Ayna said good-bye and moved on when it became obvious I would be taking a lot of pictures which would slow down our walking.

If you have been to Italy you know all about hill towns that were built at the top of mountains for protection and to be able to see for miles and miles 360 degrees. The ancient villages in Spain are similar.

That is Cirauqui up at the top of that hill and of course that is where we are going! Up up up!

After Cirauqui we got a little taste of Roman Roads.

This road system was built over 2000 years ago and served as a way to move troops and supplies and foster communications throughout the Roman Empire.

For quite a while today the pilgrim path went through farm fields, olive groves and vineyards. Often there was a foot path right next to a gravel road. I was walking mostly on the gravel road because it was easier, but then I thought I should walk for a while on the foot path to see if I could feel the energy of pilgrims who have walked on those same stones for over 1000 years. I was rewarded with a message.

Sometimes the arrows can get creative.

Here is some fairly new technology that I found fascinating. The sign says it is a canal. I will need to do research about this when I get home.

And another Roman Bridge.

Then a memorial to another fallen pilgrim. This time a Danish man who took his last steps on earth on the way to Lorca in 2011.

The 5.7k walk from Cirauqui to Lorca seemed to last forever and of course there was a climb into town. The first thing I noticed when I got to the top was the smell of freshly baked bread!

But alas, this was a wholesale bakery with no sales to the public. So I continued walking eager for a bar and just as I was running out of town, there were two of them!

I went into one and saw a couple of guys I had met in Cirauqui and they said they were done for the day and staying there. With my original destination of Estella still 8k away and seeing those guys enjoying a beer and Paella, I asked about a private room and lucked out! I got a private room with a shared bath and by 2:30 I was showered, my clothes were cleaned and drying and I was ordering my first Paella of the trip.

I was in heaven.

And now the magic started to happen.

First, I met Theo. He is a 76 year old Swiss man who started the Camino just 3 days ago in Saint Jean Pied de Port. This is his 7th Camino; all but one have been on the Camino Frances. He ordered a slice of Tortilla and a beer. He had walked so far from Cizur Mayor today and was going to Estella (that town 8k away that I couldn’t make it to!). Theo averages 40k a day! That is 25 miles!

He had fallen in Pamplona because he passed out from not eating breakfast. His hand was wrapped up and he had a few stitches that needed protection.

After he moved on, I talked with Urban, a danish man who showed me a beautiful 85 foot wooden restored sailboat that he was supposed to have been on. His friends invited him on a 15 month sailing journey from Denmark, down the European coast, across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and the up the US coast and the Canadian coast and then to Greenland, Iceland and eventually back to Denmark.

A month ago they were somewhere near the English coast and their sails were up and a strong wind pulled the boat over and Urban said within seconds the boat was sunk. He and the other 12 passengers all survived thanks to a rescue by the coast guard. Two weeks ago they had the boat raised and brought to dry dock where they retrieved their things. The clothes he was wearing today had been in that boat when it sunk. Urban, who is 54, was quite emotional telling the story as you could imagine! So he still had 13 months of leave left and friends urged him to walk the Camino.

I had heard about a guy who crossed the Pyrenees barefooted. It was Urban! He sometimes will use shoes but he is much more comfortable walking on grass and the Roman roads with their rounded worn stones in bare feet.

Then I met Hugh, a 27 year old Frenchman. Hugh had intended to walk from west to east across the Pyrenees (Appalachian trail style) over 10 days but then met three pilgrims on the train from Bayonne to Saint Jean Pied de Port who said “Hey! Why don’t you walk the Camino with us.” So he got rid of his tent and camp stove and became a pilgrim.

Reflections

While yesterday it felt right to push myself to my original destination, today it didn’t. My knees had started to hurt, just a little and I didn’t want them to become a problem. My toes are still sore, but feeling much better with the sandals. Stopping today felt right.

As I learned about the Camino I discovered that many pilgrims try to get to their destination by mid afternoon. Arriving in Puenta la Reina yesterday at 5 didn’t give me adequate time to rest and recover. And with the late start this morning it was going to be another late arrival if I kept to the original plan for the day.

I was sad because many of my pilgrim family made it to Estella with no problems. I don’t know if or when I will see them again. But, I am not disappointed in myself. I did the right thing and was rewarded by meeting a whole new group of people.

