Or that's the way I remember it as we descended through the Pyrenees foothills. It was a dry day and our ponchos failed to make an appearance. Given I was in just a t-shirt it must have been not too cold as we descended. It was also the last day before Annemarie began to have a difficult injury and medication reaction that would plague her all the way to Santiago. More on that later, but for the moment we were both smiling and having a wonderful experience.
Say, who's that guy with the stash?
This must have been Larrasoaña 5 kms down the trail which is where Ken, Neil and Sarah had walked apparently to the day before. Ken got the last bed in the albergue and Neil and Sarah ended up in a house. As Neil puts it;
Eventually five of us were offered a room in a house there. It was one of the special nights for us, including with the big Russian named Leon who, you may recall, lumbered along encased in a garbage bag to keep off the rain!!
I remember Leon very well. Nice guy with decent English. He was indeed a very big lad with massive legs. When I walked with him he was suffering from very sore knees and was carrying a massive pack. I later learned that he eventually jettisoned a bunch of stuff, and while I looked for him often, I never saw him again. Somewhere I have a photo and if I stumble across it I might post it.
During our virtual walking here this morning, Annemarie and I were reminiscing and reflecting on this stage. Lots of good memories that never made it into the original blog post. For example, we passed this building complex with all the scallop shells used for motifs and decoration.
What we remembered was that clothing was ingeniously used for decoration. In this case a pair of jeans acted as a planter. I'd never seen that before, or since. Such a camino thing!
Many of the windows were interesting, and I was always on the look out for something different. Something I've continued to do on subsequent caminos.
A reminder that we are walking through the Basque Region. A favourite and a pleasure to walk through just last year on the Norte.
As we walked towards Pamplona we crossed this very nice Roman type bridge, just one of many, and we wondered if it was the bridge used during the movie The Way where Martin Sheen's character had his pack fall into the river. It could have been, but when we stayed with Sheen's extended family (by marriage of his grandson) south of Hornillos some days later they told me that this scene wasn't even filmed on the camino route. Huge let down!! In fairness, we should have noticed that the water was barely moving unlike in the movie where he jumped in to swim in a fast current and through rapids to retrieve his pack, and of course more importantly the ashes of his son who he was carrying across the camino. Still like that movie: )
Getting closer to the outskirts. In my original blog post we enjoyed a lovely stop at a bar in Trinidad de Arre where we sat outside watching the local traffic before beginning the longer than expected walk to the centre of Pamplona.
What a beautiful city. I wrote in 2013 that there were so many reasons to return to Pamplona another time. While walking this morning I asked Annemarie if she thought we'd ever get back there. In 2018 during our Camino For Alzheimer's Awareness we walked very close to the city, but so far we haven't quite made it there. Perhaps when these crazy times are behind us.
Amazingly, none of these photos made it into my blog in 2013. In fact, all the photos I'm posting today are new entries.
I remember that we found a place to buy a pocket camino knife and I was so pleased that it had a cork screw. The blade was so dull that I ran it across my arm and it didn't even leave a small nick. The worst knife ever!! I eventually gave it away at the end of the Camino in Madrid to the lovely lady who made up our room and I told her that it would be completely safe for her to give to her son.
Yup, the terminus for the famous Running Of The Bulls! Held every July (sadly, maybe not this year) and I suspect something quite unusual to see in person. Maybe one day. The bull fights I've seen, and would pass on.
We stayed on the eastern edge of town out by the hospital and away from the central area. It took a long time to connect with the lady who owned the place as we had not yet purchased a phone, something we did later that evening. We had to ask for help at a small business, but eventually the connection was made and we found ourselves sharing a small, cheap, but memorable apartment. Far beyond our expectations!
We had dinner in a small local restaurant and to this day I can still see every detail in my minds eye. It's quite amazing just how sharp the senses are when on these long walks, particularly the first one when the whole process is so new.
We looked ahead to the next day and our much anticipated climb up the iconic Alto de Perdón where things first began to unravel for poor, brave Annemarie!
Over the past three days here at home we have actually walked 50 kms, so we are indeed working for our evening meals! While this is a virtual camino, we are trying to be a true to the process as possible. Early morning walks (to help avoid others, social distancing), but we carry no packs. Another difference is that we have house chores to do after the walking day ends. Sadly no visits to the local bar to visit other pilgrims, eat, drink and write. The last three days I've come home to paint, however, as others are often doing, we've gone on to enjoy virtual social gatherings with family and friends. As a matter of fact we will be doing the same tonight when we have our first virtual camino gathering on Zoom. It will be noon in Oz for Neil and Sarah, 20:00 for Ken and 19:00 for us. I'm planning to make a tortilla y patatas y champignons (fungi) and Annemarie is making a nice focaccia. It will all be washed down with a good wine...maybe even a Spanish wine. Looking forward to this very much!!
Buen Camino!
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