Urdaniz

But first, a couple of things from yesterday evening, after I'd done the blog post. I'm generally writing them in the afternoon, after arriving at my overnight stop.

I'd met Irvin at Orisson - he is walking remembering his wife and his son who succumbed to mental illness. Yesterday I passed him, and we talked briefly - and as I moved on I said 'see you on the other side' meaning the other side of the mountain. He asked whether he looked that ill, and we both laughed about it. Met him again at Roncesvalles, where we laughed about it again, over glasses of beer and wine - and shared much more of our stories...

Then there was the Pilgrim Mass at Roncesvalles - was it just coincidence that the end of the second reading for this Sunday was:

"Therefore lift your drooping hands

and strengthen your weak knees,

and make straight paths for your feet,

so that what is lame may not be put out of joint

but rather be healed."

... and the Gospel Acclamation started: "Yo soy el Camino..."

Now to today.

Well, today seemed long. Started well from Roncesvalles, and the first few miles went quickly, chatting to people as we went, and passing through lovely villages. 

 After about 10km I stopped for a coffee and an orange juice, and thereafter was walking alone, but regularly coming across people I'd met before.

Then came what was quite a wearing section to the Alto d'Erro, where there was a welcome food van also providing drinks. Robert also appeared - so we had a beer before tackling the drop to Zubiri, which is strep and awkward.

We met again at the bottom, and went for another beer - the shade temperature was now up to nearly 30. There we met more people, especially Nathan and Chanel, a French brother and sister.

I had a bed booked at Urdaniz, about 5km beyond Zubiri. It turned out that Nathan and Chanel had as well. Robert had nowhere booked, and Zubiri was a bit full, so he too booked at Urdaniz - which had the added attraction of a swimming pool!

Well, that last 5km was tough. Robert was a lot more tired than we had thought, and by the end I felt worn out too! I think Spanish kilometres may be elastic....   But it did add up to 27km today, with quite a lot of ups and downs, which is a fair amount.

And having spent that time with three French speakers, and  joining in where I could, I'm now struggling to remember any of the little Spanish I'd learned!