Pamplona,

A grand day walking today, lovely weather and beautiful rural spring Spain, blossoms and irises and fields of canola so bright it almost hurts to look at them. The way winds through little stone villages till it hits the outskirts of Pamplona then up past the massive fortifications into the old town.

Staying in the main albergue which is pretty full, pretty basic and very cheap. It has the world's slowest washing machines and only four machines for 180 pilgrims wanting to wash their sweaty clothes. A bit of laundry rage going down there today. Some very tired and stiff people creaking around the place tonight, and some truly horrific blisters.

Pamplona seems like a lively place. Thursday nights the bars here offer pinchos and a drink for 2 Euros a serve. The more you eat the more you drink. Seems to work - the place is jumping.

I think tomorrow though I will try for Puente LA Riena.

 

Zubiri

The hospitalieros at Roncesvalles turn on the lights and crank up the grepgaian chant CD at about 5.45 - sleeping in not an option. Hit the trail about 7.00- it is still quite dark till then and no point getting lost. Walked to the next village for a nice breakfast. The path drops then climbs up to Pont due Error then falls steeply again down to Zubiri. I was planning on continuing on to Larrasoana but I started feeling not too well on the descent - a dodgey fuente I suspect. Got here round 3.30. The albergue is lovely and quiet and the town is nice. At dinner in the local bar I met an eighty year old  French lady pilgrim. She had walked the 23 kilometres from Roncesvalles today. She looked a bit tired but so does everyone else, me included.  I think the person who opened a foot care and blister clinic here would make a fortune.

Hard to believe it is only two days in. Looking at the map is a bit daunting - the two hard days slog represents an almost imperceptible fraction of the journey.

Roncesvalles.

A big climb today over the Pyrenees to 1428 metres according to my GPS. Beautiful weather and breath taking country. I set off at 7.30 and arrived at Roncesvalles at about 3. Met some truly lovely people on the way. The Camino is like a suspension of the normal rules of every day. People have agreed to be open and nice to one another and it really is a nice place to be. Had a few beers to celebrate getting here then headed over to dinner then to the pilgrim blessing in the church here. Well I certainly do feel blessed in so many ways.

St Jean Pied due Port

Woke up to a grey morning in Bayonne and after cracking the mysteries of the vending machine and getting my ticket I spent a couple of hours exploring the town before joining the gaggle of excited perogrinos on the bus. A number of them hit the trail straight away, probably heading for orrison about 8 k up the mountain. They will have an easier day tomorrow but I am not sorry to have had the chance to explore St Jpdp and its surrounds. The weather is glorious and is looking clear for the next few days. The albergue has a lovely garden in which I am catching the last of the afternoon sun, bells ching, birds chirping, delicious smelling dinner being prepared by the hospitaliero Jakline. I feel very grateful for my good fortune to be here doing this.
Tomorrow the big climb up to Roncesvalles.

All packed and ready to go

Tomorrow I will be heading off early to begin the journey - three days to get to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, but I feel like the Camino really starts when I head out the door at 4.30 am tomorrow.  I always hate leaving home - really primal sort of anxiety about leaving every one and every thing I love behind, and I have a good case of pre trip jitters.  Feels like the day before the first day at new school - have I got the right sort of lunch box, will the other kids be mean to me, what the heck is going to happen?  I know from experience this will pass - whatever I am anxious about, the reality will be totally different, infinitely richer and more varied than anything I can imagine.  And usually once I get going things fall into place.

My final pack weight is 7.8 kilos which is reasonable - a bit over the magic 10%.  I nearly forgot my shell and my stone - probably the only two things I couldn't easily replace.  Thank heavens, today Anne put her silver shell earrings - which we bought in Villafranca last time - in honour of my departure, and seeing the shells reminded me. 

Anyway, Ultreya to me!

My days are numbered

I will be getting on a plane next week and truly as Anne said to me, my days are numbered. Time to stop faffing around and decide what I am taking and finish off outstanding tasks.

My walking preparation has been a bit erratic so I set out today to walk to Werribee. The weather was atrocious and after about 10 k water was running down the back of my pants which were thoroughly soaked, and into my boots. Note to self: pack and use waterproof pants and gaiters. I started to get cold feet, literally, about continuing, so I headed over to Laverton and caught train back. So I seem to be packing a bit more stuff - probably over 8 k now but I think worth it to stay warm and dry. After our Tassie trip I will definitely take a light down jacket as I realise that anywhere over 1000 metres can get fairly chilly whatever the season.

Anyway, after getting some dry clothes and my other boots I headed out again into the blast, wind gale force by now and the windage on the pack quite noticeable, and slogged out the remaining clicks to get 20 k. Now if I do that tomorrow and the next day and a couple more times before I go I should be fairly ready.

Getting ready for the Camino - 6 weeks to go

I've been reading  a Camino narrative, Walking Home by Sonia Choquette - "a world-renowned intuitive guide and spiritual teacher" according the blurb on the back.  The only two other works she refers to are Shirley MacLaine's and Paulo Coelho's - neither of which are at the top of the go-to list for people looking for practical advice on completing the walk.   Not withstanding, Walking Home has been a useful read. Her lack of meaningful preparation and what it costs her in terms of physical pain and discomfort is a good encouragement to me to make sure I put in some reasonable training beforehand - though I guess I have the luxury of time to do that. The other big thing I've got from her account, of a May Camino, is that it can be mighty cold and wet at that time of year - so I've revisited my packing list and included some thermals, gloves and I think I'll take along short gaiters to keep water out of boots.

 Speaking of boots, I've been using a pair of cheapish leather boots I bought for round $85 last year sometime - Gondwana Bunroy is the brand name.  Being leather, they are a bit steamy on hot days, but surprisingly and almost by accident, they have worn in to be the most comfortable shoes I own, and my plan is to take them. My only anxiety is that the heels are showing distinct signs of wear.

I'm trying to build up to walking round 20 k in one go wearing my pack in a day - I am getting in 20k a day but that is spread over a number of walks and not all with the pack.  I'll be leaving in about 6 weeks. So I guess I could be putting in around 400 - 600 k before I leave, plus 800 k on the walk itself.  Do those heels have 1400 kilometres left in them I wonder?  I guess I am going to find out.

Today I walked towards Point Cook and after jumping a fence and wobbling my way across rocks over the surrounding water way, I got into Chetham Wetlands conservation area or so I was told by the enigmatic sign which I came upon quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

What, I wondered, is the point of telling the reader "Access via Point Cook Coastal Park" when if they can read the sign they have somehow accessed the area anyway?   Still it was a grand walk - really quite wild and desolate out there, and lots of birds all living their birdy lives happily in the wetlands.   I had to wade across the creek to get out, but it was nice to walk somewhere a little different.

I will have to find some hills to walk up - one feature of Altona is, as can be seen from the photo above, that it is pancake flat.  So, more hills!