Author: bobsabout

Well, another day of walking, this time 27k in 24° heat. As usual, or so it has become, another early start. On the road at 06.10 just before sun up when it’s so peaceful and you can just hear the birds.

The terrain was a mixture of long drawn out hills, some exceedingly steep where it took real effort to reach the top. Many a time just when you think you’re going to reach the top the path goes round a bend and reveals a further climb.

The total distance walked so far totals 130k which equates to 82 miles, an average of nearly 17 miles a day.

Today’s photos are a shot of my pilgrim passport and an early morning (06.30) approach to the next village I passed through.

And finally, (don’t tell Maggie) I’m sharing a room with four woman tonight, one South African, one Slovenian, one British and one unknown.

Last night (Monday) we had a pilgrims dinner for twelve of us who were staying at the same place. It was €10 for which we got three courses and three bottles of wine (between twelve of us). A very good evening!

This morning I left at 6.30am and about thirty minutes later I met up with a lady called Mandy who was at the previous evening. I walked with her all day and discovered that she was very well connected, English but living in Barbados where her grandfather’s family once

had the biggest sugar production business.

Very hot day and the last five kilometres were up a very steep climb but through amazing countryside.

Just about to have another pilgrims dinner for €10.

The second photo was just about on sun up and the speck on the crest of the hill is Mandy before I caught up with her.

The first photo is a very well known (to those who know it) landmark on the Camino.

The third is an early morning shot.

Another 27k tomorrow!

Today started with a brilliant blue sky and will probably end that way.

I had thought about staying in Pamplona for two nights but as it happens I’m not even staying in Pamplona. Having arrived there about 11.00 I decided that although it looked a very nice place to visit I didn’t think it merited two days. Having then walked through the city I decided to press on a further 6k to Cizur Menor. This turned out to be what most peoples decided as the first guy I saw was an American I had roomed with the previous night.

I also thought it was too early to have a day off as I’ve only been walking three days and the legs and feet seem to be holding up.

I forgot to mention that on the following morning after the night at the monastery we were woken up at 6.00am by a Gregorian chant, which was a bit different from the usual alarm.

First photo is me having breakfast just about an hour out of Larrasoana – baguette with ham and cheese and a cup of black tea. Very tasty!

Other two were sights on the way.

Buen camino.

Another early start on the road but this appears to be the norm for Camino pilgrims. A much better day both weather wise and terrain wise. The SBF30 went on today and the forecast for the next few days is very warm.

Today I’ve been walking for a time with a Dutch Indonesian guy who I had first met on the train from Bayonne to SJPP last Thursday. Coincidentally we met up at dinner last night and shared a table with a Brazilian couple. I caught up with him this morning shortly after leaving Roncevalles but his willpower faded late morning and I continued without him.

It seems you quickly make friendships on this walk but they can be quite short-lived as you each move at different speeds each day. A new friendship can come along one day and gone the next but in that brief moment you’ve discovered a lot about that other person.

Few photos today – the road sign is self-explanatory as is the Basque mural, the stone sign is what we’re following and the view of the road is looking back through the mist yesterday.

Tomorrow I’m heading for Pamplona where I might stay two nights.

Let me first of all say there aren’t any photos today as the WiFi here in Roncevalles keeps dropping out. However, just to bring you up to speed, as the title says, it was a very hard day. I left SJPP at 06.10 this morning (it was still dark) and immediately met up with a fellow traveller, a Danish guy and we walked the whole 15 miles putting the world to right.

You’ll remember from yesterday I mentioned the SBF30, well, this wasn’t required as we had thick mist, cold rain and winds. But then we were crossing the Pyrenees. The going I found quite arduous at times and I’m glad I took my walking poles as we seemed to be walking almost vertically in some places. This, combined with the weather, was not something for the faint hearted.

Now currently staying in an old monastery with a good number of travellers from all over the world. Makes for interesting conversations. Dinner is at 7.00pm and there’s a blessing for us pilgrims in the church at 8.00, everybody welcome whether you’re religious or not.

I’ll try and upload some photos tomorrow when I hope to reach Larrasoana.

We had a terrific thunderstorm this afternoon but luckily I was having a meal (see pictures) at the time. Seems to have passed now.

My tracker tells me I’ve covered about 11.5 miles today – I’ve only got to do 15 tomorrow to the next stop.

The other picture is of the road I’m staying in, down on the right.

I’m surrounded by Americans with the accommodation arrangements – a couple from California and a Texan. Who knows tomorrow night?

Probably be up and on my way early tomorrow morning as the forecast suggests it could be warm. Slap on the factor 30!

After a damp start the sun came out and I’ve managed to walk around the town about three times (and it’s not even lunchtime). It’s a walled town, probably considered a city in its time and comes complete with a citadel perched on top of a hill. I climbed it but it wasn’t quite so high as the Pyrenees which I cross tomorrow.

I’ve attached three photos from a number I took this morning. The town doesn’t seem to get going until about 10 o’clock when it starts to get clogged up with tourists who just get in the way!

Just arrived(7.30pm) and it’s raining. Journey through France was long with a 3 hour wait in Paris and another hour in Bayonne. From what I’ve seen of SJPP walking from the station to my accommodation it’s a very old walled town with cobbled streets. Probably have an early night to catch up on lack of sleep last night and I’ll do a longer post tomorrow with some photos.

It’s now 7.15pm on Wednesday evening and I’m beginning to feel a little apprehensive. The taxi is (hopefully) collecting me at 4.15am tomorrow with a view to getting to Ashford International station by 5.30am.

The last time I went off on an extended(?) journey on my own was back in 1971, over the four day Easter break. On that occasion I caught the ferry from Dover to Ostend and then hitchhiked down through Belgium to Luxembourg. Once there I caught the train back as I had to be back at work on the Tuesday following Easter Monday. It seems a long time ago but to quote a line from Bob Dylan’s “My Back Pages”, ‘I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now’.

There is also a quote I saw recently from a fellow traveller. I don’t know if he thought of it or found it elsewhere. It’s –

And so the story goes

That with a single step

An extraordinary journey unfolds..

So here we go…..

Just packed, unpacked and then repacked my backpack. Still can’t get it below seven kilos, the optimum weight for someone of my build. I’ve got some energy foods like nuts, dried fruit, etc, and I have a feeling that these might get eaten fairly early on in the walk, just to reduce weight (that’s the backpack not me).

Thank for all the best wishes and messages of good luck – no pressure to finish the course then!