Day 40 Sanguesa to Monreal, 28 km

There was a lot of talking before I left about the biblical 40 day walk I had planned. This might be day 40 of the blog but it’s only day 39 of walking. Almost there.

The morning started with typical albergue shenanigans. People getting up around 5:15. Rustling packs, talking in loud whispers, turning on the lights. And yet the bar, where everyone ended up, did not open until 6:30! My tolerance is not as high as it once might have been!

I learned last night that a friend had passed away unexpectedly yesterday. I spent a lot of thinking about Paul and his family all day.

It was a long and not super exciting walk that started with long wet grass and wet feet. Then an easy section of agricultural fields. Another easy piece through pine forest. And then there was the mud. Not as bad as we’d been led to believe by the woman who called with a warning yesterday, but bad! And she was probably right that it went on for about 5 or 6 kilometres. One of the lovely features of the muddy section was that it was, in parts, overhung by caterpillars! Green caterpillars that seem to have decimated some of the shrubs along the side of the path. I only sunk in over the top of my shoes a couple times. But there was a lot of dancing to avoid doing so. The end of something annoying like a long stretch of mud is bliss.

The rest of the day passed through big fields. And a lot of the walking surface was a hard concrete track. It was clean though. Like a false summit there was a false village at the end of the day. Pretty, but not our village.

Somehow the speedy men got behind me but they caught up to me at the end of the day. We found the albergue, its door was open,,dropped our packs, and made it to the community bar next door 20 minutes before closing time - though they let us stay while they cleaned up . A clara, a plato combinado (chicken, salad, fries) and coffee. Perfect! The albergue has decent wifi so after lunch I got to come back and watch E give a public lecture over zoom. Amazing that that worked out!

There are more or less clean shoes trying to dry all over the building. I keep thinking mine have to go on the plane on Saturday!

The speedy men are, apparently, leaving at 5:00 tomorrow. That’s an hour and a half with the headlamp. One of them wants to catch a bus from Puenta la Reina to Pamplona around 2. And it’s 30 km. I think I have until 5 for a bus to San Sebastián, but I will also leave earlier than normal to try to give myself lots of time to sort things out. I am a bit trepidatious of the crowds on the Camino Frances, even if I’ll only be on it for a little while. Hope to stop at the church at Eunate. On my first Camino I tagged along on a side trip by taxi to see it with Laurie and Michel - who clearly knew already that there was something there to see!

One more day. Knees are holding up, feet are still good. Hills are still hard. My pack periodically seems to gain weight. I feel so grateful to be able to do this.Read more