Estella

A reasonably easy walk today but I managed to make it longer by leaving my phone on the table in the bar where I had breakfast. When I realised I had was about three kilometers out of town. but luckily a young Basque guy picked it up and was waiting for some worried looking person walking the other way. Some lovely country and pretty villages along the way. Had a great paella for lunch and into the Albergue  in Estella by 2. This is a nice like life style - I can see how people get hooked on it. I heard of a guy who has done 17 caminos is somewhere around, and there is a wonderful 80 year old french lady who I see every day doughtly plugging away. The human dimension is special.

Estella is a lovely town. Beautiful and interesting churches - but why so many?
There is a wonderful church portal which is geometric patterns rather than figures, and which shows the Arabic influence. And a wonderful portal up the hill with beautiful almost naive carvings - people getting killed in all sorts of inventive ways all graphically portrayed.

Estella is a nice place. To get WiFi I've been sitting in a bar in the Plaza for an hour - now siesta is over it has gone from deserted to buzzing. 

Puente de La Riena

I headed out early this morning and managed to take a couple of wrong turns heading out of Pamplona. A very pretty walk today over the Alto de Perdon. Probably should now be called Alt de Selfie or perhaps the pilgrims just wanted to remember and record their forgiven status. Puenta de la Riena is a bit low key after frenetic Pamplona. Distinctly feels like the weather is changing
Rain gear might get a workout soon.

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!