I am considering a very short day tomorrow I may just go to Estella, a short 8k from here and have another partial rest day. Or, if I am feeling strong, I will continue on farther. It’s my Camino.

Yesterday was toughest; perhaps the toughest. The walk out of Pamplona, the biggest city on the Camino, was quiet since it was early Sunday morning. I left with three others who were staying at the same alburgue and other pilgrims were walking at well.

Soon we could see the ridge of windmills and it was a little daunting to think we would be right up there with them soon!

Partway up the mountain there was a town where we stopped for some coffee and snacks. I needed to take some action with my feet because my big toes were hurting with every step. But what options did I have? Those TEVA sandals I bought in Pamplona! I have read how some people do the entire Camino in sandals and always was very skeptical about how that would work with the varied terrain, but I had no choice.

I kept the gel caps on my big toes (think of them as condoms for the toes) and slipped my feet, socks and all, into the sandals. Obviously you get no pints for style on the Camino.

Ahhhhh, my feet instantly felt better. Now to see how they work walking.

The sandals worked really well as I made my way up the mountain. I was shocked!

There was an interesting display of rocks as I neared the top.

And then, there I was at the sculpture of the pilgrims walking agains the wind. It was commissioned by the electric company that put up the 40 windmills on the spine of this mountain range.

You can see the town of Pamplona in the background.

I rested for quite a while enjoying the view and contemplating the descent which I was not looking forward to in the sandals, but there was no way those shoes were going back on my feet. So with a heavier pack (because I was now carrying my heavy duty shoes) and less protection on my feet, down I went, very slowly picking every step I made and relying heavily on my poles.

It took me a long time to get down and many people (including those biking the Camino!) passed me, but I didn’t care. Falling on my way down was not how I wanted my Camino to end.

Halfway down my toes started hurting again and the only thing I could think of doing was to remove the gel caps. I think that the downward motion was making them tighter and tighter on the toes. So at the first place I could sit, I took a little break and freed my toes. They once again felt pretty good, but were even less protected.

At that time, as I was having a snack and some water I contemplated the rest of my day. I could stop for the night in the next town or continue for the remaining 8 kilometers of the Brierly stage (Brierly is the author of the guidebook I am using and when you talk about a Brierly stage, it refers to his recommended stage).

I thought about my nephews and how, in their football careers they have pushed themselves to the point of physical exhaustion and then gave even more that they didn’t know they had.

I have done that with work, but never with physical activity. I decided that I would let them inspire me to push on to Puenta la Reina. It is a good thing because the alburgues I passed were “completo” (full) and I would have had to trudge in anyway, but no doubt with a bad attitude.

It was getting late and there were hardly any pilgrims walking nearby. I ha dot be really careful keeping focused on the arrows and making sure I didn’t miss one. I was in contact with Ray and he was motivating me saying, at one point, that I just have a walk to Gib and Sue’s (Mountain Valley Farm on Common Road) left, but there is no “dip” to tackle. I am so happy I had those types of references from my training.

I passed a small olive grove and vineyard.

And some kind of wild (mutant zucchini Ray say) ????

I walked past a church built in the 1500’s.

Both of the women I was sharing a room with in Puenta la Reina had long since arrived and were texting me to see how I was doing and to motivate me. It was so sweet. Very touching.

Finally, just before 5pm, I walked into the alburgue and checked in.

My sandals earned their keep yesterday and already look well worn even though they are just a day old.

I had walked from 8 am to 5 pm. It was a long day and all I wanted to do was eat and sleep.

But, there was a festival in town and there would be a running of the bulls at 6. How could I miss it? So I showered, washed my filthy clothes and took the “5 minute” walk into town to meet the gang, my Camino family.

They kept sending me picture of where they were and we eventually met up.

This was definitely small town running of the bulls and Ayna and I left to get dinner back at the Alburgue because all we could see was how cruel this “running of the bulls” was to the animals.

Dinner was a buffet! All you could eat. I swore those off several years ago, but last night it was perfect. We all agreed it was one of the best meals we ever had! It is amazing how your perspective changes when you are really hungry!

Reflections

I think yesterday was the toughest yet. Keeping up with the Brierly stages is feeling tough, but I pushed on and my body responded.

Desperation forced me to think differently about my footwear and the solution worked really well! I loved having to work with what I had and making it work.