News from over the mountains

We are now pilgrims who are walking with, past and towards other pilgrims and it is amazing. We know so many by sight and have had all sorts of conversations with so many, too. Interestingly, we are still just two people walking the Camino and we are walking it at our pace and in our own way. It just means we are not alone on the road for much of the time, which is strange, and we are staying in large refuges with large numbers of people.

Last night, after walking over from France (see notes below), we stayed in a place called Roncesvalles. The refuge holds at least 120 people in a very large building (all in one room) with three rows of bunk beds the full length of the building, the beds grouped in fours so Alison and I were on two bottom bunks sleeping next to each other, which was nice. There were three loos, two sinks and two showers for the men and the same for the women so things could be a bit busy at times. Across the road was the monastery that owns and runs the refuge (with the help of volunteer hospitaliers). On either side of the monastery are two hotel/bars with pilgrim menus and the monastery has a pilgrim mass at 8pm.

So, you arrive and wait until 4pm for the monastery people to register you, accept your money and stamp your credenciales. While you are waiting you have a drink in the hotel/bar and buy a couple of pilgrim meals for later on in the evening. – the 7pm sitting if you are going to mass and the 8.30 if not. Then, after registering with the monastery, you go over, are given your bed and you can settle down.

At 7pm you go and have your pilgrim meal (which is a bit of a rip off), go to Mass and go back to bed. Lights out at 10pm and lights on again at 6am.

Tonight we are in a small private refuge in a place called Zubibi which was a decent 20 odd kms from our last stop. We got here just after 12 midday and have settled in well. The internet actually works and we are going to eat here having bought some bits and pieces in a little shop.

The pilgrim menu is more elaborate in the hotel here but it is 11 Euros (compared with 9 last night) and the refuge is 10 Euros, which is a couple more than the municipal one. But this is smaller with only 8 people to a room and INTERNET)so we will eat here and relax. We are also here because the next stop would make tomorrow’s walk to Pamplona really short and we wanted to space things out a bit better.

A few of notes on walking over the mountain and about being in Spain.

• Leaving from St Jean was wonderful. We liked the place and liked the experience.
• On the way out we were graced with a beautiful rainbow which basically heralded us into the mountains.
• The walk up was not as hard as we had expected but that was because it had been talked up a lot by so many and we, although we may not look it, are now very seasoned walkers who just put our heads down and do the business.
• What was hard was the wind. We encountered serious, no VERY serious, wind as we walked towards Spain. People were being blown over and injured. Alison was actually blown off her feet at one point and we spent the hardest bits either standing waiting for the wind to die down so we could continue, or walking with our arms linked so we could keep each other on the path – and some of those paths are proper mountain paths with very steep, long drops on one side.
• At one point the wind changed direction for us and literally blew us up and over one of the parts of the path – we enjoyed this wonderful gift and couldn’t stop laughing for some time.
• Just when we really needed something to eat and a place to rest we saw a tiny mountain hut (stone built) and we walked around it to find some shelter. The wind seemed to get worse at each turn as we went around the building. Then someone tapped on the window and opened the door when we returned to the front. It was a tiny emergency mountain refuge so we sat in it eating our food and listening to the wind hammering at the walls and door.... fantastic. We are sharing the room here with the German woman who opened the door for us and a French man who welcomed us in, too.
• We are not tuned to Spanish yet and with such a multitude of different nationalities to walk with (in our room are a German woman, a French man, an Australian couple and an Italian couple) we are finding it an interesting challenge. We have a French/Spanish phrase book and are trying to say things in Spanish whenever we enter a bar or shop or what have you. We say, “Hola” to everyone we meet, which is also great!
• Spanish cars have an “E” instead of the French “F” and this is also weird (I keep looking and thinking why have they added another line to the F or wondering where the FR and NCH bits are. But we will get used to that. All the notices are in Spanish and that helps.
• Spain is clearly a different place as soon as you start to walk through the villages. The houses are different, the streets are different and so are the people. It is dramatic to experience such a change just by passing an imaginary line on the ground. Actually, it was a cattle grid that constituted the border and we did not need passports or have to deal with customs, etc. In fact it didn’t even say “Welcome to Spain!” when we passed the line. Instead, there was a great big stone which told us we were now in the Navarre Region which is a very important, proud and historic region – welcome!
• Our rest day in Pamplona (the capital of the Navarre Region) will help us tune in a bit more, but we are loving the country and its people and hope to fall in love with the language as well!

End of notes, now for our tea, so I will post this and we will eat. One thing... it is pretty cold at the moment (Alison is suffering...) but I’m sure it will warm up soon.

....... Going to bed now after an amazing discussion with an artist from Toronto who is reworking the Wagner Ring cycle or rather deconstructing it and allowing it to reconstruct itself in a complex but elegant way..... sweet dreams.