El Camino de Santiago and other trails.
This afternoon we arrived at Sto. Domingo, around 2 o’clock, we heard the church’s bells playing, and we learned it was a special day when all the worshipers from the mass left the church. We were trapped by the mob. Here we are, two sweaty, dirty pilgrims walking along very well-dressed people celebrating their saint’s day.
Today we walked the longest stage in our itinerary, 30 kilometers, which is about 19 miles. At this moment, we are mesmerized by the fact that our brains want to keep going, but the body is breaking down, slowing us down with knee pain, skin rash, backache, and so on. But on the other hand, we are very grateful to live this experience of simplicity in our life, basic material things, thinking a lot about ourselves and spirituality.
Today we walked 28km; it has been the longest walk so far. We left Los Arcos early this morning because we knew we had a long walk ahead and also wanted to arrive in Logroño before the afternoon rain. Today’s walk was through vineyards and olive trees; for the next few days, we will be walking through the famous Rioja region.
We had great weather the first four days of our pilgrimage; now we are not sure what is worse, a day with rain or an intense windy day. Today was challenging to walk due to the strong wind in El Camino.
With today walk we completed about 113km (70miles). Today we walked through grain fields, olives trees and vineyards in this region of Navarra. We had some rain but that didn’t stop us from walking.
After a day off in Pamplona we headed to Puente la Reina. We walked 23km through grains and mustard fields.
Our third day of walking found us off to our usual 8am starts, leaving the village of Zubiri and heading towards the provincial capital of Pamplona. We had visited Pamplona prior, but we were eager to arrive as we had built a rest day into our stay. This was good planning on our end. But more on that later…
The day found us covering mostly level terrain with pretty hills and valleys and very few steep climbs or descents. The first seventy percent was mostly rural until we hit the outskirts of Pamplona. And with our entrance into the suburbs, we experienced our first significant pilgrim transition. Prior to entering the satellite towns of Pamplona, we were pilgrims amidst pilgrims. Everything revolved around the Camino, including all people who crossed our paths. However, entering back into everyday Spanish life, with the hustle and bustle of the city, we realize that we were invisible. Everyone was busy with their lives, their work, their family, and the distractions of living, and here we were, arriving, each of us with our own reasons for walking, but with only the immediate need to keep on walking, our every day lives very much in the background. For us, at least, it was a moment of appreciation to have this month to step back from our daily routine and do something of great introspection.
Today was an easier hike than yesterday. We walked 22km with only a few uphill or downhill sections. The weather was fantastic for hiking this morning, and we ran into many people that we had seen on the trail yesterday or at the hotel. It feels like a kind of camaraderie since everyone has only one objective: to walk and reach the next town. As courteous pilgrims, we salute them with “hola” or “Buenos Dias,” followed by the official sentence “Buen Camino” (have a good way). In the past two days, we saw people from many different countries. It is like being in Silicon Valley, hearing different languages spoken on the streets.
We did it, we hiked through the Pyrenees! We had great weather today, so we took Route de Napoleon which was 25km through the most beautiful views and several microclimates in the mountains with an altitude of 1450m above sea level. We are very tired but happy that we did the most difficult part of El Camino in good time, in good weather, and without big surprises.
TrekTok 