Estella (Spanish for Star)

We left Puente la Reina this morning shortly after day break. As we exited the city we crossed the "Queens Bridge" built in honor of its benefactor Dona Mayor, wife of King Sancho III.  She had this bridge built to support a safe crossing for the pilgrims.

We hiked 13.6 miles today over rolling farmland and vineyards. There was little shade today and lots of sun. The high today was about 75 degrees. About a third of the way today we came upon a medieval hilltop village named Cirauqui.  The village is beautifully preserved with narrow winding streets.  Many of the homes have armorial crests and ornate balconies with flowers draping from them.

A little further down the road we stopped at a cafe in the village of Lorca.  We ate lunch there and listened to a little Strauss music that was playing in the cafe.  Lee was in heaven as that's some of her favorite music.  Turns out the cafe was owned by a young German man and his wife.  Lee gave away another "California" ball cap to the woman today. I looked down and running down her pant leg was printed "Hollister California", I couldn't help but laugh!

We are in another four star hotel tonight.  The view out our window is a church built in the 12th Century.  We have been seeing so many ancient structures along the way it's just unbelievable.  There is so much history here we wish we could take in more, but we're not necessarily here to be tourists on this trip. We're on a piligramage and we leave again tomorrow for a new town a little further down the road.  Tomorrow we are headed for Los Arcos.

Buen Camino!

Puente La Reina we thought we'd never find you!

I have a confession to make.  My training to prepare myself for this adventure consisted of walking to  and from work four days a week, 3 miles in each direction with a long rest in between.  On the weekends we would do a longer training walk, 12 miles was the longest we did.  That evidentially was not enough to prepare ourselves and we're feeling reprocussions of it now.  Today's walk was 14.57 miles from Pamlona to Puente La Reina with one big bump along the way. Here's what the elevation looked like.

We left Pamplona this morning about 8:30, I know that seems late but it doesn't get light here until about 8am.  Our hotel had a really nice breakfast buffet and we ate like queens.  The morning was overcast with fog for the first couple of hours. As we ascended Alto del Perdon, or "Hill of Forgiveness" the fog began to lift. Here's a picture on the way up.

A little way further up the hill we came to the village of Zariquiegui where we found this old Church of Saint Andrew.

After walking about another hour uphill we got to the top, a cound see Pamplona way off in the distance. 

At the top was a wrought iron representation of medieval pilgrims and two modern day pilgrims.

The path to descend the other side was very rocky and I fell for the first time on this trip. I stepped on a rock and it rolled from under my foot like I had a pair of roller skates on. Thank God I didn't hurt anything but my pride!  We met a man today the Camino with his thirteen year old son today. He wants to teach his son that if he can do this...he can do anything! We believe him and admire his son for doing it.  We had bought several California & San Diego ball caps to give away on this trip so we gave him one and told him he was doing a great job! You should have seen the smile on his face. 

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Feeling pampered in Pamplona

We arrived today to Pamplona. This city is famous for "The Running of the Bulls" and the author Ernest Hemingway. The walk today was about 13 miles, partly of which was along the Rio Arga the same river we spent the night next to last night.  The weather was beautiful and much of our walk today was under shade trees. An old Spanish man stopped us this morning and asked us if we were headed to Santiago, when we said yes he shook our hands and gave each of us a kiss for good luck. It's a really big deal to people around here if you are on your Camino, your pilgrimage.  The people here in Spain are predominately Catholic and go to church regularly.  We have visited churches in practically every town we've walked through. Today Lee got to walk up a spiral staircase up about 3 stories and rang the church bells. Below is a picture of the alter of that church that is perched on the side of the hill above Zabaldica.

We are staying in a four star hotel tonight, with a big bath tub!  Getting to soak in a hot tub was pure joy! Tonight we ate Seafood Paella at a small cafe within the old city walls of Pamplona. When we entered into the historic heart of city we walked across a draw bridge just like you see in movies.

