To Puente de la Reina

Today was a 15 mile day - started at 7 AM walking through sleepy Pamplona and the University of Navarre before we started walking through the fields outside of the city.

Last night we said 'farewell' to two of our favorite German friends.  They have enlivened our trip - they plan to stay a little longer in Pamplona and we're hoping they'll catch up since they are younger and can move quicker than we can.

Matthias and his friend MO - who is a Zen Master with just the smile left

Viren - our new daughter!

The walk today was the last long uphill and downhill we have for a while.  We went to the top of Alto de Perdon, a ridge of wind generators that we found stretched for miles and were also on subsequent ridges in the distance.  The whoosh of the blades were rhythmic and comforting.  There is a monument to medieval  Pilgrims created in rusted iron on top.  The wind was intense - I couldn't keep my hat on!  The plaque said it was where the West wind met the Milky Way.

                                

                               

     

           Robert, this is for you!

Windmills in a village - not only the blades were turning, but the disks kept rotating.

The walk was lovely through agriculture lands with harvested wheat, almond and olive trees, wild dill on the side of the road and vineyards in the distance- also succulent blackberries that were delicious!  The newly plowed earth was a rich brown and smelled wonderful.

We passed a field of sunflowers and I was a little conflicted when I saw that pilgrims had been helping themselves - I could only think that this was someone's livelihood.

We stopped for cafe con leche for Diana, hot chocolate for me and frittata for breakfast in a little village about 2 hours into the walk.  Eventually the Kwis from New Zealand caught up with us and we ambled along with them until we found some wonderful green grass to spread out on for a picnic lunch.  It was wonderful to give our toesies and feetsies a well-earned break!

The last couple of miles we walked with Gavan from Hartford, CT and suddenly we were in Puente de la Reina, our destination!  It was 2 PM.

We found our bags and settled into our Albergue by unfolding our sleeping bags, taking showers, doing laundry, preparing for tomorrow and getting on the wifi.  Since this is the drill for every day, I'd like to describe the Albergue experience now that we've stayed at a few.  The bigger ones are totally equipped to handle a lot of people.  Today we are in one that has about 10 rooms that have from 4-10 beds in them.  Sheets and pillows are provided and blankets where it is cold.  The bathrooms are shared - both men and women use the showers and toilets which are private and usually there are hooks or little shelves for toiletries and clothes.  The sinks are shared and I was brushing my teeth this morning beside a man who was shaving.  I was surprised to see a man show up in the bathroom in a full pj set today.  I immediately thought "weight" - who would want to carry more what I consider unnecessary weight?  Most people sleep in shorts and I think some even sleep in what they are planning to wear the next day.

There is usually a laundry area with washers and dryers and sinks for hand washing.  Washing powder pellets are for sale in a vending machine. There are laundry lines outside and all the places we've stayed, there is a nice courtyard with benches, picnic tables or other tables for people to congregate and /or visit. People help each other out and there are often opportunities for conversations and catch up on how the day went.

                    

       

Today we noticed that the vending machines not only sell snacks, drinks, coffee and hot chocolate, but beer too!

Within the sleeping areas, people are amazingly respectful and quiet - very little conversation and everyone manages their gear, plans for the next day and many people take quiet time or a nap.  I love how people manage not to slam the doors and work at being quiet.  I am currently sitting in the vending area with a bunch of picnic tables near the laundry - a pretty social area.  It is fun to see people we know and meet others - plan our walk for tomorrow, look at maps together and talk about our physical well being.  There are books that people have left in a variety of languages and as people finish a book they leave it and take another (unless like us, they have books on their kindle or iPad).

We are relatively well-off physically.  Each morning, the leg muscles let us know that we are asking a lot of them, but after a few kilometers, we are in the groove.  Diana's new shoes worked well and she was a happy camper.  She does have a blister started and we will perform some sort of surgery later.  She will be as good as new.  At one of the fountains today, I saw a woman whose feet were covered in duct tape for her blisters.  I am knocking on wood as I write this that I don't have blisters.  We had a bit of downhill through awful rubbly rocks and I was glad to have supports on both knees since going down is tough on the knees.  Our friend from Indiana who started with us was suffering after two days of downhill - her knees gave out and she needed to finish her descent on her back-side.  We have lost track of them and hope she is taking the bus or a taxi to save the wear and tear on her body.

My Angel Card today was again 'Simplicity' and I am enjoying and appreciating this simple life.