St. Jean Pied de Port to Zubiri, 47 kms

A Few Memories

St. Jean Pied de Port, Sept 16/13

Arriving in St. Jean Pied de Port at the old gate from the east side after finally completing the Le Puy route in 2016. It felt a little like completing a circle started in 2013.

Even though it was very late in the season, pilgrims were still departing.

Valcarlos Sept 17/13

Even then I was captured by the sight of a rabbit hole. What's down there? 

Roncesvalles, but went on to Burguete. In hindsight I think I'd rather of had this experience, but we didn't know what we were missing.

Arriving in Zubiri

Who knew we'd become such good friends?

Ken, the pilgrim on the right in the photo above wrote this to me a couple of days ago.

I remember eating breakfast in Burgete. And walking past a prison that was right beside the footpath.  The modern dormitorio at Roncesvalles is okay. Functional. I was cold and wet and glad of a place to change and get my clothes dried. There was a pilgrim’s menu at the hotel—I remember having to sign up in advance—and everyone at my table had a story about their reason for walking. Mostly people were walking because they had lost someone close to them. One fellow walked the Camino every time a family member died. We had trout with white flesh. At Roncesvalles, I met Marianne. I fixed her broken glasses—she dropped them at the airport—with Gorilla tape. That tape turned out to be so useful! I used it to fix the strap of my backpack when it was rubbing my arm raw. I used it to extend the life of the rubber tips on my poles—I still can’t stand the clatter of pole tips on cobblestones. I patched a hole in my grocery bag. Don’t leave home without it!

Great company in the albergue that night! 

Geoff and I were reminiscing about Zubiri when we walked yesterday...I haven’t checked back with the blog, but I remember the entry into town, arriving early and having to wait for the hostel to open, and the joy, and feeling of community with our first pilgrim meal. At this point, it seemed, all that we had hoped for in undertaking the Camino was being realized. Geoff tells me this my first poem written on the trail - I had written a couple while prepping and training - showed up here. I remember being impatient to get my hands on the iPad we were sharing in order to get it down. We now each take our own iPads: ) 

Tomorrow we walk to Pamplona! We will have our first virtual Camino gathering there with Neil, Sarah and Ken. An opportunity to share our first few days of experiences and recollections. Looking forward to that!