La Rochapea

Zubiri to Pamplona 08/04/2023
At this point, every muscle of my body hurts. Even thinking hurts. After 4 hours of sleep, we were back on the trail at 7:30am for another 6 hours walk to Pamplona. My feet and knees are swelling considerably and Nick has some mega blisters. I have a couple of them but but manageable for the most part, at least nothing has become infected. We ventured out hoping we will get something to eat in the next village like we have done before but we realized later that was a mistake.

As we were hitting the path, we passed this tall mystical person, he seems to be a Priest, he had a green rain cover with a cross and an emblem/patch attached to the rain coat, square glasses, had not shaved in a few days like me. He was slow moving but steady and consistent.

Time move fast or slow in El Camino but you have to keep walking and thinking and solving all the world problems, a few “Hail Mary” for inspiration are required. El Camino will hit you hard regardless your physical condition. These was the third 16 miles day.

After a very long climb through some tall grasses, we got to the top of the hill and I looked backwards and saw this mystical man looking down and moving forward. I waved at him to call his attention. We saw this mystic person 3 or 4 times again along the way. Somehow he kept catching up with us. He was a tank moving through with nothing that would stop him.

We walked 6 kilometers and found someone trying to communicate with a local elderly man about a place to eat, I clearly understood what the man was saying and translated in English to the Croatian couple. He was saying all these villages from here to Pamplona are small of about 100 residents and there are no food. At that point we looked at each other and said let’s keep pushing forward. It was raining and cold but was better than having the sun on your backs. I had 1.5 liter’s of water and Nick had two. In our minds that was enough to make it to Pamplona.

Later we met another gentleman Doctors Cesar, an anesthesiologist from El Paso Texas, an Israeli couple, the two French girls, the 3 old ladies from Spain, 4 super heroes in to one young man that was killing it, 5 horses , six cows and many other peregrines walking along the path. I may be composing a new Christmas song. Get it? El Camino brings people from all over the world but definitely they walk a lot more in their daily lives than we do in the USA.

We agreed that all the kilometer’s marking along the path are incorrect. 😎😎 Just a way to said you will get there. There in no easy pass to Pamplona, it is all down hill “NOT” but walking 16 miles a day is brutal regardless. We reached Pamplona by 1:30 pm local time.Read more