We also were able to give back a little today on the Camino. We passed a man who sitting on the side of the trail, and we sensed something was wrong.  Lee walked back and found out he had a pulled muscle in his thigh and couldn't walk. We were able to offer him an Ace Bandage, which he gladly took. While we were visiting the church on the side of the hill, we were given a list of "The Beatitudes of the Pilgrim".  Number 6 on the list said "Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that one step back to help another is more valuable than a hundred forward without seeing what is at your side".  We are feeling blessed for having done a small good deed today.

Lee is wearing a FitBit on her wrist and we are amazed at what it records each day. The other day, day #2 when we had 8 miles of uphill climb, it recorded 225 floors and 34,407 steps in a single day. If we did that on day #2 then I am sure on day #3 we climbed back down those steps! We needed this day #4 to be somewhat easier and Thank God it was!  Lee's pack is more manageable for her now and she's walking more upright. 😊

We are headed to Puenta La Reina tomorrow and the weather is supposed to be beautiful.  We have to cross Alto del Perdon (huge peak) so we need to recover and get some sleep now.  Good night!

Zubiri - oh our aching knees!

Today we trekked 14.25 miles from Roncesvalles to Zubiri. We had two mountains to cross, Alto Mezquiriz and Alto de Erro the highest at 3,133 feet. Most of the day was pleasant, the weather started out being very foggy and then the sun came out. No, rain in the forecast for the next couple of days either. Besides the two uphill climbs today, the hardest part was the downhill descent into Zubiri was treacherous. Not only dangerous with all the rocks, but extremely tiring on the leg muscles! Thank God we are here now and we can rest.

If any of you know Lee well, you know she is like a little boyscout "always prepared". Well she is so prepared that the size and weight of her "day pack" is getting the best of her.  Tomorrow I am making sure her pack is a lot lighter otherwise it could really become a problem for her. I told her that I could probably carry everything we both would need for the day but she won't go for it. She says a pilgrim carries their own pack and she's determined to do just that!

Our hotel tonight is right on the Rio Arga and we can hear the sound of the river rushing by from our window. Below are some pictures of the ancient bridge and the river.

 

Roncesvalles "Valley of Thorns"

 

Today tested our will to do this. Today was much more difficult than yesterday. They say these first two days on the Camino are the hardest as they are pretty much all up hill. From the moment we stepped out onto the path today it was a steady uphill climb.  We hiked a total of 9.3 miles today of which at least 8 was uphill. To add to it, it drizzled and rained pretty much the whole way. We were high up in the mountains crossing a pass in a forest of  beech and hazel wood trees in the dense fog.  It was a little eerie thinking we were out there alone...we saw only a few pilgrims today.. We finally arrived to Roncesvalles about 2pm and had a hot meal, took a hot shower and then took a nap. We tried to sit through a Spanish Mass but lasted about 15 minutes and snuck out the back door. I am having trouble downloading my pictures from today so I will try again tomorrow. Here's a couple more from yesterday. Lee with her French bread and ham which is famous from this region.

 

 

 

On the Road to Val Carlos

 

Heading out on the first day.  

 

 

Our packages with our shallops shells signifying that we are now pilgrims.  Today we walked to Val Carlos through the foot hills of the Pyrennes Mountains. It was only an 8 mile trek today but we had a lot of ups and downs. The country is beautiful, we are in the Basque Region straddling France and Spain.  It sprinkled today and I got to try out my new trekking umbrella for the first time.

 

This is a view from our room in Val Carlos. We are having a great time so far and we're looking forward to tomorrow.

We've Arrived!

We arrived a few hours ago to St. Jean Pied de Port, France without too many complications. One big deal is that Lee's  luggage decided to take a little longer layover in New York than it was supposed to. We are hoping it gets delivered tomorrow at some point.  She has pretty much everything she will need tomorrow in her backpack so we'll just need to share my umbrella and each get one stick. We'll be fine as long as it gets here soon. Everyone keeps tells us "The Camino Provides" so aren't too worried.  We took a quick walk around the village to check out some of the sites after picking up our Pilgrims passport and our first official stamp. We are excited to get underway tomorrow but need to rest now.  Here are a few pictures to share from the starting point.

St. Jean Pied-du-Pott, France