Everything Hurts

There is no oversleeping at Roncesvalles. At 6 am the lights come on, and around 10 minutes later a recording of monks singing Gregorian music starts to play. Today was a 15 mile day, so we went to breakfast right when they started serving at 7, and started walking around 7:30.

Now that we're over the Pyrenees there are lots of towns along the way. Around 4 miles in we stopped for coffee. We intended to grab lunch around the 8 mile mark, the last town before a long stretch and big downhill into the next main stage stop of Zubiri, but everything was closed. Fortunately I'd bought a picnic lunch before leaving this morning. The prepared lunches seem to be ham and cheese on a baguette, a snack item and/or a piece of fruit, and a drink.

We sat on a wall near the edge off town, and I pulled out the sandwich. Two adorable but insistant cats wanted to share, so lunch became a game of keep away.

There is a large downhill into Zubiri. Apparently it's been improved to be smoother, but it's still steep. Although we are staying a couple of miles further along, we did have lunch there and soaked our feet in the river before putting on our packs to finish our day.

Our hostel is slightly off the trail but so worth the extra walk. It has a pool, so we hung out dangling our legs until dinner. The host is an excellent cook, and we had another lovely dinner getting to know our fellow pilgrims.

My body definitely doesn't appreciate that I'm STILL walking. My feet hurt, of course; my calves are cranky about all the downhill; my hips bear (not silently) most of the backpack's weight; and my shoulders and arms are tense from learning to use the trekking poles. EVERYTHING HURTS. And we'll get up and do it again tomorrow. Fortunately it's a "short" day of only 10.5 miles.Read more